Deck 18: Renewing the Sectional Struggle,1848-1854

Question 1

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"forty-niners"

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

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

Answer 2

Answers will vary.

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

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

Question 5

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

Question 6

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

Question 7

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

Question 8

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

Question 9

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

Question 10

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

Question 11

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

Question 12

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
William Lloyd Garrison

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
filibustering

Question 16

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

Question 17

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

Question 18

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

Question 19

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

Question 20

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

Question 21

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
John P.Hale

Question 22

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"Free soil,free speech,free labor,and free men"

Question 23

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

Question 24

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

Question 25

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Nebraska territory

Question 26

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
transcontinental railroad

Question 27

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Seventh of March speech

Question 28

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Utah territory

Question 29

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)

Question 30

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

Question 31

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

Question 32

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

Question 33

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

Question 34

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
slave-catchers

Question 35

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"Union savers"

Question 36

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
New Mexico territory

Question 37

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

Question 38

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

Question 39

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

Question 40

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"the immortal trio"

Question 41

Which issue most concerned southerners in 1849──1850?

A) They feared the political balance in the Supreme Court might tip against them.
B) They worried that admission of Missouri as a free state might set a damaging precedent for Utah and New Mexico.
C) They were concerned that Mexico was plotting to retake Texas.
D) They were angry about the loss of runaway slaves through the "Underground Railroad."
E) They worried about the prospects of a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery.

Question 42

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

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

Question 43

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 44

Which group generally opposed the principle of popular sovereignty as a means for deciding the status of slavery in new territories?

A) Northern abolitionists
B) The public
C) Politicians
D) "Forty-niners"
E) Northern Democrats

Question 45

In the 1848 presidential election,the Democratic and Whig parties

A) were seriously challenged by the Free Soil party.
B) each nominated slaveholders for the presidency.
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 as a free state.

Question 46

The issue of runaway slaves was important to southerners because

A) the South was losing a significant portion of its labor force.
B) the Underground Railroad might encourage a slave rebellion.
C) the loss of property was significant, but the loss of honor was felt more.
D) escaped slaves might establish free colonies in the West.
E) free blacks demonstrated that the racist theory of slavery was wrong.

Question 47

The event that threatened to destroy the longstanding balance between the number 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.

Question 48

The Whig Party´s candidate in 1848,Zachary Taylor,was uncommitted on the issue of slavery´s extension,but the fact that he was a _____ suggested he might be biased.

A) successful industrialist from New England
B) former slave trader
C) notorious land speculator
D) wealthy owner of a Louisiana sugar plantation with many slaves
E) known abolitionist

Question 49

Why did the discovery of gold in faraway California cause consternation in the South?

A) The flood of new wealth from California threatened to upset the delicate financial balance between the North and South.
B) The influx of foreign miners to California meant more non-whites on American soil.
C) The fertile soils in California were amenable to cotton growing.
D) The lure of gold might cause many more slaves to run away.
E) The rapid influx of settlers seeking their fortunes caused the territory to quickly seek statehood.

Question 50

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

A) the state legislature after a territory was admitted to the Union.
B) a national referendum of the Electoral College.
C) congressional legislation.
D) the Supreme Court.
E) the vote of the people in the given territory.

Question 51

The Free Soil party of 1848 included many northerners who opposed slavery´s expansion in the territories because

A) it might break up the Union.
B) it destroyed the chances of free white workers to rise up from wage-earning dependence.
C) it would be an opening wedge to end slavery in the South.
D) slave labor would be unproductive in the West.
E) the southern fire-eaters were already planning further expansion into Central America.

Question 52

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 a public opponent of the Fugitive Slave Law.
E) by urging white women to oppose slavery.

Question 53

In order to maintain the two great political parties as vital bonds of national unity,early-nineteenth-century politicians

A) decided to ban slavery from all United States territories.
B) hoped to divide the West into free and slave territories.
C) avoided public discussion of slavery.
D) banished abolitionists from membership in either national party.
E) worked to make third parties almost impossible.

Question 54

The public generally liked popular sovereignty because it

A) offered a way to stop the spread of slavery without attacking slaveholders.
B) fit with the democratic tradition of self-determination.
C) provided a national solution to the problem of slavery.
D) would speed the entry of new states into the Union.
E) upheld the principles of white supremacy.

Question 55

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

Question 56

In the election of 1848,the Free Soil party played an important role in

A) capturing enough Democratic votes in New York to hand the election to the Whigs.
B) forcing the two major parties to confront the issue of slavery head-on.
C) bringing Abraham Lincoln to national prominence as its presidential candidate.
D) siphoning enough votes away from the Whigs in the North to give the victory to the Democrats.
E) launching Stephen A. Douglas to prominence.

Question 57

In the first few years after the election of 1848,the South could count among its strengths

A) a majority in President Taylor´s cabinet and on the Supreme Court.
B) a majority in the House of Representatives.
C) a president loudly in favor of slavery´s expansion.
D) a dramatic decline in the abolitionist movement.
E) a new railroad connecting it to the Pacific Coast.

Question 58

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Treaty of Wanghia (1844)

Question 59

The South grew increasingly worried about the future of slavery because

A) it was unsuited to the West.
B) the admission of California might permanently tip the political balance against them.
C) the Supreme Court might issue rulings against slavery.
D) President Zachary Taylor was the first president openly critical of slavery.
E) popular sovereignty would almost certainly prevent the spread of slavery.

