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Now, try a test-like Writing & Language passage on your own. Give yourself 5 minutes to read the passage and answer the questions.

2. Questions 9-16 are based on the following passage.

3. James Polk

   For much of his distinguished career, James Knox Polk followed in the footsteps of Andrew Jackson.¹ In fact, “Young Hickory’s” policies were very similar to Jackson’s: both men favored lower taxes; championed the frontiersmen, farmers, and workers; and neither was afraid to indulge in Tennessee whiskey. Polk, however, did not share Jackson’s rather fierce temperament; he was instead known for remaining soft-spoken even as he worked energetically toward his goals. Although history will likely always remember the frontier persona of Andrew Jackson, it was Polk who did much more to shape the course of American history.

   The Polk family was poor—James’s father had emigrated from Scotland and arrived in the U.S. South penniless. From an early age, Polk suffered ill health that would turn out to be a lifelong affliction. Despite his physical shortcomings, he was an able student and graduated from the University of North Carolina with honors in 1818. Two years later, Polk was admitted to the bar to practice law, and in 1823, he married Sarah Childress, the daughter of a prominent planter and merchant from Murfreesboro. From there, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1825, serving until 1839. Polk was also Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839.

   After he left Congress to serve as governor of Tennessee in 1839, it became clear that Polk’s political aspirations were high indeed. During the 1844 presidential campaign, a young Abraham Lincoln threw his support behind Whig Henry Clay instead of the Democratic ex-President Martin van Buren. Both men, as part of their platforms, opposed expansionist policies, and neither intended to annex the independent state of Texas or the Oregon Territory. Polk, spurred on by Jackson’s advice, recognized that neither candidate had correctly surmised the feelings of the people, so he publicly announced that, as president, he would do his utmost to acquire Texas and Oregon. Polk was the first political “dark horse” in American politics, coming out of nowhere to win the Democratic nomination and the election.

   As the eleventh President of the United States, Polk pursued an agenda of diverse issues. First, he reached an agreement with England that divided the Oregon Territory, carving out the present-day states of Washington and Oregon. Polk also quickly annexed Texas and provoked war with Mexico to acquire California and the New Mexico territory. While these triumphs were somewhat diminished by controversy from abolitionists who opposed the spread of slavery into new territories, under Polk’s leadership the dream of “manifest destiny” became a reality, and the United States fully extended its borders from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

   ¹ U.S. President from 1829 to 1837 and War of 1812 hero often referred to as “Old Hickory.”

4. Which choice, if added here, would provide the most relevant detail?

   1. Like the fiery Jackson, Polk was born in North Carolina and moved to Tennessee to begin a political career.
   2. Both men were fiery, aggressive personalities who hailed from North Carolina and later moved to Tennessee to begin their political careers.
   3. Like the fiery Jackson, Polk was born in North Carolina and moved to Tennessee, but unlike Jackson, he did not fight in the War of 1812.
   4. Polk, like Jackson, had antipathy toward the Native Americans of the southeastern United States, and his efforts to remove them defined his career.
5. 1. NO CHANGE
   2. while they agreed on little regarding taxes or the suffrage of frontiersmen, farmers, and workers, both men were known to indulge in Tennessee whiskey.
   3. both men favored lower taxes; championed the frontiersmen, farmers, and workers; and opposed the controversial Bank of the United States.
   4. both men favored lower taxes; championed the frontiersmen, farmers, and workers; and yet they could not agree on the controversial Bank of the United States.

6. Which choice most effectively introduces this paragraph?

   1. NO CHANGE
   2. James Polk’s parents tried to discourage the draw of politics and law, instead urging their eldest son to become a farmer.
   3. Polk married his wife, Sarah Childress, in 1823.
   4. Polk was born in Mecklenburg, North Carolina, in 1795 as the oldest of ten children.

7. Which choice results in a sentence that best supports the point developed in the paragraph and is consistent with the information in the rest of the passage?

   1. NO CHANGE
   2. he married Sarah Childress.
   3. he was elected as governor of Tennessee.
   4. he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives.

8. Which choice most effectively concludes the paragraph and transitions to the following paragraph?

   1. NO CHANGE
   2. Polk was also Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839, an experience that made him wary of wading deeper into national politics.
   3. Polk was also Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839, a post that catapulted him to a position of prominence in politics.
   4. Polk was also Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839, an experience that left his already strained constitution exhausted and forced him into a temporary retirement.

9. Which choice provides the most relevant detail?

   1. NO CHANGE
   2. the leading Democratic candidate was ex-President Martin van Buren and the Whig candidate was Henry Clay.
   3. the issue of slavery’s expansion into new territories began its long stint as the most divisive issue to plague national politics.
   4. both the leading Democratic candidate, ex-President Martin van Buren, and the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, sought to campaign under the banner of “Manifest Destiny” and territorial expansion.
10. 1. NO CHANGE
    2. Polk, against Jackson’s advice, recognized
    3. Polk recognized
    4. Polk, against the wishes of his advisors, recognized

11. Which choice provides the most appropriate introduction to the paragraph?

    1. NO CHANGE
    2. Polk worked tirelessly to expand the borders of the nation.
    3. Polk worked to reign in unchecked expansion of the frontiers.
    4. Polk stopped at nothing short of war to expand the borders of the nation.