Q&A Hero

Q: Eric Foner argues, The Reconstruction amendments transformed the Constitution from a document primarily concerned with federal-state relations and the rights of property into a vehicle through which members of vulnerable minorities could stake a claim. Please explain in your own words how the Constitution changed due to the amendments. Who were the main actors involved?

Q: How did Garrison Frazier define freedom for African-Americans during his January 1865 conversation with General Sherman and Secretary of War Stanton? a. having and owning their own land b. maintaining a state of mind that was untethered from material circumstances c. working for wages for an employer d. leaving the United States for Canada e. renting land on the plantations on which they had been formerly enslaved

Q: Which statement is true about Sherman land? a. General Sherman established a wage labor system on the Sea Islands. b. Sherman set aside lands for settlement of black families on forty-acre plots. c. President Andrew Johnson supported and expanded the Sherman land reform. d. The Freedmans Bureau distributed hundreds of thousands of forty-acre plots of Sherman land in every southern state. e. The Sherman lands replaced the sharecropping system.

Q: General William T. Shermans Special Field Order 15 a. offered black soldiers widows survivors pensions. b. allowed emancipated slaves to roam freely across U.S. territory. c. gave freed slaves the right to settle in New York. d. set aside land to distribute among black families. e. conferred honors on the soldiers who had fought beside him.

Q: Which of the following best describes the black response to the ending of the Civil War and the coming of freedom? a. Sensing the continued hatred of whites toward them, most blacks wished to move back to Africa. b. Most blacks stayed with their old masters because they were not familiar with any other opportunities. c. Blacks adopted different ways of testing their freedom, including moving about, seeking kin, and rejecting older forms of deferential behavior. d. Desiring better wages, most blacks moved to the northern cities to seek factory work. e. Most blacks were content working for wages and not owning their own land because they believed that they had not yet earned that right.

Q: What effect did emancipation have on the structure of the black family? a. Black couples managed to maintain equality within the household because black men tended to enjoy being able to stay at home. b. Black families increasingly adopted the nineteenth-century idea that men and women held different responsibilities. c. Although gender roles between men and women stayed the same, black men needed to engage in more intensive labor than ever before. d. Black families became increasingly matrilineal as black women started to enter the workforce and earn wages. e. Black families enjoyed a good, stable quality of life because most black women tended to embrace the opportunity to enter field labor.

Q: Which denominations had the largest followings among blacks after the Civil War? a. Anglican and Catholic b. Congregational and Presbyterian c. Methodist and Baptist d. Lutheran and Methodist e. Episcopal and Baptist

Q: Howard University is well known as a. the first medical school to admit women. b. the first black university in Mississippi. c. the oldest university in New England. d. a black university in Washington, D.C. e. the law school where Abraham Lincoln earned his degree.

Q: Who were the Redeemers, what did they want, and what were their methods? How did the Redeemers feel that their freedom was being threatened by Radical Reconstruction? Conclude your essay with a comment on how you think the federal government should have responded to the Redeemers.

Q: Do you think the permanent distribution of land to former slaves would have made a difference in the outcome of Reconstruction? Why or why not?

Q: Was Reconstruction a success or a failure? Or was it something in between? In your response, consider land policy, key legislation during Presidential and Radical Reconstruction, southern politics, racial and political violence, and northern fatigue with Reconstruction. Be sure to make clear what you mean by success and failure.

Q: The debate surrounding the creation and ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment divided one-time political allies over the matter of womens suffrage. What were the arguments for and against including a womans right to vote in the Fifteenth Amendment? What did this debate say about the boundaries of freedom defined by Reconstruction?

Q: One of the most divisive issues during the Reconstruction period was the meaning of freedom and citizenship. Did this debate reach some closure during the Reconstruction period? Why or why not? Be sure to summarize the opinions of different social and political groups that dominated the national agenda during this period.

