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Playlist U.S. History: 1980 – Present 10 videos
AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 9: 1980-Present. The success of the Republican Party's fiscal policies in the 1980s and 1990s was accompanied by...what?
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...
AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 9: 1980-Present. Reagan's statement reflects what shift in American relations with regards to the Soviet Union?
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?
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 ]
Full Transcript
- 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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