Section I Reasoning through Language Arts- Writing Skills
Section II Reasoning through Language Arts- Reading Skills
Section III Reasoning through Language Arts- The Essay
Section IV Social Studies
Section V Science
Section VI Mathematical Reasoning
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Civil War Times

The Civil War


Compromises over slavery failed to solve the growing conflict between North and South. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited the spread of slavery north of the 36Ā°30ā€™ parallel. The Compromise of 1850 allowed Utah and New Mexico to vote on whether to adopt slavery, but it also included a Fugitive Slave Act that included punishment for anyone who helped enslaved people escape. This angered many Northerners, who could now be imprisoned for aiding enslaved people. The South tried to stop the addition of new ā€œfree states.ā€ The Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise, allowing states to vote on slavery. To many, this was unacceptable and furthered the rise of the second Republican Party. The Dred Scott Supreme Court decision held that even enslaved people who had been freed could not become citizens.

In 1860, the Republican Party selected Abraham Lincoln as its candidate. Lincoln maintained that he did not want to eliminate slavery; he only wanted to prevent its further expansion. Southerners refused to accept this, and when Lincoln won the presidential election, Southern states seceded. Ultimately, 11 states left the United States to form the Confederate States of America; several slave states remained in the Union. Lincoln waited until the Confederate States attempted to seize federal propertyā€”Fort Sumter in South Carolinaā€”in 1861 before mobilizing troops to end the rebellion.

The South was ill-matched against the North: it had a smaller population, a less-industrialized economy, and little international support. Nevertheless, it had the advantages of fighting a defensive war and of strong generalship, and the war remains the bloodiest in U.S. history to this day. Ultimately, the South was ground down by force of arms and a lack of supplies.

DID YOU KNOW . . .
Lincolnā€™s views on slavery evolved substantially during his lifetime. He was initially a supporter of ā€œcolonizationā€: sponsoring freed enslaved people to return to Africa. He began the war saying that his sole goal was the preservation of the Union, but during the course of the war he came to support total abolition.

Did You Know

By 1862, Lincoln believed that making the end of slavery a goal for the war would unite the North and rally Europe firmly to the Union cause. Following the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Although it only applied to areas that had rebelled against the Union, it ended toleration for slavery in the United States. Lincoln drove home this point in his famous Gettysburg Address, claiming that the sacrifice of who died meant that the survivors needed to create a government based on equality.

Example

Which of the following acts banned slavery north of the 36Ā°30ā€™ parallel?

A. The Fugitive Slave Act

B. The Compromise of 1850

C. The Kansas-Nebraska Act

D. The Missouri Compromise

The correct answer is D. The Missouri Compromise banned slavery north of the 36Ā°30ā€™ parallel.

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