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History & Theory
Q:
What prompted the birth of the Republican Party?
Q:
How did the issue of slavery intersect with American foreign policy in the 1850s?
Q:
Explain the impact of the Fugitive Slave Act on the North in the wake of the Compromise of 1850.
Q:
After secession began in 1860, the proposed constitutional amendment which would have guaranteed the future existence of slavery south of the old Missouri Compromise line was the __________.
A) Compromise of 1860
B) Crittenden Compromise
C) Douglas Amendment
D) Lincoln-Buchanan Compromise
Q:
When the states of the lower South seceded, __________.
A) Buchanan declared secession illegal and boldly rallied the Unionists in the South to prevent it
B) Lincoln thought secession a bluff and announced no plans to deal with it before assuming office
C) Congress passed, and Buchanan signed, the Crittenden Compromise, guaranteeing the future security of slavery
D) Lincoln indicated his willingness to compromise on extending slavery in the territories
Q:
"We must either submit to degradation, and to the loss of property worth four billions, or we must secede." What is the source of this quote?
A) the Mississippi convention
B) the Crittenden Compromise
C) Virginia"s "Declaration of Causes of Secession"
D) John C. Calhoun's A Disquisition on Government
Q:
Among the most basic justifications for the secession of the South were the __________.
A) traditional civil rights arguments
B) Republicans' refusal to support constitutional protections for slavery
C) fears of the overpowering Northern economy
D) promises of aid from England and France
Q:
Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 with a __________.
A) thin majority of the popular vote
B) plurality of the popular vote
C) plurality of the Electoral College
D) overwhelming majority of the popular vote
Q:
Which of the following happened in the election of 1860?
A) Lincoln campaigned actively, stressing his opposition to slavery in the territories.
B) Southern Democrats swallowed their personal dislike of Douglas and supported him as the last chance to save the Union.
C) John Bell demanded that the future extension of slavery be guaranteed.
D) Douglas realized he would lose, rose above ambition, and appealed to voters, both North and South, to stand by the Union.
Q:
In the election of 1860, the __________ Party nominated John Bell for president and ignored the conflicts rending the nation.
A) Democratic (Southern)
B) Constitutional Union
C) Democratic (Northern)
D) Republican
Q:
Lincoln was nominated for president in 1860 in part because of his __________.
A) position as the front-runner
B) extensive experience in the House of Representatives
C) excellent team of convention managers
D) support from the Whigs and Know-Nothings
Q:
The Constitutional Union Party had their greatest support in the 1860 election in the __________.
A) western states of Oregon and California
B) southern states of Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama
C) northeastern states of Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire
D) border states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee
Q:
In 1860, the Democratic Party __________.
A) held two conventions, but united and nominated Stephen Douglas for president
B) collapsed completely and was unable to nominate any presidential candidate
C) held two conventions and split into a northern and a southern faction
D) nominated and elected Abraham Lincoln as president
Q:
In The Impending Crisis of the South, Hinton R. Helper __________.
A) alarmed Southerners when he argued that the South would face a severe labor shortage without international slave imports
B) treated John Brown as a saint and pioneer for universal human rights
C) supported the Crittenden amendment to the Constitution
D) alarmed Southerners with his claim that slavery was ruining Southern economy and society
Q:
Which of the following statements best summarizes John Brown's final statement in his trial for the raid on Harper's Ferry?
A) I am innocent of the charges.
B) Please spare my life.
C) I am ready to die for a good cause.
D) You will go hell for killing me.
Q:
Before John Brown was executed by Virginia for treason, conspiracy, and murder, __________.
A) he behaved like a madman
B) the numerous other plots of his followers were uncovered
C) he behaved with such enormous dignity that many Northerners saw him as a martyr
D) his dramatic confessions implicated numerous abolitionists in his attack on Harpers Ferry
Q:
What was John Brown's major goal in attacking Harpers Ferry?
A) to keep slavery out of Kansas
B) to seize the federal arsenal and arm the slaves
C) to cut communications between Washington and the South
D) to punish the citizens for their support of slave catchers
Q:
What significance did the Freeport Doctrine have for the political career of Stephen Douglas?
A) It made him unelectable in the South.
B) It forever ruined his chances to win the support of Northern Democrats.
C) It made him the hero of the western territories.
D) It closed the gap between him and his Republican rival Abraham Lincoln.
Q:
During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas argued that territories could circumvent the Dred Scott decision by not enacting the laws necessary for slavery. This was called the __________.
A) Ostend Manifesto
B) Peoria Doctrine
C) Freeport Doctrine
D) Dred Scott Proviso
Q:
During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln __________.
