Deck 16: Reconstruction 1865-1877

Question 1

Many southerners refused to accept their defeat as divine judgment and believed that God had spared the South for a greater purpose; they came to view the war as:

A) the Lost Cause.
B) a Necessary Evil.
C) a Time for Retribution.
D) a Time to Rebuild.

Answer 1

the Lost Cause.

Question 2

Which of the following statements about the Lost Cause is NOT true?

A) It enabled white southerners to move on with their lives and concentrate on rebuilding their shattered region.
B) It made southerners angrier towards blacks and more convinced that slavery was just.
C) It romanticized the Civil War conflict.
D) It was a historical rationalization that enabled believers to hope for a better future.

Answer 2

It made southerners angrier towards blacks and more convinced that slavery was just.

Question 3

During his travels across the United States after the Civil War, Mark Twain observed that:

A) people of the South discussed the war far more often than people in the North.
B) northerners had made the memory of the war the center of their sociopolitical lives.
C) Americans across the nation acted as if the Civil War had never happened.
D) southerners were so bitter about the war's outcome that they wouldn't discuss it.

Answer 3

people of the South discussed the war far more often than people in the North.

Question 4

In the early years of Reconstruction, the Freedmen's Bureau was successful at:

A) permanently securing suffrage for black males.
B) stopping all violence committed against ex-slaves.
C) reducing black illiteracy by roughly 20 percent.
D) convincing southern whites to accept the Wade-Davis Bill.

Question 5

General Sherman's Field Order No. 15 gave hope to blacks because it:

A) set aside plots of southern land for distribution.
B) guaranteed all ex-slaves the right to a free education.
C) established voting rights for black males in the South.
D) indicated that segregation was unconstitutional.

Question 6

Ownership of land by blacks was highest in:

A) the Upper South, especially Virginia.
B) poorer areas of the Lower South.
C) the area known as the "Cotton Belt" during 1820-1865.
D) areas that had not experienced battles during the Civil War.

Question 7

After the Civil War, many southern blacks:

A) received job training through federal programs.
B) voted for Democrats in national elections.
C) migrated to southern cities.
D) objected to passage of the Fifteenth Amendment.

Question 8

Sharecropping:

A) did not attract many former slaves.
B) led many blacks into increasing debt.
C) was outlawed by Congress in 1874.
D) did not have the support of state governments in the South.

Question 9

All of the following statements about sharecropping are true EXCEPT:

A) sharecroppers generally gave up 50% of their crop to landlords.
B) it forced southern blacks to be more economically dependent on whites.
C) landlords typically owned stores where tenant farmers had to shop.
D) only blacks were relegated to existence as sharecroppers.

Question 10

The church became the center of black life for all of the following reasons EXCEPT it:

A) allowed them the opportunity to socialize with whites.
B) operated as an educational institution as well.
C) represented visible evidence of the progress blacks had made.
D) gave blacks an opportunity to practice the skills of self-government.

Question 11

Emancipation of the serfs in Russia:

A) occurred decades before slavery ended in the United States.
B) allowed serfs to freely migrate to cities.
C) left most serfs still legally tied to the land.
D) was done during a brief period when Russia had a democratic government.

Question 12

The Wade-Davis Bill was rendered ineffective when:

A) abolitionist leaders withdrew their support for the bill.
B) southern conservatives refused to enact it.
C) radical Republicans rejected the plan as too lenient.
D) President Lincoln used the presidential option of a pocket veto.

Question 13

Which statement would most likely have been said by a radical Republican in 1865?

A) "The Constitution does not grant secession, thus the South has never left the Union."
B) "Northern hypocrisy shall never determine the destiny of the South's future."
C) "The former Confederate states are to be treated as provinces conquered in war."
D) "It is with no malice in our hearts that we welcome the return of our southern brothers."

Question 14

President Johnson's Reconstruction plan included all of the following proposals EXCEPT:

A) restoration of property rights to southerners who pledged allegiance to the Union.
B) requiring wealthier southerners to petition the president for a pardon.
C) the insistence that restored property rights did not include the revival of slavery.
D) the extension of voting rights to all black males, 21 or older, in the South.

Question 15

The immediate response to President Johnson's Reconstruction plan included:

A) opposition by the majority of northern Democrats.
B) resistance by white southerners to various provisions.
C) the loss of Johnson's reputation as a moderate.
D) the call for elections in which southern blacks voted.

