ACT Reading Practice Test 46

SOCIAL SCIENCE: Abraham Lincoln and the American Republic

Throughout the Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas presidential debates, Stephen Douglas repeatedly criticized Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech. In his “House Divided” speech, Lincoln argues that the

Line 5 “Spirit of Nebraska,” the alleged right to choose slavery over freedom in territories, had invaded the country and divided it. The North and the South were no longer working together to put slavery on the road to extinction. In fact, by the late 1850s, the South had fully

10 embraced slavery and wanted to expand it. This new attitude toward slavery promoted by Southerners and some Northern Democrats led Lincoln to believe that they wanted to nationalize slavery. In the Lincoln–Douglas debates, Lincoln stated

15 that the nation was too divided to continue to compromise on slavery. Lincoln began his defense by referring to the actions of the Founding Fathers, who had worked to eradicate slavery. He mentioned the unanimous abolition of the African slave trade, as well as the

20 Northwest Ordinance and the lack of the word slave in the Constitution, to show that the Founding Fathers intended slavery to be strangled in the original Southern States. Lincoln argued that the South had moved away from this course of ending slavery. Lincoln

25 also stated that the federal government, through the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, had always regulated slavery in the territories. The Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 were at odds with the new Dred Scott decision, which

30 denied that Congress had a right to exclude slavery in the states. The Dred Scott decision also reinforced the idea that African Americans were not citizens and that slaves could be brought into the North without gaining their freedom. The Dred Scott decision had the

35 effect of undermining Lincoln’s Republican platform that wanted to repeal the Kansas/Nebraska Act. Both in the debates and the “House Divided” speech, Lincoln repeatedly questioned the Democrats’ involvement in the Dred Scott decision. Lincoln

40 suggested that a conspiracy may have taken place between President Buchanan, President Pierce, Judge Taney, and other Democrats, like Stephen Douglas. Lincoln used evidence to show that the Democrats seemed to have known that the Dred Scott decision

45 was coming. A key piece of evidence is that the Dred Scott decision was pushed back until after the election of 1856. In addition, the Democrats had drafted legislation in 1850 and 1854 that contained language which seemed to predict that Congress would not be

50 able to exclude slavery in the territories because of Constitutional constraints. The Dred Scott decision cast doubts on the platform of the Democrats. The Democrats had been endorsing a platform of popular sovereignty, which stated that all new states and

55 territories should be able to vote on whether slavery should be allowed within their borders. The Dred Scott decision reaffirmed for the South that slaves were considered property. Because America’s Constitution protects property, exclusion of slavery through

60 unfriendly legislation was unconstitutional. Lincoln spoke about the Kansas/Nebraska Act and his opinion on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise throughout the debates. He believed that popular sovereignty was contrary to the principle that valued

65 freedom over slavery. The “Spirit of Nebraska” was what prompted Northerners like Douglas to create the Kansas/Nebraska Act that went against the “Spirit of ’76,” which was the hope of the Founding Fathers that slavery would be strangled within the original

70 southern states over time. Without the majority of public opinion actively opposed to slavery, Lincoln realized that the battle over slavery could not be won. Tensions had increased dramatically in both the North and the South in the late 1850s. Violence in

75 Kansas had turned neighbor against neighbor, and there were even physical fights breaking out in the Senate. The South had begun to threaten secession with regularity, and many Northerners afraid of disunion were willing to sacrifice freedom to keep the country

80 together. Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech and his arguments in the Lincoln–Douglas debates show that he believed that slavery was threatening to become a national institution. He saw the American public

85 become increasingly indifferent to slavery and believed the people were naive to the Democratic conspiracy. By the late 1850s, Lincoln realized that a serious conflict was imminent. The North and South were drifting further and further apart and their ideologies were

90 becoming more different every year.