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US History Vocabulary: Terms and Definitions

Total questions: 39

Worksheet time: 20mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

What is the term for the following definition? Loyalty to one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole, often leading to conflicting views (e.g., North vs. South on slavery).

a)

Sectionalism

b)

Federalism

c)

Nationalism

d)

Patriotism

2.

What is the term for the following definition? A policy of favoring native-born inhabitants over immigrants, often fueled by fear of cultural or economic change. The Know-Nothing Party was a major political expression of this.

a)

Nativism

b)

Federalism

c)

Populism

d)

Isolationism

3.

What is the term for the following definition? The 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable, often seen as divinely ordained.

a)

Manifest Destiny

b)

Monroe Doctrine

c)

Isolationism

d)

Federalism

4.

What is the term for the following definition? A period of mass migration to California following the discovery of gold in 1848, leading to rapid population growth and statehood.

a)

California Gold Rush

b)

Oregon Trail

c)

Louisiana Purchase

d)

Manifest Destiny

5.

What is the term for the following definition? A pivotal event in the Texas Revolution (1836) where a small group of Texans fought a much larger Mexican army; it became a rallying cry for Texan independence.

a)

Alamo

b)

San Jacinto

c)

Goliad

d)

Battle of Gonzales

6.

What is the term for the following definition? A failed 1846 proposal to prohibit slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican-American War. It greatly intensified the sectional debate.

a)

Wilmot Proviso

b)

Compromise of 1850

c)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

d)

Missouri Compromise

7.

Who was an American soldier and politician, a key leader in the Texas Revolution, and the first president of the Republic of Texas?

a)

Sam Houston

b)

Stephen F. Austin

c)

James Bowie

d)

William B. Travis

8.

Which land included present-day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and was disputed between the US and Britain until the US secured the region up to the 49th parallel in 1846 ('54'40 or Fight' was Polk's campaign slogan)?

a)

Oregon Territory

b)

Louisiana Territory

c)

Mexican Cession

d)

Gadsden Purchase

9.

What was the conflict between the US and Mexico (1846-1848) largely over the annexation of Texas and the US desire for western territories, ending with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?

a)

Mexican-American War

b)

Spanish-American War

c)

War of 1812

d)

Texas Revolution

10.

Who was the 11th U.S. President (Democrat, 1845-1849) whose administration focused on territorial expansion, achieving goals like securing the Oregon Territory and initiating the Mexican-American War?

a)

James K. Polk

b)

Martin Van Buren

c)

Franklin Pierce

d)

John Tyler

11.

Who was the U.S. Navy Commodore who led a squadron of ships to Japan in 1853-1854, forcing Japan to open up to American trade and diplomacy (Treaty of Kanagawa)?

a)

Matthew Perry

b)

Oliver Hazard Perry

c)

David Farragut

d)

Chester W. Nimitz

12.

What was the 1848 treaty that ended the Mexican-American War, in which Mexico ceded vast territories (the Mexican Cession) to the U.S. and accepted the Rio Grande as the Texas border?

a)

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

b)

Treaty of Paris

c)

Treaty of Tordesillas

d)

Adams-Onís Treaty

13.

Who was the U.S. Army General, known as 'Old Fuss and Feathers,' who successfully commanded the American forces that captured Mexico City during the Mexican-American War?

a)

Winfield Scott

b)

Zachary Taylor

c)

Ulysses S. Grant

d)

William Tecumseh Sherman

14.

Which agreement in 1853 allowed the U.S. to purchase land from Mexico (present-day southern Arizona and New Mexico) to facilitate the construction of a transcontinental railroad?

a)

Gadsden Purchase

b)

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

c)

Adams-Onís Treaty

d)

Louisiana Purchase

15.

A series of five separate bills intended to resolve disputes over slavery in new territories, including California entering as a free state and the passage of a strict Fugitive Slave Law, is known as the ________.

a)

Compromise of 1850

b)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

c)

Missouri Compromise

d)

Emancipation Proclamation

16.

What is the principle that the residents of a territory should be allowed to decide (vote) whether or not to allow slavery within their borders called?

a)

Popular Sovereignty

b)

Manifest Destiny

c)

Judicial Review

d)

Federalism

17.

Who was the prominent Whig politician from Kentucky known as the "Great Compromiser" for his role in crafting the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850?

a)

Henry Clay

b)

Daniel Webster

c)

John C. Calhoun

d)

Stephen A. Douglas

18.

Part of the Compromise of 1850, this law required all U.S. citizens to assist in the return of runaway slaves, denying them a jury trial and escalating Northern resistance. What is the name of this law?

a)

Fugitive Slave Law

b)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

c)

Missouri Compromise

d)

Emancipation Proclamation

19.

A network of secret routes and safe houses used by enslaved African Americans to escape to freedom in the North or Canada is called the ________.

a)

Underground Railroad

b)

Freedom Trail

c)

Liberty Line

d)

Emancipation Path

20.

