Drifting Toward Disunion, 1854–1861

Chapter 19Drifting Toward Disunion,

1854–1861

19 | 2Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Question

All of the following were true of Uncle Tom’s Cabin EXCEPT

a) Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel had an unarguably large impact on the American (and worldwide) debate over slavery.

b) historians rarely look to it for evidence of the mid-nineteenth-century ideas and attitudes to which Stowe appealed.

c) Stowe cleverly aimed to mobilize, not simply, her readers’ sense of injustice, but also their sentiments, on behalf of the antislavery cause.

d) Stowe’s appeal to sentiment succeeded much more dramatically in exciting antislavery passions than the factual and moral arguments of most male abolitionists.


Answer

All of the following were true of Uncle Tom’s Cabin EXCEPT

a) Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel had an unarguably large impact on the American (and worldwide) debate over slavery.

b) historians rarely look to it for evidence of the mid-nineteenth-century ideas and attitudes to which Stowe appealed. (correct)

c) Stowe cleverly aimed to mobilize, not simply, her readers’ sense of injustice, but also their sentiments, on behalf of the antislavery cause.

d) Stowe’s appeal to sentiment succeeded much more dramatically in exciting antislavery passions than the factual and moral arguments of most male abolitionists.

Hint: See page 439.


Question

The author of The Impending Crisis of the South was

a) John C. Calhoun.

b) Hinton R. Helper.

c) Henry Clay.

d) Alfred T. Mahan.


Answer

The author of The Impending Crisis of the South was

a) John C. Calhoun.

b) Hinton R. Helper. (correct)

c) Henry Clay.

d) Alfred T. Mahan.

Hint: See page 439.


Question

The primary goal of the New England Emigrant Aid Company was to

a) resettle freed slaves in Liberia.

b) send abolitionists to Kansas to forestall pro-slaveryites.

c) return Irish immigrants to their homeland.

d) march western Cherokees back to their ancestral homelands.


Answer

The primary goal of the New England Emigrant Aid Company was to

a) resettle freed slaves in Liberia.

b) send abolitionists to Kansas to forestall pro-slaveryites. (correct)

c) return Irish immigrants to their homeland.

d) march western Cherokees back to their ancestral homelands.

Hint: See page 440.


Question

All of the following were true of the Lecompton Constitution EXCEPT

a) people were not allowed to vote for or against the constitution as a whole, but for the constitution either “with slavery” or “with no slavery.”

b) if they voted against slavery, one of the remaining provisions of the constitution would protect the owners of slaves already in Kansas.

c) many free-soilers, infuriated by this ploy, boycotted the polls.

d) the vast majority of Kansans were proslaveryites, who approved the constitution with slavery late in 1857.


Answer

All of the following were true of the Lecompton Constitution EXCEPT

a) people were not allowed to vote for or against the constitution as a whole, but for the constitution either “with slavery” or “with no slavery.”

b) if they voted against slavery, one of the remaining provisions of the constitution would protect the owners of slaves already in Kansas.

c) many free-soilers, infuriated by this ploy, boycotted the polls.

d) the vast majority of Kansans were proslaveryites, who approved the constitution with slavery late in 1857. (correct)

Hint: See page 441.


Question

All of the following were aspects of Bleeding Kansas EXCEPT

a) a gang of proslavery raiders, alleging provocation, shot up and burned a part of the free-soil town of Lawrence.

b) Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina pounded Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with an eleven-ounce cane until it broke.

c) John “Old Brown” of Osawatomie literally hacked to pieces five surprised proslaveryites at Pottawatomie Creek.

d) John Brown and several followers attempted to start a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry.


Answer

All of the following were aspects of Bleeding Kansas EXCEPT

a) a gang of proslavery raiders, alleging provocation, shot up and burned a part of the free-soil town of Lawrence.

b) Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina pounded Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with an eleven-ounce cane until it broke.

c) John “Old Brown” of Osawatomie literally hacked to pieces five surprised proslaveryites at Pottawatomie Creek.

d) John Brown and several followers attempted to start a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry. (correct)

Hint: See pages 441–442.


Question

In Dred Scott v. Sanford, the Supreme Court did all of the following EXCEPT

a) ruled that Dred Scott was a black slave and not a citizen, and hence could not sue in federal courts.

b) decreed that because a slave was private property, he or she could be taken into any territory and legally held there in slavery.

c) ruled that Congress had no power to ban slavery from the territories, regardless even of what the territorial legislatures themselves might want.

d) decided that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was only constitutional when applied to territory acquired in the Mexican War.


Answer

In Dred Scott v. Sanford, the Supreme Court did all of the following EXCEPT

a) ruled that Dred Scott was a black slave and not a citizen, and hence could not sue in federal courts.

b) decreed that because a slave was private property, he or she could be taken into any territory and legally held there in slavery.

c) ruled that Congress had no power to ban slavery from the territories, regardless even of what the territorial legislatures themselves might want.

d) decided that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was only constitutional when applied to territory acquired in the Mexican War. (correct)

Hint: See page 445.


Question

The Lincoln-Douglas debates occurred during the

a) crisis over the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

b) division over the Dred Scott decision of 1857.

c) Illinois Senatorial campaign of 1858.

d) presidential election of 1860.


Answer

The Lincoln-Douglas debates occurred during the

a) crisis over the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

b) division over the Dred Scott decision of 1857.

c) Illinois Senatorial campaign of 1858. (correct)

d) presidential election of 1860.

Hint: See page 448.


Question

The Freeport Doctrine averred that

a) no matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down.

b) the Supreme Court was the final arbiter of constitutionality, and citizens should respect the Dred Scott decision.

c) the Missouri Compromise was irrevocable, making the Kansas-Nebraska Act unconstitutional.

d) the Compromise of 1850 required approval of the territorial legislatures before becoming the law of the land.


Answer

The Freeport Doctrine averred that

a) no matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down. (correct)

b) the Supreme Court was the final arbiter of constitutionality, and citizens should respect the Dred Scott decision.

c) the Missouri Compromise was irrevocable, making the Kansas-Nebraska Act unconstitutional.

d) the Compromise of 1850 required approval of the territorial legislatures before becoming the law of the land.

Hint: See page 449.


Question

The key figure behind the raid on Harpers Ferry was

a) Robert E. Lee.

b) Wendell Phillips.

c) John Brown.

d) John Wilkes Booth.


Answer

The key figure behind the raid on Harpers Ferry was

a) Robert E. Lee.

b) Wendell Phillips.

c) John Brown. (correct)

d) John Wilkes Booth.

Hint: See page 450.


Question

The presidential candidate for the Constitutional Union party in 1860 was

a) Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.

b) John Bell of Tennessee.

c) John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky.

d) Steven Douglas of Illinois.


Answer

The presidential candidate for the Constitutional Union party in 1860 was

a) Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.

b) John Bell of Tennessee. (correct)

c) John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky.

d) Steven Douglas of Illinois.

Hint: See page 452.

Drifting Toward Disunion, 1854–1861

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