Knowledge Check (Causes of the Civil War)

What were the main provisions that came from the Missouri Compromise?

• Missouri was admitted as a free state, and slavery was banned in all other western territories.

• Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and Maine as a free state, while slavery was banned north of the 36°30' parallel.

• Missouri and Maine were both admitted as free states to balance the Senate.

• Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and all remaining territories were open to slavery.

How did Manifest Destiny contribute to increasing tensions over slavery in the 1840s?

• It heightened debates over whether new territories acquired through expansion should permit slavery.

• It encouraged the abolition of slavery in new territories acquired west of the Mississippi River.

• It provided a unified vision for Americans, temporarily reducing sectional tensions.

• It led to the immediate annexation of all western territories without debates about slavery.

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

• California was admitted as a free state.

• The slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C.

• Slavery was banned in all territories acquired from the Mexican-American War.

• A stronger Fugitive Slave Act was enacted.

How did President Polk agitate the conflict at the Mexican Border?

• President Polk sent troops into disputed territory.

• President Polk increased trade relations with Mexico.
• President Polk withdrew troops from the border area.
• President Polk negotiated a peace treaty with Mexico.

Which of the following best explains how the Fugitive Slave Act in the Compromise of 1850 helped tear the nation apart?

• The Fugitive Slave Act increased tensions by allowing and sanctioning kidnapping of free Black citizens

• The Fugitive Slave Act was widely accepted by both Northern and Southern states as an attempt to stablize the Union

• The Fugitive Slave Act increased tensions primarily because slave catchers from the North, went South to capture enslaved individuals.

• The Fugitive Slave Act united the North and South in support of slavery.

What was the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford?

• It declared that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in the territories.

• It ruled that African Americans were not citizens and had no legal rights.

• It overturned the Fugitive Slave Act.

• It upheld the Missouri Compromise as constitutional.

Why was Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe significant in the years leading to the Civil War?

• It portrayed the South as the primary region for industrial innovation.

• It strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act by exposing its fairness.

• It exposed the moral evils of slavery, increasing Northern opposition to the institution.

• It advocated for gradual emancipation and colonization of freed slaves.

How did Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860 lead to the Civil War?

• It signaled the immediate abolition of slavery throughout the United States.

• Southern states viewed his election as a direct threat to slavery and began seceding from the Union.

• It resulted in the Supreme Court ruling against slavery in the territories.

• Northern states immediately declared war on the South to enforce federal authority.

What was the primary cause of the violence known as “Bleeding Kansas”?

• Disputes over the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act.

• The struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers to determine whether Kansas would allow slavery.

• The invasion of Kansas by the Confederate army during the Civil War.

• The refusal of Congress to admit Kansas into the Union.

Why did John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 heighten tensions between the North and South?

• It resulted in a successful slave rebellion, terrifying Southern slaveholders.

• It was widely celebrated in the South as a justified attack on abolitionists.

• Brown’s actions were seen in the North as heroic and in the South as evidence of a Northern conspiracy against slavery.

• It led directly to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.