Deck 19: Drifting Toward Disunion

Question 1

In the presidential election of 1856, the Republicans

A) revealed astonishing strength for a brand-new party.
B) lost behind their most popular leader, Senator William Seward.
C) made their debut as the most successful third party in American history.
D) proved unable to present a clear platform on slavery expansion.
E) finished third behind the Democrats and the Know-Nothings.

Answer 1

revealed astonishing strength for a brand-new party.

Question 2

Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin

A) dramatized the wickedness of slavery.
B) was prompted by passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
C) drew on her extensive personal experience with slavery.
D) was frequently compared to Dostoyevski's The Brothers Karamazov.
E) portrayed blacks as militant resisters to slavery.

Answer 2

dramatized the wickedness of slavery.

Question 3

In 1855, proslavery southerners regarded Kansas as

A) territory governed by the Missouri Compromise.
B) already guaranteed to become slave territory.
C) geographically unsuitable for slavery.
D) an opportunity to inflict violence on abolitionists.
E) a test for slavery in wheat-growing areas.

Answer 3

already guaranteed to become slave territory.

Question 4

Uncle Tom's Cabin may be described as

A) an entirely fanciful account of slavery.
B) popular only among people who could read English.
C) a work of "literary naturalism" that emphasized impersonal social forces.
D) a typical female fictional work of the time.
E) a powerful political force.

Question 5

Match each figure below with his role in the 1856 presidential campaign.

A) A-2, B-3, C-1, D-4
B) A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3
C) A-2, B-3, C-4, D-1
D) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2
E) A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4

Question 6

In ruling on the Dred Scott case, the United States Supreme Court

A) freed Dred Scott but upheld the Missouri Compromise.
B) denied Scott's appeal but held that slaves could not be taken into free territories.
C) essentially upheld the doctrine of popular sovereignty.
D) tried to settle the immediate issue on technical legal grounds.
E) argued that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the federal territories.

Question 7

Nativists in the 1850s were known for their

A) support of Native Americans (Indians).
B) support of slavery.
C) strong patriotism.
D) anti-Catholic and antiforeign attitudes.
E) opposition to alcohol and Sabbath-breaking.

Question 8

Hinton R. Helper's book The Impending Crisis of the South argued that those who suffered most from slavery were

A) African Americans.
B) southern planters.
C) free blacks.
D) southern merchants and businesspeople.
E) nonslaveholding southern whites.

Question 9

The central plank of the Know-Nothing (American) party in the 1856 election was

A) popular sovereignty.
B) expansionism.
C) proslavery.
D) abolitionism.
E) nativism.

Question 10

President James Buchanan's support for Kansas's Lecompton Constitution

A) hopelessly divided the Democratic party.
B) admitted Kansas to the Union as a free state.
C) admitted Kansas to the Union as a slave state.
D) convinced Stephen Douglas to challenge Buchanan for the 1860 presidential nomination.
E) turned the focus of controversy to Nebraska.

Question 11

In "Bleeding Kansas" in the mid-1850s, ____ was/were identified with the proslavery element, and ____ was/were associated with the antislavery free-soilers.

A) Beecher's Bibles; border ruffians
B) John Brown; Preston Brooks
C) the Pottawatomie massacre; the sack of Lawrence
D) the Lecompton Constitution; the New England Emigrant Aid Company
E) Senator Stephen A. Douglas; Senator Charles Sumner

Question 12

The real significance of the election of 1856 was that it

A) showed that the Democrats still remained the majority party in the country.
B) demonstrated the importance of charismatic leadership in the presidency.
C) foreshadowed an ominous sectional clash over slavery in the election of 1860.
D) marked the end of Senator Stephen Douglas's presidential hopes.
E) signaled the demise of the Know-Nothing (American) party.

Question 13

As a result of reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, many northerners

A) felt more sympathy for the plight of poor whites.
B) vowed to halt British and French efforts to help the Confederacy.
C) gained a more realistic picture of the South and slavery.
D) swore that they would have nothing to do with the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law.
E) sent guns to antislavery settlers in Kansas ("Beecher's Bibles").

Question 14

The decision rendered in the Dred Scott case was applauded by

A) the Buchanan administration.
B) Republicans.
C) popular-sovereignty proponents.
D) proslavery southerners.
E) conservative unionists.

Question 15

The situation in Kansas in the mid-1850s indicated the complete failure of ____ in the territories.

