Deck 13: Sectional Conflict and Shattered Union, 1840-1860

Question 1

Southerners wanted a transcontinental railroad to travel a Southern route for all of the following reasons, EXCEPT:

A)The railroad would channel the flow of gold from California through their region.
B)The railroad would allow new settlement.
C)The railroad would spread cotton agriculture.
D)The railroad would bring badly needed industrial development to the South.

Answer 1

The railroad would bring badly needed industrial development to the South.

Question 2

The Liberty Party's performance in presidential elections during the 1840s revealed that:

A)slavery would destroy any political party with ties in both North and South.
B)voters did not want to address the issue of slavery.
C)a moderate anti-slavery position was becoming more politically popular.
D)few immigrants would support a party that embraced prohibition.

Answer 2

a moderate anti-slavery position was becoming more politically popular.

Question 3

The first election for the Kansas territorial legislatures

A)took place without presidential improvement.
B)made the region a testing ground for popular sovereignty.
C)took place under tight federal supervision.
D)showed Kansans' opposition to slavery.

Answer 3

made the region a testing ground for popular sovereignty.

Question 4

Members of the Whig Party who supported moderate abolitionism were called:

A)cotton Whigs.
B)Know-Nothings.
C)yellow dogs.
D)conscience Whigs.

Question 5

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)was:

A)based on her years of experience of living in the South.
B)denounced by the free black community for its negative portrayal of slaves.
C)rarely read outside of abolitionist circles.
D)one of the most popular novels and plays of the era.

Question 6

By the 1850s, what factor had enabled westerners to increase their economic and political power?

A)The abolition of slavery
B)The mechanical reaper and speedy transportation
C)The consolidation of banking in western states
D)European markets for American grains

Question 7

The political debate of the presidential elections of 1840 and 1844 centered around

A)trade tariffs.
B)the form of American expansion.
C)Indian removal.
D)the Bank of the United States.

Question 8

Following his escape from slavery, Frederick Douglass found:

A)himself an instant celebrity.
B)vicious prejudice.
C)acceptance among white workers.
D)few differences between North and South.

Question 9

Many northerners considered schemes such as the Ostend Manifesto to be:

A)the work of a slave power conspiracy.
B)the easiest way to avoid a civil war.
C)necessary to expand democracy in the Caribbean.
D)a necessary compromise.

Question 10

Opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

A)called for the North to secede from the Union.
B)formed a new political party.
C)organized bands of men who raided the Deep South and freed slaves.
D)refused to send emigrants to Kansas on the grounds that it was "tainted soil."

Question 11

Advocating romantic and aggressive nationalism and trying to ignore slavery, which group claimed Franklin Pierce as their most prominent member?

A)Know-Nothings
B)Cotton Whigs
C)Young America
D)Conscience Whigs

Question 12

In the election of 1852 Winfield Scott

A)easily defeated military hero Franklin Pierce.
B)rallied a unified Whig Party to victory.
C)lost only because of a North-South split in the party.
D)lost against Democrat Franklin Pierce.

Question 13

Southerners responded to Preston Brooks's beating of Charles Sumner by

A)threatening to pull their congressional delegation out of Washington if Brooks was not thrown out of Congress.
B)calling for his defeat in the next congressional election.
C)sending Brooks canes to show support of his actions.
D)creating a fund to pay Brooks's legal expenses.

Question 14

What was William Lloyd Garrison referring to when he said "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell"?

A)The Treaty with Mexico
B)the book Uncle Tom's Cabin
C)the transcendental movement
D)The US Constitution

Question 15

"The Appeal of the Independent Democrats in Congress, to the People of the United States":

A)supported the attempt to re-open the African slave trade.
B)supported the attempt to increase the tariff.
C)opposed the attempt to allow slavery into Kansas Territory.
D)opposed the attempt to build a transcontinental railroad.

Question 16

What device did John Deere invent that enabled farmers to cultivate more acreage with greater ease?

