United States in the 1850s Trivia Quiz

Answer: Colorado

California was admitted in 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850. This led to an imbalance in the Senate between free and slave states for the first time since Louisiana was admitted in 1812. After that, states were admitted in pairs, one free state and one slave state so that neither side had a majority in the Senate. The free states already had a majority in the House of Representatives due to their larger population.

Minnesota and Oregon were both admitted later in the decade which led to an even greater imbalance between free and slave states as all three that were admitted in the 1850's were free states.

Colorado was admitted in 1876, the same year as the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Hence its nickname as The Centennial State.

Answer: 4

Zachary Taylor was elected in 1848 and served until he died in 1850. His vice president, Millard Fillmore took over in 1850 and served out the remainder of the term. They were both from the Whig Party.

Franklin Pierce was elected in 1852 and served from 1853-1857. He was succeeded by James Buchanan who served until 1861 when Abraham Lincoln took over. Pierce and Buchanan were both Democrats.

Answer: Harriet Beecher Stowe

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was a novel about a slave who had a kind master. However, the master ran into financial difficulties and was forced to sell Tom. Tom then ended up on a Louisiana plantation where the conditions were brutal. The novel showed how even the best treated slaves could have their lives turned upside down without anyone wanting it to happen.

Julia Ward Howe wrote the song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". Harper Lee's novel was "To Kill a Mockingbird" while Margaret Mitchell wrote "Gone With the Wind".

Answer: Moby Dick

In Herman Melville's "Moby Dick", the captain of the Pequod was named Ahab which was also the name of the husband of Jezebel in the Bible. Along with "The Scarlet Letter" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" it is one of the novels from the 1850's that is still widely read in the 21st century.

The other three choices were all published before 1850.

Answer: Henry Clay

In addition to the Compromise of 1850, Henry Clay is also credited with authoring the Missouri Compromise in 1820 and a solution to the South Carolina Nullification Crisis in 1833. He brokered the deal where the House of Representatives voted for John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson in the 1824 election despite Jackson winning the popular vote.

John C. Calhoun, a senator from South Carolina, vehemently opposed the compromise because it would change the balance of power in the Senate and he feared it would ultimately lead to the demise of the rights of the southern states. His speech against the compromise was delivered on March 4, 1850 by James Mason of Virginia as Calhoun was to ill to read it himself.

Daniel Webster's 7th of March speech in favor of the compromise is one of the most famous in history. It began "I speak today not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a northern man, but as an American". Like Abraham Lincoln ten years later, he wanted to preserve the Union at all costs.

Thomas Hart Benton was a big supporter of Manifest Destiny and thus supported the compromise as it contained several provisions enabling westward expansion.

Both Webster and Benton were two of the senators who JFK later wrote about in "Profiles in Courage".

Answer: Dred Scott v Sandford

The Dred Scott case was one of a slave suing for his freedom because his master had taken him to free territories in the northwest and thus he should have been made free at that time. The court ruled that since blacks, whether slaves or free men, were not citizens, they did not have standing to sue in court. This was somewhat ironic since there had been other cases where a citizen of another country has sued within the United States. Scott was granted his freedom by his owner a few months after the decision was released.

United States v The Amistad was an earlier case where the crew of an illegal slave trade ship had been overpowered and the slaves had taken over the ship. Since the slave trade had already been abolished, the captives were considered kidnap victims rather than slaves and were freed.

Plessy v Ferguson legalized the concept of separate but equal where states could provide separate schools for blacks and whites. Brown v Board of Education overturned Plessy v Ferguson.

Answer: Elisha Otis

Otis' invention of the safety elevator made modern skyscrapers possible as before then platforms which were used to lift people from one floor to another could break and injure the people being lifted.

Cyrus McCormick patented a mechanical harvesting reaper in the 1830's while Elias Howe developed a lockstitch sewing machine in the 1840's. Noel Redding wasn't an inventor or a 19th century personality. He was the bass player for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Answer: Pennsylvania

It was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania a town in the northwestern part of the state, not far from Erie. In addition to the oil industry which peaked there in the late 19th century, Western Pennsylvania has long been an area of mining and industry with many coal mines as well as being the home of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.

Answer: Stephen Douglas

Although they contested the presidential election two years later in 1860, it was actually the senate race of 1858 that saw the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. Unlike today's modern debates where a moderator asks questions, these were formatted so that each candidate would speak for a certain period of time. When accepting the nomination, Lincoln had delivered his famous House Divided speech which became a topic of discussion in the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

One thing to realize about this election is that the two were not directly campaigning for the Senate. They were actually trying to get their candidates elected to the state legislature since it was the legislatures that appointed each state's senators rather than a direct election (until the 17th amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1913).

The other three choices were all senators from Illinois at various times with Lyman Trumbull being the other senator at the time of the debates.

Answer: Virginia

John Brown was an abolitionist who had moved to Kansas in the mid 1850's and was involved in killing five pro slavery settlers in what became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre. Then, in 1859, he decided that if he provided weapons to slaves they would revolt and gain their freedom. In order to do this, he seized the armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Federal troops, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee were able to quell this insurrection and Brown was later hanged for treason.

The armory did not remain in Virginia for long. When the Civil War started, it was located in the part of Virginia that decided not to secede from the Union and became the new state of West Virginia.