AQA A-level History · 2J

America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877

50 exam-style questions with answers for 2J America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877 in AQA A-level History (spec 7042). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Spec 2J, Part one
Define the term ‘states’ rights’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The belief that states held powers the federal government could not override.
Question 2 · Spec 2J, Part one
State two features of the Northern economy c1845. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: industry and manufacturing (1); free labour (1); rapid immigration (1); railways and cities (1).
Question 3 · Spec 2J, Part one
State two features of the Southern economy c1845. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: cotton plantations (1); reliance on enslaved labour (1); few cities or factories (1); exports to Britain (1).
Question 4 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was the Nullification Crisis (1832–1833)? [1 mark]
Answer:
South Carolina claimed the right to nullify federal tariffs, which Jackson resisted.
Question 5 · Spec 2J, Part one
Why did Texas annexation (1845) increase sectional tension? [1 mark]
Answer:
It added a large slave state, which Northerners saw as expanding slave power.
Question 6 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was the Mexican-American War (1846–1848)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A war in which the USA gained California and the Southwest, raising the question of slavery there.
Question 7 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was the Wilmot Proviso (1846)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A proposal to ban slavery in land gained from Mexico; it passed the House but not the Senate.
Question 8 · Spec 2J, Part one
State two terms of the Compromise of 1850. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: California admitted as a free state (1); a stronger Fugitive Slave Act (1); popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico (1); the slave trade banned in Washington DC (1).
Question 9 · Spec 2J, Part one
Who was Henry Clay? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Kentucky senator, ‘the Great Compromiser’, who proposed the 1850 Compromise.
Question 10 · Spec 2J, Part one
Who was Stephen Douglas? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Illinois Democrat who championed popular sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Question 11 · Spec 2J, Part one
Define the term ‘popular sovereignty’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Letting settlers in a territory vote on whether to allow slavery.
Question 12 · Spec 2J, Part one
Why did the Fugitive Slave Act (1850) anger Northerners? [1 mark]
Answer:
It forced Northern officials and citizens to help return escaped enslaved people.
Question 13 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, which turned many Northerners against slavery.
Question 14 · Spec 2J, Part one
Who was William Seward? [1 mark]
Answer:
A New York Republican who spoke of a ‘higher law’ than the Constitution against slavery.
Question 15 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was ‘Bleeding Kansas’? [1 mark]
Answer:
Violence between pro- and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas after 1854.
Question 16 · Spec 2J, Part one
Why was the Republican Party founded in 1854? [1 mark]
Answer:
To oppose the spread of slavery into the territories after the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Question 17 · Spec 2J, Part one
What did the Dred Scott decision (1857) rule? [2 marks]
Answer:
That Black people were not citizens (1); that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories (1).
Question 18 · Spec 2J, Part one
What were the Lincoln-Douglas debates (1858)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Debates in the Illinois Senate race that made Lincoln a national figure.
Question 19 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was the Freeport Doctrine? [1 mark]
Answer:
Douglas’s argument that territories could exclude slavery by not passing laws to protect it.
Question 20 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was John Brown’s raid (1859)? [1 mark]
Answer:
An attack on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry to start a slave revolt.
Question 21 · Spec 2J, Part one
Why did the Democratic Party split in 1860? [1 mark]
Answer:
Northern and Southern Democrats disagreed over protecting slavery in the territories.
Question 22 · Spec 2J, Part one
Which state seceded first? [1 mark]
Answer:
South Carolina, in December 1860.
Question 23 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was the Crittenden Compromise? [1 mark]
Answer:
A failed proposal to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific.