A)the mechanical reaper
B)the steam plow
C)the steel plow
D)the grain elevator

Question 17

Although California would be admitted to the Union as a free state, the Compromise of 1850 would also require that:

A)the slavery question in the new territories be left to popular sovereignty.
B)Arizona be admitted as a slave state.
C)a transcontinental railroad take a southern route.
D)a federal head tax be levied on every slave.

Question 18

During the Mexican War, whom did Polk see as a major political threat due to their military success on the battlefield?

A)Robert E. Lee
B)Jefferson Davis
C)Winfield Scott
D)Zachary Taylor

Question 19

Who devised an assembly line to begin mass production of sewing machines in the 1850s?

A)Isaac Singer
B)Albert McCormick
C)Isaac Smith
D)Henry Clay Singer

Question 20

For southerners, what was the most appalling feature of the Compromise of 1850?

A)The admission of another nonslave state.
B)Popular sovereignty.
C)Fugitive slave law.
D)The legalization of the Underground Railroad.

Question 21

Lincoln's first vice-president was:

A)Salmon P. Chase.
B)Hannibal Hamlin.
C)William Seward.
D)Andrew Johnson.

Question 22

The Confederate constitution emphasized:

A)the need for centralized government to build a successful nation.
B)its distinctiveness from the United States constitution.
C)raising funds for internal improvements.
D)the sovereignty of the states.

Question 23

Lincoln's predecessor James Buchanan

A)threatened Southerners with military action if they seceded.
B)refused to hand over the presidency to Republican Abraham Lincoln.
C)did nothing when a Charleston Harbor battery fired on a federal supply ship as it tried to approach Fort Sumter.
D)had sympathy for the plight of Southern slaves.

Question 24

Which statement best describes Abraham Lincoln's handling of the secession crisis?

A)He maneuvered the Confederates into firing the first shot and becoming the aggressors.
B)He declared that secession was treason and pledged to send the army to "punish the traitors."
C)He tried to conciliate southerners by supporting a constitutional amendment that would guarantee their right to bring slaves into federal territories.
D)He torpedoed any hopes of reconciliation when he issued an executive order that forbade federal officials from enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law.

Question 25

In the election of 1856:

A)the Republicans nominated John C. Frémont for president.
B)the Democrats won with 55% of the popular vote.
C)the Know-Nothing Party endorsed James Buchanan for president.
D)the Democrats split between southern and northern factions.

Question 26

To prevent the breakup of the Union, Senator John Crittenden proposed:

A)a system of co-presidents, with one from the South and one from North.
B)outlawing slave sales across state lines.
C)a constitutional amendment that would extend the Missouri Compromise line.
D)arresting the leaders of the secession movement.

Question 27

In order to solidify the new Confederate government, Jefferson Davis decided to

A)attack Fort Sumter.
B)call a meeting of all governors of each state.
C)move the capital to Richmond.
D)choose one cabinet member from each state except his own.

Question 28

How many slave states remained in the Union after the others seceded?

A)one
B)four
C)seven
D)eight

Question 29

The significance of the Dred Scott v. Sandford Supreme Court decision was that

A)Congress was correct in designing the Missouri Compromise.
B)free blacks had gained the right to vote.
C)slavery was legal in all states in accordance with the US Constitution.
D)slaves were deemed to be citizens just like white men.

Question 30

Why was Maryland particularly vital to the Union?

A)Its slaveholders provided an example by freeing all of their slaves.
B)It was the only Confederate state without slaves.
C)It enclosed Washington, D.C. on the three sides not bordered by Virginia.
D)It was the only border state that overwhelmingly voted for Lincoln.

Question 31

All of the following is true about the election of 1860, EXCEPT:

A)Abraham Lincoln won a clear majority of electoral votes.
B)Lincoln gained only 40 percent of the popular vote.
C)Apart from the Northern states, Lincoln also won Oregon and California.
D)Lincoln had campaigned hard in the South in an effort to make his victory national, rather than sectional.

