History Quiz 3 Questions

Front 1

Identify “Manifest Destiny,” and explain its role in U.S. policy toward Great Britain and Mexico from 1846-1848.

Back 1

“Manifest Destiny” was the idea that God had “’manifestly” destined the American people to have control over the Western Hemisphere. They wanted to reoccupy Oregon (British) up to 54°40΄, but settled on 49°. Polk wanted to annex California and re-annex Texas. Polk offered $25 million to Mexico for California, but they refused, so he was “forced” to go to war.

Front 2

Explain two effects of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).

Back 2

America’s total land was increased by about one-third and the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, giving $15 million for land and $3.25 million for claims to Mexico.

Front 3

Explain the demise of the Whig Party in the 1852 election.

Back 3

The Whigs hastily nominated Winfield Scott as their candidate, having only won the election with war heroes in the past. Northern Whigs liked Scott, but not his platform (which endorsed the fugitive slave law). Southern Whigs doubted his loyalty to the Compromise of 1850, but accepted his platform…but they still didn’t like him as a candidate.

Front 4

Explain the causes and effects of the Gadsden Purchase of 1853.

Back 4

There really was no way to travel from the settled United States to California. The North and South both wanted the first transcontinental railroad. It was the idea of Stephen Douglas to split Nebraska into Nebraska and Kansas, via the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Railroads were eventually created in first the north, then the south (where the Gadsden Purchase was made, to connect Houston to Los Angeles).

Front 5

Explain the causes and effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

Back 5

The cause was Douglas trying to get support of the south to build the first railroad by giving up part of the Nebraska Territory (Kansas). (KansasSlave Nebraska Free) The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was repealed, as was the Compromise of 1850 (mainly the Fugitive Slave Law).

Front 6

Explain how and why Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped lead to the Civil War (1861-1865).

Back 6

Harriet Beecher Stowe used powerful imagery to convince the North that the Fugitive Slave Law was evil. The book was so popular that it sold millions of copies in different languages. Abraham Lincoln even commented to her that it helped to start, and win the war.

Front 7

Explain the causes and effects of the LeCompton Constitution (1857).

Back 7

There was a split of proslavery and “free-soilers” in Kansas in the mid-1800s. The Constitution was made to prohibit all black bondage and still obtain statehood. Free-soilers boycotted the election and it passed. Douglas had fought to submit the Constitution to fair popular vote, and it was shutdown. The Democratic party was disrupted and the Union was barely being held together.

Front 8

Explain the causes and effects of the Dred Scott decision of 1857.

Back 8

A slave, Dred Scott, had lived in a free-state for five years and sued for freedom on the basis of living on free soil. The Supreme Court, led by Roger Taney, decreed that a slave was private property, and he or she could be taken into any territory and legally held there in slavery. The result was a ruling that said the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional all along. The North was against the decision, because the majority of justices were southerners (opinion rather than decision).

Front 9

Explain the causes and effects of the Illinois legislature choosing Democrat Stephen Douglas over Republican Abraham Lincoln for the U.S. Senate in 1858.

Back 9

Douglas said, in response to Lincoln’s question of the people of a territory voting slavery down against the Supreme Court, that slavery would stay down if people voted it down. Laws would have to be passed by territorial legislatures (Freeport Doctrine). Douglas defeated Lincoln for Senate, but this hurt his chances of becoming president while splitting his splintering Democratic party.

Front 10

Explain the causes and effects of the Crittenden Compromise of 1860.

Back 10

To prevent fighting to occur, James Henry Crittenden proposed that slavery supporters in southern territories would be guaranteed full rights, regardless of the wishes of the majority under popular sovereignty. Slavery would be prohibited above 36°30’. Future states could come into the Union with or without slavery, by vote. Lincoln rejected this idea because he had been elected on a platform that opposed the extension of slavery. 11 southern states seceded from the Union under Jefferson Davis in 1860-1861, partly due to this.