Civil War

Confederate General John B. Gordon was a civilian-turned-soldier who became one of General Robert E. Lee’s most trusted commanders.…

The South maintained with the depth of religious conviction that the Union formed under the Constitution was a Union of consent and not of force; that the original States were not the creatures but the creators of the Union; that these States had gained their independence, their freedom, and their sovereignty from the mother country, and had not surrendered these on entering the Union; that by the express terms of the Constitution all rights and powers not delegated were reserved to the States; and the South challenged the North to find one trace of authority in that Constitution for invading and coercing a sovereign State. The North, on the other hand, maintained with the utmost confidence in the correctness of her position that the Union formed under the Constitution was intended to be perpetual; that sovereignty was a unit and could not be divided; that whether or not there was any express power granted in the Constitution for invading a State, the right of self-preservation was inherent in all governments; that the life of the Union was essential to the life of liberty; or, in the words of Webster, “liberty and union are one and inseparable.”…

Source: John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904

Which problem is being discussed in the excerpted document above?

• Different perspectives on states rights prior to the United States Civil War

• Different perspectives on the abolition of slavery during the 1850’s

• Different perspectives on states ratifying the Constitution in 1787

• Different perspectives on the expansion of slavery during the mid 1800’s

Confederate General John B. Gordon was a civilian-turned-soldier who became one of General Robert E. Lee’s most trusted commanders.…

The South maintained with the depth of religious conviction that the Union formed under the Constitution was a Union of consent and not of force; that the original States were not the creatures but the creators of the Union; that these States had gained their independence, their freedom, and their sovereignty from the mother country, and had not surrendered these on entering the Union; that by the express terms of the Constitution all rights and powers not delegated were reserved to the States; and the South challenged the North to find one trace of authority in that Constitution for invading and coercing a sovereign State. The North, on the other hand, maintained with the utmost confidence in the correctness of her position that the Union formed under the Constitution was intended to be perpetual; that sovereignty was a unit and could not be divided; that whether or not there was any express power granted in the Constitution for invading a State, the right of self-preservation was inherent in all governments; that the life of the Union was essential to the life of liberty; or, in the words of Webster, “liberty and union are one and inseparable.”

…Source: John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904

The circumstances outlined in the document contributed to which of the following turning points?

• Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865

• Election of Rutherford B Hayes as President of the United States in 1876

• Emancipation Proclamation freeing all enslaved peoples issued in 1863

• Purchase of the Louisiana Territory by the United States in 1803

. . . Stowe is often credited with influencing the country to think differently about slavery. But what do we know about how Stowe influenced Lincoln? A decade earlier, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) had been a publishing and propaganda phenomenon. Using stories to illustrate the human impact of slavery, Stowe’s blistering pen lit the world on fire. The statistics remain record-breaking: 10,000 copies sold in the first week; a million and a half British copies in a year. The book was so successful it was immediately dramatized for the stage, where it became a theatrical icon. Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, leader of the radical Republicans, said, “Had there been no Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there would have been no Lincoln in the White House.” . . . But pro-slavery critics charged that Stowe had made it all up and that slavery was a humane system. So Stowe wrote a nonfiction retort, The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853), compiling the real-life evidence that had informed her fictional stories. . . .

Which claim is supported by both Documents 1 and 2?

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin painted an inaccurate picture of slavery

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin scared pro-slavery critics

• Harriet Beecher Stowe influenced President Lincoln

• Harriet Beecher Stowe was an influential abolitionist

. . . Stowe is often credited with infl uencing the country to think differently about slavery. But what do we know about how Stowe infl uenced Lincoln?

A decade earlier, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) had been a publishing and propaganda phenomenon. Using stories to illustrate the human impact of slavery, Stowe’s blistering pen lit the world on fire. The statistics remain record-breaking: 10,000 copies sold in the first week; a million and a half British copies in a year. The book was so successful it was immediately dramatized for the stage, where it became a theatrical icon. Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, leader of the radical Republicans, said, “Had there been no Uncle Tom’s Cabin, there would have been no Lincoln in the White House.” . . .

But pro-slavery critics charged that Stowe had made it all up and that slavery was a humane system. So Stowe wrote a nonfiction retort, The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853), compiling the real-life evidence that had informed her fictional stories. . .

According to Document 2, what was a major effect of the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin?

