Chapter 2: Critical Junctures

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. The first European explorers to arrive in what is known as California were ______.

A. English

B. French

C. Spanish

D. Dutch

Answer Location: Early California

2. What replaced the major Native American tribal settlements along a road that came to be known as “El Camino Real,” the King’s Highway?

A. small white castles, each dedicated to European monarchs

B. missions

C. presidios only

D. tribal governments

Answer Location: Early California

3. How many missions were established in what is now the state of California?

A. about 10, but most have been destroyed

B. 12: one for each of Jesus’s disciples

C. 21, and most are named for saints

D. 50: one for each large Spanish presidio

Answer Location: Early California

4. When was the first mission built?

A. 1542

B. 1648

C. 1769

D. 1830

Answer Location: Early California

5. Mission complexes functioned primarily as ______.

A. spiritual and religious centers

B. ranches, or rancheros, that served as centers for religious, social, political, and economic activities

C. military establishments

D. hospitals and education centers for Native populations

Answer Location: Early California

6. Until 1821, what country governed the Western lands containing California?

A. England

B. Portugal

C. Mexico

D. Spain

Answer Location: Early California

7. Between 1821 and 1848, the lands containing California became part of which country?

A. Mexico

B. Spain

C. United States

D. Canada

Answer Location: Early California

8. Until 1821, ______ governed the Western lands containing California, and ______ ruled California for the next 20 years (until independence was won and California became a U.S. state).

A. Mexico; Spain

B. Mexico; no one

C. Spain; Mexico

D. Mexico; Native Americans

Answer Location: Early California

9. The treaty that ended the 2-year Mexican-American War in 1848 and transferred California to U.S. power was ______.

A. Treaty with Spain

B. Treaty of Ghent

C. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

D. Treaty of Los Angeles

Answer Location: Early California

10. Presidios were built for the primary purpose of ______.

A. religious instruction

B. social interaction

C. economic development

D. military protection

Answer Location: Early California

11. When was gold discovered in California?

A. at the end of the Mexican-American War around 1848

B. about 100 years before California became a state, when the Spanish ruled California

C. about 50 years after California gained statehood

D. around 1821, when Mexico gained independence from Spain

Answer Location: Early California

12. The first large wave of settlers arrived in California in 1848 as a result of ______.

A. ending the war with Mexico

B. the discovery of gold

C. the opening of the transcontinental railroad

D. statehood

Answer Location: Early California

13. How long has California been a state?

A. about 100 years

B. just over 150 years

C. more than 200 years

D. about 250 years

Answer Location: Early California

14. In what year did California officially become a state?

A. 1769

B. 1850

C. 1880

D. 1912

Answer Location: Early California

15. Which group of laborers were recruited and employed by the railroad companies to lay thousands of miles of track over the West’s rugged terrain?

A. Hispanics/Latinos

B. Chinese

C. ethnic Americans from the Midwest and East

D. Africans

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

16. What did the U.S. government do to encourage the settlement of the West?

A. It gave away millions of acres of land to railroad companies to encourage the development of the West.

B. It fully funded the building of railroads to connect the coasts.

C. It funded the building of more missions.

D. It opened gold mines and put people to work.

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

17. The Big Four (Stanford, Huntington, Crocker, and Hopkins) became powerful due to their ownership of ______.

A. the state’s university system and most supply stores

B. the largest bank in the United States

C. the Western Rail Company

D. the Southern Pacific Railroad

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

18. Which private company was likened to an octopus in a famous cartoon, due to its monopolistic control over all major aspects of economic life in early California including banking, overland and overseas shipping, postal services, lumber, telegraph services, other wholesale industries, and of course, politics?

A. Chevron Corporation

B. DuPont

C. Ford Motor Company

D. The Southern Pacific Railroad

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

19. ______ who came seeking gold or were recruited by the railroad companies to lay railroad track over the West’s rugged terrain endured decades of legal discrimination in California.

A. Mexicans

B. Europeans

C. Native Americans

D. Chinese

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

20. Which of these was famously called the “Octopus” because its influence over virtually every industry in the state was nearly complete?

