Download Name: Date

Student Study Guide for the American Pageant
Chapter 19 Drifting Toward Disunion, 1854–1861
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The 1850s were punctuated by successive
confrontations that deepened sectional hostility until it
broke out in the Civil War.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin fanned
northern antislavery feeling. In Kansas, proslavery
and antislavery forces fought a bloody little preview
of the Civil War. Buchanan’s support of the
proslavery Lecompton Constitution alienated
moderate northern Democrats like Douglas.
Congressman Brooks’s beating of Senator Sumner
aroused passions in both sections.
The 1856 election signaled the rise of the sectionally
based Republican party. The Dred Scott case
delighted the South, while northern Republicans
pledged defiance. The Lincoln-Douglas debates of
1858 deepened the national controversy over slavery.
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry made him a
heroic martyr in the North but caused outraged
southerners to fear a slave uprising.
The Democratic party split along sectional lines,
allowing Lincoln to win the four-way 1860 election.
Seven southern states quickly seceded and organized
the Confederate States of America.
As southerners optimistically cast off their ties to the
hated North, lame-duck President Buchanan proved
unable to act. The last-minute Crittenden Compromise
effort failed because of Lincoln’s opposition.
G L O S SA R Y - To build your social science vocabulary, familiarize yourself with the following terms:
puppet government - A government set up and controlled by outside forces.
bigoted - Blindly or narrowly intolerant.
public domain - Land or other things belonging to the whole nation, controlled by the federal government.
bandwagon - in politics, a movement or candidacy that gains rapid momentum because of people's purported
desire to join a successful cause.
apportionment - The allotment or distribution of legislative representatives in districts according to population. (Reapportionment occurs after each census according to growth or loss of population.)
splintering - Concerning the small political groups left after a larger group has divided or broken apart.
affidavit - A sworn, written testimony, usually attested to by a notary public or legal officer.
martyr - One who is tortured or killed for adherence to a belief.
border state - The northernmost slave states contested by North and South; during the Civil War the four border
states (Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri) remained within the Union, though they contained many
Confederate sympathizers and volunteers.
vassalage - The service and homage given by a feudal subordinate to an overlord; by extension, any similar
arrangement between political figures or entities.
What was Harriet Beecher Stowe's purpose for writing the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin? (pg. 409-410) _______________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.
What kind of impact did Uncle Tom's Cabin have on the country? (pg. 409-410) ________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________.
Describe the actions that led to “Bleeding Kansas”? (pg. 412) ____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________.
1
Chapter 19 Test Review Worksheet (continued)
What was the “breaking point” that led to even greater convulsions in Kansas? (pg. 413) ________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________.
What was the Lecompton Constitution? (pg. 413-414) _____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
The clash between Preston S. Brooks and Charles Sumner revealed (pg. 415)
A)
the seriousness of political divisions in the North.
B)
the importance of honor to northerners.
C)
despite divisions over slavery, the House of Representatives would unite to expel a member for bad conduct.
D)
passions over slavery were becoming dangerously inflamed in both North and South.
E)
the division between the House and the Senate over slavery.
Explain the platforms of each party during the presidential campaign of 1856: (pg. 415) __________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________.
The Know-Nothing party was formed in response to? (pg. 416) ______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________.
What was the main cause of the Republicans defeat in the 1856 election? (pg. 417) ______________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________.
What did the Supreme Court rule in the Dred Scott case? ____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
Arrange these events in chronological order: Dred Scott decision, Lincoln-Douglas debates, Kansas-Nebraska Act,
Harpers Ferry raid, The Financial Crash of 1857, the caning of Charles Sumner, “Bleeding Kansas”
The political career of Abraham Lincoln could best be described as (pg. 420)
A)
characterized by a rapid rise to power.
D)
slow to get off the ground.
B)
hurt by his marriage.
E)
marred by early political opportunism.
C)
hurt by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
As a result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, (pg. 421)
Lincoln was elected to the Senate.
Lincoln's national stature was diminished.
Douglas increased his chances of winning the presidency.
Illinois rejected the concept of popular
sovereignty.
Douglas defeated Lincoln for the Senate.
2
Chapter 19 Test Review Worksheet (continued)
What was John Brown’s intention in his raid on Harpers Ferry? (pg. 422) _____________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________.
After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, the South concluded that (pg. 423)
the raid was an isolated incident.
Brown had been attempting to defend his right to own
the U.S. army could not protect slavery.
slaves.
Brown should be put in an insane asylum.
the North was dominated by “Brown-loving”
Republicans.
Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 Republican party presidential nomination in part because he (pg. 425)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
How did the people of South Carolina respond to Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election? (pg. 427)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________.
What are some of the reasons why Lincoln received such a small percentage of the popular votes? Who won the electoral
votes from California? (pg. 426-27)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Describe the status of each sections (North and South) political power in the aftermath of the presidential election of 1860:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________.
Which of the following statements are true regarding “Lame-duck” President James Buchanan? (pg. 429)
A)
southern states had a legal right to secede from the Union.
B)
his duty was to protect federal installations from assault.
C)
the election of 1860 was a fraud.
D)
southern states had no choice but to secede from the Union.
E)
the Constitution did not authorize him to force southern states to stay in the Union.
President James Buchanan declined to use force to keep the South in the Union for all of the following reasons except that
(pg. 429)
A)
northern public opinion would not support it.
B)
the army was needed to control Indians in the West.
C)
he believed that the Constitution allowed secession.
D)
a slim chance of reconciliation remained.
E)
he was surrounded by pro-southern advisers.
3