Unit 5: Sectionalism & Civil War

What domestic development was caused by the Mexican-American War?

• The United States annexed Texas.

• Congress enacted the Indian Removal Act.

• Tensions between antislavery and proslavery activists increased.

• The United States took control of Mexican territory in present-day Canada.

How did the Missouri Compromise maintain the balance of power between northern and southern states in the United States?

• The compromise maintained an equal balance of power in the Senate by allowing Missouri to become a slaveholding state and allowing Maine to become a free state.

• The compromise maintained an equal balance of power in the House of Representatives by allowing Missouri to become a slaveholding state and allowing Maine to become a free state.

• The compromise maintained an equal balance of power in the House of Representatives by allowing Maine to become a slaveholding state and allowing Missouri to become a free state.

• The compromise maintained an equal balance of power in the Senate by allowing Maine to become a slaveholding state and allowing Missouri to become a free state.

In what way did Ulysses S. Grant's leadership differ from the leadership of George McClellan, who Grant replaced, during the Civil War?

• Grant adopted a more defensive approach than McClellan and focused on preventing Confederate advances into Union territory.

• Grant relied more on espionage than McClellan and placed soldiers behind enemy lines to report on Confederate movements and plans.

• Grant was more aggressive than McClellan in his pursuit of Confederate forces, winning the war but sacrificing many men in the process.

• Grant focused more on diplomacy than McClellan, meeting with generals from the other side before major battles in order to establish rules of war.

What role did Manifest Destiny play in the westward expansion of the United States?

• Settlers believed that the true destiny of the United States could only be realized by eliminating the influence of American Indian culture within its borders.

• Settlers believed it to be the destiny of the United States to expand west to the Pacific Ocean, justifying their actions at the expense of American Indians.

• Settlers feared that Great Britain was destined to retake land in North America, and only by conquering the land for the United States could this be prevented.

• Settlers feared that American Indian communities were growing in the western territories and would challenge the US government if they were not removed.

Why was General Ulysses S. Grant's victory at the siege of Vicksburg significant to the course of the Civil War?

• It helped the Union establish control of the Mississippi River.

• It gave the Union control of the South’s main railroad hub.

• It provided the Union with a way through the Appalachians.

• It allowed the Union to blockade the South’s Atlantic ports.

In the Southern estates, wealth was based on land ownership and production of cash crops such as cotton. Which of the following resulted from the Southern states’ focus on the production of cash crops?

• The development of an economy based on large-scale textile production.

• The development of an economy where many small farms produced the crops.

• The development of an economy centered on large plantations with most of the wealth owned by a few.

• The development of an economy focused on producing new and better machines to help with farming.

Which goal was the motivating force behind President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Second Inaugural Address, and the decision to suspend the right of habeas corpus?

• to end slavery

• to preserve the Union

• to raise morale in the North

• to punish Confederate sympathizers

How did the population size of the South affect its efficiency in the Civil War?

• The South was able to gather more support from its population than the North could because most of the war was fought in the South.

• The South struggled to gather the manpower to both fight the war and produce the equipment and supplies its soldiers needed.

• The South was able to send a larger percentage of its white male population to war because slaves could maintain the agricultural economy.

• The South struggled to prevent men from deserting its armies due to the small population, which frequently lived in small communities with few connections to the outside world.

Which statement BEST explains the failure of popular sovereignty prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War?

• The federal government of the United States was not set up to allow the states to do whatever they wished.

• Even by 1850, the United States was still a young nation, and individual states were unaccustomed to exercising popular sovereignty.

• State populations were in many cases equally divided on issues and would not settle on the majority choices, particularly relative to slavery.

• Popular sovereignty failed because local populations were preoccupied and seemingly indifferent toward the federal government and thus failed to exercise their right to vote on critical national issues.

How did the Mexican-American War intensify the rise of sectionalism?

• Many northerners believed the war was motivated by an intent to expand slavery, leading to increased friction between free and slave states.

• The discoveries of gold and silver in California and the Nevada territories enriched the northern industrial states, leaving the poorer southern states feeling even more dependent on a slave economy.

• The Mexican-American War’s impact on the status quo regarding northern and southern sectionalism was minimal, though it did provide experience to soldiers who would later serve in the American Civil War.

• Following the war, there was a Mexican-American section to the United States, in addition to northern and southern sections which existed before the war, complicating the issue slave-states versus free-states.