Quiz for Sources for America’s History, Part 5

Question

1. On what grounds did Elizabeth Cady Stanton argue in the “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments” (Document P5-1) that women had a claim to the legal and political rights of citizenship?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is b. By modeling the “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments” on the Declaration of Independence, Stanton challenged Americans’ current definitions of citizenship and the assumption that the United States was a democracy. She asserted that women were men’s full equals and that, as such, they were deserving of the same constitutional and political rights granted to American men.
Incorrect. The answer is b. By modeling the “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments” on the Declaration of Independence, Stanton challenged Americans’ current definitions of citizenship and the assumption that the United States was a democracy. She asserted that women were men’s full equals and that, as such, they were deserving of the same constitutional and political rights granted to American men.

Question

2. What does the 1850 California law, An Act for the Government and Protection of Indians (Document P5-2), reveal about how legislators in that state viewed the constitutional rights of the Native Americans living there?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is d. This 1850 California law made it clear that, although the white men of California would have the rights and protections of citizenship, these rights would not apply to the Native American population. The law demonstrated the race-bound nature of constitutional and political rights in the decade before the Civil War.
Incorrect. The answer is d. This 1850 California law made it clear that, although the white men of California would have the rights and protections of citizenship, these rights would not apply to the Native American population. The law demonstrated the race-bound nature of constitutional and political rights in the decade before the Civil War.

Question

3. In his book Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States (Document P5-3), what did Samuel B. Morse suggest about why the United States was particularly vulnerable to the “despotism” that he believed characterized the Roman Catholic Church?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is c. Morse claimed that Catholics posed a particular danger because the Catholic Church was a political institution operating under the cloak of religion. He claimed that the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom could make it impossible to prevent the Catholic Church from taking political control of American republican institutions.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Morse claimed that Catholics posed a particular danger because the Catholic Church was a political institution operating under the cloak of religion. He claimed that the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom could make it impossible to prevent the Catholic Church from taking political control of American republican institutions.

Question

4. In his 1850 speech at Cooper Union in New York City (Document P5-4), Abraham Lincoln said, “Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored—contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man.” Which of the following was one of the “contrivances” Lincoln referred to in this statement?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is a. When he referred to “sophistical contrivances” that “searched for some middle ground between right and wrong,” Lincoln was referring to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the concept of popular sovereignty, which established that the population of individual states could vote on whether or not to allow slavery in that state. Lincoln argued that laws like the Kansas-Nebraska Act violated the intentions of the founding fathers and, as such, were patently unconstitutional.
Incorrect. The answer is a. When he referred to “sophistical contrivances” that “searched for some middle ground between right and wrong,” Lincoln was referring to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the concept of popular sovereignty, which established that the population of individual states could vote on whether or not to allow slavery in that state. Lincoln argued that laws like the Kansas-Nebraska Act violated the intentions of the founding fathers and, as such, were patently unconstitutional.

Question

5. According to Alexander Stephens’s “‘Cornerstone’ Speech” (Document P5-5), what was the greatest flaw of the U.S. Constitution?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is d. According to Stephens, the major problem with the U.S. Constitution was its fundamental assumption that all men had natural rights. He believed that the founding fathers had been morally wrong on this question and that the Confederate Constitution improved on it by encoding a provision about the natural inferiority and subordination of African Americans.
Incorrect. The answer is d. According to Stephens, the major problem with the U.S. Constitution was its fundamental assumption that all men had natural rights. He believed that the founding fathers had been morally wrong on this question and that the Confederate Constitution improved on it by encoding a provision about the natural inferiority and subordination of African Americans.

Question

6. How did southern states alter their laws to respond to the rhetoric employed by politicians like Rev. Henry McNeal Turner (Document P5-6) during the Reconstruction era?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is d. White southerners used violence to intimidate black voters in the 1860s and 1870s and, by the end of the nineteenth century, instituted new state laws that essentially denied voting rights to African Americans.
Incorrect. The answer is d. White southerners used violence to intimidate black voters in the 1860s and 1870s and, by the end of the nineteenth century, instituted new state laws that essentially denied voting rights to African Americans.

Question

7. Taken together, this set of documents provides evidence to support which of the following conclusions about politics in the period between the Mexican War and the end of Reconstruction?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is c. This set of documents shows how Americans addressed questions about who could claim the rights and protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Some groups, like women and African Americans, argued that they were fundamentally entitled to those rights. Other groups, like nativists and Confederates, enacted laws that were intended to encode narrow definitions of citizenship and rights that excluded Catholics, Native Americans, and African Americans.
Incorrect. The answer is c. This set of documents shows how Americans addressed questions about who could claim the rights and protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Some groups, like women and African Americans, argued that they were fundamentally entitled to those rights. Other groups, like nativists and Confederates, enacted laws that were intended to encode narrow definitions of citizenship and rights that excluded Catholics, Native Americans, and African Americans.