Road to the Civil War

Missouri was a part of which original land purchase?

• Adams-Onis Treaty

• Louisiana Purchase

• Proclamation of 1763

• Alaska Purchase Act

Answer explanation

The Louisiana territory was purchased from France in 1804. Missouri was the first territory to ask for statehood whose land was part of the original purchase. States had been added evenly, free and slave, up to this point. Missouri was going to be the first state to create a representation imbalance in the Senate.

What two states were added to the Union in order to keep free and slave representation even?

• Florida and Wyoming

• Kansas and Nebraska

• Maine and Missouri

• Utah and New Mexico

Answer explanation

Maine was not ready join the Union when Missouri asked for statehood. The debate over Missouri statehood lasted long enough for the territory of Maine to meet the qualifications. This compromise kept the Union together for another 30 years.

In what war did America's victory open the western territory of North America all the way to the Pacific Ocean?

• The Revolutionary War

• The War of 1812

• The Civil War

• The Mexican American War

Answer explanation

Americas victory in the Mexican American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In this treaty Mexico surrendered all their territory North of the Rio Grande River and west to California.

Which provision was NOT a part of the Compromise of 1850?

• California admitted as a slave state

• Fugitive Slave Act

• End of slave auctions and sale in D.C.

• Popular sovereignty for the Utah and New Mexico territories

Answer explanation

California had submitted its Constitution designating it as a free state prior to the Compromise.

What did the Fugitive Slave Act now make a requirement of all Americans?

• To report someone they thought was a slave to the authorities

• To not personally escape from jail or captivity

• The requirement to vote or else be imprisoned

• The requirement for everyone to own at least one slave

Answer explanation

The Fugitive Slave Act made everyone in the country responsible for turning in escaped and allegedly escaped slaves.

Which individual introduced the Kansas Nebraska Act to Congress?

• Abraham Lincoln

• Henry Clay

• Jefferson Davis

• Stephen Douglas

Answer explanation

Stephen Douglas wanted a railroad to be built through the new territory. That railroad would have started from Chicago. A major city n the state that Douglas represented, Illionois.

What was Douglas's solution that would allow the people in the territories to determine whether they would be slave or free?

• Habeas Corpus

• Popular Sovereignty

• Divine Right

• Manifest Destiny

Answer explanation

Popular Sovereignty - people living in a territory should be free from federal interference in determining domestic policy, especially with respect to slavery.

What previous compromise was overturned as a result of the passage of the Kansas Nebraska Act?

• The Tenth Amendment

• The Missouri Compromise

• The Connecticut Compromise

• Compromise of 1850

Answer explanation

The Missouri Compromise lasted for a period of thirty years.

What piece of legislation led to the violence in Kansas?

• Compromise of 1820

• Compromise of 1850

• Fugitive Slave Act

• Kansas Nebraska Act

Who was the violent abolitionist that caused the Pottawatomie Massacre and eventually led the raid on Harpers Ferry?

• Henry Clay

• Frederick Douglass

• John Brown

• Joseph Smith