A) supported both political equality for blacks and the Dred Scott decision
B) portrayed Douglas as an opponent of the Dred Scott decision
C) opposed both slavery and social and political equality for blacks
D) supported repealing the Fugitive Slave Act
Q:
In the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas set out to make Lincoln look like an __________.
A) abolitionist
B) ardent Free Soiler
C) eastern elitist
D) opportunist
Q:
Abraham Lincoln took a __________ view of the slavery controversy.
A) realistic
B) visionary
C) intolerant
D) indifferent
Q:
What did many Northerners believed about the Panic of 1857?
A) It was caused by the southern-dominated Congress.
B) It resulted from "Bleeding Kansas."
C) It was brought on by the Dred Scott decision.
D) It proved that Buchanan's economic policies threatened to bankrupt the nation.
Q:
Buchanan's reaction to the Lecompton constitution was to __________.
A) support it because it provided for the gradual emancipation of slaves in Kansas
B) support it as a perfect example of popular sovereignty
C) refuse to submit it to Congress because it permitted slavery
D) support it despite the fraud perpetrated by the proslavery faction
Q:
The Lecompton constitution caused a complete break between President Buchanan and which former political ally?
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Stephen Douglas
C) Jefferson Davis
D) Charles Sumner
Q:
What was a major implication of the Dred Scott decision?
A) Slavery was a nationwide institution, excluded only where states specifically abolished it.
B) Only a territorial legislature could follow the principle of popular sovereignty.
C) Only Congress could exclude slavery from a territory.
D) Slavery was a state institution, legal only where states specifically adopted it.
Q:
In the Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the __________ was unconstitutional.
A) Missouri Compromise
B) Kansas-Nebraska Act
C) Compromise of 1850
D) Fugitive Slave Act
Q:
In his decision on the Dred Scott case, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Roger Taney argued that the Missouri Compromise __________.
A) violated the due process of law
B) needed to be preserved for the sake of the union
C) was an abolitionist conspiracy
D) validated the concept of popular sovereignty
Q:
What was the main reason James Buchanan received the Democratic presidential nomination in 1856?
A) He took a strong stand for the extension of slavery.
B) He had a moderate stand on slavery, even though he was a Southerner.
C) He was overseas during the bitter debate over Kansas.
D) He had almost no political experience and therefore no political baggage.
Q:
Senator Charles Sumner was beaten unconscious by a member of the House of Representatives after __________.
A) he gave his "The Crime Against Kansas" speech
B) he himself had assaulted a Senator from South Carolina
C) the sacking of Lawrence in Kansas in 1856
D) he had openly protested the capture of the free African American Anthony Burns in Boston
Q:
The main responsibility for "bleeding Kansas" rested upon which of the following?
A) Missouri border ruffians who mercilessly attacked the free state partisans
B) the Pierce administration, which failed to secure honest elections
C) abolitionist fanatics such as John Brown who were unwilling to compromise their principles and were willing to resort to violence
D) the Buchanan administration, which refused to ensure honest elections because that might alienate the South
Q:
Why did John Brown kill five proslavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek in May 1856?
A) He was mentally ill and believed God had told him to do it.
B) He was avenging the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, earlier that month.
C) He was planning on starting a slave rebellion in Kansas.
D) The group had attacked his family farm earlier in the month.
Q:
What was a major cause of the disorder in Kansas?
A) continued resistance of Native Americans
B) immigration of numerous free blacks
C) meddling by Congress in local affairs
D) interference from outsiders on the slavery issue
Q:
Which proslavery state bordered Kansas Territory on the east?
A) Illinois
B) Missouri
C) Nebraska
D) Arkansas
Q:
The early settlers in Kansas __________.
A) were not strongly interested in the slavery question
B) owned large numbers of slaves
C) believed slavery should be abolished
D) moved there specifically because of the controversy over slavery
Q:
With what was the American Party most closely associated?
A) national unity
B) constitutionalism
C) nativism
D) western expansion
Q:
Northern feelings seemed to reach a boiling point on the Fugitive Slave Law with the arrest and return of __________.
A) William and Ellen Craft
B) Frederick Jenkins
C) Euphemia Williams
D) Anthony Burns
Q:
Which of the following was the "greatest single step" toward the American Civil War?
A) Fugitive Slave Act
B) Missouri Compromise
C) Kansas-Nebraska Act
D) Compromise of 1850
Q:
Stephen Douglas staunchly believed that the slavery question in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska should be resolved by __________.
A) protecting slavery
B) the Supreme Court
C) banning slavery
D) popular sovereignty
Q:
Stephen Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 partly because of his __________.
