American History Homework Five Answers - Student Sixteen

1. Imagine that someone by the name of Joe Biden lived in 1858. Imagine also that he belonged to the "Know Nothing Party." The following would be true about Mr. Biden EXCEPT:

(b) He welcomed immigrants into the United States.

2. Identify at least two key positions of the Whig Party.

The Whig Party was in favor of tariffs to promote domestic manufacturing, and it was also in favor of a national bank.

3. What caused and what ended the Mexican War?

The Mexican War was a result of the Manifest Destiny sentiment in America (the belief of many Americans that it was God’s will for the nation to expand), and the sequential border dispute between the US and Mexico. It is uncertain to this day which nation actually instigated the violence.

The war ended when the US army took over Mexico City, and the chief clerk of the Department of State, Nicholas Trist, came to negotiate the peace terms. Trist was a true peacemaker and displeased the president with his rather generous terms. Still, he did successfully end the war.

4. Who do you think was the most important person in the period 1840-1860, and why?

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852. This novel stirred up the anti-slavery sentiment and was a bestselling book in both the United States and Europe. The effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin demonstrated the truth of the idiom “The pen is mightier than the sword”. The book was so powerful that it was banned in the Southern states. Force surely won the Civil War, but the ideals that this book inspired were what made this war a victory in the true sense of the word. Abraham Lincoln described Harriet Beecher Stowe as, “The little woman who started this great war.”

5. Explain what "Bleeding Kansas" was.

Bleeding Kansas refers a time of violence in Kansas right before it received its statehood. The violence was the result of the recently passed Kansas-Nebraska Act which established “popular sovereignty” (the right of a potential state to decide by popular vote whether it would be a slave state or a free state). Bleeding Kansas consisted of a string of random acts of violence on the part of both sides of the issues of slavery and was essentially a preamble to the Civil War.

6. Explain the cartoon, and what you think the cartoonist's view was. The woman's quote begins, "You have been a bad boy, Steve, ever since you had anything to do with that Nebraska Bill ...."

The woman represents America, and the man receiving the beating represents Stephen Douglas. This cartoon was drawn in reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill that Stephen Douglas pushed through the Senate. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill established that a new state entering the Union would decide by popular vote whether it would be a slave state or a free state. Stephen Douglas hoped to ease tension in the Union with this bill, but instead heightened it. This cartoon illustrates that his plan turned backwards on him. The cartoonist was probably a Republican (note that the Republican Party was established by those in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill).

7. Do you think it was possible to avoid the Civil War? Explain. No. The country was divided effectively in half by the debate over slavery. It would be impossible for a country so evenly split over such an emotional issue to long exist without the outbreak of a civil war. The South’s entire economy was threatened by the possibly of the abolition of slavery and the North felt strongly that slavery was morally wrong. There was no simple political resolution. Certainly civil war could have been held off for longer if we had made some smarted political moves, but it would have been impossible to avoid in the long run. Abraham Lincoln said it best when he quoted the Bible saying, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”.

As a side note it would have been possible to avoid the Civil War if the North had allowed the South to secede peacefully. This, however, would have been extremely unlikely.