103. Per capita income from 1800-50 in the United States
A. decreased because so much new territory was added to the union.
B. remained about the same.
C. doubled.
D. increased "tenfold".
Answer: C
104. The national two-party system that emerged by the mid-1830s to organize a mass democratic electorate endured until the election of _____, when sectional issues began to loosen the political glue.
A. 1848
B. 1844
C. 1852
D. 1856
Answer: A
105. John C. Calhoun argued the southern position against the Wilmot Proviso, contending that
A. only the gradual emancipation of slaves taken to the West was acceptable to Southerners.
B. residents of western territories should decide the issue of slavery themselves.
C. slavery would not move west for geographical reasons.
D. the Constitution protected Americans' right to take their property anywhere in the United States.
Answer: D
106. In arguments concerning the future of slavery in newly acquired territories in the West, both North and South agreed that
A. protection of the slaves' best interests was their major concern.
B. it was important for the nation to expand westward.
C. there should always be an equal number of slave and free states represented in Congress.
D. agricultural interests take precedence in political matters over all other sectors in the economy.
Answer: B
107. Ironically, northerners and Southerners basically agreed on certain things. Which one of the following is NOT one of them?
A. expansion
B. liberty
C. American superiority
D. ideology of labor
Answer: D
108. The Compromise of 1850 included all of the following agreements EXCEPT
A. California's admission to the union as a free state.
B. an end to slavery in Washington D.C.
C. a tougher federal fugitive slave law.
D. the settlement of a territory dispute between Texas and New Mexico.
Answer: B
109. The most immediate fatal flaw in the Compromise of 1850 was the
A. admission of California to the union as a free state.
B. passage of a tougher fugitive slave law.
C. opening of the Mexican cession to popular sovereignty.
D. assumption of Texas' pre-annexation debts.
Answer: B
110. Incidents involving Shadrach, Anthony Bums, and Thomas Sims demonstrated that
A. the federal government had no desire to offend northern abolitionists.
B. the federal government would not enforce the Fugitive Slave Act.
C. compromise on the issue of slavery was not only possible but practical.
D. the Fugitive Slave Act raised northern consciousness on the issue of slavery.
Answer: D
111. A popular and influential piece of abolitionist propaganda in the United States was
A. Twelve Years a Slave
B. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
C. American Slavery As It Is
D. Uncle Tom's Cabin
Answer: B
112. Had the Ostend Manifesto achieved its goal,
A. the United States would have incorporated all of Mexico into its borders.
B. the fugitive slave law would have been permanently subverted.
C. the United States would have expanded into Cuba.
D. Nicaragua would have become a colonization site for freed slaves.
Answer: C
113. Which of the following has the LEAST in common with the other three?
A. Stephen Douglas
B. Panic of 1857
C. popular sovereignty
D. Bleeding Kansas
Answer: B
114. Stephen Douglas presented the Kansas-Nebraska Bill for the IMMEDIATE purpose of
A. solving the slavery issue once and for all.
B. eliminating slavery from the two territories.
C. presidential ambition and expansionist aims.
D. refocusing political debate from slave to public land policy.
Answer: C
115. Stephen Douglas' action in introducing the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854 proved to be
A. a great political miscalculation.
B. a step closer to the presidency for him.
C. a brilliant political move.
D. an insignificant political act.
Answer: A
116. The appearance of the Know Nothing Party reflected Americans'
A. tolerance for diversity.
B. nativist leanings.
C. acceptance of the Market Revolution.
D. political apathy.
Answer: B
117. Which one of the following would have been LEAST likely to support the new Republican party?
A. a Free Soldier from Massachusetts
B. a New England industrialist
C. an Irish immigrant in Boston
D. a Whig from New York
Answer: C
118. The Republicans called their performance in the 1856 election a "victorious defeat" because
A. they had won more popular votes than the Democrats in the presidential election.
B. their congressional candidates had won overwhelmingly.
C. their presidential candidate won but their congressional candidates were defeated.
D. their showing in the presidential election proved that they were a major party.
Answer: D
119. When Kansas applied for statehood, President James Buchanan
A. endorsed the proslavery constitution.
B. refused to consider the request at that time.
C. accepted the antislavery constitution.
D. turned the contested matter over to the Supreme Court for resolution.
Answer: A
120. The Dred Scott decision in 1857
A. calmed the fears of abolitionists.
B. supported the extremist southern argument on the rights of slave owners.
C. declared the Missouri Compromise constitutional.
D. upheld the Free Soil position on extension of slavery into the newly acquired territories.
Answer: B
121. John Brown's purpose in seizing the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia was
A. to protest the Dred Scott decision.
B. to arm southern abolitionists in Virginia.
C. to distract attention from fugitive slave hearings in Maryland.
D. to spark a slave uprising in Virginia.
Answer: D
122. Which of the following has the LEAST in common with the other three?
A. Stephen Douglas
B. John C. Breckinridge
C. John Bell
D. John C. Fremont
Answer: D
123. Which one of the following candidates and positions in the 1860 election is incorrectly paired?
A. Breckinridge/extension of slavery to the territories
B. Lincoln/abolition of slavery
C. Douglas/popular sovereignty
D. Bell/compromise on slavery in the territories
Answer: B
124. The Republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in 1860 because
A. of his principled abolitionism
B. he had open support from voters in the Upper South
C. he was a charismatic figure
D. of his moderate image
Answer: D
125. The only southern state to pass a unanimous vote for secession was
A. Texas.
B. South Carolina.
C. Alabama.
D. Mississippi.
Answer: B
126. The Montgomery Convention of the Confederate States of America chose Jefferson Davis as president and Alexander Stephens as vice-president because they both were
A. military men.
B. fiery secessionists from the beginning.
C. moderates on secession.
D. Democrats.
Answer: C
127. In his inaugural address on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln ended with
A. an ultimatum that threatened military action if the seceded states did not return to the Union.
B. an appeal to northern Democrats to return their southern brothers to the union fold.
C. a call for European support to encourage the seceded states to return to the union.
D. an eloquent statement reminding the two sections of the bonds between them.
Answer: D
149. The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, but at the high price of destroying the Whig party and seriously damaging the Democratic party.
A. True
B. False
C. 
D. 
Answer: A
150. Most supporters of the Know Nothing parry were workers or small farmers who feared economic competition from immigrants.
A. True
B. False
C. 
D. 
Answer: A
151. In the seven debates that Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas participated in during the 1858 Illinois Senate race, the two candidates focused solely on the issue of slavery and the union's future.
A. True
B. False
C. 
D. 
Answer: A
152. The founders of the Confederate States of America modeled their constitution in large part after the United States Constitution.
A. True
B. False
C. 
D. 
Answer: A
153. On the issue of secession, Confederate President Jefferson Davis would fit into the category of a radical supporter of secession.
A. True
B. False
C. 
D. 
Answer: B