Q: As in earlier periods of American history, Reconstruction saw political debates over the meaning of federalism and the balance of power between the national government and the states. Keeping this in mind, discuss how laws and regulations such as the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 and the Reconstruction amendments factored into this debate. Please consider how the positions of Republicans and Democrats differed in terms of this debate.

Q: In the Ex parte Milligan case, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that a. Milligan should be hanged for writing pro-Confederate editorials during the Civil War. b. secession was unconstitutional. c. accused persons must be tried before civil courts where there were open, rather than military, tribunals. d. a president could order the jailing of civilians for any reason whatsoever during wartime. e. Congress, not the president, has the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus.

Q: Clement Vallandigham was a. hanged for treason on the orders of President Lincoln. b. the Confederate general who won the Battle of Chancellorsville against great odds. c. the Union general who turned back a Confederate invasion at Gettysburg. d. Lincolns first vice president. e. a northern politician banished to the Confederacy.

Q: Industrial capitalism a. grew and developed significantly as a result of the Civil War. b. was nearly destroyed by the Civil War. c. stagnated during the Civil War for lack of government contracts. d. stagnated during the Civil War for lack of labor. e. stagnated during the war because mechanization stopped advancing.

Q: Economically, the Civil War led to a. a decline in prosperity for the North and South alike. b. the emergence of a nation-state committed to national economic development. c. a tariff reduction to attract foreign goods to make up for the decline in domestic production. d. the creation of the Third Bank of the United States, despite opposition from old Jacksonian Democrats. e. the building of a transcontinental railroad, completely through private financing.

Q: Which is the largest official execution in American history? a. The shooting of 63 Union army deserters in Washington, D.C., in March 1863. b. The hanging of 42 Confederate generals following the end of the war. c. The hanging of John Wilkes Booth and his ten accomplices for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. d. The death of 13,000 Union soldiers in the prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, Georgia. e. The hanging of 38 Sioux Dakotas at Mankato, Minnesota, in December 1862.

Q: During the Civil War, Congress enacted economic policies long advocated by many northerners; for example, Congress a. cut funding for internal improvements. b. slashed tariffs. c. enacted subsidies for cotton farmers. d. returned western lands to Indian tribes. e. granted millions of acres of land to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroad.

Q: The U.S. Homestead Act of 1862 a. offered 160 acres of free public land to settlers in the west. b. granted homesteads to Native American families displaced by the Trail of Tears. c. granted 40 acres of free land to each emancipated person. d. was opposed by the labor movement. e. failed to have much of an effect on western settlement.

Q: What financial policy did the federal government follow during the Civil War? a. It removed tariffs in order to encourage exports. b. It reduced the income tax. c. It clung to the gold standard. d. It sold interest-bearing bonds. e. It removed taxes on the production and consumption of goods.

Q: Which of the following is true of the Confederacy and Native Americans? a. Indians were united in their opposition to the Confederacy because of its white supremacist policies. b. The Davis administration ordered the Navajo to leave their ancestral territory. c. Slave-owning Indians generally supported the Confederacy. d. Treating Indian tribes as fully independent nations, the Confederacy sent ambassadors to the Five Civilized Tribes. e. Confederate troops massacred Indians on several occasions, most notably at Sand Creek, Texas.

Q: Which describes the relationship between the Civil War and the campaign for womens suffrage? a. Many women publicly refused to perform volunteer work to serve the war effort of a nation that did not grant them the right to vote. b. With the southern states temporarily out of the legislature, womens demands for suffrage gained significant traction during the war. c. The suffrage movement lost public support when it was accused of distracting women from volunteer work to support the war effort. d. Women who held positions of responsibility during the war became increasingly committed to achieving suffrage when the war ended. e. Women gained a first taste for the experience of voting when they were granted a temporary right to vote on behalf of husbands who were away fighting the war.