A) plans for a transcontinental railroad
B) desire to embarrass President Pierce
C) dramatic religious conversion
D) desire to placate the South
Q:
During the election of 1852, both major political parties __________.
A) rejected the Ostend Manifesto
B) attacked the Compromise of 1850
C) supported the Compromise of 1850
D) avoided taking a stand on the Compromise of 1850
Q:
The Underground Railroad __________.
A) was well-organized and extensive in both the North and the South
B) helped slaves escape to Mexico
C) endangered slavery by its explicit challenge to the South
D) aided tens of thousands of escaping slaves each year
Q:
Stephen A. Douglas believed that Congress should be concerned primarily with which of the following?
A) balancing the federal budget
B) the prohibition of slavery in the territories
C) the establishment of a plan for gradual, compensated emancipation of slaves
D) the expansion of the nation
Q:
Why was Stephen Douglas known as "the Little Giant"?
A) Although almost 6"²4"³, his thin voice and weak features made him an unimpressive figure.
B) He commanded an imposing presence even though he was very short.
C) Despite his modest demeanor, he quietly arranged political victories behind the scenes.
D) A political loud-mouth and bragger, he never sponsored a single bill in his political career.
Q:
On what issue had Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas disagreed early on?
A) the nullification crisis
B) the importance of railroads
C) the value of western land
D) the Mexican War
Q:
The expansionist mood of "Young America" best explains which of the following?
A) the numerous utopian communities such as the Shakers
B) Lincoln's election as president
C) the flood of new immigrants
D) Commodore Perry's expedition to Japan
Q:
The Ostend Manifesto was an American statement that America should buy or seize __________.
A) Panama
B) Hawaii
C) Mexico
D) Cuba
Q:
The United States attempted to establish some control over a future canal across the isthmus of Central America by negotiating with which country?
A) France
B) Spain
C) Great Britain
D) Germany
Q:
In contrast to popular perceptions, the Underground Railroad __________.
A) was quite extensive and transported thousands of slaves out of captivity every year
B) mostly channeled runaway slaves from the South westward
C) was not as organized or extensive as the metaphor suggests
D) had less to do with slavery and more with the smuggling of illegal goods
Q:
Stephen A. Douglas was most comparable to which prominent political figure of the antebellum years?
A) John C. Calhoun
B) Henry Clay
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) Andrew Jackson
Q:
Why did Harriet Beecher Stowe write Uncle Tom's Cabin?
A) Her visit with relatives in Georgia exposed her to the evils of slavery.
B) The daughter of an ardent abolitionist preacher, she had grown up to be a vigorous critic of slavery.
C) Her travels with her merchant husband first introduced her to the evils of the slave trade.
D) The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 had roused her conscience and prompted her to turn to writing.
Q:
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, __________, brought home the evils of slavery to many in the North.
A) Uncle Tom's Cabin
B) The Impending Crisis
C) Twelve Years a Slave
D) Below the Mason-Dixon Line
Q:
What was a result of the new fugitive slave law from the Compromise of 1850?
A) Many Northerners were outraged at the sight of people being forced to return to slavery.
B) Abolitionists no longer aided runaway slaves.
C) State governments in Massachusetts and Wisconsin actively helped capture runaway slaves.
D) The Underground Railroad was destroyed.
Q:
What prompted the rising tensions among the sections on the eve of the Civil War?
Q:
What changes did the railroad bring to the Northern economy?
Q:
How did industrialization change the lives of Northern working people?
Q:
Explain how the institution of slavery shaped southern economic development between the 1820s and 1850s.
Q:
Describe how the institution of slavery shaped the lives of black families in the South.
Q:
Between the mid-1840s and the mid-1850s, the American economy __________.
A) experienced one of the most remarkable periods of growth in the history of the world
B) continued to stagnate as the result of the Panic of 1837
C) reflected the general mood of caution and pessimism
D) suffered a series of severe depressions which halted and reversed previous economic progress
Q:
What was thefundamental cause of the South's lack of railroad construction?
A) competition from already-existing canals
B) the tendency of Southern capitalists to invest in land and slaves rather than commerce or industry
C) heavy concentration of the southern population in coastal cities
D) the irrational caution of its leaders after their initial heavy investments in commerce and industry lost millions of dollars
Q:
Why was the South particularly backward in railroad construction?
A) It had a scattered population.
B) It used slave labor.
C) It had too many large cities.
D) It did not have seasonal fluctuations in its freight traffic.
Q:
An economic cause of increasing sectional conflict on the eve of the Civil War was the decreasing importance of the __________.
A) canal system
B) cotton crop on the foreign market
C) southern wheat crop
D) Mississippi River
Q:
Why did Americans seek land in the prairie West during the 1840s and 1850s?
