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Question 1
a. Uncle Tom’s Cabin did indeed help spark the Civil war by increasing the tension
between the North and South. For northerners, the book made it increasingly
impossible to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law, while southerners were angered by
what they considered Stowe’s misrepresentation of slavery.
b. Stowe was inspired to write the book by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law and
wanted to wake the North up to the evil of slavery by exposing its cruelty
(particularly the way it tore black families apart through slave sales) on her pages.
c. Stowe often recounted that God was the true author of her book. In this way, she was
illustrating the connection between abolitionism and the religious movement known
as the Second Great Awakening.
d. Stowe’s book was a runaway hit, selling thousands of copies in the U.S. and several
hundred in France and England in its first year. In fact, the book was translated into
several languages and soon sold millions of copies.
e. Correct answer. In truth, Stowe never witnessed slavery in the Deep South first-hand;
however, she had seen it briefly during a trip to Kentucky and had for many years
lived in Ohio, a center of Underground Railroad activity.
Question 2
a. Correct answer. The people of Kansas were only allowed to vote to approve the
LeCompton Constitution with slavery or without it. And if they voted for the
nonslavery version, there was still a provision that would protect the owners of slaves
already living in Kansas—so either way, slavery would be permitted in Kansas no
matter how the vote went.
b. While there did exist an agreement attempting to make Kansas a free state, the
LeCompton Constitution was a separate effort. Through it, proslavery forces hoped to
ensure slavery continued regardless of what people in the territory wanted.
c. Tensions dominated the territory as settlers feuded over land claims. Some even
resorted to violence, as in 1856, when a gang of proslavery raiders shot up and burned
sections of the free-soil town of Lawrence.
d. By 1857, when the LeCompton Constitution was devised, Kansas already had a large
enough population to apply for statehood, so there was no need to bypass the normal
process of moving from territory status to statehood.
e. Actually, long before the LeCompton Constitution was crafted, Kansas had two
different governments, one supporting slavery and the other supporting the
abolitionist cause.
Question 3
a. While South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks was a defender of his home
state and its proslavery position, that was not his claim to fame.
b. Correct answer. Brooks is best remembered for badly beating Senator Charles
Sumner for his provocative speech entitled “The Crime Against Kansas,” which
railed against popular sovereignty and slavery. In it, he not only condemned the
proslavery forces, but he also insulted South Carolina and its well-liked senator
Andrew Butler. Brooks caused serious injuries to Sumner’s head and nervous system,
forcing him to vacate his senate seat for three and a half years and seek costly and
painful treatment in Europe.
c. Brooks’ code of honor called for a duel when Sumner insulted his home state and his
distant cousin Senator Andrew Butler, but since duels were only fought between
equals—and Brooks did not consider Sumner, with his vile language, an equal—he
determined his only recourse was to beat him.
d. Even after his violent attack on Sumner, Congress could not muster enough votes to
oust Brooks from Congress. The South kept reelecting him thereafter as a show of
support for his beating of Sumner, whom they regarded as a hateful, abolitionist
Yankee.
e. Brooks had nothing to do with Bleeding Kansas. Kansas got that nickname because of
the continuous bloodshed there caused by raids, land disputes, and tensions over
slavery.
Question 4
a. Know-Nothings were virulently anti-immigrant. Troubled by the influx of immigrants
from Ireland and Germany, they took a hard-line pro-America, nativist position. Their
slogan became: “Americans Must Rule America.”
b. Correct answer. The party got its name Know-Nothings because they were highly
secretive about their activities and typically answered that they did not know when
questioned on political matters.
c. The Know-Nothings nominated the bland former president Millard Fillmore, who
was also endorsed b the
d. There was a Know-Nothing band of ruffians who campaigned in Baltimore for the
party’s candidates, but violent attacks were not the modus operandi of the group or
the reason for its nickname.
e. The Know-Nothings were no different from any political party at the time; they slug
mud to dirty the image of their political enemies with negative stories in the press.
