wayground logo

Free Printable Worksheets

Font size

S
M
L
XL
Worksheets

Causes of the Civil War

Total questions: 47

Worksheet time: 45mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

__________________ became a slave state as a result of the Missouri Compromise.

a)

Michigan

b)

Maine

c)

Minnesota

d)

Missouri

2.

The Compromise of 1850 made ___________ a free state.

a)

California

b)

Utah

c)

Maine

d)

Missouri

3.

The most hated provision of the Compromise of 1850 for abolitionists was __________________.

a)

California becoming a free state

b)

The slave trade being abolished in Washington, DC

c)

Utah and New Mexico territories being open to slavery

d)

The Fugitive Slave Act

4.

The Compromise of 1850 made ________________ illegal in Washington, DC

a)

the slave trade

b)

indentured servitude

c)

slavery

5.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by ________________.

a)

Henry Ward Beecher

b)

Herman Melville

c)

Emily Dickinson

d)

Harriet Beecher Stowe

6.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854. It allowed the people in these territories to vote on whether to allow slavery. This concept of allowing the people to choose whether their state would be free or slave was known as _______________________________.

a)

popular sovereignty

b)

popular independence

c)

popular sectionalism

7.

As a result of popular sovereignty, fighting erupted in1855 in the territory of _________________ between pro-slavery forces and settlers who opposed the spread of slavery.

a)

Missouri

b)

Nebraska

c)

Iowa

d)

Kansas

8.

In 1856, abolitionist Senator _____________________ was attacked and nearly beaten to death after giving a speech condemning slavery.

a)

Preston Brooks

b)

Charles Sumner

9.

_______________ was a slave who sued for his freedom after living for a period of time in a free state.

a)

Frederick Douglass

b)

Harriet Jacobs

c)

Dred Scott

d)

Nat Turner

10.

In the 1857 Dred Scott case, the US Supreme Court ruled that blacks _________________________.

a)

must move to Liberia after emancipation

b)

were not citizens

c)

had limited voting rights

d)

were barred from working in federal jobs

11.

Which abolitionist led the raid on Harper's Ferry?

a)

John Brown

b)

Harriet Tubman

c)

Frederick Douglass

d)

William Lloyd Garrison

12.

Why did John Brown raid Harper's Ferry?

a)

To stop the slave trade there

b)

To capture weapons with which to arm slaves

c)

To free Dred Scott

13.

What happened to John Brown?

a)

He escaped

b)

He captured the weapons and began a slave revolt

c)

He was captured and hung

d)

He was pardoned by President Buchanan

14.

Which political party, founded in 1854, opposed the extension of slavery into new territories?

a)

Democrat

b)

Federalist

c)

Democratic-Republican

d)

Republican

15.

Six weeks after Lincoln's election, which state became the first to secede from the Union?

a)

Virginia

b)

North Carolina

c)

South Carolina

d)

Alabama

16.
What was the concern by Southern leaders heading into the Compromise of 1850?
a)
Southern leaders were afraid that if California was added as a free state it would give the North too much political power
b)
Southern leaders were afraid of another state being added to the Union in favor of slavery
c)
Southern leaders thought that the compromise would add stronger fugitive slave laws in the North
d)
Southern leaders were worried it would lead to high tariffs on European goods coming into the United States
17.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act stated that _______________ would determine slavery in the West.
a)
popular soverneighty
b)
he House of Reps
c)
Constitutional amendments
d)
the Senate
18.
What law helped southern slaveholders get their runaway slaves back?
a)
Fugitive Slave Act
b)
Runaway Act
c)
2nd Amendment
d)
Slaveholder Law
19.
In the Dred Scott Decision, the Supreme Court said that slaves were _________.
a)
people
b)
property
c)
free
d)
children
20.

Match the following

a)

Sectionalism

1.

Favoring the interests of one section over the interests of the entire country

b)

Missouri Compromise

2.

Outlawed slavery in territories north of 36,30 latitude

c)

Secede

3.

To formally withdraw from the Union

d)

Uncle Tom's Cabin

4.

anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

e)

Fugitive Slave Act

5.

Made it a crime to help runaway slaves and allowed officials to arrest slaves

in free areas.

21.

Match the following

a)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1.

plan to divide remainder of Louisiana Purchase into 2 territories that would vote on slavery 

b)

John Brown's Raid

2.

Oct 1859, took over an arsenal in Harpers

Ferry Va., in hopes of starting slave rebellion

c)

Republican Party

3.

political party that aimed to limit the expansion of slavery in territories and states

d)

Dred Scott Decision

4.

ruled that African Americans, free or slave, were not citizens and did not have any rights

e)

Bleeding Kansas

5.

Abolitionist and Pro Slavery groups clashed in Kansas over slavery. Many people killed.

22.

Sectionalism

a)

Loyalty to a certain area or interests

b)

A type of couch ~ where everyone has their own spot

c)

devotion to the country

d)

pride for the entire world

23.
What did South Carolina point to as their reason for seceding from the union?
a)
states' rights
b)
popular sovereignty
c)
fugitive slave law
24.

