exam 2 chapter 15 quiz

During the 1850s, the existing two-party political system dating back to the 1820s began to break down as first the Whigs and then the Democrats began to break apart as functioning national parties. Why was that?

Politicians more and more identified more with their section and its stance on slavery versus the party's position nationally.

For the longest time, the city of New Orleans was the most important city for the Western states. By the 1850s though, the Mid-Western states were becoming less focused and economically reliant upon New Orleans because of what technology?

Railroads

In the mid-1850s a new political party arose that was a completely sectional party, in other words their entire strength was found in just one section of the U.S., and was a strongly anti-slavery party who opposed any and all expansion of slavery into the western territories of the U.S. like Kansas. What was the name of that party?

Republican

As a result of railroad construction, what emerging Mid-Western city was becoming that regions economic hub?

Chicago

As a result of the California Gold Rush, large numbers of non-Americans headed to the gold fields of California. From east Asia came quite a number of immigrants. From what country did most of these East Asian immigrants come from?

China

This man refined the already existing mechanical reaper so that it could harvest 14 times more wheat than the more conventional reaper of that time.

Cyrus McCormick

As the Mid-West increasingly was focused on East-West trade versus North-South trade, what did it do to old political alliances?

The Mid-Western states became less inclined to politically ally themselves to the South.

Why was John Brown's Raid so important?

The North's sympathetic reaction to Brown's actions convinced many southerners that leaving the union was perhaps the right choice.

During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Stephen Douglas argued that despite the Dred Scott Decision (which stated that the Federal Government could not forbid slavery in a territory), the people of a territory could in effect deny slavery by simply refusing to pass a slave code to protect slavery within its borders. This became known as the Freeport Doctrine. What sort of attitude did the South have to Mr. Douglas' argument?

They hated it.

As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Whig Party collapsed. From the ashes a new party briefly emerged known as the American Party, but frequently referred to as the Know-Nothings. What was the central tenant of that party?

They were a nativist party that opposed the flood of immigrants that had occurred starting in the mid-1840s.

The famous Lincoln-Douglas debates were between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. The two men were running for what office in the state of Illinois?

U.S. Senator

As a result of vast railroad construction, farmers in norther states that lived reasonably close to railroad lines

increasingly converted to commerical farming.

While by the 1850s cotton was still the major export commodity of the U.S., increasingly the driving force for the U.S. economy was more and more the result of

railroad construction

In what year of the 1840s did much of Europe experience a series of liberal uprisings?

1848

In the election of 1860, southern Democrats nominated whom as their presidential candidate?

John C. Breckinridge

In 1837, this man invented a sharp-cutting plow that easily sliced through the tough Mid-Western sod without soil sticking to the blade.

John Deere

John Brown and his sons murdered a number of pro-slavery men in 1856 in retaliation for the sacking of what Kansas town by pro-slavery forces?

Lawrence

Examining Map 15.1, which region of the country was not investing in railroad construction?

South

Following the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860, the Deep South states began seceding over their unwillingness to accept the legitimate democratic election of Lincoln and their fears of a Republican president. Which state first seceded?

South Carolina

Author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and known in the newspapers as the "Little Giant."

Stephen Douglas