Question 32

During the 1850s, what was Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery?

A)He believed that slavery was ordained by God and legally permissible.
B)He thought slavery was wrong but could not find any legal ways to curtail it.
C)He thought that if slavery could not expand, it would eventually die.
D)He called upon Congress to abolish it.

Question 33

Jefferson Davis believed that the South was justified in seceding because:

A)Congress had shown a blatant disregard for the states' rights when it provided funds for railroad construction across state lines.
B)the growing strength of the North would prevent the South from controlling its own internal affairs.
C)Lincoln had been elected largely as a result of vote fraud.
D)Lincoln had pledged to emancipate slaves in Washington, D.C.

Question 34

The Republican position on slavery in 1860 called for:

A)the immediate abolition of the institution.
B)a government buyout of slaveowners.
C)a gradual phasing out of slave labor.
D)limiting the spread of the institution.

Question 35

What happened at the Democratic convention of 1860?

A)Southern delegates walked out and nominated their own candidate.
B)Northern delegates walked out and nominated their own candidate.
C)The convention ended with the party being unable to agree on a candidate.
D)For the first time in years, both the North and South agreed on a candidate.

Question 36

All of the following is true about John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry, EXCEPT:

A)The federal arsenal was an easy target and easily stormed.
B)Slaves from nearby communities quickly joined the attack.
C)John Brown's followers were surrounded and defeated by federal troops under the command of Robert E. Lee.
D)John Brown had come to Virginia from Kansas.

Question 37

The Republicans had trouble deciding on a presidential candidate in 1860 because:

A)the party had serious ideological divisions.
B)the party needed a southern candidate to have a chance at winning.
C)there were many personal conflicts.
D)financial donors demanded a radical abolitionist.

Question 38

In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that:

A)Scott's travels on free soil had made him a free man.
B)slavery was a crime against God but legal under the Constitution.
C)Congress had no authority to outlaw slavery in federal territories.
D)slavery was illegal in the territories without a majority vote by the residents.

Question 39

To whom did Abraham Lincoln initially offer field command of the Union armies?

A)Ulysses S. Grant
B)William T. Sherman
C)George B. McClellan
D)Robert E. Lee

Question 40

The Lecompton constitution

A)had the support of antislavery forces.
B)lacked enough votes for ratification.
C)was denounced by Republicans and northern Democrats in Congress.
D)made Kansas a state in 1854.

Question 41

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Stephen Douglas

Question 42

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Fugitive Slave Law

Question 43

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Know-Nothing Party

Question 44

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Charles Sumner

Question 45

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Harriet Beecher Stowe

Question 46

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
agrarian capitalism

Question 47

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
John Brown

Question 48

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Sojourner Truth

Question 49

Residents of Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky:

A)joined the Confederacy after Abraham Lincoln asked for federal troops to put down the rebellion.
B)refused to support either side.
C)did not secede from the Union, even though there were many slaveholders.
D)had supported Lincoln in the general election and supported the Union throughout the war.

Question 50

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Compromise of 1850

Question 51

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Cyrus McCormick

Question 52

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Kansas-Nebraska Act

Question 53

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
"Appeal of the Independent Democrats"

Question 54

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Frederick Douglass

Question 55

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Harriet Tubman

Question 56

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Liberty Party

Question 57

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
John Deere

Question 58

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Underground Railroad

Question 59

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
forty-niners

Question 60

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
John C. Frémont

Question 61

To what extent were events in Kansas a "dress rehearsal" for the Civil War?

Question 62

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
martial law

Question 63

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Constitutional Union Party

Question 64

Why was the Dred Scott case so destructive for national unity?

Question 65

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Fort Sumter

Question 66

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Freeport Doctrine

Question 67

Why did the Whig Party collapse during the 1850s?

Question 68

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Jefferson Davis

Question 69

Instructions: Identify the following terms:
Robert E. Lee

Question 70

Describe the political philosophy of the Republican Party.