Louisiana State University - HIST 2055

Chapter 16 The Crisis of Union

TRUE/FALSE

1)Congress never passed the Wilmot Proviso.

2. The Free-Soil party opposed the Wilmot Proviso.

3. One-fifth of the gold seekers who went to California in 1849 died within six months.

4. In the mining frontier of the far west, women often enjoyed greater opportunities than back east.

5. As a result of the Compromise of 1850, California entered the Union as a free state.

6. The author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was Harriet Beecher Stowe.

7. The Republican party was created in 1854 by the merging of several anti-slavery groups.

8. The Pottawatomie Massacre was part of the conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas.

9. James Buchanan’s great experience in public service helped him become one of the most successful presidents.

10. The proposed Lecompton Constitution would make Kansas a free state.

11. In 1857, Kansas had only 200 slaves, and most people there were anti-slavery.

12. In his debates with Douglas, Lincoln stated his belief in racial equality.

13. Through his execution, John Brown became a martyr for the anti-slavery cause.

14. The Republican platform in 1860 promised to end slavery in the southern states.

15. Stephen Douglas was one of the most extreme pro-slavery and states’ rights advocates in the Demo- cratic party.

16. By February 1861, eleven southern states had withdrawn from the Union.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. The Wilmot Proviso:
   1. would prohibit slavery in any lands acquired from Mexico
   2. passed both houses of Congress
   3. was opposed in Congress by Abraham Lincoln
   4. would extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific
   5. was clearly unconstitutional

2. John C. Calhoun believed that the Wilmot Proviso:
   1. would help keep the Union together
   2. protected the interests of slaveholders
   3. violated property rights guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment
   4. blamed the South for the Mexican War
   5. would never pass Congress

3. The idea of popular sovereignty:
   1. solved the controversy over slavery’s extension
   2. would allow people in the territories to decide whether or not to permit slavery
   3. guaranteed slavery would spread westward
   4. allowed Oregon to enter the Union as a slave state
   5. was adopted by the Whigs in the 1848 election

4. All of the following might have joined the Free-Soil party EXCEPT:
   1. supporters of the Wilmot Proviso

1. 2. admirers of Martin Van Buren
   3. “Cotton” Whigs
   4. Liberty party members
   5. “Conscience” Whigs

5. The Free-Soil party stance on slavery:
   1. was endorsed by John C. Calhoun
   2. attracted Abraham Lincoln into their ranks
   3. led to the political downfall of Henry Clay
   4. infuriated John C. Calhoun
   5. opposed the Wilmot Proviso

6. The 1848 presidential election:
   1. was won by Zachary Taylor
   2. was won by Lewis Cass
   3. was won by Van Buren
   4. was decided in the House of Representatives
   5. broke up the Whig party

7. The discovery of gold in California did all of the following EXCEPT:
   1. spur a massive migration of gold seekers
   2. inspire the production of Levi’s blue jeans
   3. encourage American dreams of a Pacific empire
   4. reduce the size of the Indian population
   5. create a population with an equal balance of men and women

8. In late 1849, Zachary Taylor proposed:
   1. California’s immediate entry as a free state
   2. war against the Mormons in Utah
   3. extension of slavery to the Pacific
   4. abolition of slavery in Washington, D.C.
   5. giving Texas back to Mexico

9. President Zachary Taylor wanted to admit California as a state immediately because he:
   1. was anti-slavery, and California had voted on a free-state constitution
   2. was pro-slavery, and California had voted on a slave-state constitution
   3. wished to bypass the divisive issue of slavery in the territories
   4. was afraid Mexico would make new claims on the area since gold had been discovered there
   5. was persuaded to do so by his overwhelmingly northern cabinet

10. Which of the following is NOT true of Zachary Taylor?
    1. He owned more than one hundred slaves.
    2. He was a Mexican War hero.
    3. He was a southerner who supported the Union.
    4. The “Conscience” Whigs were his strongest supporters.
    5. He brought a soldier’s practical mind to the issue of California statehood.