Who was the escaped slave and the most famous "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, personally leading hundreds to freedom?

a)

Harriet Tubman

b)

Frederick Douglass

c)

Sojourner Truth

d)

William Lloyd Garrison

21.

What is the influential 1852 anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that vividly dramatized the cruelty of slavery, intensifying Northern abolitionist sentiment?

a)

Uncle Tom's Cabin

b)

Gone with the Wind

c)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

d)

To Kill a Mockingbird

22.

Who is the author of the influential anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)?

a)

Harriet Beecher Stowe

b)

Mark Twain

c)

Louisa May Alcott

d)

Nathaniel Hawthorne

23.

Which 1857 non-fiction book by Hinton R. Helper argued that slavery hurt the South's economy, especially poor white farmers, and should be abolished?

a)

Impending Crisis of the South

b)

Uncle Tom's Cabin

c)

The South Vindicated

d)

Cannibals All!

24.

What term describes the period of violent clashes and political chaos (1854-1859) in the Kansas Territory between pro-slavery and anti-slavery (free-soil) settlers?

a)

Bleeding Kansas

b)

The Missouri Compromise

c)

The Dred Scott Decision

d)

The Nullification Crisis

25.

Which 1854 law, proposed by Stephen Douglas, repealed the Missouri Compromise and applied Popular sovereignty to the new Kansas and Nebraska territories, leading to violence?

a)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

b)

Compromise of 1850

c)

Homestead Act

d)

Fugitive Slave Act

26.

Who was the Democratic Senator from Illinois, key figure in the Kansas-Nebraska Act and proponent of popular sovereignty, who lost the 1860 presidential election to Lincoln?

a)

Stephen Douglas

b)

John C. Breckinridge

c)

Salmon P. Chase

d)

William H. Seward

27.

What was the name of the pro-slavery constitution drafted for Kansas in 1857, which was vigorously opposed by anti-slavery forces and ultimately rejected by the U.S. Congress?

a)

Lecompton Constitution

b)

Topeka Constitution

c)

Wyandotte Constitution

d)

Montgomery Constitution

28.

What was the nativist political party of the 1850s that opposed immigration and Catholic influence?

a)

Know-nothing party

b)

Whig party

c)

Free Soil party

d)

Democratic party

29.

Which landmark 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that African Americans were not citizens, that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories?

a)

Dred Scott v. Sandford

b)

Plessy v. Ferguson

c)

Brown v. Board of Education

d)

Marbury v. Madison

30.

A series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the 1858 Illinois Senate race, largely focusing on the issue of slavery and its expansion, is known as the:

a)

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

b)

Missouri Compromise

c)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

d)

Compromise of 1850

31.

Which speech by Abraham Lincoln during the Illinois Senate campaign stated, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," implying the nation could not endure permanently half slave and half free?

a)

House Divided Speech

b)

Gettysburg Address

c)

Second Inaugural Address

d)

Emancipation Proclamation

32.

Who was the 12th U.S. President (Whig, 1849-1850) and a celebrated military leader in the Mexican-American War, who died early in his term?

a)

Zachary Taylor

b)

Millard Fillmore

c)

Franklin Pierce

d)

James K. Polk

33.

Which U.S. President (Democrat, 1857-1861) was heavily criticized for his inability to stem the secession crisis?

a)

James Buchanan

b)

Franklin Pierce

c)

Millard Fillmore

d)

Andrew Johnson

34.

Who was the 16th U.S. President (Republican, 1861-1865) who led the Union through the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

a)

Abraham Lincoln

b)

Ulysses S. Grant

c)

Andrew Johnson

d)

James Buchanan

35.

What 1856 event involved Southern Congressman Preston Brooks brutally beating abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner on the Senate floor over Sumner's anti-slavery speech?

a)

Sumner-Brooks incident

b)

Bleeding Kansas

c)

Dred Scott Decision

d)

Harper's Ferry Raid

36.

Fill in the blank: A political party founded in 1854 in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act; its main platform was the containment or prevention of the expansion of slavery.

a)

Republican Party

b)

Democratic Party

c)

Whig Party

d)

Federalist Party

37.

Fill in the blank: A fervent abolitionist who believed violence was necessary to end slavery; his 1859 raid on the armory at Harpers Ferry failed but further polarized the nation.

a)

John Brown

b)

Frederick Douglass

c)

Harriet Tubman

d)

William Lloyd Garrison

38.

Fill in the blank: Site of John Brown's 1859 raid in Virginia (now West Virginia) on a federal armory in an attempt to start a slave revolt.

a)

Harpers Ferry

b)

Richmond

c)

Gettysburg

d)

Appomattox

39.

Fill in the blank: The presidential election won by Republican Abraham Lincoln, whose victory on a platform of containing slavery led directly to the secession of the Southern states. ________

a)

Election of 1860

b)

Election of 1856

c)

Election of 1876

d)

Election of 1848