Q: Which characterizes the non-war-related legislation passed by the federal government during the Civil War? a. It created an expansion of the powers of the federal government that had typically been opposed by legislators from the southern states. b. It marked the beginning of a shift toward progressive legislation intended to improve human welfare. c. It deliberately limited states rights to prevent a civil war from ever occurring again. d. It recognized the legal rights of Native Americans for the first time in American history. e. It largely addressed urban issues, such as overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions.

Q: Which is true of the first transcontinental railroad? a. Its completion helped bring about the end of the Civil War. b. Various Indian tribes sabotaged it by destroying key railroad junctions. c. Utilizing its rails, Lincoln became the first president to travel across the country. d. It ran from Omaha to San Francisco. e. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific companies utilized slave labor.

Q: Which statement is true about civil liberties during the Civil War? a. Lincoln was careful to protect all forms of civil liberties. b. The courts prevented the Lincoln administration from restricting civil liberties. c. Lincoln allowed those accused of disloyal activities to be held without charge. d. Dissenting newspaper editors, ordinary citizens, and Democratic politicians were free to criticize the war effort without penalty. e. In Ex parte Milligan, the Supreme Court required that all civilians be tried in military tribunals during the war.

Q: With regard to civil liberties during the Civil War, President Lincoln a. always let courts and judges have the final say. b. suspended the writ of habeas corpus. c. ordered most Democratic newspapers shut down. d. urged the impeachment of federal judges who opposed him. e. strictly followed the Ex parte Milligan decision rendered in 1866.

Q: The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, a. was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court later that year. b. did not apply to the border slave states that had not seceded. c. freed slaves throughout the United States. d. was very popular with voters associated with the Democratic Party. e. was cited by Tennessee as the reason it rejoined the Union in 1864.

Q: Which is true of black soldiers fighting for the Union army during the Civil War? a. They developed a reputation for being vicious and ruthless warriors. b. Most were drafted into service. c. They performed the same duties as white soldiers from the outset, but at lower pay. d. Their accomplishments contributed to the evolution of Lincolns ideas concerning equal rights before the law. e. They enjoyed more equality with whites in the army than in the navy.

Q: What reason did Frederick Douglass give when urging African-Americans to enlist in the Union army? a. Military service would force whites to acknowledge blacks as fellow citizens. b. They owed service to the nation that had given them a home. c. It was one of the few well-paying jobs available to blacks. d. They were obligated to fight for the freedom of their brothers and sisters in slavery. e. They could work well as spies, infiltrating large plantations.

Q: What was the significance of the fighting that occurred at Fort Pillow, Tennessee? a. It was the Confederate armys last victory of the war. b. It was the first step of Shermans March to the Sea. c. It was evidence of brutal treatment of black Union soldiers by the Confederate army. d. It was Grants first use of a war-of-attrition strategy. e. It gave the Union control over the entire Mississippi Valley.

Q: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment is best known as a. a regiment of free blacks who charged Fort Wagner, South Carolina. b. the Irish Brigade, because its members were born in Ireland. c. the regiment that forced Richmonds surrender. d. a regiment that was fully integrated, with noncommissioned black and white soldiers fighting side by side. e. the first regiment to see battle in the war.

Q: Which statement is true about black soldiers in the Civil War? a. At the beginning of the war, the Union army encouraged northern blacks to enlist. b. About 2,000 African-American men served in the army and navy by the end of the war. c. Frederick Douglass tried to discourage black men from enlisting to fight in the war. d. Black soldiers in the army received equal pay and equal treatment during the war. e. The wartime service of black soldiers inspired Abraham Lincoln to advocate for partial enfranchisement of blacks.

Q: Which describes the effect of the Civil War on American religious practices and beliefs? a. Northern and Southern churches that had split over the issue of slavery reunited in opposition to the war. b. Talk about heaven became more common and more concrete. c. In the North, membership in the Methodist churches exploded, as this was the church Lincoln attended. d. Spiritualism came to be associated with heresy and the devil. e. The religious press increasingly withdrew from discussion of military and political development.

