Deck 13: The Politics of Slavery, 1848-1860

Question 1

Who argued that the North would never make war on cotton?

Answer 1

Senator James Hammond of South Carolina.

Question 2

How did Pennsylvania Representative David Wilmot change the national political debate in 1846?

Answer 2

His repeated request to ban slavery in all new acquisitions roused furious debate and paralyzed any congressional action on the territories.

Question 3

Henry Clay's original five-point bill proposing the Compromise of 1850 was embodied in what legislation?

Answer 3

The Omnibus Bill.

Question 4

How did Stephen
A. Douglas get Congress to pass the Compromise of 1850?

Question 5

Who was known as the "Little Giant?"

Question 6

Who pronounced the Compromise of 1850 the "final settlement" on the issue of slavery in territories?

Question 7

Who was the Republican Party's first nominee for president?

Question 8

What slave brought suit to win his freedom on the basis of residence in a free state and territory?

Question 9

Who led a raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 to obtain weapons for a slave uprising?

Question 10

With what did abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass most associate freedom?

A) Affirmative action in employment.
B) Equal educational opportunity.
C) Right to earn a living.
D) Right to vote.

Question 11

Abolitionist followers of William Lloyd Garrison generally

A) Called for slave uprisings in slave states.
B) Opposed violence to achieve an end to slavery.
C) Supported popular sovereignty as a way to keep some territory free.
D) Wanted a gradual end to slavery in the territories.

Question 12

What helped tie the sections of the United States into a single national market?

A) Agreement over western expansion.
B) Extensive development in transportation and communication.
C) A nearly homogeneous society.
D) The threat of war with either England or Mexico or both.

Question 13

How did northern farmers fare in the decade of the 1850s?

A) Alternating years of flood or drought made earning a living difficult.
B) They experienced an economic boom.
C) They did less well than farmers in the South.
D) They were saved from loss by the tariff on foreign-grown crops.

Question 14

What trend developed in agricultural employment in the 1850s?

A) Immigrants doubled the number of farmers in America.
B) A lower percentage of farmers grew more food than before.
C) Southerners became less dependent on slave labor.
D) The percentage of those engaged in agriculture increased because of western development.

Question 15

New immigrants usually found work as

A) Agricultural workers because most had been farmers in Europe.
B) Municipal employees.
C) Railroad section hands-on construction crews in the West.
D) Wage laborers in cities.

Question 16

What most spurred economic growth in the North in the 1850s?

A) Famine in Europe, which increased the demand for American products.
B) Immigration and taxation.
C) Plurality in Protestantism.
D) Urbanization and industrialization.

Question 17

What had become the most profitable product of the South by 1850?

A) Cotton.
B) Rice.
C) Sugar.
D) Tobacco.

Question 18

What was the effect of the sale of so many slaves from the Upper South to the Lower South?

A) Capital in the Lower South decreased.
B) The Lower South was able to industrialize more rapidly.
C) The path was laid for more wage slaves in the Upper South.
D) The political influence of the Upper South was reduced.

Question 19

What had forced North and South into a final debate over the future of slavery by 1850?

A) The departure of Henry Clay, who had compromised previous disputes.
B) The disposition of land acquired in the war with Mexico.
C) The failure of the Compromise of 1850.
D) The nagging of abolitionists.

Question 20

Beyond even racism, what motivated Southerners in their determination to expand slavery into western territories?

A) The defense of property rights and ability to move that property.
B) Economic determinism.
C) The fear that slavery would die out in the East.
D) The need for more land to satisfy the demand for cotton.

Question 21

If adopted, the Wilmot Proviso would have

A) Abolished slavery in the South.
B) Banned slavery from all territory acquired from Mexico.
C) Extended the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean.
D) Permitted each territory the power to decide on slavery for itself.

Question 22

How did Congress respond to the need for stable government in Utah and California after significant migrations of Americans there?

A) California was denied statehood until Indian resistance ceased.
B) Congress did little because of sectional differences.
C) Disputes with the executive branch kept California, but not Utah, out of the Union until after the Civil War.
D) Utah was regarded as a separate nation because of Mormon preponderance there.

Question 23

What argument regarding Congress's proposed restrictions on the expansion of slavery was advanced by John C. Calhoun?

A) Congress had no right to impose such limits.
B) Congressmen from western territories should take the lead in the debate.
C) People who lived in a territory should decide the issue.
D) Presidential leadership should guide Congress because all the people voted in presidential elections.

Question 24

What was the primary platform of the Free Soil Party in the election of 1848?

