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Quiz for Debating Abolition

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Choose the best answer to each question.

Question

1. Which of the following statements is consistent with William Lloyd Garrison’s powerful article in the Liberator (see Document 11.11)?

Those held in bondage must work tirelessly to break the institution of slavery in the South.

The Founding Fathers did not know that slavery would be legalized when they pledged their names to the U.S. Constitution.

From the founding of the nation to the time of the article, Americans who ignored the issue of slavery had blood on their hands.

Abolitionists should have waged a rebellion to overthrow the U.S. government, the body which is responsible for slavery.

Correct: The answer is c. Throughout his article, Garrison argues that the Founding Fathers created a morally bankrupt document thus allowing millions of humans to be held in bondage. Additionally, he asserts that every American who did not work for slavery’s abolition was culpable in the tortures wrought by the institution.

Incorrect: The answer is c. Throughout his article, Garrison argues that the Founding Fathers created a morally bankrupt document thus allowing millions of humans to be held in bondage. Additionally, he asserts that every American who did not work for slavery’s abolition was culpable in the tortures wrought by the institution.

Question

2. According to Stephen Symonds Foster (Document 11.12), who was included in the “brotherhood of thieves?”

Southern male slaveholders

American clergy

Abolitionists in word but not in action

Men who used their slaves as concubines and worked their children as slaves

Correct: The answer is b. Foster accused the clergy of American churches of thievery, adultery, piracy, and murder because they allowed slavery to continue unfettered in the United States.

Incorrect: The answer is b. Foster accused the clergy of American churches of thievery, adultery, piracy, and murder because they allowed slavery to continue unfettered in the United States.

Question

3. Based on William Lloyd Garrison's editorial (Document 11.11), Stephen Symonds Foster's speech (Document 11.12), and the official platform of the Liberty Party (Document 11.13), what was the central argument of these abolitionists?

The American government, church, and citizens were guilty of upholding the torturous institution of slavery.

Southern slaveholders were responsible for the abolition of slavery and the guarantee of property for the freed people.

The American church should have changed its message concerning the importance of abolition in every state.

Slavery should not have been able to spread to new states as the United States expanded.

Correct: The answer is a. The authors of these documents argued that silence in government, in the church, and in the populace amounted to complicity in the perpetuation of slavery.

Incorrect: The answer is a. The authors of these documents argued that silence in government, in the church, and in the populace amounted to complicity in the perpetuation of slavery.

Question

4. In Gerrit Smith’s address to the Liberty Party Convention (Document 11.14), he discusses the place of slavery in the Constitution. What argument is he making?

Only a few of the Founding Fathers supported slavery.

The Founding Fathers did not really consider slavery as they constructed the Constitution.

There was a vigorous debate regarding slavery as the Founding Fathers created the Constitution.

The Founding Fathers allowed for the abolition of slavery in the Constitution.

Correct: The answer is d. Smith argues forcefully that the framers of the Constitution purposely protected liberty and the eventual granting of liberty to all Americans.

Incorrect: The answer is d. Smith argues forcefully that the framers of the Constitution purposely protected liberty and the eventual granting of liberty to all Americans.

Question

5. According to Frederick Douglass (Document 11.15), the Founding Fathers did not seek to protect slavery. Rather than looking to the Constitution, where did Douglass suggest abolitionists begin their work to deconstruct the institution of slavery?

The western territories

American churches

Political and moral persuasion

The Free Soil Party

Correct: The answer is c. Douglass argued that every American should exercise “political as well as his moral power” to ensure slavery's demise.

Incorrect: The answer is c. Douglass argued that every American should exercise “political as well as his moral power” to ensure slavery's demise.