Q: Lincolns vision during the Civil War a. was to build a nation-state similar to what Otto von Bismarck was building in Germany and to what Giuseppe Mazzini was building in Italy. b. was that the American nation embodied a set of universal ideals rooted in political democracy and human freedom. c. was essentially that of the Democratic Party: an activist federal government promoting American industry. d. allowed for African-Americans to achieve freedom because they already lived in the United States but did not extend to immigrants. e. was best expressed in his words, As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.

Q: Lincoln spoke of a new birth of freedom for the nation in his a. first inaugural address. b. second inaugural address. c. Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. d. Sanitary Commission speech. e. Gettysburg Address.

Q: Besides preserving the Union, how else has Lincolns legacy lived on in todays America? a. Through an executive order, he gave ex-slaves the right to vote. b. He brought harmony between the races. c. He created the blueprint that rebuilt the South economically. d. He encouraged African-Americans to convert to Christianity. e. He overcame regional differences to build a new nation-state.

Q: During the Civil War, northern Protestant ministers a. usually preached sermons that emphasized the needlessness of the war. b. organized a major pacifist campaign to end the war by Christmas 1862. c. helped create a civic religion combining Christianity and patriotism. d. were generally opposed to the goals of the Lincoln administration. e. raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to assist Confederates to show that they loved their enemies.

Q: What was the purpose of the Morrill Land Grant College Act? a. It provided funding to the states to establish colleges. b. It provided war veterans with free college educations. c. It reformed the Electoral College after the abolishment of the three-fifths clause. d. It made it legal for any woman who owned property to apply to college. e. It seized several large plantations in the South and turned them into schools for ex-slaves.

Q: Lincolns issuance of an emancipation proclamation a. was delayed on the advice of General George McClellan. b. won universal support throughout the North. c. led to a strong Republican showing in the congressional and state elections of 1862. d. followed the narrow Union victory in the Battle of Antietam. e. led Great Britain to recognize the independence of the Confederate States of America.

Q: Which is true of the Emancipation Proclamation? a. It legally freed all slaves, although Confederate states did not comply with order. b. It provided compensation for slaveowners in states that stayed in the Union. c. News of it was censored in the South, so that slaves had no knowledge of it. d. It committed the federal government to enlist black soldiers. e. Its legal basis was the presidents power to negotiate international treaties.

Q: Which is true of the service of African-American soldiers during the Civil War? a. Their experiences as soldiers gave them their first taste of treatment as social equals to whites. b. While many exhibited great bravery, none received military awards in recognition of their deeds. c. Only a small percentage volunteered to serve; most were drafted into service. d. Escaped slaves were sent to prisoner-of-war camps and not allowed to fight for the Union army. e. Before they were allowed to fill combat positions, many performed menial labor such as doing laundry and cooking for the troops.

Q: At Antietam, a. General Lee was successful and pushed north into Pennsylvania. b. General McClellan surrendered his troops. c. the nation suffered more casualties than on any other day in its history. d. the Unions river fleet proved crucial to the outcome. e. Lincoln announced the Thirteenth Amendment.

Q: During the first two years of the war, Union forces were generally a. more successful in the West than in the East. b. ill-trained, which changed when General McClellan took over in 1863. c. successful in all regions in which the war took place. d. unable to take any territory held by the Confederates. e. more successful in the East than in the West.

Q: When did Great Britain abolish slavery in its empire? a. 1790s b. 1810s c. 1830s d. 1850s e. 1870s

Q: The last nation in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery was a. the United States. b. Cuba. c. Brazil. d. Haiti. e. Jamaica.

Q: Of the enslaved people who gained their freedom in the Western Hemisphere between 1831 and 1888, a. two-thirds lived in Brazil. b. two-thirds lived in the British Caribbean. c. two-thirds lived in the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico. d. two-thirds lived in the southern United States. e. two-thirds lived in the French Caribbean.

