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What effect did John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry have on the South?
A. It reassured southerners about the safety of slavery.
B. It convinced the southern states that secession was necessary.
C. It indicated that abolitionists would use violence to overthrow slavery.
D. It demonstrated the shortcomings of popular sovereignty
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C
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How did the Mexican-American War affect American politics?
A. It allowed Congress to avoid the slavery issue for another decade.
B. It divided the nation based on the issue of slavery in the territories.
C. It gave rise to a new political party, the Know-Nothings.
D. It ended the era of military heroes as presidential candidates.
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B
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What did the Wilmot Proviso of 1846 propose?
A. Slavery would be allowed to expand only into the area below the southern boundary of Missouri.
B. Any slaves taken in the area ceded by Mexico would be freed at age twenty-eight.
C. People living in the area ceded by Mexico could choose for themselves whether or not to permit
slavery.
D. Slavery would be prohibited throughout the entire area ceded by Mexico.
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D
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Who supported the Wilmot Proviso?
A. Northerners who wanted to reserve new lands for white settlers
B. Southerners who had concluded that slavery could not flourish in the West
C. Northerners and southerners who were morally opposed to slavery
D. Southerners who could not afford to relocate their plantations to the West
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A
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Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan proposed the doctrine of popular sovereignty, a measure that would
allow
A. the Supreme Court to decide whether or not territories might sanction slavery.
B. a national referendum on the issue of slavery expansion.
C. people who settled the territories to decide whether or not they wanted slavery.
D. a special congressional commission to decide slavery’s fate in the territories.
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C
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What did the Whigs do in an attempt to reunite their party during the presidential campaign of 1848?
A. Denounce abolitionists
B. Remain silent on the issue of slavery
C. Nominate a wealthy southerner who opposed slavery
D. Nominate a northerner who advocated popular sovereignty
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B
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Which issue in the debate of 1849-50 led to the Compromise of 1850?
A. The balance of power between the North and the South in Congress
B. Whether or not the nation should engage in a civil war
C. Stricter interstate commerce regulations
D. Whether or not Congress should raise taxes on imports
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A
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Per the Compromise of 1850, which state entered the union as a free state?
A. New Mexico
B. Utah
C. California
D. Arizona
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C
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What was a requirement of the Fugitive Slave Act, part of the Compromise of 1850?
A. Any runaway slave who reached the North would be considered free.
B. Slave commissioners received $10 for setting a slave free and $5 for returning a slave to his or her
master.
C. Slave owners needed three witnesses in order to claim a runaway.
D. All citizens were expected to assist officials in apprehending runaway slaves.
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D
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What happened to most fugitive slaves once they were captured after the Fugitive Slave Act was
enacted?
A. They were peacefully returned to their masters.
B. Abolitionists broke them out of jail.
C. Commissioners granted them freedom.
D. Masters declined to obtain them.
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A
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Why did Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) influence northerners’ attitudes
toward slavery?
A. It included scientific evidence of the effects of slavery on those enslaved.
B. It put forth a stirring moral indictment of slavery.
C. Stowe argued that the North was not responsible for the institution of slavery.
D. It suggested that northerners should pay for slaves to be sent to Africa.
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B
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Why did the United States negotiate the Gadsden Purchase in 1853?
A. To secure mining rights in the Southwest
B. To remove troublesome Native Americans from the area ceded by Mexico
C. To support the dream of a southern route for the transcontinental railroad
D. To establish James Gadsden as a territorial governor
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C
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In 1854, Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act and included a section
repealing the Missouri Compromise because
A. he had never supported the Missouri Compromise in the first place.
B. he needed southern support to pass his legislation.
C. he pocketed bribes from southern legislators in return for supporting their causes.
D. he did not think the plan would cause controversy
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B
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How did American politics change in the aftermath of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act?
A. The Democratic party ceased to exist.
B. The Whigs gained new strength and vitality.
C. Democrats came to dominate northern politics.
D. The Whig party disintegrated.
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D
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Why did the Democrats remain a national organization after 1854?
A. They made inroads into the North.
B. Gains in the South offset losses in the North.
C. They abandoned popular sovereignty in favor of a free-soil platform.
D. They welcomed former Whigs into their ranks.
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B
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The American party, or Know-Nothings, appeared in the mid-1850s as
A. a reaction to large numbers of Roman Catholics coming to the United States.
B. a political organization designed to include all Americans.
C. part of the movement to unite Americans in support of slavery.
D. an organization advocating equal rights for all immigrants.
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A
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What common thread wove together northern men to form the Republican party in 1854?