A) Congress had no authority to limit speech in western territories.
B) Slavery should be banned from the District of Columbia.
C) Slavery should be barred from all territories.
D) Western lands should be granted to settlers without charge.

Question 25

Who proposed the basic framework of the Compromise of 1850?

A) Daniel Webster of Massachusetts.
B) Henry Clay of Kentucky.
C) John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
D) Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois.

Question 26

Under the original Compromise of 1850 proposal

A) New Mexico and Utah territories would enter the Union as free states.
B) Popular sovereignty would decide the issue of slavery in California.
C) Slave trading was banned in Washington, D. C.
D) Texas was enlarged to include portions of Arizona territory.

Question 27

The proposer of the Compromise of 1850 gathered all its elements into a single piece of legislation known as

A) The Gag Rule.
B) The Omnibus Bill.
C) Parliamentary procedure.
D) Point of order.

Question 28

What was the consequence of the Senate's killing the original package of the Compromise of 1850?

A) Henry Clay agreed to separate the measures for individual votes.
B) Nashville Convention delegates vowed never again to trust northern congressional leaders.
C) A new generation of leaders took over Congress.
D) South Carolina seceded from the Union.

Question 29

What events helped bring about the Compromise of 1850 in Congress?

A) The deaths of President Zachary Taylor and John C. Calhoun.
B) The Wilmot Proviso and the Fugitive Slave Act.
C) "Popular sovereignty" and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
D) The Dred Scott decision and the defeat of the Alamo.

Question 30

What strategy Stephen Douglas employ to get the compromise proposals through Congress?

A) He allowed popular sovereignty in California.
B) He gave in to the South's demand to extend slavery into territories.
C) He insisted on the North's demand to end slavery in Washington, D. C.
D) He offered five separate bills, each designed to win different majorities.

Question 31

Who would have jurisdiction in fugitive slave classes following passage of the Compromise of 1850?

A) The Court of Appeals.
B) Federal commissioners.
C) The new federal Department of Justice.
D) State courts.

Question 32

How was the Fugitive Slave Law received in African American communities in the North?

A) With bewilderment, since few understood its meaning.
B) With joy, because it meant runaway slaves were free.
C) With mild disapproval, because they had wanted full emancipation.
D) With terror, because they believed every African American was subject to slavery.

Question 33

What motivated Harriet Beecher Stowe to write Uncle Tom's Cabin?

A) The Fugitive Slave Act.
B) The Dred Scott decision.
C) Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.
D) The Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Question 34

Why did the Democratic Party nominate Franklin Pierce for president in 1852?

A) He was an easterner who had been out of the country on a diplomatic mission and so had no recorded position on slavery in territories.
B) He was a northern man thought to be sympathetic to the South.
C) He was a southerner who did not believe in slavery.
D) He was a westerner who was uncommitted on the issue of slavery in territories.

Question 35

Which advantage did immigrant workers have compared to free blacks in Northern cities?

A) The right to vote.
B) The right to get an education.
C) Property.
D) A strong voice in the Whig Party.

Question 36

Why was the American Party also known as the Know-Nothing Party?

A) It had no new ideas to resolve the issues of slavery.
B) It began as a secret society.
C) Its leaders failed to keep rank-and-file members informed about party policy.
D) Its members were considered ignorant and uneducated.

Question 37

Stephen A. Douglas first introduced a provision for popular sovereignty in the

A) Compromise of 1850.
B) Fugitive Slave Law.
C) Kansas-Nebraska Act.
D) Omnibus Bill.

Question 38

When Douglas divided Nebraska Territory into two territories, he expected popular sovereignty to

A) Eventually be applied to states already in the Union.
B) Produce civil war so the issue could be decided once and for all.
C) Resolve all issues of slavery in territories.
D) Result in one slave state and one free state.

Question 39

What did Abraham Lincoln demand in 1854?

A) The abolition of slavery.
B) The restoration of the Missouri Compromise.
C) The nullification of the Fugitive Slave Act.
D) The impeachment of Stephen C. Douglas.

Question 40

Which of the following best describes the efforts of the New England Emigrant Aid Company?

A) They recruited many immigrants to settle in Massachusetts.
B) They recruited thousands of Kansas settlers for the defense of slavery.
C) They helped block much of the immigration stream from Ireland to Boston.
D) They failed to recruit many antislavery settlers for Kansas.

Question 41

Why was the first popular sovereignty vote in Kansas so one sided in favor of slavery?

A) Antislavery advocates knew Congress would make the final decision.
B) Few antislavery advocates had come to Kansas.
C) Proslavery advocates from Missouri cast fraudulent votes in the election.
D) Southern politicians were more effective campaigners than northern politicians.

