Talking Points:  Unit 5

Chapter 16

The South and the Slavery Controversy

 

  1. How did cotton become king? What was the impact?
  2. Describe the planter aristocracy, its structure and the land butchery that weakened the system from within.
  3. What was the condition of the free blacks and how did this compare with life under the lash?
  4. Describe relations between blacks and whites in the antebellum south. How did victims of bondage obstruct the system or otherwise assert themselves?
  5. Describe Abolition from its inception toward radical abolitionism. What was its impact on the North?
  6. What happened to the Southern Abolition movement?

 

Assignments:

  1. Timeline of abolition
  2. Life in the South: make a chart.  Describe the characteristics of Southern life for the Planter class, the poor whites, free blacks and enslaved blacks.

 

Chapter 17: Manifest Destiny and its legacy:

  1. Trace the rise and fall of John Tyler.
  2. Describe the “third war with England”, and - the mid-19th century British Invasion and its effect on the Maine boundary.
  3. Trace the grab for Texas, from Lone Star Republic to the misunderstandings with Mexico.
  4. What was Oregon fever and how did it prevent an earlier grab for Texas?
  5. Describe Polk's ascendancy and his goals. Foreign policy and domestic.
  6. Trace the start of the war with Mexico and explain why it was so controversial.
  7. Describe the war, the conquest and the peace with Mexico.

 

Assignment:

Timeline and Chart on the war with Mexico- events leading up to; war and peace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 18:  Renewing the Sectional Struggle

  1. Describe the election of 48 and the positions of both the Democrats and the Whigs. Who won and why?
  2. Describe the impact of Sutter's Mill on California and the rest of the nation.
  3. What was the crisis of 1850, who resolved it and how?
  4. Trace the decline of the Whigs.
  5. How did expansionist stirings move America in the 50s?
  6. What was the Gadsden Purchase and how did it affect the nations involved?
  7. What was Douglas up to with his Kansas-Nebraska scheme? What was the effect?

 

Assignment:

  1. Chart American Expansion in the mid 19th century on a map.
  2. Chart or timeline (your choice) of the Crisis and Compromise of 1850.

 

Chapter 19: Drifting toward Disunion

  1. What effects did Literature have on public opinion about the slavery issue?
  2. Describe the issue of Bleeding Kansas and how it arose.
  3. How did Sumner find himself a martyr to the cause?
  4. Describe the election and issues of 1856 and its likely impact.
  5. What was the Dred Scott controversy and how did it affect the US?
  6. How did the Financial Crash of 57 come about and what was the effect?
  7. Describe the Lincoln-Douglas Debate and its effect on the careers of both men.
  8. Was John Brown a murderer or a martyr?
  9. Describe the electoral upheaval of 1860 and its effect on the nation.
  10. What was the attempt of compromise and its impact?

 

Assignments:

  1. Timeline of the drift toward the Civil War
  2. Chart the position of the North and the South on each issue of the 50s. (chapters 18-19)