Chapter 13 Self-Quiz 1

. Which of the following was an "internal improvement" championed during the 1850s?

The first canals were built.

Highway construction.

Railroad expansion.

None of the above.

. How did white southerners feel about territorial expansion?

That it constituted progress and showed the strength of the slave economy.

That it should be feared, as it might provide competition.

They mostly ignored it in favor of "King Cotton."

That it would lead to Civil War.

. What effect did the California Gold Rush have on the slavery question.

It sparked a crisis in the government about slavery in the newly-acquired territories.

It led Texas to be admitted as a free state.

It invalidated the Missouri Compromise.

It led to a broad series of compromises that fully dispelled thoughts of disunion.

. What did the Fugitive Slave Act require?

Slaves could purchase their freedom from federal commissioners if they reached the north.

Fugitive slaves in the north became free.

Runaway slaves could be caught in the north, but they had a right to a lawyer and a jury trial.

Any northerner could be forced into helping catch runaway slaves.

. Who were the "Know-Nothings"?

Members of a pro-Catholic welfare society.

Members of a secret abolitionist organization.

Members of nativist and anti-Catholic organizations.

Members of a group that sought a Chinese Exclusion Act.

. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act mandate?

There would be a ten-year moratorium before the slavery question would be decided in the territories.

Residents of Kansas and Nebraska territories would decide slavery via popular sovereignty.

Kansas entered the U.S. as a slave state and Nebraska as a free state.

Kansas entered the U.S. as a free state and Nebraska as a slave state.

. What effect did the Kansas-Nebraska Act have on the two-party system?

The Whig Party initially opposed the bill but eventually bowed to popular pressure and supported it.

It propelled the Democrats to power in the House and forced its opponents to regroup.

It prompted former whigs, Free Soilers, and northern Democrats to create the Republican Party.

It prompted the Free Soil Party to take control of Congress for the first time.

. How did Southern spokesmen defend slavery?

They argued that slavery provided poor whites a chance to make their fortune.

They argued that blacks could not work beyond the south.

They argued that blacks did not respond to free labor incentives.

All of the above.

. What did the Republican Party should be done in terms of broadening free blacks' rights?

The party was very divided, and radicals and conservatives struggled to find common ground.

The party wanted to abolish slavery but keep discrimination in place.

The party argued for immediate, complete rights.

The party argued that free blacks should emigrate to Africa.

. What was the effect of Charles Sumner's two-day diatribe about "Bleeding Kansas"?

He lost support in the north for being too radical.

He was beaten senseless on the Senate floor.

He gained support and ran for President.

He was challenged by Congressman Preston Brooks and beat Brooks with a cane.

. What did the Supreme Court rule in the Dred Scott case?

That Scott should be legally free.

That Scott was not a citizen and could not be a citizen ever.

That Scott was not legally free, but he might become free some day.

That slavery should be illegal in the territories.

. Why did John Brown try to capture Harper's Ferry?

To force Southern states to secede.

To use it as a base camp to lead an attack on Washington.

To capture its arsenal and distribute the guns to local slaves.

As a dramatic gesture to point out the moral abhorrence of slavery.

. Who won the 1860 election?

Stephen Douglas

Abraham Lincoln

Andrew Johnson

Jefferson Davis

. Who were the "fire-eaters"?

Temperance activists who wanted to destroy liquor supplies.

Anti-slavery extremists

Pro-slavery extremists.

Moderates who tried to prevent secession.

. How did the north respond to John Brown's raid?

Northern militias rose up and freed Brown from prison.

It provoked a crisis that pushed both sides to moderation.

Most commentators deplored his extreme behavior.

With extraordinary displays of sympathy after his execution.

. Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860 in large part due to his campaigning in the South.

True

False

. In the 1850s industry was replacing agriculture as the driving economic force.

True

False

. Abolitionists and proslavery writers disagreed that the conflict between the North and South over slavery was irreconcilable.

True

False

. Between the years 1830 and 1860 the proportion of southern white families who held slaves increased from one in four to one in three.

True

False

. Moving west, buying land, and establishing a farm required more resources than most wage laborers had in the mid-1800s.

True

False

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