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WorksheetsAbraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis
Total questions: 25
Worksheet time: 26mins
Read the excerpt from Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address below.
Our present political position has been achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations. It illustrates the American idea that governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.
In the excerpt, Davis argues that
governments should split when they face disagreement.
governments should be ruled by a small number of people.
citizens should ask permission before starting a new government.
citizens have a right to change or destroy governments.
In which Southern state was Fort Sumter located?
Georgia
South Carolina
North Carolina
Virginia
Lincoln let Confederate leaders know about his plan to resupply Fort Sumter so that
they would not attack during a Union surrender.
they could defeat Union forces.
they would not attack other nearby forts.
they would not fire on the ships.
Why was Lincoln determined to keep the border states in the Union?
They contained the most of the South’s commercial harbors.
They had all voted to secede by narrow margins.
They contained most of the South’s large plantations.
They were needed to protect the capital.
Which best describes Abraham Lincoln’s promise to the nation?
He wanted to prevent any Southern states from seceding.
He wanted to stop the spread of slavery to the West.
He wanted to end slavery completely.
He wanted to prevent the beginning of a civil war.
Which advantage helped Confederate forces win the attack on Fort Sumter?
the fort’s location
President Lincoln’s support
heavy artillery
US naval battleships
Which was an area of agreement between Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis?
Both believed the South had a right to leave the Union.
Both considered Lincoln the rightful leader of the Union.
Both considered Davis an equal leader to Lincoln.
Both wanted to avoid a war between the North and South.
On which issue did Lincoln and Davis most strongly disagree?
whether the North and the South would go to war
whether slavery would continue to exist in the South
whether the South had the right to secede
whether the South had seceded for a reason
In his inaugural address, Lincoln refused to compromise on which of the following issues?
slavery in Southern states
slavery in Western states
secession of Southern states
war against the South
When he became president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis believed that
Lincoln would force states that seceded back into the Union.
the South should declare war against the Union to gain independence.
secession of the Southern states should be encouraged.
Southern slavery would remain safe under Lincoln.
Why was Fort Sumter’s location important?
It protected commercial areas of the southern coast.
It served as a Confederate base before 1860.
It blocked shipping lanes to the North.
It was the capital of the Union.
Lincoln worried about resupplying Fort Sumter because
he planned to start an armed conflict with Southern soldiers there.
he did not want to appear to give in to the Confederacy.
he did not want Confederate soldiers to take over the fort.
he planned to tell Union soldiers to abandon the fort later.
How did Lincoln attempt to peacefully resolve the question of whether to resupply Fort Sumter?
by sending Union troops to defend the fort
by refusing to send supply ships to the fort
by ordering Union soldiers to abandon the fort
by sending unarmed supply ships to the fort
Which best states why the Confederacy wanted control of Fort Sumter?
It was located within the Confederacy, and Union troops used it to store weapons.
It was located on the border of a Union state and a Confederate state, which gave it a high strategic value.
It was located within the Confederacy, and it protected coastal commercial areas.
It was located in the North, making it easy to contain Union troops during the Civil War.
Union troops continued to occupy Fort Sumter in 1860 because
the Confederacy could not seize federal property.
the United States had not officially recognized the right to secede.
the North and South had agreed not to seize each other’s forts.
the fort had strategic value only to the Union.
After Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter, approximately how long did it take for the Union surrender?
one day
three days
one week
one month
A direct result of the Battle of Fort Sumter was that
Lincoln only asked Northern states to supply troops.
Confederate states refused to send troops to the US Army.
Six additional states seceded from the Union.
Lincoln called for volunteers for the US Navy.
Which event marked the beginning of the Civil War?
the election of Jefferson Davis in 1861
the Battle of Fort Sumter in 1861
the secession of South Carolina in 1860
the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860
After the Battle of Fort Sumter, people who did not want to secede from the Union created the state of
North Carolina.
West Virginia.
Arkansas.
Tennessee.
Lincoln declared that the goal of the Civil War was to
destroy the Confederacy’s military.
destroy the Confederacy’s economy.
preserve the Union.
free enslaved people.
Why did additional states secede after the Battle of Fort Sumter?
They wanted to create new, larger states.
They wanted to create a second Confederacy.
They thought Lincoln had caused the battle.
They thought the Union should have won the battle.
Both Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln officially began their terms as president by
declaring themselves co-presidents.
attending each other’s inaugural addresses.
reading from the US Constitution.
giving inaugural addresses to their nations.
In his inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln
avoided speaking about secession.
reached out to Southern states.
declared war on the South.
promised to amend the Constitution.
By choosing to resupply Fort Sumter, Abraham Lincoln risked
abandonment of the fort by Union soldiers.
abandonment of the fort by Confederate soldiers.
the appearance of giving in to Confederate secession.
armed conflict with Southern soldiers.
When Lincoln finally sent supplies to Fort Sumter, he used
unarmed ships.
troops from distant forts.
troops from nearby forts.
heavily armed ships.
