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26. The correct answer is (D). In 1908, the Democratic party, which represented the progressive impulse,
tallied 6.4 million votes. In 1912, the platforms of the Democrats and the Progressives were very simi-
lar, differing only on the question of how the government should control business to solve the trust

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U.S History Subject Test
141
ARCO
■ SAT II Subject Tests
w w w . p e t e r s o n s . c o m / a r c o
problem. Thus, voters in 1912 were able to vote for progressive principles by choosing either the Demo-
crats or the Progressives. Together, those two parties tallied 10.4 million votes. The increase of 4 million
votes shows an increased acceptance of principles of the progressive movement.
27. The correct answer is (C). In 1818, when Missouri applied for statehood, the Union consisted of 20
states, 10 in which slavery was legal and 10 in which it was not. A New York legislator introduced an
amendment to the statehood bill that would effectively have banned slavery in the new state and in
what remained of the Louisiana Purchase territory. The nation was divided along sectional lines on
this issue with the northern states supporting such a restriction and the southern states opposing it.
The bill failed to pass, and the issue came up again in the Congress of 1819. The outcome was the
Missouri Compromise. With Massachusetts’ consent, the northeastern counties of Massachusetts
applied for statehood. Both Missouri and Maine were admitted to the Union, and each state was left
to decide the status of slavery within its boundaries. As a result, the balance between free and slave
states was maintained. In addition, slavery was prohibited in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase
territory north of the parallel 36
°
30
′.
28. The correct answer is (B). The Constitution did not permanently fix the number of Congressional
representatives. The original House met in 1789 with a total of 65 members, and in 1929, Congress
fixed the number of representatives at 435. Populations, however, shift; states gain and lose popula-
tion in relation to one another. This shifting requires adjustments in the distribution of the number of
representatives of each of the states. This process, called reapportionment, takes place every ten years
and is prepared by the Bureau of Census and submitted for Congressional approval. It is then the
state’s responsibility to draw the boundaries of the Congressional districts within its borders.
Obviously, there will be a temptation for the party in power to create districts to favor members
of its party. The dominant party might, for example, create a district in which it gets a majority of the
votes, thereby creating a “safe” Congressional seat for the party. Or, it might sacrifice a seat by
creating a district in which opposition voters were highly concentrated. By giving up the one seat, it
stands a better chance of success in the other districts in the state.
In 1812, to create a district favoring Governor Elbridge Gerry, the Massachusetts legislature drew a
particularly bizarre looking Congressional district. Thus, the practice is called “gerrymandering.”
In the first half of the 1960s, the Supreme Court acted to curb the worst of these abuses. It
required that “as nearly as is practicable, one man’s vote in a congressional election is to be worth as
much as another’s.” This is the doctrine of “one man, one vote.”