A. the Southern Pacific

B. the alcohol industry

C. Arnold Schwarzenegger

D. socialism

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

21. What political movement in the early 1900s finally loosened the Southern Pacific’s grip over state politics?

A. socialist

B. communist

C. liberal

D. Progressive

Answer Location: Progressivism

22. Who was California’s most famous Progressive governor?

A. Leland Stanford

B. Hiram Johnson

C. Jess Unruh

D. Artie Samish

Answer Location: Progressivism

23. Two Progressive reforms that aimed to weaken political parties were ______ and ______.

A. women’s suffrage; Alien Land Laws

B. municipal ownership of utilities; Alien Land Laws

C. universal education; women’s suffrage

D. direct primaries; cross-filing

Answer Location: Progressivism

24. The Alien Land Laws instituted during the Progressive era were ______.

A. designed to prevent Asian-born or persons of Asian descent from owning land

B. a form of legal discrimination that reflected Whites’ racial hostility

C. were in place even into the 1950s

D. any of these

Answer Location: Progressivism

25. Civil service replaced what popular political practice?

A. giving government jobs to political party loyalists (patronage)

B. White male suffrage

C. hiring people based on their expertise

D. funding services for the poor through government programs

Answer Location: Progressivism

26. In the era prior to the institution of direct primaries, ______.

A. only self-funded candidates could win elections

B. only nonpartisan candidates could get elected

C. political party bosses controlled elections by selecting candidates and getting them elected

D. none of these

Answer Location: Progressivism

27. One of the ways that political party bosses were able to control elections was through ______.

A. nonpartisanship

B. civil service

C. charging fees to run for office

D. voting that wasn’t secret

Answer Location: Progressivism

28. Direct democracy enabled Californians to ______.

A. participate in nominating candidates for office by voting in party primary elections

B. propose laws and vote on them

C. put party bosses in prison

D. guarantee the public employment of qualified individuals rather than party loyalists

Answer Location: Progressivism

29. Alien Land Laws were designed to prevent ______ from becoming citizens or owning property, and were in effect until ______ in California.

A. persons of Mexican or Spanish descent; the 1880s

B. persons of Asian descent; the 1900s

C. all noncitizen Americans; the 1920s

D. persons of Asian descent; the 1950s

Answer Location: Progressivism

30. Alien Land Laws were in effect until what decade in California?

A. the 1880s

B. the 1900s

C. the 1920s

D. the 1950s

Answer Location: Progressivism

31. By cross-filing, any person could ______.

A. run as a candidate in any political party’s primary election

B. run as a write-in candidate

C. apply to the legislature to fill a vacancy

D. run in the general election

Answer Location: Progressivism

32. Being awarded a government job based on one’s loyalty to a political party is called ______.

A. patronage

B. civil service

C. indirect democracy

D. nonpartisanship

Answer Location: Progressivism

33. Who can be credited with creating California’s “hybrid democracy?”

A. the “Big Four”

B. the Populists

C. Artie Samish

D. the Progressives

Answer Location: Progressivism

34. Prior to the 1960s, cozy relationships developed between legislators and lobbyists because ______.

A. lobbyists helped legislators get elected, and legislators had weak loyalty to political parties

B. legislators wanted to supplement their low wages with gifts of food, drink, and more

C. lobbyists supplied needed information about bills, and legislators lacked staff

D. any of these

Answer Location: The Power of Organized Interests

35. The “Third House” refers to a group of people possessing great political power, functioning like a third chamber of the state legislature. Historically, which group has held this title?

A. lobbyists for special interest groups

B. the Big Four

C. the Democratic Party

D. retired and former legislators

Answer Location: The Power of Organized Interests

36. To what does the term “Third House” refer?

A. retired and former legislators who advise current legislators

B. the state-owned residence in which the governor lives

C. a group that possesses great political power and functions like a third chamber of the state legislature

D. the initiative industry, which employs paid signature gatherers in order to qualify many initiative measures for the ballot

Answer Location: The Power of Organized Interests

37. One of the most powerful lobbyists in California history was ______, head of the liquor and racetrack lobbies who called himself “the governor of the legislature” in the 1940s.