11. During 1850, the United States faced the real danger of:
    1. a cholera epidemic
    2. disunion
    3. excessive foreign immigration
    4. war with Britain
    5. economic depression

12. During the debate over the Compromise of 1850, one senator made a conciliatory speech (“I wish to speak today, not as a Massachusetts man, not as a Northern man, but as an American.?.?.?.? I speak today for the preservation of the Union”) that was scorned by abolitionist leaders. That senator was:
    1. Henry Clay
    2. Henry S. Foote
    3. William H. Seward
    4. Daniel Webster
    5. Charles Sumner

13. President Taylor’s death:
    1. strengthened the chance for compromise in 1850
    2. put pro-slavery Franklin Pierce in the White House
    3. put anti-slavery William H. Seward in the White House
    4. was caused by a heart attack he suffered on the Senate floor while speaking for the Com- promise of 1850
    5. brought great relief to the nation, because he had started the current sectional crisis

14. During the great congressional debate over the Compromise of 1850:
    1. Calhoun endorsed all of Clay’s proposals
    2. Taylor promised to veto any new legislation
    3. Clay called for an end to sectional division
    4. Jefferson Davis emerged as a voice of moderation
    5. Webster made an impassioned argument for secession

15. The politician whose strategy enabled the passage of the Compromise of 1850 was:

1. 1. Millard Fillmore
   2. Sam Houston
   3. Daniel Webster
   4. William Seward
   5. Stephen Douglas

16. Stephen Douglas was more successful than Clay in getting the Compromise of 1850 passed because:
    1. he dropped the question of the slave trade in the District of Columbia
    2. he could depend on a sympathy vote from supporters of deceased President Taylor
    3. his support for popular sovereignty allowed many abolitionist senators to vote with him
    4. he split the issues into separate bills
    5. he was in better health and was more charismatic than Clay

17. The Compromise of 1850:
    1. gave Texas more territory
    2. admitted Utah as a slave state
    3. postponed California statehood
    4. ended slavery in Washington, D.C.
    5. strengthened the fugitive slave laws

18. The new Fugitive Slave Act:
    1. outraged abolitionists
    2. required the licensing of slave catchers
    3. guaranteed fugitive slaves a jury trial
    4. was soon repealed by Congress
    5. caused race riots in the North

19. Uncle Tom’s Cabin:
    1. was authored by Harriet Tubman
    2. outraged southern slave owners
    3. sold few copies when first published
    4. started the Civil War
    5. was a fair and balanced description of life under slavery

20. The election of 1852:
    1. saw both major parties denounce the Compromise of 1850
    2. resulted in a second term for Millard Fillmore
    3. saw the disappearance of the Free-Soil party
    4. was dominated by the current economic depression
    5. produced an unimpressive new president in Franklin Pierce

21. The Ostend Manifesto expressed U.S. interest in acquiring:
    1. Mexico
    2. Canada
    3. Cuba
    4. Alaska
    5. Panama

22. The United States concluded the Gadsden Purchase with Mexico in 1853:
    1. because of the area’s rich natural resources
    2. to acquire an additional port on the Pacific
    3. to take people’s minds off North–South division
    4. to increase cotton production in the West
    5. as a southern route for a transcontinental railroad

23. Stephen Douglas’s proposed Kansas-Nebraska Act:
    1. might allow slavery in Kansas and Nebraska
    2. strengthened the Missouri Compromise
    3. showed his enthusiastic support of slavery
    4. strengthened his presidential prospects
    5. would promote construction of a transcontinental rail line along a southern route

24. Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was a victory for:
    1. abolitionists
    2. immigrant groups in America
    3. the concept of popular sovereignty
    4. southerners who wanted a transcontinental railroad to run west from New Orleans
    5. the preservation of the Union

25. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act:
    1. allowed the peaceful settlement of Kansas
    2. excluded slavery from the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase
    3. broke apart the Whigs
    4. was Pierce’s greatest achievement as president
    5. united the Baptists and Methodists in common opposition to slavery

26. The attempt in Boston by federal officials to return Anthony Burns to slavery:
    1. was met with resigned cooperation
    2. provoked abolitionists to storm the jail
    3. brought about amendments to the Fugitive Slave Act
    4. caused President Pierce to give Burns his freedom
    5. increased northern support for the Compromise of 1850

27. John Brown and his followers in Kansas:
    1. carried out the “sack of Lawrence”
    2. came in from Missouri to vote for pro-slavery legislators
    3. believed climate would exclude slavery from the area
    4. worked for a compromise with pro-slavery forces
    5. murdered some pro-slavery men in Pottawatomie

28. Preston Brooks’s caning of Charles Sumner:
    1. took place in Kansas
    2. ended Brooks’s career in Congress
    3. showed that both North and South rejected political extremists
    4. was totally without motive or provocation
    5. made Brooks a hero in much of the South

29. In 1856, the Republicans:
    1. opposed the further spread of slavery
    2. nominated William Seward for president
    3. stood for states’ rights
    4. strongly condemned the nativist platform of the American party
    5. campaigned vigorously all over the country

30. The winner of the 1856 election was:
    1. John Frémont
    2. James Buchanan
    3. Franklin Pierce
    4. Stephen Douglas
    5. Millard Fillmore

