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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.