sectional tensions

Question 1

What was the status of slavery in the original 13 colonies in 1776?

Answer 1

Slavery existed in all 13 original colonies.

Question 2

What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 do regarding slavery?

Answer 2

Congress banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Question 3

What did the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves (1807) do?

Answer 3

It banned the international slave trade

Question 4

What was the balance between slave and free states in 1819?

Answer 4

There were 11 slave states and 11 free states.

Question 5

Why was the Tariff of Abominations (1828) controversial?

Answer 5

It was a high tariff that angered the South and increased tensions over states’ rights.

Question 6

What was the purpose of the American Anti-Slavery Society (1833)

Answer 6

To promote the abolition of slavery

Question 7

What did the Force Act (1833) allow?

Answer 7

The federal government to use force to enforce tariffs (in response to South Carolina’s nullification)

Question 8

What was the Gag Rule (1836)

Answer 8

prevented anti-slavery petitions from being discussed in Congress

Question 9

How did the Mexican-American War (1846–1848) impact slavery debates?

Answer 9

The U.S. gained new territories, intensifying debates over slavery’s expansion

Question 10

What did the Fugitive Slave Act (1850) require

Answer 10

Citizens to assist in capturing runaway slaves and penalized those who helped them escape

Question 11

What was the effect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Answer 11

It allowed territories to decide on slavery by popular sovereignty, leading to violent conflict (“Bleeding Kansas”)

Question 12

What was the significance of the Republican Party’s rise (1854–1856)

Answer 12

It opposed the expansion of slavery.

Question 13

What did the Dred Scott Decision (1857) rule

Answer 13

African Americans were not citizens, and Congress could not ban slavery in the territories

Question 14

Why was the Lecompton Constitution (1857) controversial?

Answer 14

It was a pro-slavery constitution in Kansas that many saw as illegitimate

Question 15

What happened to John Brown in 1859?

Answer 15

He was executed after his raid on Harpers Ferry

Question 16

What major event followed Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860?

Answer 16

Southern states began seceding from the Union

Question 17

What was the Crittenden Compromise (1860)

Answer 17

A last-ditch effort to prevent secession by protecting slavery where it existed.

Question 18

Which state was the first to secede in 1860?

Answer 18

South Carolina

Question 19

When did Lincoln officially become president?

Answer 19

March 31st, 1861

Question 20

Why did the North vote for Lincoln in 1860

Answer 20

54% of free-state voters saw him as opposing the ‘slave power conspiracy” not necessarily abolishing slavery

Question 21

Which state seceded first (and when)?

Answer 21

South Carolina (December 20, 1860).

Question 22

What was the Confederate States of America, and when was it formed?

Answer 22

A government created by seceded states on February 4, 1861, with Jefferson Davis as president

Question 23

Why did the Lower South secede despite Lincoln’s promises?

Answer 23

Feared Republican dominance would threaten slavery’s expansion; saw secession as the only option.

Question 24

Which states comprised the “Upper South,” and why were they hesitant to secede?

Answer 24

Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Missouri; had fewer ties to slavery and closer economic links to the North

Question 25

What was the Crittenden Compromise (1860)?

Answer 25

Proposed extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, protecting slavery where it existed; rejected by Republicans as a "surrender."

Question 26

What was the Virginia Peace Convention (February 1861)?

Answer 26

A failed effort to negotiate reunion; no Confederate delegates attended, and Congress ignored its proposals

Question 27

How did Lincoln’s inaugural address (March 4, 1861) address secession?

Answer 27

Called secession illegal but pledged not to interfere with slavery in existing states

Question 28

Why was Fort Sumter a flashpoint in April 1861?

Answer 28

Symbolised sovereignty—Confederacy couldn’t tolerate a Union fort in Charleston Harbour

Question 29

How did Lincoln provoke the Confederacy at Fort Sumter?

Answer 29

Sent unarmed supply ships, forcing the South to fire first (April 12–13, 1861), uniting Northern opinion against secession

Question 30

What was Lincoln’s response to Fort Sumter’s fall?

Answer 30

Called for 75,000 troops (April 15, 1861) and blockaded Southern ports, treating the Confederacy as a belligerent.

Question 31

Which Upper South states joined the Confederacy after Fort Sumter?

Answer 31

Virginia (April), Arkansas (May), North Carolina (May), Tennessee (June 1861)

Question 32

Which slave states remained in the Union?

Answer 32

Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky

Question 33

Why did the Democratic Party split in 1860?

Answer 33

Southern delegates walked out, nominating Breckinridge; Northern Democrats backed Douglas, weakening their electoral chances

Question 34

What was the Constitutional Unionist Party’s goal in 1860

Answer 34

To avoid sectional strife by ignoring slavery; nominated John Bell.

Question 35

How did Lincoln’s election results (1860) reflect sectional divides?

Answer 35

Won all free states except New Jersey (180 electoral votes); received no Southern votes

Question 36

How did Southern newspapers view John Brown’s raid (1859)?

Answer 36

As proof Northerners would incite slave revolts, accelerating disunion fears

Question 37

What was the "Slave Power conspiracy" belief?

Answer 37

Northern fear that Southern elites sought to dominate federal policy to expand slavery

Question 38

Why did Buchanan’s inaction (1860–1861) anger both sides?

Answer 38

Allowed Confederate states to seize federal property without resistance, failing to preserve the Union.

Question 39

How did slavery differ between the North and South by 1820?

Answer 39

Most Northern states had ended slavery, while the South expanded it

Question 40

Why was slavery economically critical to the South?

Answer 40

Relied on slave labour for cotton plantations

Question 41

How did Northern industry compare to the South’s?

Answer 41

North dominated manufacturing (e.g., ½ of US boots from Massachusetts, ⅓ iron/steel from Pennsylvania)

Question 42

What nuance existed in Northern labour?

Answer 42

Many workers were part-time and returned to farming seasonally

Question 43

How did urbanisation compare?

Answer 43

Only 1/14 Southerners lived in towns vs. ¼ Northerners

Question 44

Were both regions racist?

Answer 44

yes—South upheld white supremacy; North discriminated against free Blacks

Question 45

What % of slaves worked in cotton in south?

Answer 45

55% - cotton’s profitability entrenched slavery

Question 46

How did Lincoln critique Southern slavery justifications?

Answer 46

if the institution of slavery was so beneficial why not try being slaves themselves

Question 47

Who led the Underground Railroad?

Answer 47

Fredrick Douglass who was a former slave

Question 48

What was the underground railroad?

Answer 48

Network of anti-slavery activists who helped runaway slaves escape to free territory

Question 49

how did the Underground Railroad contribute to tensions?

Answer 49

led to fugitive slave laws of increasing severity, intensely unpopular in the south were slave revolts and unrest were blames on extreme abolitionist propaganda

Question 50

How many slaves were helped to escape by the underground railroad

Answer 50

1820's - 50's: 60,000 -100,000 runaways (estimated)

Question 51

William Lloyd Garrison

Answer 51

- Massachusetts journalist - believed in the immediate emancipation of slaves and non- violent protest. Leader of american anti slavery society 1833

Question 52

what did William Lloyd Garrison found?

Answer 52

the liberator in 2831 to publicise the evils of slavery

Question 53

southern response to William Lloyd garrison

Answer 53

anti-slavery pamphlets banned from entering the south, increase of runaway slaves cuz if liberator