Question 16

Republicans in Congress became infuriated when:

A) President Johnson took a tough stand against wealthy southerners.
B) southern states enacted laws that restricted freedom for blacks.
C) abolitionists lobbied for black male suffrage.
D) they lost control of the House of Representatives in 1866.

Question 17

The first United States president to be impeached in the House of Representatives was:

A) John Adams.
B) Andrew Jackson.
C) Andrew Johnson.
D) Bill Clinton.

Question 18

Congress successfully managed to override President Johnson's veto of:

A) the Thirteenth Amendment.
B) the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
C) the American Equal Rights Act.
D) the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

Question 19

Which statement about the Fourteenth Amendment is NOT true?

A) It guaranteed all citizens equality before the law.
B) It strengthened the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
C) It was opposed by President Johnson.
D) It guaranteed all males the right to vote.

Question 20

The radical Republicans' goals for Reconstruction included all of the following EXCEPT:

A) the South's recognition of the consequences of defeat.
B) the securing of the freedmen's right to vote.
C) stopping southern states from reentering the Union.
D) attempting to strengthen the Republican Party in the South.

Question 21

The Tenure of Office Act attempted to:

A) dismantle state governments in the Lower South.
B) stop the nomination of Ulysses S. Grant for president.
C) guarantee the election of Republicans in the North.
D) weaken the powers of the president.

Question 22

The winner of the 1868 presidential election was:

A) Rutherford B. Hayes.
B) Andrew Johnson.
C) Horatio Seymour.
D) Ulysses S. Grant.

Question 23

The Fifteenth Amendment:

A) gave Congress the power to remove presidential cabinet members.
B) officially ended slavery in the United States.
C) established new rules for the readmission of southern states.
D) guaranteed the right of American men to vote.

Question 24

Which of the following was/were most conciliatory to the desires of white Southerners to deny rights and privileges to blacks?

A) President Johnson
B) radical Republicans
C) moderate Republicans
D) abolitionists

Question 25

Some southerners were drawn to the Republican Party because:

A) the Republicans were not serious about supporting black suffrage.
B) the Democratic Party had little support among southern whites.
C) they were attracted to the party's emphasis on economic development.
D) radical Republicans in Congress offered moderate calls for reform.

Question 26

White southerners used the term carpetbaggers to describe:

A) ex-slaves who moved to southern cities.
B) southerners who supported the Union.
C) powerful northerners who lived in the South.
D) Republican leaders in the United States Congress.

Question 27

In the Reconstruction South, African-Americans were an influential voice in:

A) implementing the reforms of the Republican Party.
B) opposing the Tenure of Office Act.
C) achieving universal desegregation of public schools.
D) the restructured Democratic Party.

Question 28

The Colored Monitor Union club was:

A) an organized confederation of northern black religious leaders.
B) organized for blacks to have an alternative to the Republican Party.
C) a strong voice in favor of universal manhood suffrage.
D) a major supporter of separate but equal facilities.

Question 29

In the period 1869-1873, the state government of Mississippi succeeded in:

A) reducing the state's budgetary debt.
B) their efforts to segregate all public facilities.
C) passing education, judicial, and public health reforms.
D) opposing federal amendments to the Constitution.

Question 30

Which statement about black voters in the South during Reconstruction is NOT true?

A) Voter turnout in the black community was impressively high.
B) Ulysses S. Grant was elected president with great support from blacks.
C) The Democratic Party benefited from the increase in black voters.
D) Black voters were successful at electing many blacks to state offices.

Question 31

Southern Democrats realized they could regain their dominance of local power by:

A) cooperating with legislatures controlled by the Republicans.
B) supporting the candidacy of Ulysses S. Grant.
C) making alliances with carpetbaggers and scalawags.
D) manipulating racial tensions.

Question 32

The Liberal Republicans of the early 1870s:

A) splintered their party and weakened Reconstruction policies.
B) strengthened the national dominance of the Republican Party.
C) called for more radical democratic reforms in the South.
D) rejected ideas that espoused the "scientific" superiority of whites.

Question 33

Which statement about the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction is NOT true?

A) Republican governors never created policies that resulted in the arrest of members.
B) They attempted to stop blacks from using their right to vote.
C) Blacks and whites who supported democratic reforms were attacked by members.
D) Their acts of terrorism caused Republicans in the U.S. Congress to pass anti-Klan laws.

Question 34

"Scientific racism" was characterized in the 1870s by all of the following ideas EXCEPT:

A) the belief that minority voters were responsible for supporting corrupt officials.
B) the belief that blacks and immigrants were not capable of understanding democracy.
C) the belief that blacks and immigrants controlled both houses of the U.S. Congress.
D) the belief that government could do nothing to curb the inferiority of some people.

