African American History

1. Dred Scott sued his enslaver claiming he was a citizen. Which of the following describes his reasoning for his claim?
A. The Missouri Compromise did not allow slavery north of southern Missouri. While he was living in territories north of Missouri he was a free man, and therefore a citizen.
B. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed for popular sovereignty to decide whether slavery would reach Kansas or Nebraska. He would have voted against slavery.
C. The Wilmot Proviso required that any lands captured in the Mexican War become free states and he lived on those lands. Therefore, he was a citizen.
D. Harriet Beecher Stowe had written a remarkable book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, telling the stories of enslaved people. Dred Scott was an enslaved person and as such, deserving of a better, freer life.

2. The Supreme Court said that Dred Scott had no legal grounds because he was _____.
A. an African American, and therefore not a citizen
B. born to an enslaved woman, and therefore not a citizen
C. born in the South, and therefore not a citizen
D. a resident of the South more than half his life, and therefore not a citizen

3. By 1860, _____ accounted for half the exports of the U.S. overseas and was a critical crop for the national economy.
A. rice
B. cotton
C. wool
D. sugar

4. Which method was NOT employed to aid with the capture of escaped enslaved people?
A. increased rewards for their capture
B. heavier obligations on northerners to capture fugitive enslaved persons
C. more federal troops assigned to capturing them
D. border checks at each major river crossing

5. Who was Paul Cuffee?
A. a white politician from the South who helped to draft the Missouri Compromise
B. an African American clergyman who set up one of the first African American congregations in the U.S.
C. a white Quaker who gave refuge to African Americans who escaped slavery
D. an African American Quaker who attempted to set up a colony of former enslaved African Americans in West Africa

6. _____ were white northerners interested in gaining western territory for themselves.
A. Abolitionists
B. Free Soilers
C. Democrats
D. Republicans

7. Dred Scott sued claiming he was a citizen. Which of the following describes his reasoning for his claim?
A. Scott had been illegally smuggled into the country from Africa after the ban on international slave trading, and so should be freed.
B. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed for popular sovereignty to decide whether slavery would reach Kansas or Nebraska. He would have voted against slavery.
C. The Wilmot Proviso required that any lands captured in the Mexican War become free states and he lived on these lands. Therefore, he was a citizen.
D. The Missouri Compromise did not allow slavery north of southern Missouri. While he was living in territories north of Missouri he was a free man, and therefore a citizen.

8. An enslaver from Maryland with a tobacco farm frees his enslaved African Americans and gives them funding to migrate to Africa and start anew. Which of the following factors is he probably NOT considering with this decision?
A. the teachings of the American Colonization Society
B. the deterioration of Maryland soil from too much tobacco farming
C. the consequences of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
D. the success of the settlement of Monrovia

9. Most African Americans _____ migration to Africa
A. opposed
B. supported
C. were unaware of
D. wanted to ban

10. How did cotton eventually become 50% of the United States' exported goods?
A. Virginia farmers stopped relying on tobacco as a crop and started planting more cotton.
B. Enslavers acquired more enslaved African Americans to separate seed pods and seeds by hand.
C. The cotton gin was invented, which sped up production dramatically.
D. Wool producers began exporting fewer goods so cotton had to fill the role for exports.

11. The passage of the controversial Fugitive Slave Law was part of the _____.
A. Kansas-Nebraska Act
B. Harpers Ferry Raid
C. Dred Scott Supreme Court decision
D. Compromise of 1850

12. Which American city is associated with the country's first African American churches?
A. New York, New York
B. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
C. Raleigh, North Carolina
D. Richmond, Virginia

13. Because of the Compromise of 1850, the practice of slavery was _____ in Washington.
A. abolished
B. encouraged
C. still allowed
D. heavily taxed

14. Read the passage below from Methodist minister Richard Allen.
Richard Allen describes how Methodists in Philadelphia kicked the black Reverend Absalom Jones out of their church in 1787 or 1792:

We had not been long upon our knees before I heard considerable scuffling and low talking. I raised my head up and saw one of the trustees, H__M__, having hold of the Rev. Absalom Jones, pulling him up off of his knees, and saying, "You must get up--you must not kneel here..' Mr. Jones replied, 'Wait until prayer is over." Mr. H___M__ said, "No, you must get up now or I will call for aid and force you away." Mr. Jones said, "Wait until prayer is over, and I will get up and trouble you no more. With that he [the white trustee] beckoned to one of the other trustees, Mr. L__S__to come to his assistance. He came, and went to William White to pull him up. By this time, the prayer was over and we all went out of the church in a body and they were no more plagued with us in the church.