A. Hiram Johnson

B. Artie Samish

C. Jesse Unruh

D. Leland Crocker

Answer Location: The Power of Organized Interests

38. Socialist writer Upton Sinclair won statewide nomination for California governor by representing which party?

A. Republican

B. Democratic

C. Progressives

D. none of these

Answer Location: Growth and Industrialization in the Golden State

39. California’s population significantly increased during the Great Depression, when approximately 350,000 migrants from ______ arrived in search of work.

A. Mexico

B. China, Japan, and Vietnam

C. the Dust Bowl states such as Oklahoma

D. the East Coast

Answer Location: Growth and Industrialization in the Golden State

40. In the postwar “boom” of the 1950s, what U.S. government program was created to help ease labor shortages?

A. Oakie program

B. Bracero program

C. cross-filing program

D. infrastructure program

Answer Location: Growth and Industrialization in the Golden State

41. How did California redesign its legislature as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Reynolds v. Sims (1965)?

A. Representation in the upper house (the Senate) could only be based on county lines.

B. Representation in the lower house (the Assembly) could only be based on county lines.

C. Representation in both houses had to be based on population.

D. none of these

Answer Location: Growth and Industrialization in the Golden State

42. As a result of redistricting after 1965, political influence in the legislature passed from ______.

A. the south to the north

B. rural to urban interests

C. junior to senior legislators

D. the legislature to the governor’s office

Answer Location: Growth and Industrialization in the Golden State

43. After cross-filing was eliminated in the 1950s, which party became dominant?

A. Republican Party

B. Democratic Party

C. Socialist Party

D. Progressive Party

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

44. The state legislature was transformed in 1966 by Proposition 1A, a measure that professionalized the lawmaking body by ______.

A. granting higher salary, more staff, and longer sessions

B. requiring both chambers to be based on population

C. equalizing the number of committees in each chamber

D. imposing term limits on every legislator

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

45. “Professionalization” is a term referring to the transformation of ______ into ______.

A. the redistricting process; a citizen-driven process

B. the legislature; a full-time, well-paid, well-staffed operation

C. the worst-off neighborhoods; gentrified, desirable places to live

D. undocumented persons; assimilated neighborhoods

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

46. Which is the anti-tax initiative that succeeded in 1978, essentially limiting taxes to 1% of a property’s sale price?

A. Proposition 1

B. Proposition 13

C. the DREAM Act

D. the Civil Rights Act

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

47. California’s experimentation with primary elections began with ______ and is currently being tested again with the ______.

A. open primary; closed primary

B. merit-based elections; automatic

C. “select and elect” method; civil service

D. cross-filing; Top-Two

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

48. One consequence of the “Top-Two” primary has been ______.

A. more ideological conservatives are being elected to office

B. the disappearance of party polarization in the legislature

C. candidates from the same party are competing against each other in many November general election races

D. incumbents are losing at higher rates

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

49. Population increases during the latter half of the 20th century reflected migration from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, as well as immigration from ______.

A. Mexico, Central America, and Vietnam

B. Mexico and Europe

C. Mexico and Africa

D. Europe and China

Answer Location: Hyperdiversity in a Modern State

50. Approximately when are (or were) Latinos projected to become an absolute majority (over 50%)?

A. in 2010--they’ve already reached that threshold

B. around 2020

C. around 2050

D. never, because their numbers are declining after hitting a high in 2015

Answer Location: Hyperdiversity in a Modern State

51. As run-down, aging California neighborhoods are revitalized and become thriving, trendy areas that attract higher-income residents, the lower-income residents who previously lived in the area are displaced--a phenomenon known as ______.

A. supermajority status

B. professionalization

C. sanctuary

D. gentrification

Answer Location: Hyperdiversity in a Modern State

52. Demographic change can be seen in public schools, where non-Hispanic Whites constituted approximately ______ of all children enrolled in K-12 schools in 2016–2017.

A. 10%

B. 25%

C. 50%

D. 75%

Answer Location: Hyperdiversity in a Modern State

53. Demographic change can be seen in public schools, where Hispanics/Latinos constituted ______ of all children enrolled in K-12 schools in 2016–2017.

