JUNIOR HIGH HISTORY
Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15 SECTION 1
1.

In 1819 how many states in the Union permitted slavery, and
how many did not?
Eleven did, and eleven did not.
2. Why was the admission of Missouri a problem to the Senate?

The balance of free/slave states would be upset
3. What attitude grew out of the differences between the North and
the South?

sectionalism—an exaggerated loyalty to a particular region of the
country
4. What did Henry Clay suggest Congress should do to solve the
Missouri question?

admit Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state
5. What was Clay’s proposal called?

The Missouri Compromise
6. In the 1840s which territories renewed the dispute over the issue
of slavery?



Texas
New Mexico
California
7. What was the main issue in the presidential election of 1844?

The annexation of Texas
8. What proposal specified that slavery should be
prohibited in any lands acquired from Mexico in the
Mexican War?

Wilmost Proviso
9. Who proposed that neither Congress nor a territorial
government had the authority to ban slavery?

John C. Calhoun
10. What new party was formed in 1848 when neither
presidential candidate would take a stand on slavery?

Free-Soil Party
11. Why did the possibility of California, New
Mexico, Oregon, and Utah becoming states cause
tension in the Senate?
 These states would probably enter as free states,
which would upset the balance of power in the
Senate between free and slave states in favor of
free states.
12. What law that Southerners favored was part of
Henry Clay’s five-part plan to settle the issues
dividing Congress?

Fugitive Slave Act
13. Who opened the debate in Congress over Clay’s
proposal?
 Senators : Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and
Daniel Webster
14. How long did the debate last?
 Seven months
15. Which young senator from Illinois finally
resolved the crisis?
 Stephen Douglas
16. What name was given to the laws passed in
Congress that contained the five main points of
Clay’s original plan?
 Compromise of 1850
CHAPTER 15 SECTION 2
I. The Fugitive Slave Act
A. What did the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 require?
 All citizens to help catch runaways
B. What did free African Americans and whites who
opposed slavery set up to help runaways escape?
 Underground Railroad
C. Biography Who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
 Harriet Beecher Stowe
D. Biography What did Uncle Tom’s Cabin show about
slavery?
 That it was a brutal, and cruel system
II. THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT
A. Why did Stephen Douglas propose organizing the region
west of Missouri and Iowa as the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska?
 To encourage settlement in the West and open the way for
the transcontinental railroad
B. What led Douglas to propose abandoning the Missouri
Compromise?
 He knew that Southerners would object to having Kansas
and Nebraska admitted as free states
C. What did Douglas call letting settlers in a territory vote on
whether to allow slavery?
 Popular sovereignty
D. When did Congress pass the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
 May 1854
III. CONFLICT IN KANSAS
A. What happened in Kansas in the elections of 1855?
 A proslavery legislature was elected
B. Who were the border ruffians?
 thousands of armed proslavery supporters from
Missouri who crossed the border to vote in the Kansas
election
C. What did antislavery people do in response to the
proslavery laws passed by the new Kansas
legislature?
 They armed themselves, held their own elections, and
adopted a constitution that banned slavery.
D. What conflicting positions did Congress take
concerning the rival governments in Kansas?
 The president and Senate favored the proslavery
government; the House backed the forces opposed to
slavery.
E. Who led an attack on Pottawatomie Creek to
retaliate for the attack on Lawrence?
 John Brown
F. What incident, along with the fighting in “Bleeding
Kansas,” revealed the level of hostility between the
North and the South?
 the Brooks-Sumner incident, in which Preston
Brooks, a House representative, repeatedly struck
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts over the
head with a cane
CHAPTER 15 SECTION 3
1. Who joined forces to form the Republican Party in
1854?
 Anti-slavery Whigs
 Democrats
 Free-Soilers
2. What was the main message of Republican
candidates in the elections of 1854?
 The government should ban slavery from the new
territories
3. What did the results of the elections reveal about the
Democratic Party?
 It was increasingly becoming a Southern Party
4. Whom did each party nominate in the presidential
election of 1856?
a) Republican:

John C. Fremont
b) Democratic:

James Buchannan
c) American:

Mildred Fillmore
5. Who won the election?
 Buchannan
6. What African American sued for his freedom in
1846?
 Dred Scott
7. How did Chief Justice Roger B. Taney apply the Fifth
Amendment in his ruling of the case?
 He said an enslaved person is property, and the Fifth
Amendment prohibits Congress from taking away property
without “due process of law.”
8. What did Republicans promise if they won the presidency in
1860?
 To change the Supreme Court and reverse the decision
9. Where was the Senate race that pitted Democrat Stephen
A. Douglas against Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1858?
 Illinois
10. How did Douglas believe the issue of slavery could be
resolved?
 Through popular sovereignty
11. Why was Lincoln opposed to slavery?
 He believe it was morally wrong
12. Eyewitness to History What was the main topic of the
seven debates between Lincoln and Douglas?
 Slavery
13. Who said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”?
 Lincoln
14. How did Lincoln gain support as a presidential candidate
after losing to Douglas?
 He campaigned for other Republican candidates
15. When and where did abolitionist John Brown lead 18 men
on a raid to seize a federal arsenal?
 October 16, 1859; Harpers Ferry, Virginia
16. What happened to Brown after the raid?
 He was captured, found guilty, and sentenced to hang
CHAPTER 15 SECTION 4
I. The Election of 1860
A. At the Democratic convention in April 1860,
Southern delegates insisted that the party
promise to protect slavery. When Stephen A.
Douglas and most Northern delegates refused,
many Southern delegates walked out.
B. At a second convention, party loyalists chose
Douglas as their candidate and endorsed popular
sovereignty.
C. Southern Democrats chose Breckenridge as
their candidate while the Republicans chose
Lincoln.
II. THE SOUTH SECEDES
A. On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina voted to secede.
B. As other Southern states debated secession, Senator
John Crittenden proposed a plan to protect slavery in
territories south 36°30 N latitude.
C. By February 1, 1861, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, Florida, and Georgia had also seceded.
D. The seceded states called themselves the
Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson
Davis as their president.
E. Southerners justified secession with the theory of
states’ rights.
F. In his Inaugural Address Abraham Lincoln said that
secession would not be permitted, vowing to hold
federal property in the South and to enforce the
nation’s laws.
III. FORT SUMTER
A. Confederate troops demanded the surrender of Fort
Sumter, a United States fort on an island near
Charleston Harbor. In response, Lincoln sent an
unarmed expedition with much-needed supplies to the
fort.
B. Lincoln left the decision to start shooting up to the
Confederacy.
C. On April 12, 1861, Confederate guns opened fire on
the fort. The Union garrison held out for 33 hours
before surrendering.
D. Following the attack, President Lincoln issued a call
for 75,000 troops to fight to save the Union. Meanwhile
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas ;
voted to join the Confederacy. The Civil War had
begun.