A. The conviction that the federal government should increase social reform efforts
B. The belief that Congress should move quickly to abolish slavery where it existed
C. The belief that citizenship was too easily achieved by ill-prepared foreigners
D. The opposition to the extension of slavery into any territory of the United States
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D
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What led to the demise of the Know-Nothing party in the mid-1850s?
A. It endorsed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, alienating northerners.
B. It ended its opposition to immigration from Ireland and Germany.
C. It called for the enfranchisement of women.
D. It had consistently failed to win offices at the state level.
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A
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The presidential election of 1856 revealed the
A. weakness of the Democratic party in the South.
B. strength of the new Republican party.
C. indifference of southern voters.
D. fundamental flaws in the electoral college system.
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B
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Early in the struggle to win Kansas, proslavery supporters
A. invaded Kansas to control the election through fraud and intimidation.
B. initiated the first orderly implementation of popular sovereignty.
C. saw that the cause was lost and retreated from the contest.
D. got no support from the presidential administration of Millard Fillmore.
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A
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What was the result of Preston Brooks’s caning of Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner in 1856?
A. It settled a longstanding personal grievance between the men.
B. It further inflamed sectional passions over the institution of slavery.
C. It ended Sumner’s long career in the Senate.
D. It resulted in Brooks becoming an outcast in his home state of South Carolina.
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B
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What did the Supreme Court rule in its 1857 Dred Scott decision?
A. Dred Scott was not a citizen of the United States.
B. The Missouri Compromise was constitutional.
C. Slaves were free once they visited northern states.
D. Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in the territories.
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A
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How did the Dred Scott decision increase sectional tension?
A. It lent credence to the belief in the North that a slave power conspiracy existed.
B. It indicated that the issue of slavery could be determined in any territory long before the moment of
statehood.
C. It strengthened the Democratic party by unifying its northern and southern branches.
D. It precipitated the resignation of Supreme Court justices from the North.
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A
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What did Abraham Lincoln personally believe about slavery?
A. It would be acceptable with a few humane modifications.
B. It should be abolished immediately.
C. It was morally wrong.
D. It was dangerously misunderstood by most northerners.
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C
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Who, according to Lincoln, had the responsibility to stop the spread of slavery?
A. Southern planters
B. The Democratic party
C. Congress
D. State governments
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C
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What did Douglas argue in what became known as the Freeport Doctrine?
A. The Dred Scott decision would very likely be reversed in the near future.
B. Settlers could ban slavery by not passing the laws necessary to protect slave property.
C. The Supreme Court could not supersede the implementation of popular sovereignty.
D. Halting slavery would cause dire financial consequences for the United States.
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B
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What was the result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates?
A. The Democrats shunned Douglas.
B. Douglas scored a landslide victory against Lincoln.
C. Lincoln became nationally known.
D. Lincoln defeated Douglas and became a U.S. senator
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C
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What happened to John Brown after his raid on Harper’s Ferry?
A. He escaped to Massachusetts.
B. He was deported to Canada.
C. He was pardoned by the Republican governor.
D. He was executed.
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D
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What happened when Democrats met to choose a presidential candidate in Charleston, South Carolina?
A. They agreed unanimously on Stephen A. Douglas.
B. They divided into southern and northern factions.
C. They selected Jefferson Davis as their candidate.
D. Their delegates agreed to reject popular sovereignty
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B
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What made Abraham Lincoln an attractive candidate for the Republican nomination?
A. He supported high tariffs.
B. He represented the crucial state of Illinois.
C. His extreme racial views appealed to antislavery southerners.
D. He was good friends with powerful Democrats.
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B
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Southerners felt so much hostility toward the Republican party during the presidential election of 1860
that
A. they burned Lincoln in effigy in most major areas of the South.
B. they boycotted the polls in numerous states.
C. ten states refused to allow Lincoln’s name to appear on the ballot.
D. states passed laws allowing women to vote in order to defeat the Republicans.
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C
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In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president because he had
A. a majority of the popular vote.
B. strong support in the more populous free states.
C. enough popularity to carry two crucial slave states.
D. three opponents who split the southern vote.
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B
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Which was the first state to secede from the Union after Lincoln’s election?
A. Virginia
B. Mississippi
C. South Carolina
D. Texas
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C
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Who became the president of the new Confederate States of America?
A. Howell Cobb
B. John Smith Preston
C. Jefferson Davis
D. Alexander Stephens
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C
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