Question 24 · Spec 2J, Part one
Where did the Civil War begin? [1 mark]
Answer:
At Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861.
Question 25 · Spec 2J, Part one
What was the Gadsden Purchase (1853)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Land bought from Mexico for a southern railway route.
Question 26 · Spec 2J, Part one
Who was Jefferson Davis before the war? [1 mark]
Answer:
A Mississippi senator and leading defender of slavery and Southern rights.
Question 27 · Spec 2J, Part two
State two strengths of the Confederacy. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: fighting a defensive war (1); skilled generals, eg Lee (1); motivated soldiers (1); a long coastline (1).
Question 28 · Spec 2J, Part two
State two strengths of the Union. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: larger population (1); industry (1); railways (1); the navy (1); Lincoln’s leadership (1).
Question 29 · Spec 2J, Part two
What was the Anaconda Plan? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Union strategy to blockade the South and control the Mississippi.
Question 30 · Spec 2J, Part two
What happened at Antietam (1862)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Lee’s invasion of the North was stopped, giving Lincoln the chance to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Question 31 · Spec 2J, Part two
What did the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) do? [1 mark]
Answer:
It declared enslaved people in rebel areas free from 1 January 1863.
Question 32 · Spec 2J, Part two
What happened at Gettysburg (1863)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Union defeated Lee’s second invasion of the North.
Question 33 · Spec 2J, Part two
What happened at Vicksburg (1863)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Grant’s capture gave the Union control of the Mississippi.
Question 34 · Spec 2J, Part two
What was Sherman’s March to the Sea (1864)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A destructive campaign through Georgia that broke Southern morale and resources.
Question 35 · Spec 2J, Part two
When did Lee surrender? [1 mark]
Answer:
April 1865, at Appomattox.
Question 36 · Spec 2J, Part two
Approximately how many soldiers died in the Civil War? [1 mark]
Answer:
About 620,000 to 750,000.
Question 37 · Spec 2J, Part two
What was Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan? [1 mark]
Answer:
A state could rejoin the Union when 10% of voters swore loyalty.
Question 38 · Spec 2J, Part two
What was the Freedmen’s Bureau? [1 mark]
Answer:
A federal agency set up in 1865 to help formerly enslaved people with education, food and work.
Question 39 · Spec 2J, Part two
What did the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) do? [1 mark]
Answer:
It gave citizenship and equal protection of the law to all born in the USA.
Question 40 · Spec 2J, Part two
Who was Thaddeus Stevens? [1 mark]
Answer:
A leading Radical Republican in Congress.
Question 41 · Spec 2J, Part two
Why did Andrew Johnson clash with Congress? [2 marks]
Answer:
He vetoed civil rights and Freedmen’s Bureau bills (1); he allowed Southern states to pass Black Codes (1).
Question 42 · Spec 2J, Part two
What were the Reconstruction Acts (1867)? [1 mark]
Answer:
They divided the South into military districts and required new constitutions with Black male suffrage.
Question 43 · Spec 2J, Part two
What did the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) do? [1 mark]
Answer:
It banned denial of the vote on grounds of race.
Question 44 · Spec 2J, Part two
Who were the Redeemers? [1 mark]
Answer:
Southern white Democrats who regained power and ended Reconstruction.
Question 45 · Spec 2J, Part two
What were the Enforcement Acts (1870–1871)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Laws to protect Black voters and suppress the Ku Klux Klan.
Question 46 · Spec 2J, Part two
What was the Compromise of 1877? [1 mark]
Answer:
Hayes became President and federal troops left the South.
Question 47 · Spec 2J, Part two
Define the term ‘scalawag’. [1 mark]
Answer:
A white Southerner who supported Reconstruction.
Question 48 · Spec 2J, Part two
State two ways African Americans’ position was limited by 1877. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: sharecropping and debt (1); violence and intimidation (1); loss of political power (1); segregation (1).
Question 49 · Spec 2J, Part two
What were the New York draft riots (1863)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Violent protests against conscription, including attacks on Black residents.
Question 50 · Spec 2J, Part two
What was the Thirteenth Amendment (1865)? [1 mark]
Answer:
It abolished slavery throughout the United States.

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America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877

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