United States History to the Civil War
History 310
Final Exam Study Questions
Professor Heningburg
I have included two questions from each of the areas we have covered in class from the end of the
second hour exam until now. The final exam format will be as follows: five of seven
identifications, one of two short essay questions, and one comprehensive essay question. The
id portion and the short essay of the exam are worth fifty points each. The comprehensive essay
portion is worth one hundred points. Study the id list and practice the exam questions. This will
help you prepare for the exam and receive a good grade.
Area One: Post Revolutionary America.
1. Discuss the various reform movements in the early nineteenth century. What motivated the
social reformers of that day? Were they benevolent helpers or dictatorial controllers? What
methods of persuasion did they use? Why were the effects of antislavery activism so politically
explosive?
2. Define and discuss the concept of Manifest Destiny. How does the Mexican-American War
and the California Gold Rush fit into this notion?
Area Two: Prelude to the Civil War
1. Compare and contrast the Missouri Compromise of 1820 with the Compromise of 1850 and
the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854. What are their significant issues? Why were they so important?
2. In view of the United States’ Constitution, what is the significance of the Dred Scott decision
of 1857. Include as much relevant detail as possible.
Area Three: The Civil War.
1. Until 1863, President Lincoln refused to admit blacks into the Union Army. However, with the
issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln reversed himself and allowed blacks to
volunteer. With this in mind, what was the historical significance of the battle at Fort Wagner in
South Carolina, 1863.
2. In what ways did the actions of African Americans, both slave and free, come to determine the
course of the Civil War? Why were African Americans so eager to participate in this conflict?
3. In the historical documentary “The Civil War: Causes,” by Ken Burns, writer Shelby Foote,
argues that the Civil War was caused by America’s “failure to compromise.” Historian, Barbara
Fields argues that the Civil War was caused by the “establishment of the United States with
slavery in its foundation.” Discuss these competing points of view using evidence from lectures,
the textbook and the film.
History 310 - United States History to 1865
Identifications for Final Exam
Identifications for the Civil War
Identification List for
Civil War:
Post-Revolutionary War
Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861
America
Bull Run / Manassas, 1861
Antietam, 1862
The Free Soil Movement
Emancipation Proclamation, 1/1/1863
Organized Slave Resistance
Gettysburg, 1863
Types of Individual Slave Resistance
54Th Massachusetts Regiment Colored
Social Reform Movements:
Infantry
Women’s Rights
Fort Wagner, 1863
Temperance
Atlanta, September, 1864
Anti-slavery & Abolition
Lincoln Reelection, November 1864
William Lloyd Garrison
April, 1865:
The Liberator
Richmond, VA
Frederick Douglass
General Lee Surrenders
The North Star
Lincoln Assassinated
David Walker
Government Sponsored Exploration
Expansion and Indian Policy
Manifest Destiny
Mexican-American War, 1846-1848
California Gold Rush
Prelude to the Civil War:
1820 Missouri Compromise
John C. Calhoun
1832 Nullification Crisis
Wilmot Proviso, 1846
Compromise of 1850
Fugitive Slave Law/Act
Solomon Northrup
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
John Brown
Pottawatomie Massacre, 1856
Charles Sumner
“Bleeding Kansas”
Dred Scott Decision, 1857
Harper’s Ferry, 1859
The Politics of Nativism
Election of 1860
Secession of South Carolina