STEP 3: PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

CHAPTER 14 STUDY GUIDE

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER Now, take a step back and try to explain the big picture. Remember to use specific examples from the chapter in your answers.
EXPANSION AND SECTIONALISM

  • Why was the Wilmot Proviso so controversial? What did the response to the proviso reveal about the diverging visions of America in the North and in the South?

  • Why was the expansion of slavery not only a moral issue for abolitionists but also an economic concern to both Northerners and Southerners?

 POLITICAL INSTABILITY

  • Why did the Compromise of 1850 ultimately fail?

  • What were the consequences of the events of the 1840s and 1850s for America’s political parties? How did the party system change under the pressure of the sectional divide?
THE ROAD TO SECESSION

  • If most Northerners and Southerners wanted to avoid war, why did war come?

  • Why did so many Southerners see the election of Abraham Lincoln as a threat to their way of life? Why did more than half of the southern electorate vote for pro-Union candidates?

 LOOKING BACKWARD, LOOKING AHEAD

  • Why, in the early nineteenth century, was compromise on the issue of slavery possible? Why did so many reject compromise in the 1840s and 1850s?

  • What consequences might Southerners have imagined would follow from secession? What might have led them to underestimate Lincoln’s determination to fight for the Union?

Understanding the American Promise 3ePrinted Page 403