31. Dred Scott sued for his freedom because:
    1. he had married a free woman
    2. his master had abused him
    3. he argued that slavery was unconstitutional
    4. he had lived in areas where slavery was forbidden
    5. he had always wanted to be free

32. The chief justice who spoke for the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision was:
    1. John Marshall
    2. Roger B. Taney
    3. William Seward
    4. Salmon P. Chase

1. 5. Sam Houston

33. In its decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court:
    1. ruled that slaves who were taken to free states would be considered free
    2. ruled that slaves who were taken to free territories would be considered free
    3. upheld the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise
    4. noted that blacks did not have federal citizenship and therefore could not bring suit in fed- eral courts
    5. ruled that state bans on slavery violated the property rights of masters

34. The Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision:
    1. gave Dred Scott his freedom
    2. was applauded by the Republicans
    3. implied that the Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional
    4. guaranteed the future admission of slave states
    5. recognized that free blacks were U.S. citizens

35. In Kansas, the proposed Lecompton Constitution:
    1. was vigorously opposed by President Buchanan
    2. had overwhelming popular support
    3. would establish equality for free blacks
    4. showed the dominance of Free-Soilers
    5. would make Kansas a slave state

36. President Buchanan:
    1. supported the Lecompton Constitution because he opposed the spread of slavery
    2. opposed the Lecompton Constitution because he favored the spread of slavery
    3. opposed the Lecompton Constitution because he was politically dependent on northern congressmen
    4. supported the Lecompton Constitution because he was dependent on southern congress- men
    5. in his typically indecisive way, took no stance on the Lecompton controversy

37. The Panic of 1857:
    1. was the worst depression in American history
    2. ended sectional bickering
    3. caused church attendance to decline
    4. was triggered by the violence in Kansas
    5. strengthened southern confidence in its cotton economy

38. Abraham Lincoln:

1. 1. opposed the further spread of slavery
   2. supported black equality
   3. would abolish slavery wherever it existed
   4. was a military hero
   5. was born in 1810

39. The Lincoln-Douglas debates:
    1. saw Douglas abandon popular sovereignty
    2. bolstered Lincoln’s presidential prospects in 1860
    3. clinched Lincoln’s election to the U.S. Senate
    4. saw Lincoln state his belief in racial equality
    5. saw Lincoln endorse the Dred Scott ruling

40. The Freeport Doctrine might be defined as the concept that:
    1. slavery could not be prohibited in a territory until that territory became a state
    2. slavery was immoral and ought to be abolished in all territories of the United States
    3. even if slavery were permitted in a territory, the people could effectively end it by refusing to pass laws to sustain it
    4. if blacks were freed from slavery, they must be given full legal and social equality
    5. the Dred Scott decision should be overturned

41. John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry was intended to:
    1. start a civil war
    2. unify the Republican party
    3. provoke slave insurrections
    4. prove John Brown was God’s agent
    5. provoke a fight with the U.S. Army

42. John Brown targeted Harpers Ferry, Virginia, because:
    1. it had a large slave population
    2. it was the site of a federal arsenal
    3. it was an important railroad center
    4. many abolitionists lived in the area
    5. it had banks with large deposits

43. John Brown’s raid:
    1. ended bloodlessly
    2. succeeded
    3. was of minor importance
    4. made the South paranoid
    5. was condemned by abolitionists

44. As the election of 1860 approached, the Democratic party:
    1. renominated Buchanan
    2. was silent on the issue of slavery
    3. condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act
    4. was dominated by southern extremists
    5. broke up into northern and southern wings

45. The Republican party platform supported all of the following in 1860 EXCEPT:
    1. a transcontinental railroad
    2. a higher protective tariff
    3. no further extension of slavery
    4. John Brown’s raid
    5. free homesteads for western farmers

46. All of the following were presidential nominees in 1860 EXCEPT:
    1. William Seward
    2. John Bell
    3. Abraham Lincoln
    4. John Breckinridge
    5. Stephen Douglas

47. Lincoln won the election of 1860 by:
    1. appealing to fear
    2. sweeping the free states
    3. carrying the biggest states in both North and South
    4. massive voter fraud
    5. changing his position on slavery

48. The first state to secede was:
    1. Virginia
    2. Mississippi
    3. South Carolina
    4. Georgia
    5. Texas

49. In response to secession, President Buchanan:
    1. said he supported it
    2. declared martial law
    3. abandoned Fort Sumter
    4. did practically nothing
    5. let Lincoln take office ahead of schedule