A. 12%

B. 27%

C. 54%

D. 78%

Answer Location: Hyperdiversity in a Modern State

54. In the election to recall Gray Davis in 2003, a total of ______ candidates were listed on the ballot to replace him.

A. two (2)

B. twenty (20)

C. seventy-eight (78)

D. one hundred thirty-five (135)

Answer Location: Recalling a Governor

55. The nation’s first law regulating greenhouse gas emissions was signed into law by Gov. Schwarzenegger, and is titled ______.

A. AB 32

B. Proposition 11

C. the DREAM Act

D. the Clean Air Act

Answer Location: Pushing Ahead with More Reforms

56. Jerry Brown has been allowed to serve a record four terms as governor of California because ______.

A. he served his first two terms before term limits were enacted

B. the term limits law was changed recently to allow governors to serve four terms

C. term limits don’t apply to the governor’s office

D. he switched political parties

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

57. Rebuking the Trump administration, Governor ______ has tried to be an environmental policy leader by establishing agreements with foreign heads of state and advancing California’s greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts.

A. Arnold Schwarzenegger

B. Hiram Johnson

C. Jerry Brown

D. Kamala Harris

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

58. The process of shifting state prison inmates (those who have not committed sexual, violent, or serious crimes) to county jails and parole to reduce state prison overcrowding has been labeled ______.

A. realignment

B. recidivism

C. sanctuary

D. rollback

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

True/False

1. Presidios and missions were built for and served the same purposes.

Answer Location: Early California

2. The political movement that brought direct democracy to California stayed within the state’s borders, and to this day, no other states have direct democracy.

Answer Location: Progressivism

3. Today, some public employees have to take a civil service exam to show that they are qualified for the position, a process that was established by Progressives over 100 years ago.

Answer Location: Progressivism

4. Thanks to the Progressives, candidates for local city councils and school boards run in nonpartisan elections, meaning their party affiliation is not printed next to their names on the ballot.

Answer Location: Progressivism

5. A “nonpartisan” election means that only independents can run for certain elective offices.

Answer Location: Progressivism

6. Women were granted the right to vote in California state elections about 10 years before they were guaranteed the right to vote by the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Answer Location: Progressivism

7. Theoretically, if enough candidates had emerged as “favorites” in the race for governor to replace Gray Davis (2003), Arnold Schwarzenegger could have won by securing less than 10% of the vote--as long as he won the highest percentage of votes among all the candidates.

Answer Location: Recalling a Governor

8. The recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003 was the first successful recall of a governor in the state’s history.

Answer Location: Recalling a Governor

9. Unless the term limits law is changed again, Jerry Brown will be the only person in state history to have served four terms as governor.

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

10. Despite an improving national economy, California’s annual state budget continues to run deficits that range into the billions of dollars.

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

11. Democrats attained supermajority status in both chambers of the legislature in 2012 (and again in 2016), something they hadn’t been able to do since 1883.

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

12. Democrats in the legislature have made life difficult for Governor Jerry Brown, because they have overridden most of his vetoes.

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

13. Republicans in the legislature have made life difficult for Governor Jerry Brown, because they have been able to stop or delay the passage of the annual state budget until their demands have been met.

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

Short Answer

1. Laws that prevented persons of Asian descent from becoming citizens or owning property were known as ______.

Answer Location: Progressivism

2. The fastest-growing ethnic group in California (in 2017) is ______.

Answer Location: Hyperdiversity in a Modern State

Essay

1. What is a presidio?

Answer Location: Early California

2. Why was the opening of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 so significant?

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

3. Four men became extremely wealthy and powerful as a result of their ownership of the Southern Pacific, and were known as the “Big Four.” Name two of them.