What was the impact of the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin?

a)

It created a slave revolt in Kentucky.

b)

It turned many more people against slavery.

c)

Congress agreed that slavery should be abolished.

d)

The Fugitive slave law was cancelled.

25.

The Dred Scott case made what Compromise unconstitutional.

a)

The Compromise of 1850

b)

The Great Compromise

c)

The 3/5th Compromise

d)

The Missouri Compromise

26.

Controversial Supreme Court Case that led to all African Americans being declared noncitizens of the United States

a)

Plessy v. Ferguson

b)

Dred Scott v. Sandford

c)

Marbury v. Madison

d)

Gibbons v. Ogden

27.
In the Missouri Compromise, what state was allowed to enter as a free state?
a)
Missouri
b)
Maine
c)
Kentucky
d)
Alabama
28.

The idea that political power belongs to the people is called_____________________, and allows the people to make decisions about who will represent them in government and what laws will be established.

a)

Popular Sovereignty

b)

Checks and Balances

c)

Federalism

d)

Separation of Powers

29.

Sectionalism occurs when people favor the interests of one section of the country over the interests of the entire country. The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act that followed ____________________________________.

a)

increased sectional tensions in the United States

b)

decreased sectional tensions in the United States

c)

kept sectional tensions between the north and the south about the same

30.
People who believed that slavery was wrong and tried to stop it
a)
abolitionists 
b)
habeas corpus
c)
state's rights
d)
secede
31.
To leave, or quit, a group or union
a)
secede
b)
state's rights
c)
sectionalism
d)
habeas corpus
32.

Which part of the nation would be most in favor of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850?

a)

The Northern free states

b)

The Southern slave states

c)

California

d)

The states in New England

33.
Case brought before the Supreme Court involving a slave wanted his freedom: Court decided African Americans CAN'T be citizens and can't sue in federal court.
a)
Dred Scott Decision
b)
Compromise of 1850
c)
Kansas-Nebraska Act
d)
Fugitive Slave Act
34.
Act made it a federal law that all runaway slaves MUST be returned to their owners in the south. 
a)
Fugitive Slave Act
b)
Kansas-Nebraska Act
c)
Dred Scott Decision
d)
Compromise of 1850
35.
California was admitted into the Union, Utah and New Mexico were able to choose (free or slave state) and settled border disputes from war with Mexico. 
a)
Compromise of 1850
b)
Missouri Compromise 1820
c)
Kansas-Nebraska Act
d)
Dred Scott Decision 
36.

What caused Southern States to secede from the Union?

a)

The Election of Lincoln in 1860

b)

The Dred Scott Decision

c)

Harper's Ferry

d)

Bleeding Kansas

37.
Lincoln's election as president lead to this
a)
Southern states seceding from the union 
b)
state's rights
c)
lack of government support
38.
The Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act were beneficial to the south because
a)
 they caused the US to unite and form a strong federal government
b)
they were the beginning of the Temperance movement
c)
they brought about the use of popular sovereignty to make decision about slavery
39.

People who rushed across the Kansas border to swing the vote on slavery were also known as....

a)

runaway slaves

b)

border ruffians

c)

forty-niners

d)

illegal aliens

40.

Why did Uncle Tom's Cabin have such a large impact on abolition in the North?

a)

Northerners saw it as a way that they better than the South

b)

The book was pro-slavery and that made them mad.

c)

It was the first widespread description of the real horrors of slavery.

d)

It was written by a freed slave.

41.

Which of the following was a promise of the newly elected President Lincoln?

a)

He will not interfere with slavery in the South

b)

He would not support the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act

c)

He did not believe slavery should be allowed to expand in the territories

d)

He would free slaves everywhere in the US

42.

What did the "gag rule" do?

a)

It tabled any antislavery petitions in Congress

b)

It silenced proslavery conversation in Congress

c)

It did not allow the Missouri Compromise to pass

d)

It stopped anti government talk in Congress

43.

In 1861 a civil war began between the northern and southern states of the United States. A major reason for this conflict was a disagreement about-

a)

the admission of free states into the union

b)

the right of states to maintain the practice of slavery

c)

the return of fugitive enslaved people to slaveholders

d)

the extension of citizenship rights to formerly enslaved people

44.

The economy of the south was ___________________.

a)

Agricultural

b)

Tourism

c)

Technology

d)

Industrial

45.

The economy of the north was ___________________.

a)

Agricultural

b)

Tourism

c)

Technology

d)

Industrial

46.

What did the southern states rename themselves?

a)

The Union States of America

b)

The Free States of America

c)

The Confederate States of Mexico

d)

The Confederate States of America

47.
The 1st and only President of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
a)
Abraham Lincoln
b)
Robert E. Lee
c)
Ulysses S. Grant
d)
Jefferson Davis