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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 7: 1890-1945
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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 9: 1980-Present
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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 9: 1980-Present. Which of the following historical events would undermine the promises made by the Republican Party in i...

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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 9: 1980-Present 241 Views


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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 9: 1980-Present. Which of the following historical events would undermine the promises made by the Republican Party in its Contract with America?

Language:
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Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the Republican party,

00:07

the stateliest get-together of the year.

00:13

All right, first up - the excerpt.

00:14

[ mumbles ]

00:17

[ mumbling continues ] Contract with America.

00:21

All right, and now the question:

00:23

Which of the following historical events would undermine the promises

00:26

made by the Republican party in its Contract with America?

00:29

And here are the potential answers.

00:31

[ mumbling ] Okay.

00:34

Well, what exactly is this question asking?

00:37

Well, the big takeaway from the Contract with America

00:40

was that Republicans wanted

00:42

"the end of government that is too big, too intrusive,

00:44

and too easy with the public's money."

00:47

So that means we need to figure out which answer wouldn't quite

00:50

jive with the Republicans' plan.

00:53

Would A - tax cuts for corporations - have

00:56

undermined the promises made by Republicans in its Contract with America?

01:01

Hmm. Well, the Republican party wanted a smaller, more efficient

01:04

federal government, more transparency,

01:07

and lower taxes, especially for business.

01:10

So A seems quite apropos. How about B -

01:12

cutting the federal deficit? Would that have aligned

01:15

with Republican plans? Oh, you bet.

01:17

Pundits argued that measures like cutting the deficit

01:20

and relaxing regulations would have led to greater job growth

01:23

and overall economic prosperity.

01:28

That means that B and D are both out of the running.

01:30

So the historical event that would have most undermined

01:32

the Republicans' Contract with America must have been C -

01:35

expanding the size of Medicare.

01:38

Republicans believed that cutting taxes for corporations,

01:40

reducing the deficit, and relaxing regulations for large banks

01:43

would all lead to enhanced prosperity,

01:45

rendering social safety nets like Medicare unnecessary.

01:54

So the answer is C.

01:55

Overall, Republicans were concerned about the growth of big government.

01:59

Do you think they felt the same way about

02:01

tall government? Hmm?

02:03

Yeah, maybe.

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