Topic 4 AP Exam Practice
Multiple-Choice Questions
Questions 1 to 3 refer to the passage below.
“The economic relations of Russia with western Europe are fully comparable to the relations of colonial countries with their metropolises. The latter consider their colonies as advantageous markets in which they can freely sell the products of their labor and of their industry and from which they can draw with a powerful hand the raw materials necessary for them. This is the basis of the economic power of the governments of western Europe, and chiefly for that end do they guard their existing colonies or acquire new ones. Russia was, and to a considerable extent still is, such a hospitable colony for all industrially developed states, generously providing them with the cheap products of her soil and buying dearly the products of their labor.
But there is a radical difference between Russia and a colony: Russia is an independent and strong power. She has the right and the strength not to want to be the eternal handmaiden of states which are more developed economically. She should know the price of her raw materials and of the natural riches hidden in the womb of her abundant territories, and she is conscious of the great, not yet fully displayed, capacity for work among her people. She is proud of her great might, by which she jealously guards not only the political but also the economic independence of her empire. She wants to be a metropolis herself. On the basis of the people’s labor, liberated from the bonds of serfdom, there began to grow our own national economy, which bids fair to become a reliable counterweight to the domination of foreign industry.”
Sergei Witte, Russian finance minister, secret report to Tsar
Nicholas II on industrialization, 1899
1. In the above passage, what policy is the Russian Minister of Finance urging?
- (A) Maintaining current political and commercial relationships
- (B) Supporting independent Russian industrial development
- (C) Relying on foreign industry for economic growth
- (D) Using military strength to prevent foreign industrial domination
2. What shift in economic focus did the emancipation of the serfs foster?
- (A) It created a pool of laborers who could more easily move to cities and work in industry.
- (B) It increased the power of nobles who could then travel more widely and bring new ideas to Russia.
- (C) It encouraged population growth, which increased tax revenues.
- (D) It established a new consumer base that could afford to purchase imported manufactured goods.
3. What was a critical strategy in the industrialization of Russia?
- (A) building an infrastructure of canals
- (B) controlling the settlement of Siberia
- (C) expanding the national railroad network
- (D) developing a free trade policy
Short-Answer Questions
1. Use the passage below to answer all parts of the question that follows.
“By this oath we set up as our aim the establishment of the national weal on a broad basis and framing of a constitution and laws.
1. Deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by public discussion.
2. All classes, high and low, shall unite in vigorously carrying out the administration of affairs of state.
3. The common people, no less than the civil and military officials, shall each be allowed to pursue his own calling so that there may be no discontent.
4. Evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the just laws of Nature.
5. Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule.”
The Charter Oath of the Meiji Restoration, 1868
2. Answer all parts of the question that follows.