Question 60

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Treaty of Kanagawa (1854)

Question 61

The Pierce administration's secret scheme to gain control of Cuba was stopped when

A) Spain threatened a pre-emptive war against the United States.
B) it was leaked to the public and northerners cried foul.
C) U.S. leaders signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty.
D) Spain declared that it would abolish slavery in Cuba.
E) U.S. adventurers bungled their invasion.

Question 62

Daniel Webster's famed Seventh of March speech in 1850

A) resulted in the celebration of Webster as an antislavery leader.
B) visibly strengthened Union sentiment and pleased northern banking and commercial centers.
C) was condemnation by northern commercial interests.
D) led to charges that he had accepted bribes from proslavery interests.
E) initiated a movement to draft him for the presidency.

Question 63

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.
C) advocated a congressional ban on slavery in the territories.
D) proposed a scheme for electing two presidents, one from the North and one from the South.
E) became a hated figure in the South.

Question 64

What did the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844 accomplish for the United States?

A) It opened Japan to American traders.
B) It blocked Britain from sending missionaries to China to compete with American missions there.
C) It granted America trading rights in China equal to those enjoyed by other powers.
D) It gave the U.S. a long-term lease on the island of Hong Kong.
E) It arranged for a large number of Chinese laborers to work on railroad building projects in the western U.S.

Question 65

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

A) banned until the territory applied for statehood.
B) legal in New Mexico but prohibited in Utah.
C) decided by popular sovereignty.
D) decided upon by Congress after a ten year cooling off period.
E) decided by the Mormon Church.

Question 66

The "fire-eaters" were

A) northerners who defended slavery as strongly as southern slaveholders.
B) northerners who were morally opposed to slavery and refused to accept any compromises.
C) southerners who fiercely defended slavery, opposed compromise, and threatened secession on occasion.
D) non-slaveholding southerners who hated African Americans.
E) Native Americans in California who tried to prevent white settlement and the drive toward statehood.

Question 67

President Zachary Taylor unknowingly helped the cause of compromise in 1850 when he

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 Millard Fillmore became president.
D) ushered in a second Era of Good Feelings.
E) decided not to run for re-election.

Question 68

The most alarming aspect of the Compromise of 1850 to northerners was

A) the continuation of slavery in the District of Columbia.
B) the possible expansion of slavery in the New Mexico and Utah territories under "popular sovereignty."
C) the new Fugitive Slave Law.
D) the payment of $10 million to slaveholding Texas.
E) continuation of the interstate slave trade.

Question 69

During the debates leading to the Compromise of 1850,a great trio of elder statesmen had their last moment together on public stage.Who were they?

A) John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster
B) Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, and Daniel Webster
C) John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster
D) Henry Clay, Noah Webster, and James K. Polk
E) John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Stephen A. Douglas

Question 70

For a short time in the 1850s,a proslavery American adventurer seized control of

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

Question 71

Many northern states passed "personal liberty laws" in response to the Compromise of 1850 that

A) offered asylum to slaves fleeing the District of Columbia.
B) set up state-sponsored "stations" on the Underground Railroad.
C) prohibited their citizens from identifying runaway slaves.
D) guaranteed personal liberty to all runaway slaves.
E) interfered with federal enforcement of the fugitive slave laws.

Question 72

What was ominous for the nation´s future about the sharp decline of the Whig party after the election of 1852?

A) It meant the end of support for internal improvements and a strong financial system.
B) It meant the end of any antislavery representation in the party system.
C) It left the West with no party to represent its interests.
D) It meant the demise of a two-party system in which both parties were national, and the rise instead of purely sectional political alignments.
E) It led to a new era of one-party rule by the Democrats.

Question 73

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 74

What conflict did the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty resolve?

A) The struggle between Spain and the United States over Cuba
B) The conflict between Texas and Mexico over land between the Nueces and the Rio Grande rivers
C) British and American counter-claims to a trading post in the Japanese harbor of Edo
D) French outrage at American filibustering in Haiti
E) The rivalry between Great Britain and the United States for control over the Central American isthmus

Question 75

In light of future evidence,it seems apparent that in the Compromise of 1850 the South made a tactical blunder 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 76

The most brazen scheme for territorial expansion in the 1850s was contained in the

A) Clayton-Bulwer Treaty.
B) Wilmot Proviso.
C) Kansas-Nebraska Act.
D) Gadsden Purchase.
E) Ostend Manifesto.

Question 77

What younger statesman joined Senators Clay and Webster in persuading the northern public to support the Compromise of 1850?

A) Lewis Cass
B) William H. Seward
C) John Quincy Adams
D) Abraham Lincoln
E) Stephen A. Douglas

Question 78

The "young guard" of Congressmen from the North

A) regarded preserving the Union as their top priority.
B) were ready to attack slavery in the South.
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 more interested in purifying the Union than saving it.

Question 79

The Whig party became hopelessly divided in 1852 because

A) its southern and northern wings could not reach consensus on a platform.
B) its presidential nominee, Winfield Scott, was rejected by both northern and southern Whigs for being too sympathetic to slavery and too northern to be trusted.
C) its presidential nominee, William H. Seward, refused to endorse the Compromise of 1850.
D) its southern presidential nominee, John C. Calhoun, was flatly rejected by most northern Whigs.
E) its western wing was in revolt over the lack of funding for internal improvements.

Question 80

Among other provisions,the hated Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 required northerners to

A) patrol their borders with Canada to catch runaways.
B) provide free room and board to slave-catchers upon request.
C) organize regular militia patrols to watch for escaped slaves.
D) pay high penalties and face jail if caught aiding a runaway slave.
E) compensate southerner slaveholders for escaped slaves who were not recaptured.