Question 5
a. That a slave could be taken into any state—and remain a slave—regardless of
whether a state itself was “slave” or “free.” A majority of the Court decreed that
because a slave was private property, he or she could be taken into any territory and
legally held there in slavery. The reasoning was that the Fifth Amendment clearly
forbade Congress to deprive people of their property without due process of law.
b. The Compromise of 1820 was never Constitutional.
c. Correct answer. It was the Fugitive Slave Law (1850), and not the Dred Scott
decision, that required northern states to assist in the capture and return of fugitive
slaves and would fine or jail those who did not comply.
d. The Supreme Court ruled in the case that Dred Scott and his wife were to retain their
slave status for life, unless their owner determined to set them free.
e. Surprisingly, the court also ruled that since Dred Scott was a slave, he was not a
citizen, and therefore could not bring suit in federal courts.
Question 6
a. The influx of gold from California helped inflate the currency, which in part
contributed to the crash in 1857.
b. Without a doubt, rampant and excessive speculation in land and railroads also
undermined the nation’s economic stability.
c. The demand for grain due to the Crimean War in Russia led many producers to
expand production; but then, demand did not keep pace, devastating grain growers,
especially in the North.
d. Correct answer. Cotton prices overseas remained strong, enabling the South to ride
out the economic crisis easily, where its counterparts in the North struggled.
e. During the Panic of 1857, over five hundred businesses failed each year, which led to
massive unemployment, especially in urban areas.
Question 7
a. While Lincoln was from humble circumstances and did make it his personal mission
to champion the common man, this was not where his nickname came from.
b. While Lincoln put himself through school and worked hard to achieve his legal
career, it is also true that he married into a better social class when he married Mary
Todd from the prestigious Kentucky Todd families.
c. Correct answer. Lincoln got the nickname because, as a young lawyer, he would turn
away cases that went against his personal sense of morality and conscience.
d. Contrary to folklore, until age 45 (in 1854), Lincoln had done little to establish him as
an eloquent statesman. It was the Kansas-Nebraska Act in that year that sparked great
passion in him and led him to become a noted speaker, but this, too, was not the
source of his nickname.
e. Lincoln was known for simple statements of political principles when running for
office, but this had little to do with his reputation for being honest.
Question 8
a. Stephen Douglas actually won the senate race against Lincoln. At that time, state
legislatures selected senators, and more pro-Douglas state legislators were elected in
the general election that followed the Lincoln-Douglas debate.
b. Correct answer. Although Lincoln lost the election, the debates helped make him
more visible in the political area. Newspapers in the East offered detailed reports of
the debates, ultimately leading to his consideration as a Republican nominee for
president. Douglas, however, dampened his shot at the white house when he opposed
the Le Compton Constitution and defied the Supreme Court. The Lincoln-Douglas
debate in many ways seemed to be a precursor to the national division that would lead
to the Civil War.
c. Freeport was the site of the most famous of the debates. There, Lincoln stumped
Douglas with a question on whether the people of a territory or the Supreme Court
should prevail in determining the slave/nonslave status of the region. Douglas’s reply,
later dubbed the Freeport Doctrine, was that regardless of how the Supreme Court
ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down.
d. Douglas and Lincoln weren’t running for the presidency; the debates they held were
for Illinois senator.
e. Lincoln did receive 110 votes for the vice presidential nomination in 1856 to run on
the ticket with John Frémont, but this happened two years before his debate with
Douglas.
Question 9
a. Correct answer. Abolitionist John Brown actually did more for the antislavery cause
through his execution than through his violent raid on Harper’s Ferry that led to his
arrest and death. His execution made him a martyr to the cause, as author Ralph
Waldo Emerson actually compared him to Jesus. Many abolitionists were so outraged
that it further galvanized the movement and enhanced its visibility.
b. At the time, Brown’s violent raid at Harper’s Ferry served only to anger both
southerners and northern white abolitionists.
c. Brown staged his raid in bleeding Kansas to prevent it from becoming a slave state,
but his actions merely contributed to the growing North-South tensions.
d. Brown arrived in West Virginia with thousands of dollars worth of firearms that he
hoped to use to arm slaves who would join him in a massive uprising. However,
slaves, who didn’t know about Brown or his plans, failed to join him, and when his
group seized the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, seven innocent people were
accidently killed and more than ten others injured. They were captured by U.S.