A) abolitionism
B) violence
C) popular sovereignty
D) slavery
E) cotton growing

Question 16

In 1856, the breaking point that first sparked the "mini-Civil War" over slavery in Kansas was

A) John Brown's Osawatomie Massacre of proslavery settlers.
B) the burning of Lawrence by a gang of proslavery raiders.
C) the influx of a large number of slaves.
D) the sale of "Beecher's Bibles" to antislavery settlers.
E) Congressman Preston Brooks's assault on Senator Charles Sumner.

Question 17

The clash between Preston S. Brooks and Charles Sumner revealed

A) the impending breakup of the Democratic party.
B) the limitations of the rules of Congress.
C) the impossibility of solving the Kansas crisis.
D) the fact that passions over slavery were becoming dangerously inflamed in both North and South.
E) the split between the House of Representatives and the Senate over slavery.

Question 18

The roots of Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery sentiments lay in

A) the evangelical religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening.
B) the rationalist theories of the Enlightenment.
C) the economic theories of Robert Owen and Karl Marx.
D) the ideas of the Free Soil party.
E) the feminist ideals of the Seneca Falls Convention.

Question 19

James Buchanan won the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1856 because he

A) campaigned against the policy of popular sovereignty.
B) had gained fame as a western explorer and soldier.
C) controlled the key swing state of Pennsylvania.
D) had extensive administrative and foreign policy experience.
E) could distance himself and the Democrats from the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Question 20

The Lecompton Constitution was written so that Kansas

A) could enter the Union as either a slave state or a free state.
B) would hold a popular referendum on slavery after admission to the Union.
C) would permit temporary residents like the abolitionists and "border ruffians" to vote.
D) would allow slavery but prohibit the slave trade.
E) could only apply for statehood by permitting slavery.

Question 21

When Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election, the people of South Carolina

A) declared that they would secede if other southern states joined them.
B) were upset and angry because their political power in the Union was gone.
C) looked to Senator James Crittenden as the last hope for compromise.
D) rejoiced because they now had a clear excuse to secede.
E) demanded new constitutional amendments to guarantee slavery.

Question 22

Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 Republican party presidential nomination in part because he

A) promised to make William Seward his secretary of state.
B) had never taken a stand on the issue of slavery in the territories.
C) had fewer enemies than front-runner William Seward.
D) delivered a stirring convention speech against slavery.
E) had more political experience than his opponents.

Question 23

President James Buchanan declined to use force to keep the South in the Union for all of the following reasons except that

A) northern public opinion would not support it.
B) the army was needed to control Indians in the West.
C) he believed that the Constitution allowed secession.
D) a slim chance of reconciliation remained.
E) he was surrounded by prosouthern advisers.

Question 24

Arrange these events in chronological order: (A) Dred Scott decision, (B) Lincoln-Douglas debates, (C) "Bleeding Kansas," (D) Harpers Ferry raid.

A) A, C, B, D
B) B, D, C, A
C) C, A, B, D
D) D, B, A, C
E) A, C, D, B

Question 25

In the North, the panic of 1857 created calls for

A) an end to the gold standard and dependence on British investment.
B) the prohibition of slavery in the territories.
C) price supports for farmers.
D) federal regulation of land and stock speculation.
E) free homesteads and higher tariffs.

Question 26

Match each presidential candidate in the 1860 election below with his party's position on the slavery question.

A) A-3, B-2, C-1, D-4
B) A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
C) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1
D) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3
E) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2

Question 27

The presidential candidate of the new Constitutional Union party in 1860 was

A) Stephen A. Douglas.
B) William Seward.
C) John Bell.
D) Henry Clay.
E) James Crittenden.

Question 28

The panic of 1857

A) was caused by speculation in gold and silver stocks.
B) hit northern grain farmers the hardest.
C) finally brought southern congressmen to support free homesteads.
D) stimulated northern demands for lower tariff rates.
E) demonstrated the economic dominance of the North.

Question 29

In declaring their independence, the Confederate States relied heavily on the example of

A) the nullification crisis in South Carolina.
B) the principles of self-determination of the Declaration of Independence.
C) the Texas declaration of independence from Mexico.
D) the French Revolution.
E) the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church.

Question 30

Secessionists broke away from the Union because

A) they were dismayed by the success of the antislavery Republican party.
B) they believed that the South could finally achieve economic independence from the North.
C) they saw the political balance permanently tipping against them.
D) they were tired of abolitionist attacks.
E) all of these.

Question 31

The political career of Abraham Lincoln could best be described as

A) a steady rise through the party ranks to power.
B) greatly aided by the political influence of his wife, Mary Todd.
C) fueled by his personal charisma more than his political beliefs.
D) largely a failure until his meteoric rise after 1854.
E) based on his success in the U.S. House and Senate.

