Chapter 18: Renewing the Sectional Struggle, 1848-1854

1. Democratic politicians and others attempted to avoid the issue of 
slavery in the territories by saying it should be left to “popular 
sovereignty”.
A. True		B. False

2. The Free Soil party consisted of a small, unified band of radical 
abolitionists.
A. True		B. False

3. The California gold rush of 1849 diverted the nation’s attention 
away from slavery.
A. True		B. False

4. Southerners demanded a more effective fugitive-slave law to stop 
the “Underground Railroad” from running escaped slaves to Canada.
A. True		B. False

5. In the Senate debate of 1850, Calhoun spoke for compromise, while 
Clay and Webster each defended his own section’s interests.
A. True		B. False

6. In the key provisions of the Compromise of 1850, New Mexico and 
Utah were admitted as slave states, while California was left open to 
popular sovereignty. 
A. True		B. False

7. The provision of the Compromise of 1850 that aroused the fiercest 
northern opposition was the Fugitive Slave Law.
A. True		B. False

8. The greatest political winner in the Compromise of 1850 was the 
South.
A. True		B. False

9. The Whig Party disappeared because its northern and southern wings 
were too deeply split over the Fugitive Slave Law and other sectional 
issues.
A. True		B. False

10. The Pierce administration’s expansionist efforts in Central 
America, Cuba, and the Gadsden Purchase were basically designed to 
serve southern proslavery interests.
A. True		B. False

11. The Gadsden Purchase resulted in a general national agreement to 
build the trans-continental railroad along the southern route. 
A. True		B. False

12. Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act was intended to organize western 
territories so that a transcontinental railroad could be built along 
a northern route. 
A. True		B. False

13. Both southerners and northerners alike refused to accept 
Douglas's plan to repeal the Missouri Compromise. 
A. True		B. False

14. The Kansas-Nebraska Act wrecked the Compromise of 1850 and 
created deep divisions within the Democratic Party. 
A. True		B. False

15. The Republican Party was initially organized as a northern 
protest against Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act. 
A. True		B. False

16. "Popular sovereignty" was the idea that 
A. the government of each new territory should be elected by the 
people.
B. the American public should vote on whether to admit states with or 
without slavery.
C. the people of a territory should determine for themselves whether 
or not to permit slavery.
D. the United States should assume popular control of the territory 
acquired from Mexico.

17. In the election of 1848, the response of the Whig and Democratic 
parties to the rising controversy over slavery was 
A. a strong proslavery stance by the Democrats and a strong 
antislavery stance by the Whigs 
B. platforms stressing both parties' clear differences with the 
antislavery Free Soil party..
C. an attempt to ignore the issue.
D. to free each individual candidate to take his own stand on the 
issue.

18. Quick formation of an effective government in California was 
essential because of 
A. the desire of antislavery forces to gain a new state for their 
cause.
B. the threat that Mexico would reconquer the territory.
C. the need to have a government capable of building a 
transcontinental railroad.
D. the very large and unruly population drawn into the state by the 
discovery of gold.

19. The proposed admission of California directly into the Union was 
dangerously controversial because 
A. the territory was in a condition of complete lawlessness and 
anarchy.
B. the Mexicans were threatening renewed warfare if California joined 
the Union.
C. California's admission as a free state would destroy the equal 
balance of slave and free states in the U.S. Senate.
D. there was a growing movement to declare California an independent 
nation.

20. The existence of the "underground railroad" added to southern 
demands for 
A. the stationing of armed police and troops along the Ohio River and 
the Mason-Dixon line to capture runaways. 
B. the death penalty for abolitionists.
C. a stricter federal Fugitive Slave Law.
D. the enslavement of free blacks in the South.

21. Among the notable advocates of compromise in the controversy over 
slavery in 1850 were 
 A. William Seward and Zachary Taylor.
 B. Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.
 C. John C. Calhoun and Abraham Lincoln.
 D. Stephen Douglas and Harriet Tubman.

 22. During the debate over the Compromise of 1850, northern 
antislavery forces were particularly outraged by what they considered 
the "betrayal" of Senator 
 A. Stephen A. Douglas.
 B. Daniel Webster.
 C. William Seward.
 D. John C. Calhoun.

23. Under the terms of the Compromise of 1850, 
 A. California was admitted to the Union as a free state, and slavery 
in Utah and New Mexico territories would be left up to popular 
sovereignty.
 B. California was admitted as a free state, and Utah and New Mexico 
as slave states.
 C. California, Utah, and New Mexico were kept as territories but 
with slavery prohibited.
 D. New Mexico and Texas were admitted as slave states and Utah and 
California as free states.

 24. The final battle to gain passage of the Compromise of 1850 was 
substantially aided by 
 A. the conversion of William Seward to the idea of compromise.
 B. the death of President Taylor and the succession of President 
Fillmore.
 C. the removal of the proposed Fugitive Slave Law from the 
compromise bill.
 D. the agreement to rely on popular sovereignty to resolve the 
future of slavery in California.

 25. The greatest winner in the Compromise of 1850 was 
 A. the North.
 B. the South.
 C. neither the North nor the South.
 D. the border states.

 26. One of the primary effects of the Fugitive Slave Law passed as 
part of the Compromise of 1850 was 
 A. an end to slave escapes and the Underground Railroad.
 B. the extension of the underground railroad into Canada.
 C. a sharp rise in northern antislavery feeling.
 D. an increase in violent slave rebellions.

 27. The conflict over slavery after the election of 1852 led shortly 
to 
 A. the death of the Whig party.
 B. the death of the Democratic party.
 C. the death of the Republican party.
 D. the rise of the Free Soil party.

 28. Southerners seeking to expand the territory of slavery were 
especially interested in acquiring 

 A. Canada and Alaska.
 B. Venezuela and Colombia.
 C. Nicaragua and Cuba.
 D. Hawaii and Japan.

29. The primary goal of Commodore Matthew Perry's treaty with Japan 
in 1854 was 
 A. establishing a balance of power in East Asia.
 B. opening Japan to American trade.
 C. guaranteeing the territorial integrity of China.
 D. establishing American naval bases in Hawaii and Okinawa.

 30. Northerners especially resented Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act 
because 
 A. it aimed to build a transcontinental railroad along the southern 
route.
 B. it would make him the leading Democratic candidate for the 
presidency.
 C. it repealed the Missouri Compromise prohibiting slavery in 
northern territories.
 D. it would bring Kansas into the Union as a slave state.