Q: Which is true of the slaves who fled to Union lines when the North occupied Confederate territory? a. The burden of their care undermined northern support for the war effort. b. They provided military intelligence to the North. c. They were mainly young, single men. d. They were criticized by the Radical Republicans. e. Until 1863, they were returned to their owners.

Q: Lincoln was hesitant to support abolition early in the war because he a. did not believe slaves could be productive American citizens. b. owned slaves himself. c. feared losing the support of the slaveholding border states within the Union. d. did not want to support the policies of the Radical Republicans. e. promised during his 1860 campaign that he was against abolition.

Q: What action did Union general John Fr mont take in Missouri in 1861? a. attacked a group of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians b. decreed the freedom of Missouris slaves c. declared escaped slaves contraband of war d. accepted escaped slaves as soldiers e. captured Forts Henry and Donelson

Q: Which was a facet of Abraham Lincolns approach toward slavery during the first two years of his presidency? a. He freed slaves in Union-controlled Confederate territory. b. He promoted colonization of freed slaves outside of the United States. c. He referred to the Civil War as a freedom war in public speeches. d. He refused to approve compensation for slaveowners in Union states like Missouri. e. He urged slaves to refuse to work unless paid fair wages.

Q: During the early days of the war, the U.S. Congress adopted a resolution proposed by Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky that a. drafted men into the Union army, the first such draft in U.S. history. b. called for the gradual emancipation of slaves throughout the nation. c. criticized the civil liberties policies of the Lincoln administration. d. affirmed that the Union had no intention of interfering with slavery. e. extended the Missouri Compromise line to the eastern border of California.

Q: Which statement is true about the coming of emancipation? a. President Lincoln declared total emancipation a necessity immediately after the Confederacy fired the first shots of the war in April 1861. b. Enslaved people helped to propel the United States toward emancipation by escaping to Union lines. c. The Radical Republicans opposed emancipation. d. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation even though he thought it was politically and militarily unnecessary. e. Most Democrats supported emancipation.

Q: During the Civil War, the term contraband camps referred to a. camps in which materials such as rifles and gunpowder were kept. b. camps of southern slaves who had escaped from their masters and entered Union lines. c. training grounds for the youthful musicians who played to raise the morale of the troops. d. holding areas for items seized by customs agents for failure to pay tariffs. e. places near battlefields where the Union army temporarily kept Confederate prisoners.

Q: Which is evidence of the northern response to the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation? a. Free blacks began enlisting in the Union army in large numbers in 1862. b. A group of Democratic senators challenged the Proclamations legality through the Supreme Court. c. Lincoln expanded the scope of the Proclamations reach before signing the final version. d. The Democrats made support for abolition an official part of their platform. e. The Republicans lost key elections in 1862.

Q: Approximately how many slaves gained their freedom in the Western Hemisphere between 1831 and 1888? a. 10,000 b. 100,000 c. 600,000 d. 1 million e. 6 million

Q: Which was responsible for the greatest number of deaths among soldiers during the Civil War? a. maltreatment in prisoner-of-war camps b. injuries caused by bombs and grenades c. rifle wounds d. disease e. starvation

Q: Monitor and Merrimack were a. ironclad ships. b. steam locomotives. c. battle sites in Virginia. d. nicknames of Generals Grant and Lee. e. names of rifles.

Q: Which of the following became an established business as a result of the Civil War? a. the penny press b. printed sheet music c. photography d. lithography e. political campaign management

Q: What was the most important piece of technology during the Civil War? a. primitive hand grenade b. ironclad ship c. observation balloon d. rifle e. telegraph

Q: Approximately how many Union and Confederate soldiers died during the Civil War? a. 110,000 b. 245,00 c. 440,000 d. 750,000 e. 988,000

Q: Which hampered the Norths ability to mobilize resources for the war effort? a. lack of legal ability for the federal government to raise taxes b. no rail system linking key armories and forts c. considerable public support for the Confederacy d. the lack of a national bank system e. the lack of a navy

