Lincoln's central claim in this speech was that:

Answer: The slavery question would ultimately be resolved by becoming uniform across the nation Lincoln argued the nation could not indefinitely sustain its sectional division; slavery would either be put on the path to extinction or extended nationwide—a direct attack on Douglas's popular sovereignty.

Lincoln delivered this speech in immediate response to which event?

Answer: The Dred Scott decision and Kansas-Nebraska Act's apparent nationalization of slavery Lincoln argued that Dred Scott (1857) and Kansas-Nebraska (1854) were steps in a "design" to make slavery national, justifying his prediction that the divided house would resolve one way or the other.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852)

Answer: Powerfully depicted slavery's horrors and inflamed Northern anti-slavery sentiment Lincoln allegedly greeted Stowe as "the little woman who started this great war."

AP US History · Topic 5.6

Failure of Compromise Practice

Part of Period 5: 1844–1877.

Practice questions

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Sample questions

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Sample 1difficulty 3/5
$"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided." — Abraham Lincoln, House Divided Speech, June 1858$
$Lincoln's central claim in this speech was that:$
- A
  $The slavery question would ultimately be resolved by becoming uniform across the nation$
  check_circle
- B
  $The federal government should immediately abolish slavery in the South$
- C
  $Secession was a legitimate constitutional remedy for sectional disputes$
- D
  $Popular sovereignty would peacefully settle the territorial slavery question$
Why
$Lincoln argued the nation could not indefinitely sustain its sectional division; slavery would either be put on the path to extinction or extended nationwide—a direct attack on Douglas's popular sovereignty.$
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Sample 2difficulty 3/5
$"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided." — Abraham Lincoln, House Divided Speech, June 1858$
$Lincoln delivered this speech in immediate response to which event?$
- A
  $The firing on Fort Sumter and Confederate mobilization$
- B
  $John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry$
- C
  $Passage of the Thirteenth Amendment by Congress$
- D
  $The Dred Scott decision and Kansas-Nebraska Act's apparent nationalization of slavery$
  check_circle
Why
$Lincoln argued that Dred Scott (1857) and Kansas-Nebraska (1854) were steps in a "design" to make slavery national, justifying his prediction that the divided house would resolve one way or the other.$
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Sample 3difficulty 3/5
$Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852)$
- A
  $Defended slavery as a benevolent institution and rallied Southern support$
- B
  $Was banned everywhere in the United States by federal congressional decree$
- C
  $Powerfully depicted slavery's horrors and inflamed Northern anti-slavery sentiment$
  check_circle
- D
  $Had little public impact and was quickly forgotten after a small print run$
Why
$Lincoln allegedly greeted Stowe as "the little woman who started this great war."$
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Sample 4difficulty 3/5
$"That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Nebraska as elsewhere... it being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way." — Kansas-Nebraska Act, May 30, 1854$
$Which immediate consequence followed most directly from this act?$
- A
  $Violent conflict in Kansas between pro- and anti-slavery settlers$
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- B
  $The secession of South Carolina from the Union$
- C
  $Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation$
- D
  $The Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford$
Why
$The act precipitated "Bleeding Kansas" (1854-1859), as rival settlers raced to the territory to determine its status. Dred Scott (1857) came later; secession occurred in 1860-61; Emancipation came in 1862-63.$
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Sample 5difficulty 3/5
$"We think... that they [African Americans] are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States... the right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution." — Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857$
$Taney's ruling rests most heavily on which interpretive claim?$
- A
  $That the Tenth Amendment delegated all racial questions to the states$
- B
  $That the Northwest Ordinance settled the question of black citizenship$
- C
  $That the Declaration of Independence had legal force as constitutional text$
- D
  $That the framers regarded enslaved people as constitutionally protected property$
  check_circle
Why
$Taney argued the Constitution affirmed property rights in slaves (Fugitive Slave Clause, three-fifths clause) and that the framers never intended black citizenship. He explicitly rejected the Declaration's relevance to constitutional citizenship.$
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