Deck 18: Renewing the Sectional Struggle, 1848-1854

Question 1

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Stephen A. Douglas

Answer 1

Student answers will vary.

Question 2

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Winfield Scott

Answer 2

Student answers will vary.

Question 3

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Martin Van Buren

Answer 3

Student answers will vary.

Question 4

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Free Soil party

Question 5

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
John C. Calhoun

Question 6

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Harriet Tubman

Question 7

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Millard Fillmore

Question 8

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Henry Clay

Question 9

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Zachary Taylor

Question 10

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
William Walker

Question 11

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Lewis Cass

Question 12

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
​Caleb Cushing

Question 13

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Matthew C. Perry

Question 14

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
James Gadsden

Question 15

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
William H. Seward

Question 16

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
popular sovereignty

Question 17

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Franklin Pierce

Question 18

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
filibustering

Question 19

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
​California gold rush

Question 20

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Daniel Webster

Question 21

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"personal liberty laws"

Question 22

In order to maintain the two great political parties as vital bonds of national unity, party leaders in the late 1840s

A)called for the banning of slavery from all United States territories.
B)called for allowing slavery into all United States territories.
C)avoided a full public discussion of and debate about slavery.
D)banished abolitionists from membership in either national party.
E)worked to make the creation of third parties almost impossible.

Question 23

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"fire eaters"

Question 24

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Underground Railroad

Question 25

Congress Legislates a Civil War

____ Kansas Territory

Question 26

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Treaty of Wanghia

Question 27

Congress Legislates a Civil War

____ Nebraska Territory

Question 28

Congress Legislates a Civil War

____ California

Question 29

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Compromise of 1850

Question 30

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

Question 31

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Ostend Manifesto

Question 32

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
​Treaty of Kangawa

Question 33

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Kansas-Nebraska Act

Question 34

Congress Legislates a Civil War

____ Washington, D.C.

Question 35

Congress Legislates a Civil War

____ Gadsden Purchase

Question 36

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
​Treaty of Wanghia

Question 37

Congress Legislates a Civil War

____ Nashville

Question 38

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
​Opium War

Question 39

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

Question 40

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Gadsden Purchase

Question 41

The event that threatened to destroy the longstanding balance of free and slave states in the United States Senate was the

A)passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
B)potential admission of Oregon as a free state.
C)attempt to acquire Cuba as a slave state.
D)proposed building of a southern transcontinental railroad.
E)discovery of gold in California and its bid for statehood.

Question 42

The Wilmot Proviso, if adopted, would have

A)prevented the taking of any territory from Mexico.
B)required California to enter the Union as a slave state.
C)overturned the Fugitive Slave Law.
D)prohibited slavery in any territory acquired in the Mexican War.
E)authorized slavery in any territory acquired in the Mexican War.

Question 43

Harriet Tubman gained fame

A)by helping slaves to escape to Canada.
B)in the gold fields of California.
C)as an African American antislavery novelist.
D)as an advocate of the Fugitive Slave Law.
E)by urging white women to oppose slavery.

Question 44

In 1848, the Free Soil party platform advocated all of the following except

A)support of the Wilmot Proviso.
B)federal aid for internal improvements.
C)free government homesteads for settlers.
D)opposition to slavery in the territories.
E)permitting slavery in selected western territories acquired through the Mexican War.

Question 45

According to the principle of popular sovereignty, the question of slavery in the territories should be determined by

A)an elected territorial governor.
B)a national referendum of all citizens of states and territorial residents in America.
C)congressional legislation.
D)a Supreme Court decision.
E)the self-determination of people in any given territory.

Question 46

The two major parties kept the focus on the 1848 presidential election campaign on

A)the personalities of Senator Cass and General Taylor.
B)addressing the slavery issue through popular sovereignty.
C)further expansion into Cuba and Central America.
D)Indian removal and homesteading.
E)the poor state of the economy and protective tariffs.

Question 47

The Free Soil party of 1848 harbored many northerners who stood squarely against slavery in the territories primarily on the grounds that

A)further expansion of slavery might break up the union.
B)it destroyed the chances of free white workers to rise up from wage-earning dependence.
C)slavery was a moral evil contrary to American principles.
D)slave labor would be unproductive in the West.
E)the southern fire-eaters were already planning further expansion into Central America.

Question 48

The Free Soilers were most concerned that one of the adverse long-term effects of extending slavery in the western territories would

A)be an indefinite delay in the admission of western territories as states in the union.
B)cause costly wage labor to wither away and, thus, close the opportunity for the American worker to own property.
C)enable, through enhanced profits, and permit small farmers to purchase more land.
D)be to undermine the moral case against slavery.
E)None of these choices are correct.

Question 49

With the discovery of gold near Sutter's Mill, California, in 1848, all of the following took place except

A)miners and adventurers from around the world came to California.
B)most of the first wave of miners struck it rich in California with lucrative, easy, and plentiful discoveries of gold.
C)many travelers to California faced illness and deadly fevers.
D)the most reliable profits in the California gold rush were made by those who provided personal services, such as laundry services and clothing, for the miners.
E)crime soared in California due to the large number of lawless men and virtueless women who arrived there.

