Lesson 2J.1.1

2J.1.1 Origins of the American Civil War, c1845–1861 Quiz: AQA History, Unit 20

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 2J.1.1, Origins of the American Civil War, c1845–1861: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA History (7042), Unit 20: 2J America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which 1820 compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and banned slavery north of latitude 36 30' in the Louisiana Purchase?

    • The Kansas-Nebraska Act
    • The Missouri Compromise
    • The Wilmot Proviso
    • The Compromise of 1850

  2. Which 1832-33 crisis involved South Carolina's attempt to block federal tariffs within its borders?

    • The Bleeding Kansas conflict
    • The Nullification Crisis
    • The Harper's Ferry raid
    • The Dred Scott case

  3. What was the Wilmot Proviso of 1846?

    • A treaty ending the war with Mexico and annexing Texas
    • A plan to give the territories the right to decide on slavery by vote
    • A proposal to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico
    • A law requiring Northern states to return fugitive slaves

  4. Which 1850 compromise included the Fugitive Slave Act and the admission of California as a free state?

    • The Compromise of 1877
    • The Kansas-Nebraska Act
    • The Compromise of 1850
    • The Missouri Compromise

  5. Who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, the novel published in 1852 that increased opposition to slavery in the North?

    • Stephen Douglas
    • Harriet Beecher Stowe
    • Henry Clay
    • Frederick Douglass

  6. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allow?

    • The creation of a national bank in the territories
    • Congress to ban slavery in all federal territories
    • Settlers in the new territories to decide on slavery by popular sovereignty
    • The annexation of Cuba as a slave state

  7. Which party was formed in 1854 in opposition to the extension of slavery into the territories?

    • The Know-Nothing Party
    • The Republican Party
    • The Populist Party
    • The Whig Party

  8. What did the Dred Scott decision of 1857 rule?

    • That enslaved people could sue for freedom in federal courts if they lived in free states
    • That Congress could ban slavery in any territory of the United States
    • That Scott was a free man because he had lived in the free state of Illinois
    • That African Americans were not citizens and Congress could not ban slavery in the territories

  9. Which 1858 debates between a Republican and a Democrat in Illinois made the slavery question a national issue?

    • The Webster-Hayne debates
    • The Clay-Calhoun debates
    • The Adams-Jackson debates
    • The Lincoln-Douglas debates

  10. Which abolitionist led an armed raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry in October 1859?

    • John Brown
    • Wendell Phillips
    • Frederick Douglass
    • William Lloyd Garrison

  11. Which state was the first to secede from the Union after Lincoln's election in November 1860?

    • Mississippi
    • South Carolina
    • Georgia
    • Virginia

  12. Which city was the first capital of the Confederate States of America in 1861?

    • Montgomery
    • Atlanta
    • Richmond
    • New Orleans

  13. Which federal fort in Charleston harbour was attacked by Confederate forces in April 1861, starting the Civil War?

    • Fort Henry
    • Fort Pickens
    • Fort Monroe
    • Fort Sumter

  14. Which Democratic senator from Illinois supported popular sovereignty as a way to settle the slavery question in the territories?

    • Henry Clay
    • Jefferson Davis
    • Zachary Taylor
    • Stephen Douglas

  15. What was 'Bleeding Kansas' in the years 1854 to 1856?

    • A Native American uprising against the Kansas-Nebraska Act
    • A famine that killed thousands of settlers on the Great Plains
    • Violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers over the territory's future
    • A military campaign led by Zachary Taylor against the Mexican Republic

  16. Which Republican politician gave the speech in 1858 declaring that a 'house divided against itself cannot stand'?

    • William Seward
    • Abraham Lincoln
    • John Brown
    • Salmon Chase

  17. Which best explains why the Compromise of 1850 failed to end sectional conflict?

    • The Fugitive Slave Act angered Northerners, while Southerners saw California's admission as a loss of power in the Senate
    • The Compromise was never passed by Congress and had no effect at all
    • The Compromise was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1851 as unconstitutional
    • The Compromise gave the South full control of the western territories

  18. Which best evaluates the role of Manifest Destiny in the origins of the Civil War?

    • It had no effect on sectional politics, since the territories were not settled by either section
    • It only affected Europe, and it had no connection with North American politics
    • It ended the debate over slavery by making all new land free from the start
    • It intensified conflict over whether slavery would expand into the new territories acquired from Mexico

  19. Which best explains the impact of the Dred Scott decision on the sectional crisis?

    • It inflamed Northern opposition and convinced many that the South was seeking to spread slavery nationwide
    • It confirmed Northern control of the Supreme Court and limited Southern power
    • It satisfied both sides and ended the dispute over slavery in the territories
    • It led to the immediate abolition of slavery in all states

  20. Which best explains why Southern states seceded after Lincoln's election in 1860?

    • Southern leaders believed that Lincoln's election threatened slavery and their political power in the Union
    • Lincoln had proposed to abolish slavery in the states where it already existed by law
    • The Northern states had voted to leave the Union in 1859 and the South followed
    • The South had won the war with Mexico, and so it had no reason to fear the North

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