Question 32

Abraham Lincoln firmly opposed the Crittenden Compromise because

A) it was really a return to Stephen Douglas's discredited popular sovereignty doctrine.
B) it permitted slavery in New Mexico territory.
C) it would restore an equal balance of slave and free states in the Senate.
D) it would make it impossible ever to end slavery in the South.
E) the Compromise could allow slavery to expand southward into Latin America.

Question 33

Stephen A. Douglas argued in his Freeport Doctrine during the Lincoln-Douglas debates that

A) the Dred Scott decision was unconstitutional.
B) action by territorial legislatures could keep slavery out of the territories despite the Dred Scott decision.
C) the Supreme Court justices should be impeached.
D) slavery could not survive in the corn- and wheat-growing West.
E) the territories should immediately be brought into the Union as slave or free states.

Question 34

After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, the South concluded that

A) there was imminent danger of a massive slave uprising.
B) the U.S. army could not protect slavery.
C) Brown should be put in an insane asylum.
D) all abolitionists should be criminally prosecuted as conspirators.
E) the North was dominated by "Brown-loving" Republicans.

Question 35

"Lame-duck" President James Buchanan believed that

A) southern states had a legal right to secede from the Union.
B) his duty was to protect federal installations from assault.
C) firm political and economic pressure would bring an end to secession.
D) secession was just a political tactic to enhance southern power in Congress.
E) the Constitution did not authorize him to force southern states to stay in the Union.

Question 36

For a majority of northerners, the most outrageous part of the Supreme Court's ruling in the Dred Scott case was

A) that as a slave Scott had no civil right to sue in federal court.
B) that Scott did not automatically become free when his owner took him through free states and territories.
C) that Congress had never had the power to prohibit slavery in any territory.
D) that Kansas and Nebraska would almost certainly become slave states.
E) that the Supreme Court was asserting its superiority to Congress and the president.

Question 37

The government of the Confederate States of America was first organized in

A) Atlanta, Georgia.
B) Montgomery, Alabama.
C) Richmond, Virginia.
D) Knoxville, Tennessee.
E) Charleston, South Carolina.

Question 38

In his raid on Harpers Ferry, John Brown intended to

A) call upon the slaves to rise and establish a kind of black free state.
B) arouse the South to secede from the Union.
C) stir West Virginia to break away from Virginia as a free state.
D) demonstrate that blacks could fight for their freedom.
E) seize weapons to start a guerilla war against the federal government.

Question 39

As a result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates,

A) Lincoln was elected to the Senate.
B) Lincoln became the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination.
C) Douglas increased his chances of winning the presidency.
D) Illinois rejected the concept of popular sovereignty.
E) Douglas defeated Lincoln for the Senate.

Question 40

As a result of the panic of 1857, the South

A) became more economically dependent on the North.
B) became hostile to Wall Street and the stock market.
C) believed that it was economically superior to the North.
D) began planning for an independent southern nation.
E) saw the need to develop manufacturing.

Question 41

The proposed Crittenden Compromise, if adopted, would have

A) prohibited slavery north of the line 36 $\degree$ 30'.
B) guaranteed federal protection of slavery in territories south of 36 $\degree$ 30'.
C) drawn a line between free and slave territories all the way to the Pacific coast.
D) restored the equal balance between slave and free states in the Senate.
E) permitted the expansion of slavery into new territories south of 36 $\degree$ 30'.

Question 42

Before his presidential nomination in 1860, Abraham Lincoln had been

A) a Jacksonian Democrat.
B) a state legislator in Illinois.
C) a United States congressman from Illinois.
D) the vice-presidential candidate of the Republican party in 1856.
E) a failed candidate for the United States Senate.

Question 43

In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that

A) Dred Scott was not a citizen of the United States.
B) Dred Scott could not legally sue in a federal court.
C) the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
D) Congress had no power to ban slavery from the territories.
E) only free blacks had civil rights.

Question 44

Kansas Territory's Lecompton Constitution was supported by

A) President James Buchanan.
B) Senator Stephen A. Douglas.
C) the Republican party.
D) proslavery settlers in Kansas.
E) Reverend Henry Ward Beecher.

Question 45

The 1860 Republican party platform favored

A) the abolition of slavery.
B) a strong protective tariff.
C) protection of immigrant rights.
D) free homesteads for western settlers.
E) the nonextension of slavery.

Question 46

In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln

A) carried the Border States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.
B) won a majority in the Electoral College.
C) won only a minority of the popular vote.
D) was not on the ballot in ten southern states.
E) ran a national rather than a sectional campaign.