1. Why did the Whig Party struggle in the 1852 presidential election?

2. How did Franklin Pierce appeal to both Northern and Southern Democrats in 1852?

3. What did the Democratic victory in 1852 suggest about the future of the Whig Party?

1. What was Stephen Douglas's original goal in proposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

2. How did the Kansas-Nebraska Act undermine the Missouri Compromise and what opportunity did it create for the South?

3. Why did many Northern Democrats oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

1. What did Stephen Douglas expect would happen in Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and why was he wrong?

2. How did both proslavery and antislavery forces attempt to control Kansas, and what was the result?

3. What role did the Pierce administration play in the violence in Kansas?

1. What triggered Preston Brooks to attack Senator Charles Sumner in 1856?

2. How did the North and South react differently to the Sumner-Brooks incident?

1. When and why was the Republican Party founded, and who formed its core membership?

2. What was the Republican Party's position on slavery, and what did its first platform call for?

3. Why was the Republican Party considered a sectional party and how did this affect the South?

1. What was the Republican platform in 1856 and who was their presidential nominee?

2. Why did the Democrats nominate James Buchanan instead of Franklin Pierce or Stephen Douglas?

3. What did the Republican performance in 1856 suggest about future presidential elections?

1. What was the Lecompton Constitution and why did President Buchanan's support for it damage his credibility?

2. How did Stephen Douglas's opposition to the Lecompton Constitution affect his relationship with Southern Democrats?

1. What was Dred Scott's argument for his freedom and what did Chief Justice Taney's decision rule?

2. How did the Dred Scott decision effectively overturn the Missouri Compromise and open territories to slavery?

3. Why did Northerners suspect a conspiracy between President Buchanan and the Supreme Court regarding the Dred Scott decision?

4. How did the Dred Scott decision create an impossible situation for Stephen Douglas and Northern Democrats?

1. What was Lincoln's position on slavery and how did his "house-divided" speech affect Southern perceptions of him?

2. What was the Freeport Doctrine and why did it anger Southern Democrats?

3. How did the Lincoln-Douglas debates affect the political futures of both candidates?