Sectional Conflict and the Causes of the Civil War (1850-1860)

Question 1

“Upon these considerations, it is the opinion of the court that the act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from holding and owning property of this kind in the territory of the United States north of the line therein mentioned, is not warranted by the Constitution, and is therefore void; and that neither the plaintiff himself, nor any of his family, were made free by being carried into this territory; even if they had been carried there by the owner, with the intention of becoming a permanent resident.”

The congressional act referred to in the passage above was the

Answer 1

Missouri Compromise

Question 2

In the pre–Civil War era, the railroads’ most important impact on the economy was that they

Answer 2

Provided midwestern farmers accessibility to eastern urban markets

Question 3

Which of the following was NOT an element of the Compromise of 1850?

Answer 3

Organization of the Kansas Territory without slavery correct

Question 4

California was admitted as a state to the Union

Answer 4

As part of the Compromise of 1850

Question 5

The United States completed the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 in order to

Answer 5

Build a transcontinental railroad

Question 6

Which of the following did NOT occur during the transportation revolution in the nineteenth century?

Answer 6

The Supreme Court enforced monopolies on steamboat travel and bridge construction.

Question 7

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the map above, which shows cotton production in 1860 in the US?

Answer 7

There was a correlation between the importance of cotton and the use of slave labor in the Southern economy.

Question 8

Why did the railroad system become more famous than others during the transportation revolution?

Answer 8

Because of its speed, capacity, and reliability

Question 9

The Compromise of 1850 outraged abolitionists because one of the following was included at the time

Answer 9

The Fugitive Slave Act

Question 10

This party supported and demanded the exclusion of immigrants and Catholics from public office:

Answer 10

The Know Nothing Party

Question 11

Which of the following had the greatest impact on the institution of slavery in the United States in the first quarter of the nineteenth century?

Answer 11

Expanded use of the cotton gin

Question 12

In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Supreme Court decided that

Answer 12

Enslaved people could not be freed by virtue of their residence in a free state

Question 13

Which of the following is true of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850?

Answer 13

Many Northerners opposed it.

Question 14

The “putting-out system” that emerged in antebellum America refers to the

Answer 14

Production of finished goods in individual households

Question 15

Which of the following was a major focus of antebellum reform?

Answer 15

Prison reform

Question 16

Which of the following statements best describes women’s involvement in reform movements of the antebellum period?

Answer 16

Many women argued that their roles as mothers and wives gave them a unique understanding of the nature of and solutions to social ills.