A) They were looking for cheap land on which to buy their homes.
B) They were looking for sites to establish self-sufficient communities.
C) They were hoping to rival the southern cotton empire.
D) They wanted to take advantage of higher prices in commercial agriculture.
Q:
Which businesses transformed the economy by encouraging regional concentration of industry and by employing large numbers of salaried managers and developing complex internal structures?
A) slave traders
B) railroads
C) textile mills
D) banks
Q:
What made the invention of the mechanical reaper so significant?
A) Few machines had been able to harvest cotton efficiently before.
B) Farmers could benefit even if they had only very small amounts of land.
C) It allowed farmers to bring in the harvest far more quickly.
D) It addressed the chronic labor shortage in the upper Mississippi Valley.
Q:
Invented by John Deere, the first tool that helped to ease the labor shortage in the upper Mississippi Valley was the __________.
A) steam thresher
B) steel plowshare
C) dairy centrifuge
D) combine
Q:
On the eve of the Civil War, railroads in the South __________.
A) were still scarce
B) had made Mississippi River boats redundant
C) led to the rapid industrialization of the Atlantic seaboard
D) were used predominantly for the transportation of slaves
Q:
What was one negative by-product of railroad construction in the mid-1800s?
A) crooked practices by those more interested in making money than the development of the rail lines
B) the shortage of the necessary natural resources such as iron and steel
C) the refusal of Congress to approve federal land grants
D) the decrease in private funding after the federal government began providing money for construction
Q:
Which of the following accurately describes the economic function of the Illinois Central railroad?
A) The line connected the Great Lakes region with the South.
B) The railroad served the backbone of central Canada's lumber exports to Chicago.
C) The railroad channeled the agricultural output of the prairies into Chicago.
D) The railroad provided regular passenger service from Chicago to New York.
Q:
Public aid for railroad financing before 1860 __________.
A) did not occur
B) paid for about three-fourths of all railroad constructions
C) included special exemptions from taxation and the right to condemn property
D) was strongly resisted by almost all levels of government
Q:
Before 1860, about three-fourths of all the money invested in railroads came from __________.
A) private investors
B) state governments
C) the federal government
D) foreign investors
Q:
Railroad growth in the early part of the nineteenth century lagged due to __________.
A) direct competition with canals and riverboats
B) engineering problems related to the diverse American topography
C) excessive government regulation
D) the poor quality of American iron and steel
Q:
The first railroad to begin operating in the United States was the __________ Railroad.
A) Boston and Worcester
B) Charleston-Hamburg
C) Baltimore and Ohio
D) New York and Erie
Q:
Why did steamships conquer the Atlantic routes far more slowly than the shorter river routes?
A) Steam technology was still not reliable enough for oceanic travel.
B) The average speed of sailing ships remained superior on oceanic routes.
C) Oceanic steamships used a much larger share of their cargo capacity for fuel.
D) Conflicts over patents and preferred shipping companies turned steam travel between the United States and Europe into a political quagmire.
Q:
Why were clipper ships popular?
A) They carried bulky loads, the mainstay of commerce.
B) They were superior to British steamships.
C) They carried cash crops from Southern ports.
D) They provided fast oceanic transportation.
Q:
From 1830 to 1860, New Bedford was the center of American __________.
A) textile mills
B) whaling
C) trans-Atlantic shipping
D) steamboat construction
Q:
The major paradox of American society before the Civil War was that most Americans continued to __________.
A) believe in egalitarian democracy, even though society was becoming more stratified and the economic and social distances between the top and bottom of society were growing
B) claim they were Christians, even though the percentage who were active church members was declining dramatically
C) vote and have faith in the national government, even though it avoided the divisive sectional issues of the day
D) think of themselves as immigrants, even though they no longer retained any cultural traditions of their country of origin
Q:
The growth of American unions in the antebellum era was retarded by which of the following?
A) widespread employment of women and children in unskilled jobs
B) workers' class consciousness of themselves as an industrial proletariat
C) traditional European values shared by many immigrants
D) the lack of opportunity for most workers to better their lives
Q:
Why was there no general trend toward the unionization of labor between 1820 and the Civil War?
A) The Panic of 1837 dealt the movement a severe blow.
B) The competition of southern slavery undermined the labor movement.
C) Chronic unemployment and lack of development prevented the prosperity of industry and labor.
D) American businesses responded to labor organizations by moving their factories to the far West.
Q:
How did unions first become legal in the United States?
A) They were found to be legal forms of organization in a state court.
B) Congress passed a law that legalized unions.
C) The president urged American workers to join unions.
D) States ratified a constitutional amendment that affirmed the right to organize.