Slavery into the western territories Essay.
HIS 101 Chapter 14 Open-Book Reading Quiz
1.Which of the following states is NOT true with regards to the expansion of slavery into the western territories?
The Free Soil party, which nominated former president Martin Van Buren in 1848, wanted to abolish slavery in the USA, to make the country “free soil”.
2. Gold was discovered in January of 1848 in California, 9 days before the territory “would be identified as ‘the great prize’ transferred to the US” after the Mexican-American War. By 1854, 300,000 people moved to California, making the Gold Rush the greatest mass migration in American history to that point.
True
3. Which of the following is NOT true about the California Gold Rush?
The number of men was two times more than the number of women during the height of the gold rush in California.
4. In 1849, a Georgia Congressman Robert Toombs said he “for disunion” if slavery were prohibited in California, New Mexico, or Washington, D.C..
True
5. Which of the following is NOT true with regards to the Compromise of 1850?
Daniel Webster (MA) shocked his fellow New Englanders when he said the South was right, and the North was wrong. Even more shockingly, he supported secession if California entered the US as a free state.
6. The Whig Senator from New York argued against slavery, even though it was protected by the US Constitution. He proclaimed, “there is a higher law than the Constitution…”.
True
7. Which of the following is NOT related to the resolution of the Compromise of 1850?
When it was clear the Compromise would be accepted, President Fillmore sighed “the long agony is over.” And he was right, the Compromise was accepted, and the issue of slavery in the territories was resolved.
8. Which of the following is NOT an example of increased sectional tension between pro- and anti-slavery forces?
The continued enforcement of the 36th parallel division established by the Missouri Compromise (1820).
9. Two new political parties grew in importance in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854). The Know-Nothing Party (which fought to prevent the spread of slavery into the territories), and the Republican Party (which was against immigration, especially Catholic Irish and Germans.
False
10. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
Two competing governments were established in the Kansas territory, one pro-slavery, and one anti-slavery.
11. Senator Charles Sumner (MA) insulted Sen. Andrew Butler (SC), by accusing him of having a mistress who was “polluted in the sight of the world” but “chaste” in his eyes. Sumner called that mistress a “harlot”…he meant, slavery. Butler’s cousin, Preston Brooks (a congressman), visited Sumner in the Senate chamber, and beat Sumner with a cane.
True
12. By 1856, the two major parties were the Democrats, and a new party, the Republican Party. Given their views on the economy and government, if they were alive in 1856, Alexander Hamilton (a leading Federalist in his day), and Henry Clay (a leading Whig in his day), would likely have joined the Republican Party and NOT the Democratic Party. The fact that Clay was a slave owner makes him more problematic, since the Republican party was the first major party to take a stand against slavery, but here the focus is on economics and the role of government.
True
13. Which of the following is NOT true about the late 1850s?
Senator Stephen Douglas and President James Buchanan were both democratic supporters of popular sovereignty, and were both willing to support the Lecompton Constitution.
14. Which of the following is NOT true about the career of young Abraham Lincoln?
Abraham Lincoln defeated Stephen Douglas and was elected to the Senate thanks to the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
15. After John Brown led a failed assault on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1859, many Southerners, including Jefferson Davis, believed they “have declared war on us…”. Brown himself said the crimes “of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood.”
True
16. Which of the following is NOT true with regards to the election of 1869?
Though Lincoln won a clear majority in the electoral college (180 votes), he won only a slim majority of the popular vote.
17. When South Carolina became the first state to secede, a unionist judge named James Petigru said an independent South Carolina was “too small to be a Republic but too large to be an insane asylum.” Alexander Stephens of Georgia (and future vice president of the Confederacy) said “revolutions are easier started than controlled.”
True
18. Which of the following statement about the secession crisis IS TRUE?
Congress passed the 13th amendment (with Lincoln’s support) that would have protected slavery where it already existed at that time. It was never ratified by the states (in fact the 13th amendment that was actually ratified by the states a few years later abolished slavery).
19. Which of the following IS TRUE about the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln?
He pledged to defend federal forts, which included forts like Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, SC.
20. Lincoln ordered unarmed ships to provide food and supplies to the US troops in Fort Sumter. A US fort in the harbor of Charleston, SC, could not be tolerated by the newly proclaimed Confederate States of America, so Confederate forces fired first to force the surrender of the fort before it could be supplied (April 12, 1861). Oddly enough, the commander of the Confederate forces was Pierre Gustave Teuton Beauregard, a former student of Major Robert Anderson, the commander of US forces stationed in Fort Sumter.
True