Marines under Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee.
e. Brown did receive some financial backing from northern abolitionists, but he was not
known for his writings. His reputation was for his violent opposition to slavery,
which was antithetical to the nonviolent approach of the abolitionists themselves.
Question 10
a. Although he hated slavery, Lincoln was not an abolitionist the way the South
perceived him to be. Even in 1865, he supported cash compensation for owners of
freed slaves.
b. Correct answer. More than any other president—with the exception of John Quincy
Adams—Lincoln was a minority president. When he was elected, 60 percent of voters
cast their ballots for other candidates.
c. When Lincoln was elected president, South Carolinians took that as their cue to
officially secede and did so within four days of his election.
d. Northern voters put Lincoln in the white house. The reason: in ten southern states his
name was not even allowed on the ballot, making this a truly sectional presidential
election.
e. Republicans initially wanted William H. Seward as their candidate because he was
widely known. However, a speech he made in Rochester in 1858, along with other
equally radical comments, made him an impossible choice. Lincoln, who had not
made the enemies that Seward had, was ultimately a stronger candidate.
Question 11
a. The South had a 5 to 4 majority of sympathizers in the Supreme Court.
b. The nation remained so politically divided on the question of slavery that no majority
will could have prevailed.
c. There were fifteen slave states, which were exactly half of the total number of states,
giving them considerable power over the issue of slavery.
d. While the Republicans were successful in putting Lincoln into the white house, they
did not control the House or the Senate. Both were dominated by Southern
Democrats.
e. Correct answer. The central government could not end slavery where it already
existed without a constitutional amendment, and any effort to pass an amendment
could be blocked with just one-fourth of the states voting.
Question 12
a. Alabama was among the states that followed South Carolina into secession.
b. Mississippi joined the ranks of the seceded states.
c. Florida left the Union along with South Carolina.
d. Correct answer. Missouri was not among the states that initially seceded. In fact, as a
border state throughout the Civil War, Missouri sent men and supplies to both sides.
e. Texas joined the five other states that seceded after South Carolina.
Question 13
a. Buchanan did take the seceding states seriously, but he hoped that if he gave them
some time, their anger would subside and they would rejoin the nation. He was, of
course, wrong.
b. Over time, Buchanan hoped that cooler heads would prevail and he would be able to
negotiate a peace with the South, but this was not the main reason for his refusal to
act.
c. Correct answer. Buchanan had previously been a lawyer and in his interpretation of
the Constitution, he did not believe that states could legally secede. Therefore, despite
South Carolina and other states proclamations of secession, he still considered them
within the Union
d. Pacifism was not the reason Buchanan did not send troops to the seceded states. The
U.S. military at that time consisted of fifteen thousand men, many of them scattered
in the West to control Indians there. The military was simply not readily available.
e. Northerners did not want any show of military might, since they believed that once
fighting began, any hope of conciliation would be impossible, and they held out hope
for a peaceful resolution.
Question 14
a. Correct answer. Southerners were not merely throwing their weight around when they
decided to secede. They were anxious over the tipping of the political balance against
them and toward the North, with its much greater population. Southerners felt the
only way to safeguard their interests and way of life was to break away from the
Union.
b. Around the globe, there were nationalist movements, particularly in Italy, Germany,
and Poland, that did indeed inspire the South.
c. Leaders of seceded states believed that they had chosen to enter the Union and
retained the choice to leave it as well.
d. Without question, the South drew on the colonial experience under King George to
justify their exit from the Union. Like the colonies, the South claimed to be a subnation that wanted to be independent from the imposition of the will of the North.
They even saw parallels between their break with the Union and the Declaration of
Independence.
e. Southerners took the election of a Republican president and the rise of the party as an
omen that they would soon be dominated by the North. As such, they turned to
secession to break from this control and begin to create their own independent
political and economic institutions, among them a banking and shipping industry that
could trade directly with Europe.