Road to Civil War Review

Group 1 1. Which constitutional principle was at the heart of the sectional argument that eventually led to the Civil War? Answer: Federalism (the balance of power between the Federal Government and the State Governments.)

Group 1 2. Why did many people in both the North and the South believe that it was vitally important to maintain an equal number of Free States and Slave States? Answer: Each was afraid that the other group would gain power over the other within Congress.

Group 1 3. What was the primary goal that Abraham Lincoln expressed to the nation in his First Inaugural Address? “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Answer: Restoring the Union

Group 1 4. Who was Jefferson Davis? Answer: The President of the Confederacy

Group 2 5. What was the primary goal that Jefferson Davis expressed to the nation in his Inaugural Address? “As a necessity, not a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separation; and henceforth our energies must be directed to the conduct of our own affairs and the perpetuity of the Confederacy which we have formed.” Answer: For the Confederacy to maintain its independence.

Group 2 6. Throughout the years leading up to the Civil War, Southern states insisted that the states in the U.S. were entitled to have greater power. What term was used to describe their view on this subject? Answer: States Rights

Group 2 7. What was the primary message of Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates? “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.” Answer: The nation is at a crossroads, and it can no longer remain divided on the issue of slavery. The nation as a whole must now decide whether to embrace slavery, or reject it.

Group 2 8. What was the Fugitive Slave Act? Answer: Federal law passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, that gave slave catchers from the South the right to apprehend runaway slaves from anywhere in the U.S.

Group 3 9. What effect did the cotton gin have on labor in the South? Answer: It caused the demand for slave labor to increase.

Group What group of people maintained political power throughout the South? Answer: Planter Aristocracy

Group In what way did the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin increase sectional tensions between the North and the South? Answer: It convinced more people to join the Abolitionist Movement, which in turn made pro-slavery southerners increasingly defensive about their right to own slaves.

Group What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act? Answer: Federal law passed in 1854, which mandated that slavery in the new territories would be determined by popular sovereignty (the inhabitants of the territory would vote to decide).

Group What was meant by the phrase “Bleeding Kansas”? Answer: A violent clash between pro-slavery southerners called “Border Ruffians” and anti-slavery northerners called “Free- Soilers” over the issue popular sovereignty in Kansas.

Group Why did the acquisition of new land in the west cause sectional tensions between the North and the South to increase? Answer: Anti-slavery Northerners wanted slavery to be banned in the western territories while pro-slavery Southerners wanted slavery to be legal in the western territories.

Group What was the Wilmot Proviso? Answer: A bill that would have, if it had passed, prohibited slavery in any territory gained from the Mexican-American War. The Proviso had the effect of greatly intensifying the debate over slavery in the U.S.

Group Explain the Supreme Court ruling of Dred Scott v Sanford. Answer: The court ruled that Americans of African descent,, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court, and that the Federal Government lacked power to ban slavery in the U.S. territories.

Group What happened at the Democratic National Convention in 1860? Answer: The party split over how the legality of slavery in the territories should be determined. One faction supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the idea of determining slavery in the territories through popular sovereignty, while the other faction supported the Dred Scott decision which made any government ban of slavery illegal.

Group Who won the Presidential Election of 1860? Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Group What was South Carolina’s reaction to the Presidential Election of 1860? Answer: It made the decision to seceded from the Union.

Group What seven states seceded from the Union during the “Session Winter”? Answer: South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

Group What was the first battle of Civil War and which side initiated the battle? Answer: The Battle of Fort Sumter, which was initiated by the South.

Group What event caused Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina, to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy? Answer: Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to put down the rebellion in the South.

Group What is the difference between a primary source and a secondary source? Answer: A primary source is a source created by someone who witnessed the event, while a secondary source is a source created by someone who received their information about the event from one or more other sources.

Group What was the political platform of the Republican Party when it was formed in 1854? Answer: It was against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and wanted to stop the spread of slavery.

Group Who was John Brown and what was John Brown’s Raid? Answer: John Brown was a violent abolitionist. John Brown’s Raid was Brown’s failed attempt to capture the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA in 1859 for the purpose of initiating a massive slave revolt in the South.

Group Who was Fredrick Douglass? Answer: Former slave and leader of the Abolitionist Movement.

Group Who was Harriet Beecher Stowe? Answer: Abolitionist who wrote the bestselling book Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1853.

Group Who was William Lloyd Garrison? Answer: Abolitionist leader who published the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator.

Group How did the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator increase sectional tensions between the North and the South? Answer: It convinced more people to join the Abolitionist Movement, which in turn made pro-slavery southerners increasingly defensive about their right to own slaves.

Group Who was Harriet Tubman? Answer: Former slave who became a leader of the Underground Railroad.

Group What were the four agreements that were included in the Compromise of 1850? Answer: 1.California was admitted to the Union as a Free State. 2.The size of Texas was reduced. 3.Slave trade was abolished in Washington D.C. 4.Fugitive Slave Act was passed: gave slave catchers the right to hunt down slaves anywhere in the U.S.

Group Define popular sovereignty. Answer: Power comes from the people. With the Kansas- Nebraska Act, the people living in a given territory would determine whether they would become a free state or a slave state through popular sovereignty (they would vote to decide).