wayground logo

Free Printable Worksheets

NEW

Font size

S
M
L
XL
Worksheets

Leading to the Civil War

Total questions: 15

Worksheet time: 15mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Who was the enslaved man who argued for his freedom because he used to live in a free state?

a)

Dred Scott

b)

John Brown

c)

Harriett Beecher Stowe

d)

Harriett Tubman

2.

What law helped southern slaveholders get their runaway slaves back?

a)

Fugitive Slave Act

b)

Runaway Act

c)

2nd Amendment

d)

Slaveholder Law

3.

In the Dred Scott Decision, the Supreme Court said that slaves were _________.

a)

people

b)

property

c)

free

d)

children

4.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was an important book because -

a)

It was about the many reasons why the South should secede from the Union

b)

It allowed people to see slaves as real people and how they were treated with cruelty

c)

It talked about ways slaves could escape on the Underground Railroad

d)

It showed the differences between the North and the South

5.

The Supreme Court ruling that declared that slaves were considered property and went wherever their owners went no matter if that was free state or a slave state.

a)

Fugitive Slave Act

b)

The Dred Scott Decision

c)

Jim Crow Law

d)

Slave Owner Rights

6.

Some slaves were able to escape to freedom in the North thanks to the ______________________________.

a)

Dred Scott Decision

b)

The Compromise of 1850

c)

Bleeding Kansas

d)

Underground Railroad

7.

This escaped slave, sometimes called "Moses", helped many slaves run away on the Underground Railroad.

a)

Frederick Douglass

b)

Isabel Sojourner Truth

c)

Harriet Tubman

d)

Harriet Beecher Stowe

8.

What was the Missouri Compromise?

a)

A proclamation that slavery would not exist in the newly acquired Mexican Cession.

b)

The division of the nation by sections based on sectional interests.

c)

Missouri was admitted as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and slavery was prohibited in the area north of 36° 30' latitude line.

d)

A best-selling novel about the evils of slavery.

9.

What did the Wilmot Proviso assert?

a)

California was admitted as a free state.

b)

A department was established in the government specifically for the purpose of arresting and returning fugitive slaves.

c)

A proclamation that slavery would not exist in the newly acquired Mexican Cession.

d)

The division of the nation by sections based on sectional interests.

10.

What was the significance of the Dred Scott Decision?

a)

A proclamation that slavery would not exist in the newly acquired Mexican Cession.

b)

The division of the nation by sections based on sectional interests.

c)

A slave sued for his freedom and the Supreme Court ruled that he could not sue since he was not considered a citizen, but property.

d)

A best-selling novel about the evils of slavery.

11.

What does sectionalism refer to?

a)

The admission of California as a free state.

b)

The division of the nation by sections based on sectional interests instead of the interests of the entire country.

c)

A best-selling novel about the evils of slavery.

d)

A slave suing for his freedom as a former resident of a free state.

12.

What was the Compromise of 1850?

a)

A proclamation that slavery would not exist in the newly acquired Mexican Cession.

b)

California was admitted as a free state and residents of the territories of the Mexican Cession could vote on slavery.

c)

A department was established for arresting and returning fugitive slaves.

d)

A best-selling novel about the evils of slavery.

13.

What was the main purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854?

a)

To establish a transcontinental railroad

b)

To allow territories to decide on the legality of slavery through popular sovereignty

c)

To admit Kansas as a free state

d)

To abolish slavery in all U.S. territories

14.

Who was the abolitionist that led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry in 1859?

a)

Frederick Douglass

b)

John Brown

c)

William Lloyd Garrison

d)

Sojourner Truth

15.

Which event is considered the immediate cause of the Southern states' secession from the Union?

a)

The election of Abraham Lincoln as President

b)

The Dred Scott Decision

c)

The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin

d)

The Missouri Compromise