WorksheetsSectionalism review
Total questions: 9
Worksheet time: 7mins
“With regard to the northwestern States, to which the ordinance of 1787 was applied—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan—no one now believes that any one of those States, if they thought proper to do it, has not just as much a right to introduce slavery within her borders as Virginia has a right to maintain the existence of slavery within hers.
“Then, if in this struggle of power and empire between the two classes of states a decision of California has taken place adverse to the wishes of the southern States, it is a decision not made by the General [federal] Government; it is a decision respecting which they cannot complain to the General Government. It is a decision made by California herself, and which California had incontestably a right to make under the Constitution of the United States. . . . The question of slavery, either of its introduction or interdiction, is silent as respects the action of this [federal] Government; and if it has been decided, it has been by a different body—by a different power—by California herself, who had a right to make that decision.”
Q Evidence in the excerpt best corroborates which of the following?
Southern politicians would not abandon slavery, and they believed Lincoln was a threat to that system.
Sectional divisions were not as deep as many thought, and there was agreement about gradual abolition.
Political leadership in previous administrations had successfully limited sectional conflict.
Lincoln viewed foreign influences as serious threats to the stability of the United States.
Anti-immigrant nativism of the 1840s and 1850s had the most in common with which of the following earlier developments?
The passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), which limited rights for foreign-born residents
The conflict between Patriots and Loyalists during the American Revolution
The persecution of religious dissenters in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
The signing of the Treaty of Greenville (1794) that ended wars between the United States and Native Americans in the Northwest Territory
“With regard to the northwestern States, to which the ordinance of 1787 was applied—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan—no one now believes that any one of those States, if they thought proper to do it, has not just as much a right to introduce slavery within her borders as Virginia has a right to maintain the existence of slavery within hers.
“Then, if in this struggle of power and empire between the two classes of states a decision of California has taken place adverse to the wishes of the southern States, it is a decision not made by the General [federal] Government; it is a decision respecting which they cannot complain to the General Government. It is a decision made by California herself, and which California had incontestably a right to make under the Constitution of the United States. . . . The question of slavery, either of its introduction or interdiction, is silent as respects the action of this [federal] Government; and if it has been decided, it has been by a different body—by a different power—by California herself, who had a right to make that decision.
Q: ”The excerpt best reflects which of the following historical situations?
Congressional leaders sought political compromise to resolve discord between the North and the South.
States in the Great Lakes region advocated to legalize slavery within their borders.
Senators appealed to the idea of American exceptionalism to encourage national unity.
The Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case reduced sectional conflict within the United States.
“With regard to the northwestern States, to which the ordinance of 1787 was applied—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan—no one now believes that any one of those States, if they thought proper to do it, has not just as much a right to introduce slavery within her borders as Virginia has a right to maintain the existence of slavery within hers.
“Then, if in this struggle of power and empire between the two classes of states a decision of California has taken place adverse to the wishes of the southern States, it is a decision not made by the General [federal] Government; it is a decision respecting which they cannot complain to the General Government. It is a decision made by California herself, and which California had incontestably a right to make under the Constitution of the United States. . . . The question of slavery, either of its introduction or interdiction, is silent as respects the action of this [federal] Government; and if it has been decided, it has been by a different body—by a different power—by California herself, who had a right to make that decision.”
Q The position expressed by Clay in the excerpt best serves as evidence of which of the following?
Northern politicians showed less interest in California than Southern politicians.
The United States Senate could not agree on treaty terms with Mexico.
The acquisition of new territories created disputes over the expansion of slavery.
Nativist groups opposed incorporating new states into the Union.
The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) represented a departure from earlier practices in which of the following ways?
It established the principle of judicial review, the practice in which the Supreme Court has the authority to evaluate whether laws are consistent with the Constitution.
It introduced the idea of popular sovereignty, the arrangement in which residents of a federal territory could vote whether that territory would allow slavery.
it expanded fugitive slave laws that permitted slaveholders to recover formerly enslaved people even if they had escaped to free states.
It held that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States.
“The American Republicans of the city and county of Philadelphia, who are determined to support the NATIVE [White, Protestant] AMERICANS in their Constitutional Rights of peaceably assembling to express their opinions on any question of Public Policy, and to SUSTAIN THEM AGAINST THE ASSAULTS OF ALIENS AND FOREIGNERS are requested to assemble on MONDAY AFTERNOON, May 6th, 1844 at 4 o'clock, at the corner of Master and Second street, Kensington [a section of Philadelphia], to express their indignation [anger] at the outrage on Friday evening last, which was perpetrated by the Irish Catholics.”
Text from a poster announcing a meeting of the American Republican Party, later renamed the American Party, Philadelphia, 1844
Q Historians could best use the excerpt as an example of which of the following?
Expansion of voting rights during the Jackson administration
Debates over the separation of church and state in the United States
Advocacy for policies promoting the idea of Manifest Destiny
Political responses to changing demographics in the United States
“The American Republicans of the city and county of Philadelphia, who are determined to support the NATIVE [White, Protestant] AMERICANS in their Constitutional Rights of peaceably assembling to express their opinions on any question of Public Policy, and to SUSTAIN THEM AGAINST THE ASSAULTS OF ALIENS AND FOREIGNERS are requested to assemble on MONDAY AFTERNOON, May 6th, 1844 at 4 o'clock, at the corner of Master and Second street, Kensington [a section of Philadelphia], to express their indignation [anger] at the outrage on Friday evening last, which was perpetrated by the Irish Catholics.”
Text from a poster announcing a meeting of the American Republican Party, later renamed the American Party, Philadelphia, 1844
Q Which of the following historical situations can best be used to explain how the excerpt would have been interpreted at the time?
The rise in immigration to the United States
The decline of the international slave trade
The expansion of manufacturing in the South
The start of the women’s rights movement
“The American Republicans of the city and county of Philadelphia, who are determined to support the NATIVE [White, Protestant] AMERICANS in their Constitutional Rights of peaceably assembling to express their opinions on any question of Public Policy, and to SUSTAIN THEM AGAINST THE ASSAULTS OF ALIENS AND FOREIGNERS are requested to assemble on MONDAY AFTERNOON, May 6th, 1844 at 4 o'clock, at the corner of Master and Second street, Kensington [a section of Philadelphia], to express their indignation [anger] at the outrage on Friday evening last, which was perpetrated by the Irish Catholics.”
Text from a poster announcing a meeting of the American Republican Party, later renamed the American Party, Philadelphia, 1844
Q The language in the excerpt was most likely interpreted as promoting which of the following?
States’ rights
Nativist sentiment
Religious pluralism
Abolitionist activism
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was most similar in intent to which of the following earlier legislative initiatives?
The funding of internal improvements under the American System
The annexation of Texas in 1836
The Missouri Compromise in 1820
The forced removal of American Indians
