American Studies/Seemueller: Slavery and Civil War Test Study Guide
Be prepared to respond to multiple choice and true/false questions on the following:
What was the triangle trade?
What were the major destinations of slaves from Africa (roughly how many, where)?
In early America, why were there fewer slaves in the North than in the South?
What were financial incentives for slavery in the South (products, share of global market)
Demographics of slavery (% of whites who had slaves, who had more than 100)
What did the Constitution say about slavery (4 things)?
What did Nat Turner do and why was it significant?
Slave revolt in Haiti – What happened and when?
Loose packers v. tight packers
What was the view in the early U.S. of what made the ideal citizen?
How did the possibility of freeing the slaves relate to this ideal?
How did Revolutionary War affect attitudes toward slavery?
What was the Missouri Compromise and when was it reached?
What were William Lloyd Garrison's arguments regarding slavery?
What was the role of women in the Abolitionist movement and the reaction to their role?
What were the ideas and fate of the American Colonization Society?
Factors leading to the growth of Abolitionism
Frederick Douglass, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
How did the Mexican-American War affect the slavery debate?
What did supporters of "popular sovereignty" advocate?
What was the Compromise of 1850?
What was the Fugitive Slave Act and what was the reaction to it in the North?
What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act and when was it passed?
What happened in Kansas to further raise tensions between North and South?
What did the "free soil" movement in the North believe about slavery and the South?
Why did support for slavery in the South grow stronger after 1830?
Why did Southern apologists for slavery argue that slavery was good?
Why did they say the southern way of life was better than life in the North?
Why did Dred Scott go to court and how did the Supreme Court rule?
How did the Dred Scott case affect the Missouri Compromise? Why was that important?
What positions did Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln take on slavery in the 1858 Illinois Senate race?
What did Lincoln say in his famous “House Divided” speech?
What did John Brown do in Kansas?
What was Brown's plan when he raided Harper's Ferry in 1859?
What happened in John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and how did the South react?
What was true of the election of 1860, what was the outcome, and what was the response in the South?
Where was population growing fastest? Why (immigration)?
Distribution of African American population in free and slave states.
What was true of the increase in manufacturing and railroads?
What was true of urbanization between 1820-60?
What was true about industrialization from 1800-1860?
Social characteristics of South and North (according to McPherson)
Attitudes toward and comparative statistics on education
How many free whites were there in slave states and free states in 1860?
How many slaves were there in the South in 1860?
Which slave states remained in the Union?
Know the 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America and the border states
What were the major advantages that the South had in the war (including psychological)?
What were the major advantages that the North had (including psychological)?
Facts regarding armies during the war
What happened at Fort Sumter and how did it lead to war?
What happened in the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas in July, 1861?
What was Lee trying to accomplish in the Battle of Antietam? What was the outcome? What did it allow
Lincoln to do?
What was the Emancipation Proclamation? What did it do and what didn't it do? What was its significance?
What are the statistics regarding African Americans serving in the Union army?
What did General George McClellan accomplish? Why was Lincoln so frustrated with him?
What role did General Ulysses S. Grant play during the Civil War? What were his strengths?
What role did General Robert E. Lee play during the war? His strengths? Biggest mistake?
What happened at the Battle of Gettysburg? How many casualties were there? What happened during
Pickett's charge? Why was it significant?
What happened at the Battle of Vicksburg? Why was it significant?
What did Lincoln say in his Gettysburg address? Why does Garry Wills argue it redefined the nation?
How did the election of 1864 develop (who was running)? What saved it for Lincoln?
What was the total number of soldiers who served and the total number killed?
From the "Reconstruction" Lecture (this week):
What were the major stages in the North's administration of the South after the war?
Be able to identify what the black codes were
What were the conditions of Presidential Reconstruction
What were the conditions of Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction
Who were the Carpetbaggers and Scalawags and what was their goal?
When and why did Reconstruction end and what was the result?
Know the 3 Amendments that were made to the Constitution as a result of the war and Reconstruction