Question 50

The United States' victory in the Mexican War resulted in all of the following except

A)renewed controversy over the issue of extending slavery into the territories.
B)a possible split in the Whig and Democrat parties over slavery.
C)the cession by Mexico of an enormous amount of land to the United States.
D)a rush of settlers to new American territory in California.
E)acquisition of the Oregon territory.

Question 51

The Underground Railroad consisted of

A)an informal network of homes where slaves could hide on their escape to freedom.
B)a train that hid slaves in cargo areas and carried them to freedom in the north.
C)a vehicle for capturing and returning runaway slaves back to the south.
D)a radical new transportation design.
E)None of these choices are correct.

Question 52

In the 1848 presidential election, the Democratic and Whig parties

A)lost to the Free Soil party.
B)addressed the issue of slavery.
C)remained silent on the issue of slavery.
D)abandoned the tactic of nominating military leaders.
E)were divided on the issue of admitting California.

Question 53

By 1850, the South

A)was experiencing serious economic difficulties.
B)feared that slavery might be abolished in states where it already existed.
C)remained concerned about its weak voice in national government.
D)was relatively well off, politically and economically.
E)recognized that slavery's expansion was over.

Question 54

Of those people going to California during the gold rush

A)the majority had come from foreign nations.
B)slaves constituted a sizable minority.
C)the majority gained considerable financial rewards.
D)most were interested in free-soil farming.
E)a distressingly high proportion were lawless men.

Question 55

By 1850, the South was losing perhaps ____ runaways a year out of its total of some 4 million slaves.

A)200
B)500
C)800
D)1,000
E)2,000

Question 56

The issue of runaway slaves was important to most southerners because

A)the South was losing a significant and irreplaceable portion of its labor force.
B)the overwhelming success of the Underground Railroad posed critical and immediate threat to the southern way of life.
C)while the overall loss of property was relatively insignificant, the loss of honor and the passing of moral judgments by northerners were felt more.
D)escaped slaves would likely organize a black army to stage armed rebellions against white southern planters and their plantations.
E)escaped slaves would travel North or to Canada and quickly undermine the legitimacy of southerners' racial superiority theories among political leaders of the North and the South.

Question 57

Which of the following was not among the issues that concerned southerners in 1849-1850?

A)The political balance in the Senate might tip against them.
B)The admission of California as a free state might set a precedent for Utah and New Mexico.
C)Northern abolitionists were agitating against slavery in the District of Columbia.
D)The loss of runaway slaves through the Underground Railroad.
E)There was a growing chance that a constitutional amendment would abolish slavery.

Question 58

The Free Soilers condemned slavery because

A)of the harm it did to blacks.
B)it violated their strongly held moral principles about the equality of all races.
C)it destroyed the chances of free white workers to rise from wage-earning to self-employment.
D)it was the only way they had of combating the appeal of the Democratic party.
E)it damaged the national economy.

Question 59

The debate over slavery in the Mexican Cession

A)threatened to split national politics along North-South lines.
B)nearly resulted in the return of the territory to Mexico.
C)resulted in the formation of the Republican party.
D)resulted in strong hostility to further expansionism.
E)caused clashes between proslavery and antislavery settlers in California.

Question 60

The South grew increasingly worried about the future of slavery because

A)the Wilmot Proposal was likely to be revived and enacted by Congress after the congressional elections of 1850.
B)the admission of California might permanently tip the political balance against them.
C)the Supreme Court was increasingly likely to issue a decision abolishing slavery everywhere in the United States.
D)President Taylor was the first president openly critical of slavery.
E)popular sovereignty would almost certainly prevent the spread of slavery.

Question 61

The fatal split in the Whig party in 1852 occurred over

A)the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty.
B)slavery.
C)the Gadsden Purchase.
D)homestead laws.
E)the transcontinental railroad route.

Question 62

In the Compromise of 1850, Congress determined that slavery in the New Mexico and Utah territories was

A)to be banned.
B)protected by federal law.
C)to be decided by popular sovereignty.
D)to be ignored until either territory applied for admission to statehood.
E)to be decided by the Supreme Court.

Question 63

The Young Guard, composed of certain Senators and Representatives from the North,

A)regarded preserving the Union as their top priority.
B)agreed fully with the Old Guard on the issue of slavery.
C)saw expansionism as a solution to the slavery question.
D)gave support to John C.Calhoun's plan for rescuing the Union.
E)were most interested in purging and purifying the Union than in preserving it.

Question 64

In his Seventh of March speech, Daniel Webster

A)attacked Henry Clay's compromise proposals.
B)called for a new, more stringent fugitive-slave law as a political concession to the South.
C)advocated a congressional ban on slavery in all the western territories.
D)became a hated figure in the South.
E)All of these choices are correct.

Question 65

Many northern states passed personal liberty laws in response to the Compromise of 1850's provision regarding

A)legally authorizing slavery in the District of Columbia.
B)expansion of slavery in the territories.
C)restrictions on free blacks.
D)the interstate slave trade.
E)the facilitation of the return of runaway slaves to slaveowners.

