The Free Soil Party was a short lived, yet influential, third party that had some success between 1848 and 1852. Emerging after the territorial gains of the Mexican-American War, the Free Soil Party advocated for the halt to the spread of slavery throughout the new territories in the West. While largely made up of abolitionists, the Free Soil Party never argued for total abolition of slavery and was largely subsumed into the brand new Republican Party during the 1856 election.

Straightforward question, but sometimes difficult to answer. Lincoln is, by far, the most famous Republican to run in the 19th century, but he was not the first. That particular honor goes to John. C. Fremont. Fremont ran in the election of 1856 as a Republican, and lost to James Buchanan, a Democrat. 

The Compromise of 1850 was technically a series of compromises, hence the answer “all of the answers are correct.” You can see elements of compromise in the terms of the various bills themselves—California coming in as a free state was clearly a victory for the abolitionists; Utah/New Mexico deciding on basis of popular sovereignty was ostensibly a victory for those who favored slavery. Similarly, the banning of the slave trade (NOT slavery itself) in DC was a victory for the abolitionists while the harsher fugitive slave law was a victory for the pro-slavery factions.

That slogan was most famously used by James K. Polk in his bid for the presidency in 1844. The numbers refer to coordinates in what is essentially modern-day Oregon which was, for a variety of different reasons, jointly occupied by the US and the British. Polk’s slogan was essentially saying “we should push the British out of the territory—we should claim the territory all for ourselves all the way up until the 54-40 line—and if they don’t like it, we should start a war!” It, like much of what happens in the west during this era, was a product of manifest destiny and the accompanying attitudes.

The Corrupt Bargain of 1824 marked the end of the Era of Good Feelings (which was the two terms that James Monroe was in office) and it also resulted in the election of John Quincy Adams as president with Henry Clay as his Secretary of State. It was (and is) called the ‘Corrupt Bargain’ because of the way in which JQ Adams won the Presidency. Essentially, because nobody received a majority in the Electoral College (you must have a majority—a plurality will not do), the top three vote-getters (from the Electoral College) get tossed into the House of Representatives. Thus, out of the four candidates running (William Crawford, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, and JQ Adams) only the top three vote-getters from the Electoral College (Crawford, Jackson, and Adams) got thrown into the House of Representatives. The House then votes on a candidate. It is at this point that Clay—who, notice, did not make it into the House—has an advantage: Henry Clay, in addition to being a presidential candidate, was Speaker of the House. Clay, who hated Jackson, approached Adams and offered to throw his support behind Adams in exchange for a position in Adams’ cabinet at Secretary of State. Unsurprisingly, Adams accepts, is elected President, and appoints Clay as his Secretary of State. Jacksonian Democrats cry foul—hence the “Corrupt Bargain.”

This is a straightforward vocabulary question. The Crittenden Compromise was named after Senator Crittenden, who proposed it. Essentially, he wanted to end the Civil War before it even really began by reinstating the Missouri Compromise line—and providing that everything under it (everything meaning any acquired territories as well) was to be open to slavery and everything above it to be free—and protecting slavery in the places in which it already existed. All of the other compromises are incorrect.

Andrew Johnson was a Democrat—from Tennessee, no less—selected by Lincoln, a Republican, to be his Vice President. Lincoln likely believed that Johnson’s selection (geographically and politically speaking) would help ease the Southern states back into the union. Lincoln, of course, did not plan on being assassinated, and thus did not plan on leaving a southerner in the captain’s seat during Reconstruction. Unfortunately, however, Lincoln was assassinated, and Johnson became President by way of succession. Tensions between the Democrat president and the Radical Republican Congress came to a head when Johnson was actually impeached in the House (although the Senate acquitted him—thus he escaped being removed from office—by one vote).

All of those parties—Liberty, American/Known Nothings, Constitutional Union—are all examples of third parties during the early-mid 1800’s. Oftentimes third parties coalesced around similar issues; the Free Soil party and the Liberty party, for example, had similar planks (individual stances on issues) in their respective party platforms.

This should have been a fairly cut and dry question. There was no executive under the government of the Articles of Confederation! That was one of the major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Thus all of the other answers are incorrect. 

The Wilmot Proviso was a narrowly-failed bill that attempted to keep slavery out from any of the territories gained from the Mexican War. Clearly, this undermined support from the South in respect to the Mexican-American War (Southerners wanted to be able to bring any slaves they had to any newly-acquired territories). Moreover, the issue of slavery and new territories led to the creation and passage of the Compromise of 1850.