Question 42

Where did violence erupt in Kansas over the competing constitutions that permitted and banned slavery?

A) Kansas City.
B) Lawrence.
C) Lecompton.
D) Topeka.

Question 43

What issue held the unwieldy Republican coalition together?

A) Banning the slave market in Washington, D. C.
B) Creating a federal agency to assist former slaves.
C) Immediate and uncompensated prohibition.
D) Opposition to slavery's expansion in western territories.

Question 44

Why did the Democratic Party choose James Buchanan as their presidential nominee in 1856?

A) He was a "fresh face" in politics with little experience.
B) He was comparable to Whig predecessor Franklin Pierce.
C) He took a firm stance against immigration.
D) He could boast a long record of public service.

Question 45

Why did Democrats argue that their party should prevail in the election of 1856?

A) All other candidates were tainted by scandal.
B) Only the Democratic Party could prevent the breakup of the Union.
C) The Democratic candidate had more experienced leaders.
D) Whigs and Republicans both represented tax-and-spend philosophies.

Question 46

Southerners generally agreed that slavery was less efficient than free labor but believed slavery was the only way to

A) Allow whites the leisure to develop as managers and leaders.
B) Convince Africans to work and accept Christianity.
C) Get work done in an unproductive climate.
D) Provide full employment for an undereducated workforce.

Question 47

Northerners generally agreed that

A) Slavery existed in the South mostly because of the moral depravity of southerners.
B) Slavery should be allowed in states where a majority favored it.
C) Slavery would collapse if expansion was denied.
D) They could get along well without slave-produced cotton.

Question 48

What was the most surprising outcome of the presidential election in 1856?

A) How close the Republican Party came to victory.
B) That the Democratic Party won.
C) The demise of the Constitutional-Union Party.
D) The near victory of the Whig Party.

Question 49

What created the uproar in the northern reaction to Judge Roger Brooke Taney's decision in the Dred Scott case?

A) John Emerson had no authority to take Scott to Illinois and Minnesota.
B) Scott could never be free, but his children could be freed if they moved to a state that banned slavery.
C) Scott had to spend 20 more years as a slave in Missouri.
D) Scott was not a citizen because he was black.

Question 50

Justice Roger Brooke Taney ruled that Congress had erred in the Missouri Compromise because that body

A) Could not act in such matters without the Court's approval.
B) Had infringed on the property rights of southerners by banning slavery from the territory.
C) Had violated the principle of states' rights guaranteed in the Tenth Amendment.
D) Misjudged Missouri's readiness for statehood.

Question 51

The constitutional convention in Lecompton, Kansas, can best be described as

A) Inspiring.
B) Rigged.
C) Radically antiracist.
D) A carbon copy of Nebraska's constitutional convention.

Question 52

Who won the election for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 1858?

A) Salmon Chase.
B) Stephen C. Douglas.
C) Abraham Lincoln.
D) George Sumter.

Question 53

Lincoln's claim that the Union could not survive "half slave and half free" earned him Stephen C. Douglas's taunt

A) "Black republican."
B) Carpetbagger.
C) "Little Abe."
D) "Scalawag."

Question 54

Abraham Lincoln lost the election in 1858, and his battle

A) Convinced him that holding political office was not the best way to oppose slavery.
B) Left him enough money from the campaign to retire.
C) Left Lincoln bitter but determined to defeat Fremont in the next election.
D) Made Lincoln a leading spokesman for the Republican Party.

Question 55

Stephen C. Douglas

A) Opposed the Lecompton Constitution.
B) Promoted the Freeport Doctrine.
C) Rejected the Compromise of 1850.
D) Hated Northern Democrats.

Question 56

Most white southerners regarded John Brown as

A) A dangerous radical who wanted them dead.
B) A martyr.
C) An ineffective advocate of slavery.
D) Someone to watch carefully.

Question 57

What caused some delegates to walk out of the Democratic convention in Charleston, South Carolina?

A) Its failure to pass a resolution endorsing slavery.
B) Its nomination of Stephen A. Douglas, who was "soft" on slavery.
C) Its refusal to nominate John C. Calhoun.
D) Its refusal to move party headquarters to Montgomery, Alabama.

Question 58

What differences were apparent in the economies of the North and South in the three decades prior to the Civil War?

Question 59

Discuss the northern and southern positions on the issue of slavery in the territories of the West.

Question 60

Explain the term "Bleeding Kansas" and how it affected the events leading to the Civil War.

Question 61

What changes and challenges did the Democratic Party face after the rise of the Republican Party?