Question 66

All of the following were results of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 except

A)many people were drawn into the antislavery movement.
B)Northerners who aided slaves in escaping faced heavy fines and jail sentences.
C)federal commissioners handling the cases of runaways received twice as much in a bonus if the slave was returned.
D)Northerners protested the capture of individual runaway slaves.
E)the Underground Railroad scaled back its efforts.

Question 67

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 included all of the following provisions except

A)the requirement that fugitive slaves be returned from Canada.
B)denial of a jury trial to runaway slaves.
C)denial of fleeing slaves' right to testify on their own behalf.
D)the penalty of imprisonment for northerners who helped slaves to escape.
E)a higher payment to the federal official responsible for determining the case of a fugitive if the official determined that the fugitive was a slave and not a free black person.

Question 68

For the political views he expressed in his Seventh of March speech, Daniel Webster was viciously condemned by

A)northern Unionists.
B)northern banking and commercial interests.
C)abolitionists and Free-Soilers.
D)Henry Clay.
E)John C.Calhoun.

Question 69

During the 1850s, slaves probably gained their freedom most frequently by

A)running away.
B)being emancipated in their masters' will.
C)rebellion.
D)appeal to the courts.
E)self-purchase or voluntary emancipation.

Question 70

In the debates of 1850, Senator William H. Seward, as a representative of the northern Young Guard, argued that

A)Senator Daniel Webster proposed a highly coercive fugitive slave law which was an acceptable concession to the South.
B)John C.Calhoun's compromise plan must be adopted to preserve the Union.
C)Christian legislators must obey God's moral law.
D)compromise must be achieved to preserve the Union.
E)African Americans should be granted their own territory.

Question 71

In light of future evidence, it seems apparent that in the Compromise of 1850 the South made a tactical blunder and exacerbated sectional tensions by

A)allowing a ban on the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
B)demanding a strong fugitive-slave law.
C)not insisting on federal protection of slavery in the territories.
D)allowing the admission of California as a free state.
E)allowing popular sovereignty in Nebraska territory.

Question 72

During the debate of 1850, ____ argued that there was a higher law than the Constitution that compelled him to demand the exclusion of slavery from the territories.

A)William H.Seward
B)Henry Clay
C)Daniel Webster
D)Stephen A.Douglas
E)Zachary Taylor

Question 73

Southern delegates met at a convention in Nashville in the June of 1850 to

A)plan southern secession.
B)develop a series of compromise political proposals over slavery to preserve the Union.
C)propose a series of constitutional amendments to protect the legality of slavery.
D)denounce Daniel Webster as a traitor to the South.
E)condemn the political compromises over slavery being worked out in Congress.

Question 74

Senator John C. Calhoun's plan to protect the South and slavery and maintain the Union involved all of the following except

A)maintain the legality of slavery where it existed in states and certain western territories.
B)return runaway slaves back to their slaveowners in the South.
C)an impractical, unwieldy political scheme of electing two presidents, one from the North and one from the South, each possessing an executive veto.
D)restore the political balance in the Senate of free states and slave states.
E)prevent the spread of slavery in the California territory.

Question 75

An event that helped prompt the congressional enactment of the Compromise of 1850 was when President Zachary Taylor

A)led an invasion of Texas to halt its attempts to take part of New Mexico.
B)supported fellow southerner John C.Calhoun's plan for union.
C)died suddenly and a conciliatory Millard Fillmore became president.
D)resigned the presidency and a conciliatory James Buchanan became president.
E)decided not to run for re-election.

Question 76

The election of 1852 was significant because it

A)saw the victory of a pro-South northerner.
B)marked the return of issues-oriented campaigning.
C)saw the rise of purely national parties.
D)marked the end of the Whig party.
E)saw the considerable reduction of popular support for the Free Soil party in the North.

Question 77

Northerners feared that the Fugitive Slave Act threatened to set a dangerous constitutional precedent for white Americans because it

A)prohibited antislavery demonstrations and protests.
B)denied fleeing slaves a trial by jury.
C)forced slaves to be returned to masters.
D)confined those who aided escaping slaves to house arrest
E)None of these choices are correct.

Question 78

Daniel Webster's famed Seventh of March speech in 1850 resulted in

A)the celebration of Webster as an antislavery leader.
B)visibly strengthened Union sentiment and especially pleased northern banking and commercial centers.
C)condemnation by northern commercial interests.
D)a movement to draft him for the presidency.
E)None of these choices are correct.

Question 79

For a short time in the 1850s, William Walker, an American adventurer, seized political and military control of

A)Nicaragua.
B)Cuba.
C)Japan.
D)El Salvador.
E)Puerto Rico.

Question 80

The most alarming aspect of the Compromise of 1850 to northerners was the concession to the South concerning

A)slavery in the District of Columbia.
B)slavery in the New Mexico and Utah territories.
C)the revised, more stringent and coercive Fugitive Slave Law.
D)settlement of the Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute.
E)continuation of the interstate slave trade.