The Road to War and Sectionalism
The 1850’s
By Danielle Bogen
The Growing Destruction of the Union
In response to the growing crisis present in the Union, Abraham Lincoln responded with
his famous quote, “ A house divided against itself cannot stand." Although this quote will later
prove correct, there was a time when the belief of the possibility of compromise still existed.
Even with the promise of resolve between the bickering North and South, the Compromise of
1850 was later tossed aside as being the buffer to prevent war. The caning of Senator Summer
by Preston Brooks showed the lasting aggression between the issues of slavery and the further
inability for compromise. Violence on the senate floor and the emergence of the Republican
Party were only a few of the events which would continue to drive America in opposing directions
and to the common path of inner conflict. Attempts to end the divide included ideas as seemingly
radical as popular sovereignty which ended drastically for the people of Nebraska and Kansas.
Other attempts included with the issues arising from the war with Mexico, such as the Free Soil
Movement and the Wilmot Proviso. All attempts only succeed in quickening the storm of war and
for creating more distrust and aggregation between the South and North.
Key terms
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Gadsden Purchase (1853)
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○
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Ostend Manifesto (1854)
Crittenden Plan
Free Soil FreePort Doctrine
Nebraska­Kansas Act (1854) John Brown
Fugitive Slave Act (1854)
North South
DBQ
Henry Clay once said “I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any
allegiance.” indicating his belief in compromise with the North and South. Even with the attempt
to compromise many of the ideas used to form better relations between the North and South
remained useless and only drove the country closer to civil war. Analyze this statement and
refute or agree with the view towards the Sectionalism Era with the use of the following
documents.
Document A
Document B
Document C
Document D
Multiple Choice
1. During the sectional crisis, the South favored which comprise the most?
A. Wilmot Proviso
B. Compromise of 1850
C. Missouri Compromise
D. Know Nothing Act
2. “Bleeding Summer” and “Bleeding Kansas” were both instances which...
A. The North supported the South’s decision
B. Showed the growing appeal of Popular Sovereignty for those who felt helpless in decision making
C. Acts of violence from the South which further enticed the North into civil war
D. Proved the failure of compromise from both North and South
3. The man who ruled the decision in the Supreme Court during the Dred Scott Case was..
A. Stephen Douglas
B. Henry Alexander
C. Roger B. Taney
D. Hinton Rowan Helper
4. The Know­Nothing Party believed which idea about immigration
A. That the influx of Irish and German immigrants would improve the overall conditions
B.Segregate the immigrates from the rest of the population was necessary in preserving the purity of the nation
C.Allowing immigrants further rights to vote would benefit the Souths idea
D.Immigrant voters were stealing the American election
5. Stephen Douglas’s Freeport Doctrine stated which idea about the slavery issue
A. Slavery would only exist if there existed a slave code, without one slavery could not exist
B. Allowing popular sovereignty for states would allow the people to decide the if a state had slavery
C. Slavery can only exist if the slave population is less than half the free population
D. The president should be given the complete authority over which areas are slave states
6. Allow but the following occurred at the Lecompton Constitution
A. Anti­slavery voters boycotted the constitution due to the fraudulent behavior
B. Kansas wished to be admitted into the union as a slave state.
C. Pro slavery won complete control even though under normal conditions it would be voted down
D. The federal government stepped in to declare such actions unconstitutional
Answer key
Definitions
○ Gadsden Purchase (1853)
An area of land taken from Mexico after the Negotiations of 1853 creating more tension over slavery and further
ignited the cause for war.
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Fugitive Slave Act (1854)
Allowed for slaves who escaped north to be captured and returned back to their masters and disobeyed the
protection of Northerns
○ Ostend Manifesto (1854)
Explained that Cuba should be seized from Spain if they refused to sell the land. Southerners feared it
would become a black ruled state and agreed with the manifesto
○ Crittenden Plan
Consisted of six additional amendments to the constitution and allowed for all current slave states to
remain slave states and reestablishing the demarcation line.
○ Free Soil Party
A minor party which opposed the expansion of slavery, supported internal improvements, and supported
moderate tariffs for revenue
○ FreePort Doctrine
Explained that slavery could only exist in a state which help as slave code protecting slavery, states
without one would remain a free state.
○ Nebraska­Kansas Act (1854)
Repealed the Missouri compromise and allowed for popular sovereignty among the residents of the
area.
○ John Brown
A radical abolitionist who devised a plan to attack Harpers Ferry Virginia in opposed to slavery.
Although captured and sentenced to death, slave owners remained terrified of possible slave uprisings
DBQ sample response for intro and thesis
Although compromise has often been powerful enough to end conflicts, compromise was
not powerful enough to fix a damaged union. People on both the North and South part of the
country worked diligently to sew back the unraveling fabric of the union, still their attempts were
fruitless in providing the necessary arrangements to support the dividing country. The above
statements remain true in that the compromises only succeeded in quickening the pace civil war
due to the failure of compromises to appease both sides.
When attempting to write the following DBQ one must first, after reading the documents,
decide on a side they wish to agree with. Naturally, agreeing with the following statement would
be the safest and simplest approach as the majority of compromises did not succeed. If one
was to oppose the statement more outside information would be needed to prove the possible
success of the Compromises. Greater information on the Compromise of 1850 could be used to
explain that it was successful in appealing the South. However such arguments might be
weakened by the fact the Compromise failed to appeal to the North. If one is going to agree with
the statement it is best to include information that further proves the failure of the compromise.
For instances when explaining the document on the Kansas­Nebraska Act, Include information
and the document relating to Bleeding Kansas to further drive home your point. It might help to
group the documents into chronological order to show the increase of tension or groups which
favored the North over the South and visa versa.
Multiple Choice Answers
1.B
2.D
3.C
4.D
5.A
6.D
Good Websites for further study:
­chnm.gmu.edu/lostmuseum/searchlm.php?function...crisis...crisis
­http://www.apstudynotes.org/us­history/topics/decade­of­crisis/