Q: Which strategy did General Robert E. Lee follow most consistently during the war? a. fighting a defensive war, with the hope that the enemy would simply grow tired of fighting b. conquering and occupying territory in the border states c. attempting to capture Washington, D.C., and arrest Abraham Lincoln d. launching sporadic, vicious attacks and then withdrawing to gather strength for the next attack e. forcing the enemy to commit to battles that would incur large numbers of casualties

Q: The scale of Civil War bloodshed was comparable to that of which other conflict? a. War of the Triple Alliance b. War of 1812 c. Revolutionary War d. Spanish-American War e. Vietnam War

Q: Which was a strength of George McClellan as a general? a. He was very effective at organizing and training troops. b. He had a zealous commitment to the war as a means to end slavery. c. He saved lives by limiting the number of troops used during battles. d. He had an uncanny ability to assess the size of enemy forces. e. He was willing to take quick and decisive action.

Q: At the first Battle of Bull Run a. spectators from the city came to watch. b. the Union won a smashing victory. c. both sides suffered more casualties than they did in any other single day during the war. d. the Confederates swept northward and briefly captured Washington, D.C. e. General Grant made a name for himself.

Q: In what way was the Civil War unprecedented? a. The Civil War was the least destructive of human life of all American wars. b. Reporters and photographers provided the public with an unprecedented degree of information. c. Women served as army officers for the first time. d. The Civil War was the first American war in which neither side used war propaganda to shape public opinion. e. The Civil War was the first American war in which black soldiers fought.

Q: Which characterizes Grants abilities as a general? a. ruthless in his treatment of enemy soldiers and of civilians in enemy territory b. a brilliant organizer who could be overly hesitant to commit his troops to battle c. highly effective in holding territory, but unable to achieve significant advances d. a cautious and intelligent steward of those under his command e. a daring yet logical strategist who wasnt afraid to incur high casualties for strategic aims

Q: The major Confederate army in the East, commanded by Robert E. Lee, was called the Army of a. the Rappahannock. b. the Blue Ridge. c. Southern Maryland. d. the Chesapeake. e. Northern Virginia.

Q: The majority of men who fought for the Union army were a. southerners. b. farm boys, shopkeepers, artisans, and urban workers. c. experienced veterans. d. wealthy. e. manufacturers, bankers, and entrepreneurs.

Q: The majority of men who fought for the Confederate army were a. immigrants. b. slaveowners. c. non-slaveholding small farmers. d. enslaved black men. e. urban workers.

Q: Compare and contrast the leadership abilities of wartime presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. How significant was each mans leadership to the course of the war?

Q: How did the war affect the economies of the North and of the South?

Q: What strategy did General Grant ultimately adopt to achieve victory for the Union, and why did he do so? Why was his strategy criticized?

Q: Describe the changes in Lincolns thinking that led to the Civil War being waged as a total war.

Q: Using Lincolns speech at the Baltimore Sanitary Fair in 1864 (excerpted in Voices of Freedom), explain how Lincoln defined liberty. How does this speech reflect a change in his thinking from 1861? Why do you think Lincoln had to change his thinking to achieve victory in this war?

Q: Blacks eagerly signed up for service in the army and navy after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Describe the life of a black soldier. How did it differ from the experiences of black sailors? Overall, how important were black servicemen in the outcome of the war? Finally, discuss what fighting in the war meant to these men.

Q: Frederick Douglass declared, The work does not end with the abolition of slavery, but only begins. In a thoughtful essay, discuss what you foresee as the work that will need to be done to secure freedom and liberty for the ex-slaves. Is emancipation enough? Why or why not?

Q: Lincoln observed in 1864 that we all declare for liberty but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. He continued to explain what the North meant and what the South meant, and how victory meant a national norm as defined by the North. Illustrate how liberty would come to be understood for the nation after the Civil War and analyze whether the abolishment of slavery was enough to propel the United States to finally exist as its founding documents suggested it should.