All GED Social Studies Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #26 : United States History
What was the name given to a grant from the English King to establish a colony in the New World in the years before independence?
charter.
reproachment.
appellate.
pact.
embargo.
charter.
A charter was a legal document granted by the English King, or British government, that granted an individual or corporation the right to establish a colony in the New World in the years before independence. There were different types of charters—proprietary charters gave control of land to one man, who was effectively autonomous but owed allegiance to the British crown; a joint stock charter allowed a corporation, or group of individuals, collectively to own land and establish a colony; royal charters created colonies directly controlled by the crown.
Example Question #1 : Other Revolutionary History
American attempts to ensure safe passage for American merchants by engaging the US Navy with the pirate fleets of North Africa were called __________.
The XYZ Affair
The Wars of Impressment
The Gulf Wars
The Spanish-American War
The Barbary Wars
The Barbary Wars
The Barbary Wars, first in 1801, during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, and again in 1815, during the presidency of James Madison, were fought to ensure safe and free passage for American merchant ships in North Africa. At the time American merchant ships were subject to harassment and capture by pirate ships in the Mediterranean, near North Africa. The Barbary Wars were fought by the United States Navy against these pirates and resulted in an American victory.
Example Question #2 : Other Revolutionary History
The Proclamation of 1763 declared that __________.
American colonists had to quarter British troops in their houses during wartime and occasionally in peacetime
the American population was in open rebellion against the British government
American colonists could not settle beyond the Appalachian mountains
the financial burden for the French-Indian War would be assumed by the British population
American colonists could not purchase goods that were not sold or manufactured in Great Britain
American colonists could not settle beyond the Appalachian mountains
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by the British government very shortly after the French-Indian War ended. It stated that the American colonists were now prohibited from settling beyond the Appalachian Mountains. This was done mostly to appease the Native-American allies of the British government, but it greatly angered the colonists. The end of the French-Indian War is considered the turning point that led to the American Revolution. Because the victory of the British over the French removed the threat of French invasion of the American colonies, the colonists no longer had to rely on British protection; furthermore, the British government felt that the colonists ought to be paying the cost of defending their lands, whereas the colonists felt that the British government had no right to tax them without allowing them representation in government. This situation led to a rapid and significant loss of faith between the two peoples, and revolution broke out a little more than a decade later.
Example Question #3 : Other Revolutionary History
Which of these English laws most directly led to the First Continental Congress?
The Stamp Act
The Tea Act
The Impressment Acts
The Sugar Act
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were passed by the British Empire in the wake of the Boston Tea Party and were designed to deter future potential rebels from contemplating revolution; however, this only served to heighten the angered feelings of the colonists and contributed directly to the calling together of the First Continental Congress.