MCQs of History - The Civil War – Multiple Choice Question

Question 1 of 42

1. Question

What did the Wilmot Proviso do?

Banned slavery in the Mexican Cassion
Overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820
Opened Kansas to slave holdings settler
Applied the doctrine of popular sovereignty to settlement of the West

Question 2 of 42

2. Question

Why was the election of 1848 significant?

It marked the first time a Whig won the presidency
It was the first election in which Southern Whigs voted with Southern Democrats
The Free-soilers diverted enough votes from the Democrats to let Taylor win
Americans overwhelmingly voted for popular sovereignty in the territories

Question 3 of 42

3. Question

All of the following were components of the Compromise of 1850 except______.

A new Fugitive Slave Law was passed
Slavery was banned in Washington. D.C
Popular sovereignty would determine the future of slavery in the territories
California was admitted as a free state

Question 4 of 42

4. Question

All of the following steeled Northern Public opinion against the South except______.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Wilmot Proviso
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The Fugitive Slave Law

Question 5 of 42

5. Question

Where did Franklin Pierce and his Southern expansionist supporters acquire new territory?

Cuba
Nicaragua
Mexico
Japan

Question 6 of 42

6. Question

Pierce’s administration is best described as_____.

Abolitionist and expansionist
Proslavery but conciliatory
Conciliatory and abolitionist
Expansionist and proslavery

Question 7 of 42

7. Question

Why did the Kansas-Nebraska Act anger Americans in the North?

It effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise
It split both the Whig and Democratic Parties
it led to shocking violence in Kansas
It contradicted Southern concessions made in the Compromise of 1850

Question 8 of 42

8. Question

Who were the “border ruffians”?

Ambivalent Americans living in the Border States during the Civil War
Proslavery Marylanders who attacked federal troops marching to Washington, D.C. , in 1861
Proslavery Missourians who rushed to Kansas after Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act
British troops stationed in Canada who threatened Lincoln with war over the Trent Affair

Question 9 of 42

9. Question

Why did Stephen Douglas push the Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress in 1854?

He wanted a northern transcontinental railroad to terminate in Chicago
He wanted to resolve the slavery debate
He wanted to increase his stature within the Democratic Party
All of the above

Question 10 of 42

10. Question

John Brown’s Pottawatomie Massacre_____.

Was hailed as an abolitionist victory in the North
Began the Bleeding Kansas Crisis
Was denounced by most Northerners but lauded by Republicans
All of the above

Question 11 of 42

11. Question

Al of the following were consequences of the Kansas-Nebraska Act except_____.

The breakup of both Whig and Democratic Parties
The effective repeal repeal of the Missouri Compromise
The Bleeding Kansas crisis
The Wilmot Proviso

Question 12 of 42

12. Question

The 1857 Dred Scott vs. Sanford decision prompted_____.

South Carolina to threaten secession
John Brown to kill five proslavery whites in the Pottawatomie Massacre
Border ruffians to burn Lawrence, Kansas
Stephen Douglas to announce the Freeport Doctrine

Question 13 of 42

13. Question

Roger Taney declared the Missouri Compromise ubnconstitutional on the grounds that______.

Blacks could not sue in federal courts because they were not citizens
Popular sovereignty was ilegal
The federal government cold not restrict the movement of private property
Slavery was ilegal in both the North and South

Question 14 of 42

14. Question

What statement best describes President James Buchanan’s position?

He supported the South because of his dependency on Southern Democrats
He supported Northern Democrats in the face of increasing opposition in the South
He took no stand on the slavery issue in order to get re-elected
He tacitly supported Northern Free-Soldiers in exchange for votes

Question 15 of 42

15. Question

All of the following were true about the election of 1860 except_____.

It was primarily a sectional election
No candidate received a majority of the popular vote
Lincoln threatened to invade the South after he won
The Democratic Party split after failing to nominate a single candidate

Question 16 of 42

16. Question

What did Lincoln do in his first inaugural address?

Threatened to invade the South if the state legislature refused to retract their vote to secede
Threatened to emancipate all the slaves in the South if more states seceded
Professed his friendship for the South and said he would ignore South Carolina's illegal secession
Said he would forgive the South if it emancipated all it slaves

Question 17 of 42

17. Question

In term of structure, the Confederate government was similar in many ways to______.

The Union government
The US government under the Articles of Confederation
Britain's parliament
The Second Continental Congress

Question 18 of 42

18. Question

What did John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry demonstrate?

That Southern slaves were not ready to rebel
The Republicans were secretly backing slave insurrections
That the Compromise of 1850 had failed
That Northern and Southern opinions on slavery were irreconcilable

Question 19 of 42

19. Question

What did Stephen Douglas’s Freeport Doctrine challenge?

The Dred Scott v. Sanford decision
The Wilmot proviso
The Compromise of 1850
Popular sovereignty

Question 20 of 42

20. Question

Stephen Douglas rejected the lecompton Constitution on the grounds that______.

