Political Conflict Over Slavery
What part did David Wilmot play in the political conflict over slavery prior to the Civil War?
Wilmot proposed banning slavery in any lands acquired from Mexico. The south opposed Wilmot's plan.
Who were the border ruffians?
The border ruffians were armed gangs who crossed the border from Missouri just to vote in Kansas's first election so they could make slavery legal.
True or False
Antislavery members of the Whigs and the Democrats joined Free-Soilers to form the Republican Party.
True
Briefly explain the Dred Scott case.
Dred Scott sued for his freedom on the grounds that he had lived in free territory so he must be free. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Who was the Democratic senator from Illinois in 1858? Who was the Republican that ran against him?
Democrat - Stephen A. Douglas
Republican - Abraham Lincoln
Who did the Republicans nominate for president in the 1860 election? Why?
Abraham Lincoln; they wanted to leave slavery where it already existed, but ban it in the territories.
What was Fort Sumter? Where was it located?
Fort Sumter was a U.S. fort on an island that guarded the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina.
What part did John C. Calhoun play in the political conflict over slavery prior to the Civil War?
Senator Calhoun, of South Carolina, argued that neither Congress nor any territorial government could ban or regulate slavery.
What happened in Kansas that led newspapers to write about "Bleeding Kansas?"
An antislavery group set up a rival government when slavery was made legal in Kansas. Both sides were armed. Slavery supporters burned buildings in Lawrence, leading to retaliation killings by abolitionist John Brown and his supporters.
True or False
James Buchanan, a diplomat and former congressman, was nominated for president by the Republican Party in 1856.
False - James Buchanan, a diplomat and former congressman, was nominated for president by the Democratic Party in 1856.
Briefly explain the Supreme Court's ruling in the Dred Scott case.
Scott was not a citizen and had no right to bring a lawsuit; an enslaved person is property, and property may not be taken away without due process of law.
Briefly explain what happened at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859.
Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on an arsenal hoping to arm enslaved African Americans and spark a revolt against slaveholders.
Who won the United States Presidential Election of 1860?
Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln.
Sequence these events in the order in which they happened:
a. Lincoln issued a call for troops
b. Lincoln sent unarmed men with supplies to the fort
c. Fort Sumter surrendered
d. Lincoln was inaugurated
e. Jefferson Davis ordered Confederate forces to attack
f. Lincoln gets a message from the commander at Fort Sumter
1. d.
2. f.
3. b.
4. e.
5. c.
6. a.
How could adding a new state to the Union add to the conflict over slavery?
Whenever a new state was added, it could be a slave state or a free state. Each state had two votes in the Senate. Neither pro-slavery nor antislavery groups wanted the other side to have more votes in Congress.
Sequence these events in the order in which they happened:
a. The Kansas-Nebraska Act is passed.
b. Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposes popular sovereignty.
c. A vote in Kansas makes slavery legal.
1. b.
2. a.
3. c.
True or False
In the presidential election of 1856, John C. Fremont carried all of the 16 free states but only a single electoral vote south of the Mason-Dixon line.
False - Fremont carried 11 of the 16 free states but not a single electoral vote south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Briefly explain the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott case.
Southerners were pleased because it upheld their belief that nothing could legally stop slavery. Anti-slavery groups called the decision "the greatest crime" ever committed in the nation's courts.
How did different groups of Northerners react to the execution of John Brown?
Some antislavery Northerners approved of his execution because they did not like his use of violence; others saw Brown as a martyr - a person who dies for a cause.
Why did both Northerners and Southerners reject Kentucky Senator John Crittenden's slavery compromise after the election of 1860?
Northerners rejected the compromise because they had just won an election on the principle that they would stop the spread of slavery; Southerners rejected any plan (including the compromise) to hold back the spread of slavery or to try to keep it in just one region.
After the Union forces at Fort Sumter surrendered, what history-changing event had officially begun?
The United States Civil War