• More Americans learned how to read in order to read the book

• Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States

• The Abolitionist movement began across the United States

• Harriet Beecher Stowe became a figure in the women’s suffrage movement

… There were tactical differences between [Frederick] Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, white abolitionist and editor of The Liberator—differences between black [African American] and white abolitionists in general. Blacks were more willing to engage in armed insurrection [rebellion], but also more ready to use existing political devices—the ballot box, the Constitution—anything to further their cause. They were not as morally absolute in their tactics as the Garrisonians. Moral pressure would not do it alone, the blacks knew; it would take all sorts of tactics, from elections to rebellion.… White abolitionists did courageous and pioneering work, on the lecture platform, in newspapers, in the Underground Railroad. Black abolitionists, less publicized, were the backbone of the antislavery movement. Before Garrison published his famous Liberator in Boston in 1831, the first national convention of Negroes had been held, David Walker had already written his “Appeal,” and a black abolitionist magazine named Freedom’s Journal had appeared. Of The Liberator’s first twenty-five subscribers, most were black.…Source: Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, 1492–Present, Harper Perennial, 2003

Both the black and white abolitionists mentioned in this document were fighting against which policy

• Enslavement of African Americans in the United States prior to the Civil War

• Desegregating the United States military during World War I and World War II

• The practice of indentured servitude used to settle American colonies in the early 1600’s

• Jim Crow laws implemented after the Civil War that were meant to segregate America

… There were tactical differences between [Frederick] Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, white abolitionist and editor of The Liberator—differences between black [African American] and white abolitionists in general. Blacks were more willing to engage in armed insurrection [rebellion], but also more ready to use existing political devices—the ballot box, the Constitution—anything to further their cause. They were not as morally absolute in their tactics as the Garrisonians. Moral pressure would not do it alone, the blacks knew; it would take all sorts of tactics, from elections to rebellion.… White abolitionists did courageous and pioneering work, on the lecture platform, in newspapers, in the Underground Railroad. Black abolitionists, less publicized, were the backbone of the antislavery movement. Before Garrison published his famous Liberator in Boston in 1831, the first national convention of Negroes had been held, David Walker had already written his “Appeal,” and a black abolitionist magazine named Freedom’s Journal had appeared. Of The Liberator’s first twenty-five subscribers, most were black.…Source: Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, 1492–Present, Harper Perennial, 2003

According to this excerpt, what was one key difference between black and white abolitionists?

• Black abolitionists relied only on existing political tactics such as voting and amending the Constitution

• White abolitionists felt that a variety of tactics were necessary, including armed rebellion

• Black abolitionists were more willing to engage in armed rebellion than white abolitionists

• White abolitionists did not participate in the Underground Railroad

Missouri Compromise 1820

Document 2

… After the Missouri crisis it was no longer possible to pretend that the United States was a single nation with a single set of national interests. Although politicians in both North and South worked hard over the next two decades to suppress the issue of slavery in the national debate lest it drive a deeper wedge between the northern and southern wings of both national parties, the society of slaveholders would henceforth be in conflict with the society of free labor.…Source: Robert Kagan, Dangerous Nation: America’s Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006

Which of the following claims is supported by both documents 1 and 2?

• The Missouri Compromise allowed citizens to vote on whether their state would be a free or slave state

• The Missouri Compromise divided the nation into Northern free states and Southern slave states.

• The Missouri Compromise allowed Maine to be admitted as a slave state, and Missouri as a free state.

• The Missouri Compromise settled the debate over expanding slavery into the territories until the U.S. Civil War in 1861.

In which order did the pre- Civil War compromises occur?

• Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Kansas Nebraska Act

• Kansas Nebraska Act, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850

• Missouri Compromise, Kansas Nebraska Act, Compromise of 1850

• Kansas Nebraska Act, Compromise of 1850, Missouri Compromise

… The third story [of Dred Scott] is about the politics of slavery and the coming of the Civil War. The Supreme Court decision sparked enormous political reaction, particularly in the North. It destroyed any chance of agreement between the North and the South over slavery in the territories. It would be an exaggeration to say that the Dred Scott decision caused the Civil War. But it certainly pushed the nation far closer to that war. The decision played a decisive role in the emergence of Abraham Lincoln as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in 1860 and his election later that year. That in turn set the stage for secession and civil war.…Source: Paul Finkelman, Dred Scott v. Sandford [Sanford]: A Brief History with Documents, Bedford Books, 1997

According to the author, which of these was the most direct result of the Dred Scott decision?

• The Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy

• Abraham Lincoln’s election to the Presidency in 1860

• The Supreme Court overturning the Dred Scott decision

• The Abolition movement was sparked in the Southern states

… The third story [of Dred Scott] is about the politics of slavery and the coming of the Civil War. The Supreme Court decision sparked enormous political reaction, particularly in the North. It destroyed any chance of agreement between the North and the South over slavery in the territories. It would be an exaggeration to say that the Dred Scott decision caused the Civil War. But it certainly pushed the nation far closer to that war. The decision played a decisive role in the emergence of Abraham Lincoln as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in 1860 and his election later that year. That in turn set the stage for secession and civil war.…Source: Paul Finkelman, Dred Scott v. Sandford [Sanford]: A Brief History with Documents, Bedford Books, 1997

According to the author, the Dred Scott decision was a turning point in American politics because

• The decision further divided the North and the South in the debate over slavery

• The decision forced the North and the South to compromise on slavery

• The decision changed the Republican party’s stance on slavery

• The decision encouraged Americans to vote against Lincoln in the election of 1860