Admitting Kansas as a slave state would violate the Missouri Compromise
Admitting Kansas as a slave state would destroy the sectional balance in the Senate
Kansas could not be admitted without Nerbaska
Its drafters had been elected illegitimately

Question 21 of 42

21. Question

What did champions of popular sovereignty believe?

That state should have the final say over the federal government when interpreting the Constitution
That more people, including women and free blacks, should be given the right to vote
That each territory should determine whether it become a free or slave state
That president and senators should be directly elected by the people

Question 22 of 42

22. Question

What did Harriet Tubman and other Underground Railroad “conductors” defy?

The Fugitive Slave law
The Wilmot Proviso
The Tallmadge Amendment
popular sovereignty

Question 23 of 42

23. Question

Why were the lincoln-Douglas debates significant in Lincoln’s political career?

They won him the Illinois Senate race
They boosted him to national prominence
They ridiculed the untouchable Stephen Douglas
All of the above

Question 24 of 42

24. Question

The seizure of Fort Sumter______

Shattered Confederate morale
Convinced Britain to construct the laird rams
Made Southerners believe the war would be over quickly
Convinced Lincoln to fire General McCellan

Question 25 of 42

25. Question

Why did Southern Democrats refuse to support Stephen Douglas in the election of 1860?

They disagreed with his popular sovereignty platform
He chose a former Free-Soil Party Northerner as his running mate
The South wanted to secede while Douglas wanted to remain in the Union
He had rejected the Lecompton Constitution

Question 26 of 42

26. Question

Britain and the Union almost went to war over_____.

The Larid rams
The Trent Affair
The Alabama
All of the above

Question 27 of 42

27. Question

Which of the following was one reason the Border States were so important to the Union?

They would have doubled Confederate manufacturing capabilities
They provided Lincoln with the voted he needed to win the election of 1864
They formed an important defensive shield for the North
The provided the North with slave labour

Question 28 of 42

28. Question

Lincoln was different from Davis in that he_____.

Had more leadership experience prior to the war
Had a knack for understanding and using public opinion to his advantage
Never volated the Constitution
Was unable to control central government well

Question 29 of 42

29. Question

Which of the following states was not a border state?

Kentucky
Maryland
Missouri
Ohio

Question 30 of 42

30. Question

What did the Legal Tender Act do?

Caused the Panic of 1857
Darastically inflated commodity prices in the South
Stabilised the Northern economy
Caused the collapse of the national banking system

Question 31 of 42

31. Question

Why was Britain not as dependent on Southern cotton as the Confederacy had believed?

Britain's economy was shifting away from textile manufacturing
Cotton could also be obtained from Egypt and India
Manufacturers could use wool just as easily as cotton
Most Britons were morally opposed to slavery

Question 32 of 42

32. Question

The Richmond Bread Riots were the Result of_______.

Hyperinflation
The collapse of the Southern economy
The North's total warfare tactics
All of the above

Question 33 of 42

33. Question

What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

Freed all slaves in the North and South
Freed slaves in secessionist states
Freed only slaves in the Border state
Freed all southern slaves who volunteered for the Union army

Question 34 of 42

34. Question

William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea_____.

Was a classic example of total warfare
Was a classic example of limited warfare
Forced Robert E. lee to Surrender
Causd the collapse of the Confederate government in Richmond

Question 35 of 42

35. Question

The Union victory at Antietam was significant because______.

It convinced not to forge an alliance with South
It gave Lincoln the opportunity to fire George McClellan
It gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation
All of the above

Question 36 of 42

36. Question

The Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg_______.

Boosted Confederate morale
Nearly convinced France to extend diplomatic recognition to the South
Were the major turning point in the war
Justified Peace Democrats' criticism of Lincoln and the war

Question 37 of 42

37. Question

Which of the following actions by Lincoln violated the Constitutions?

His order of a naval of the South
His increase of the size of the U.S. Army
His authorisation of illegal voting methods in the Border States
All of the above

Question 38 of 42

38. Question

Why did Lincoln suspended the writer of habeas corpus?

To restrict freedom of the Press
To enable Confederate sympathisers to be arrest without being formally charged
To emancipate slaves in Washington, D.C
To increase the size of the U.S. Army

Question 39 of 42

39. Question

The National bank Act______.

Made it easier to obtain cheap credit
Caused a brief financial panic
Gave Congress unprecedented control over the economy
Curbed rampant inflation in the North

Question 40 of 42

40. Question

What did George McClellan and other Peace Democrats want?

To punish the South for causing the Civil War
To end the war and let the South go
To make a slave state
To fight only a limited war, not a total war, against the South

Question 41 of 42

41. Question

Why did Jefferson Davis request the Hampton Roads Conference with the North?

He knew the Confederacy was doomed
He knew the North was growing weaker and weaker
He wanted to claim that he had tried to make peace with the North
He objected to the North's tactics of total warfare

Question 42 of 42

42. Question

All of the following were confederate strengths going into the Civil War except______.

Superior military commanders
The fact that it would be fighting a defensive war
A largest population and army
An extensive manufacturing base

History- The Civil War

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