Analyzing Central Ideas in a Historical Speech — Quiz
Question 9 • English Language Arts 10
Read the excerpt from "We Are Determined Not to Sell Our Lands." Brother, you want us to travel with you and look for new lands. If we should sell our lands and move off into a distant country towards the setting sun, we should be looked upon in the country to which we go as foreigners and strangers. We should be despised by the red as well as the white men, and we should soon be surrounded by the white people, who will there also kill our game and come upon our lands and try to get them from us. Which is the central idea of this excerpt?
Answer
A
Moving west will cause similar problems.
B
Settlers will compete with Indigenous people for game.
C
The west is full of foreigners.
D
The US government wants the tribes to move farther west.
Explanation
The speaker argues that moving west would not solve the tribe’s problems: they would be treated as strangers and eventually surrounded by white settlers who would take their game and land. This makes the central idea that moving west will cause similar problems. Choice B mentions one specific concern, but the excerpt presents it as part of the broader warning about moving.
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