Musings of the Sundarman

Twenty questions about the lead-up to the Civil War

1. Question: Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book by this title, which revealed the cruelty of slavery and helped to open the eyes of many. Hundreds of thousands of copies were published and it went on to have a huge historical impact.
Answer: "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

2. Question: True or false. Fugitive Slave Law was enforced more strictly after people read Beecher Stowe's book.
Answer: False

3. Question: True or false. Harriet Beecher Stowe had witnessed slavery first hand while living on her family's plantation.
Answer: False

4. Question: Written by Hinton R. Helper, this book was banned in the South. It suggested that those who suffered most from slavery were not the slaves, but rather the white people who did not own slaves.
Answer: "The Impending Crisis of the South".

5. Question: Having originally been excited about the Kansas-Nebraska split, what angered Southern people?
Answer: Newcomers were crossing from Nebraska to Kansas, some being abolitionists. The South assumed that they intended to take slavery out of Kansas and were furious.

6. Question: What incident involving abolitionist John Brown made the free-soil party look bad in 1856 and started a Civil War in Kansas?
Answer: He led an attack on five men who presumable supported slavery, actually chopping them up at Pottawatomie Creek.

7. Question: When Kansas tried to apply for statehood, those who were proslavery created a document called _____________________. It said that people could vote only "with" or "with no" slavery, rather than on the whole constitution. Consequently the polls were boycotted and the proslavery men got their way.
Answer: Lecompton Constitution.

8. Question: Who essentially stopped the Lecompton Constitution from going into effect by insisting on popular sovereignty? In other words, he insisted that people be able to vote on it, and when they did, it did not pass.
Answer: Senator Stephen A. Douglas.

9. Question: Kansas remained a territory until what year? a. 1858. b. 1860. c. 1861. d. 1863.
Answer: C. 1861

10. Question: He was a Senator from Massachusetts, who was strongly disliked in the political circle, and was a passionate abolitionist. He delivered a scathing message against proslaverites and was consequently physically attacked by a South-Carolina Congressman. a. Stephen A. Douglas. b. Charles Sumner. c. Preston S. Brooks. d. John Brown.
Answer: B. Charles Sumner

11. Question: He was a South Carolina Congressman who attacked a Senator from Massachusetts, and though what he did was frowned upon by the North, he was reelected to Congress. a. Stephen A. Douglas. b. Charles Sumner. c. Preston S. Brooks. d. John Brown.
Answer: C. Preston S. Brooks.

12. Question: Who did the Democrats nominate for president in 1856?
Answer: James Buchanan.

13. Question: What was the biggest issue of the 1856 presidential election?
Answer: Slavery

14. Question: Ex-president Millard Fillmore was nominated by this secretive party, which was opposed to immigrants and catholics.
Answer: American party (or Know-Nothing party).

15. Question: On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court made a history changing decision, which may have ignited the Civil War. A black slave, having lived on free soil for years, sued for his freedom, but was denied it on the basis that he was not a citizen, but only a slave.
Answer: Dred Scott decision.

16. Question: During the financial crash of 1857, who was most affected by the resulting hardships? a. North. b. South. c. Both. d. Neither.
Answer: A. North

17. Question: After debating for years, Congress tried to pass the Homestead Act, but president Buchanan vetoed it. What would the plan have done had it been allowed to go into action? a. Given free land to farmers. b. Sold the land to farmers for a profit. c. Made the land available for $0.25 per acre. d. Gave pioneers 160 acres of land for farming.
Answer: C. Made the land available for $0.25 per acre.

18. Question: Give one economic platform of the Republican party during the election of 1860.
Answer: Farms for farmless people. Or Protection for unprotected Northernites.

19. Question: This lawyer from a poor Kentucky family, was largely self-educated and very honest. He had served only one congressional term before being nominated for Republican Senator in Illinois in 1858.
Answer: Abraham Lincoln

20. Question: How did John Brown die?
Answer: Intending to get an uprising of armed slaves to stand up against the South, he attacked an arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and killed several innocent people. Captured by Robert E. Lee, he was hanged for murder and treason, becoming somewhat of a martyr for the abolitionist cause.

check out http://www.crushthattest.com for more fun history facts!
http://www.menteon.com has a cool learning system as well.