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

4. Why was the Southern Pacific Railroad compared to an octopus?

Answer Location: The Rise of the Southern Pacific Railroad

5. Describe the political reforms established by the Progressives who dominated state government from 1911 to 1917.

Answer Location: Progressivism

6. Name four Progressive era reforms that were designed to disable political parties.

Answer Location: Progressivism

7. Explain how Progressives helped to trigger California’s first “giant political earthquake.”

Answer Location: Progressivism

8. Proposition 1A professionalized the lawmaking body by endowing it with which “three S’s?”

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

9. What were the reasons behind “professionalizing” California’s legislature in 1966?

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

10. Why was the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 so significant?

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold

11. In what major ways will racial and ethnic diversification continue to have important political dimensions?

Answer Location: Hyperdiversity in a Modern State

12. What kinds of ballot initiatives have targeted immigrants? Mention at least two.

Answer Location: Hyperdiversity in a Modern State

13. Did advocates for Proposition 14, the Top Two primary, achieve their goals?

Answer Location: Pushing Ahead with More Reforms

14. Why is holding a supermajority of seats in the legislature so significant for a political party in California?

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown

15. Why was Governor Gray Davis recalled?

Answer Location: Recalling a Governor

16. Apart from the circus-like nature of the event, how did the recall election differ from a regular election? In what respects was it similar to a regular election?

Answer Location: Recalling a Governor

17. Describe the political earthquakes that have “rocked” California throughout her statehood. What have been the political consequences of those upheavals?

Long-lasting impacts or consequences: Weak party identification among the electorate, because parties were prevented from having controlling influence over elections, and did everything in their power to eliminate partisanship from elections (nonpartisan local elections; instituting primary elections; establishing cross-filing). Political parties could not control voters’ choices, and along with cross-filing, parties did not organize or provide strong structure in the legislature until the late 1960s (legislative partisanship and polarization are strong today). Reconfigured relationships between voters and their state government by creating new forms of participation, whereby voters have the ability to bypass the legislature to make laws (through direct democracy). Lingering resentment toward politicians, and continued attempts (i.e., using the initiative process, recall, and referenda) to constrain their behavior and activity.

Answer Location: Early California | Progressivism | Growth and Industrialization in the Golden State | The Initiative Process Takes Hold | Pushing Ahead with More Reforms

18. What significant elections-related changes have been brought about by election-related initiatives passed in 2008 and 2010?

Answer Location: Pushing Ahead with More Reforms

19. In what specific, significant ways have voters tried to reshape the relationship between citizens and their representatives?

Specifically, although the initiative and referendum (instruments of direct democracy) were initially signed into law by Gov. Hiram Johnson during the Progressive Era in 1911, these processes have allowed citizens to assert their power by competing with and also overriding the legislature to make laws. The recall imposed the ultimate threat to elected officials by reminding them that they could be discharged from office should they anger voters with their actions, as the recall of Gray Davis (in 2003) shows.

Proposition 1A’s professionalization of the legislature was intended to loosen the ties between legislators and lobbyists, and by implication, redirect their attention to public interests and thereby strengthen their connections with citizens. The success of the anti-tax measure, Proposition 13, reminded legislators that citizens were “in charge,” and limited elected officials’ ability to raise taxes without gathering supermajority support (though this is merely an indirect way of “controlling” legislators’ behavior). Term limits (Proposition 140) established the rule that representatives could not make a career of legislative service, and sent the message that representatives could not be trusted with a long career. Other voter initiatives have targeted how public officials are elected: open primary elections, tested in 1998 with the blanket primary (but overturned by the Supreme Court), and the “Top-Two” primary election version, allow all voters to choose from among all nominees for office, a process that underlines representatives’ obligations to all voters. The creation of a citizens’ redistricting commission underscores citizens’ distrust of politicians over their perceived ability to “control” electoral outcomes. Placing redistricting in an unelected board, subject to many layers of review, is expected to influence the type of person who is ultimately elected. Voters have hoped to secure representatives who reflect the overall ideological sentiments of their district, rather than the ideas of the most extreme members; implicitly, this would create a legislature more responsive to “average” people, who are not strong partisans.

Answer Location: The Initiative Process Takes Hold | Pushing Ahead with More Reforms

20. Name a few of the laws that Governor Jerry Brown and the legislature have established recently.

Answer Location: The Return of Jerry Brown