Chapter+18+Reading+Objectives

1. Explain how the issue of slavery in the territories acquired from Mexico disrupted American politics from 1848 to 1850. (pg.416-422 - Note: This section also contains some information on the Gold Rush and Underground Railroads. While interesting and of importance, it does not necessarily pertain directly to this objective.) 2. Point out the major terms of the Compromise of 1850 and indicate how this agreement attempted to defuse the sectional crisis. (pg. 422- 424) 3. Explain why the Fugitive Slave Law included in the Compromise of 1850 stirred moral outrage and fueled antislavery agitation in the North. (pg. 425-427) 4. Indicate how the Whig party’s disintegration over slavery signaled the end of nonsectional political parties. (pg. 427-428) 5.Describe how the Pierce administration, as well as private American adventurers, pursued numerous overseas and expansionist ventures primarily designed to expand slavery. (pg. 428-430) 6.Describe Americans’ first ventures into China and Japan in the 1850s and their diplomatic, economic, cultural, and religious consequences. (pg. 430-431) 7.Describe the nature and purpose of Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Act, and explain why it fiercely rekindled the slavery controversy that the Compromise of 1850 had been designed to settle. (pg. 431-435).
 * Reading Objectives**
 * After reading this chapter, you should be able to:**