What is the likely reason that Reverend Jones insisted upon finishing his prayer before moving?
A. Reverend Absalom Jones put obedience and respect for God before that of the men who wanted him to leave the church.
B. Reverend Absalom Jones was angry and disobedient by nature.
C. Reverend Absalom Jones was trying to dramatize the incident so that his friend Richard Allen could make the story more compelling.
D. Reverend Absalom Jones was trying to stay in the church so that he could one day take over leadership of the congregation.

15. Between 1820 and 1870, the British navy captured over 1,500 slave ships. The navy freed and returned around 150,000 Africans. The British only stopped about 10% of the enslaved African Americans shipped from Africa.
A. It was difficult for the British navy to stop most illegal enslavers from making it to the Americas.
B. It was easy for the British navy to stop most illegal enslavers from making it to the Americas.
C. Cooperation with Portuguese and Spanish officials helped the British curb the flow of slave ships.
D. Most of the slave ships were Portuguese or Spanish; these countries refused to cooperate with the British.

16. Why were enslavers less likely to liberate enslaved African Americans after the year 1808?
A. Future generations of enslavers were greedier than earlier ones.
B. State lawmakers banned enslavers from freeing enslaved people.
C. Northerners would no longer allow free African Americans into their states.
D. The British and later the United States banned the importation of new enslaved Africans, making them more valuable.

17. Which statement about the Louisiana Purchase is correct?
A. It sparked further debate between slave and free states.
B. The number of slave states doubled.
C. It led to the passage of the Northwest Ordinance.
D. The state of Michigan was added to the Union.

18. Why would newly freed African Americans leave the southern states in which they lived?
A. to prevent former enslavers from having any influence over their lives
B. because southern state laws made African Americans leave as a condition of their release
C. to prepare a move to Africa in the North, where it was easier to do so
D. many wanted to attend churches and they could only do so in the North

19. Which of the following is most closely associated with Richard Allen?
A. Joseph Jenkins Roberts
B. Stephen Douglas
C. Absalom Jones
D. Dred Scott

20. Why did the cost of slave labor double after the invention of the cotton gin?
A. Enslaved workers were in high demand for tobacco and rice farms.
B. Northern enslavers refused to sell their enslaved workers.
C. The demand for enslaved workers for the cotton fields was high, but the supply of workers was low due to the ban on the slave trade.
D. More enslaved workers were being freed at that point so that they could return to Africa.

21. Southerners complained about previous fugitive slave laws because _____.
A. they were costly to pursue
B. they placed the burden of proof of ownership on the enslaver
C. they were not enforced by northerners
D. they were non-existent

22. What was the significance of banning the slave trade from Washington?
A. Losing the strategic ports of Washington slowed the industry.
B. It was a symbolic victory for abolitionists to remove the slave trade from the nation’s capital.
C. This meant that slavery was effectively abolished in the city.
D. Washington’s slave auctions were considered the cruelest.

23. _____ were northern whites interested in gaining western territory to farm themselves.
A. Abolitionists
B. Free Soilers
C. Democrats
D. Unionists

24. The Dred Scott decision had an impact on _____.
A. enslaved African Americans
B. African Americans living in the South
C. all African Americans
D. African Americans who were born to enslaved mothers

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1. Dred Scott sued his enslaver claiming he was a citizen. Which of the following describes his reasoning for his claim?
A. The Missouri Compromise did not allow slavery north of southern Missouri. While he was living in territories north of Missouri he was a free man, and therefore a citizen.
B. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed for popular sovereignty to decide whether slavery would reach Kansas or Nebraska. He would have voted against slavery.
C. The Wilmot Proviso required that any lands captured in the Mexican War become free states and he lived on those lands. Therefore, he was a citizen.
D. Harriet Beecher Stowe had written a remarkable book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, telling the stories of enslaved people. Dred Scott was an enslaved person and as such, deserving of a better, freer life.

1. A (The Missouri Compromise did not allow slavery north of southern Missouri. While he was living in territories north of Missouri he was a free man, and therefore a citizen)...