1. What was the concept of
Manifest Destiny? Was it a self-serving belief system or did it have a sincere
intent? What impact did this concept have on Native Americans? On
2. If you had been a member of
Congress in 1846, how would you have voted on the question of war with
3. Write a brief synopsis of
the causes, conduct, and results of the Mexican War from a Mexican point of
view.
4. Compare and contrast the
various proposals offered to deal with the issue of the expansion of slavery
into the territories. Was any permanent compromise possible? Analyze the
concept of “popular sovereignty” as a possible solution to this problem.
5. Evaluate the Compromise of
1850 as a solution to the problem of sectional differences. Why did it prove to
be only a temporary solution?
6. Why did the South perceive
the Wilmot Proviso to be such a threat? What does the proviso tell you about
the North’s attitude toward slavery? Was the real issue the abolition of
slavery, or was it something else? Examine the proviso, its implications, and
the southern response.
7. Why did most northerners
come to believe that slavery was dangerous because of what it did to whites (as
opposed to blacks)? How did this belief shape the northern attack on slavery?
How did southerners go about defending their institution? What are some
examples of the increasing inflexibility in the positions taken by both sides
of the slave issue?
8. What did both sides find in
the controversy over
9. Compare and contrast the
developments of the free-soil ideology in the North and the proslavery argument
of the South. Criticize both from the standpoint of (a) a moderate American;
(b) a European.
10. Trace the career of Senator
Stephen A. Douglas during the 1850s. Did
he do more to prevent or to cause the Civil War?
11. It has been argued that a
“blundering generation” of politicians brought on the Civil War. Do you agree?
Why or why not? In short, had the conflict between North and South
become “irrepressible” by 1860?
12. Adopt the point of view of a
northerner and a southerner and explain the events of the 1850s from your point
of view. Which event(s) did the most to increase your distrust of the other
section and why?