Question 35

In the presidential election of 1872, Ulysses S. Grant defeated the former Republican:

A) Charles Sumner.
B) Horace Greeley.
C) Samuel Tilden.
D) Horatio Seymour.

Question 36

A long-lasting legacy of the ideas of the Redeemers was:

A) the commitment to achieving civil rights for all minorities.
B) the establishment of the "solid South" as a Republican stronghold.
C) the fostering of antagonistic race relations throughout the South.
D) the promotion of pro-Union versions of the Civil War.

Question 37

To challenge the state's Republican government in Louisiana, a group of elite Democrats in New Orleans organized a military organization called:

A) Redeemers.
B) Anti-Reconstructionists.
C) the White League.
D) none of the above

Question 38

Of the following, which one is NOT listed as something that worked in the Democrats' favor in the election of 1876?

A) the scandals of the Grant administration
B) the background and experience of Samuel J. Tilden
C) northern weariness with southern Republican governments
D) persisting economic depression

Question 39

Which statement best summarizes the outcome of the election of 1876?

A) The Republicans traded the presidency in exchange for railroad monopolies.
B) The Democrats failed to win because Tilden was an unpopular candidate.
C) The South exchanged the presidency in favor of more local autonomy.
D) Northern apathy resulted in the victory of a southern Democrat.

Question 40

Who were the main candidates in the presidential election of 1876?

A) Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley
B) Horace Greeley and Rutherford B. Hayes
C) Samuel Tilden and Ulysses S. Grant
D) Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden

Question 41

The significant outcome of the presidential election of 1876 was that it:

A) marked an end of the federal government's commitment to Reconstruction reforms.
B) signaled the beginning of an era in which the Democrats dominated the White House.
C) rallied the forces of radical reform in the Republican Party.
D) established that southern state laws would not be tolerated by the federal government.

Question 42

In the 1876 election, Samuel J. Tilden ran strongest in the:

A) West.
B) Midwest.
C) Northeast.
D) South.

Question 43

In his book, The Facts of Reconstruction, John R. Lynch argued that:

A) the South had been victimized by an avaricious North.
B) the election of 1876 betrayed the state governments of the South.
C) Reconstruction governments in the South achieved many democratic goals.
D) the "bayonet rule" by the North was the personification of injustice during Reconstruction.

Question 44

In the post-Reconstruction period:

A) blacks in the South were relegated to second-class citizenship.
B) segregation was established and reinforced in all northern and southern cities.
C) the Republican Party increased its efforts to guarantee equality for blacks.
D) southern blacks went to desegregated schools, but were segregated in all other areas.

Question 45

The _________ Amendment protected blacks' right to vote.

A) Thirteenth
B) Fourteenth
C) Fifteenth
D) Sixteenth

Question 46

Overall, regarding Reconstruction constitutional amendments and laws, the Supreme Court in the latter part of the nineteenth century:

A) upheld them to the letter.
B) gave them strong support.
C) refused to rule on them.
D) interpreted them in ways detrimental to blacks.

Question 47

In United States v. Cruikshank, the Supreme Court:

A) upheld all convictions in the Colfax Massacre.
B) held that the Enforcement Act applied to individuals.
C) held that the Enforcement Act applied to states.
D) essentially overturned the Thirteenth Amendment.

Question 48

In the Slaughterhouse cases of 1873, the Supreme Court ruled that:

A) northern meat-packing factories were guilty of discriminatory hiring practices.
B) sharecropping liens were unconstitutional.
C) the Enforcement Acts could no longer be used in the South.
D) states, and not the federal government, determined citizenship rights.

Question 49

Legacies of Reconstruction in the South included all of the following EXCEPT:

A) a hopeful beginning, but disappointing outcomes for African-Americans.
B) a foundation of reform that would be built upon by later generations of blacks.
C) breaking the rigid social hierarchy that existed among southern whites.
D) the beginning of a long period of segregation in the South.

Question 50

Which headline would have appeared in 1876?

A) "Hayes, Tilden Outcome Stalled in Contested Deadlock"
B) "Congress Passes Act in Effort to Stop Klan"
C) "Constitutional Amendment Gives Suffrage Rights to Ex-Slaves"
D) "Grant Steamrolls to Easy Second-Term Victory"

Question 51

Which event happened last?

A) Field Order No. 15 was issued.
B) The Supreme Court nullified the Enforcement Act.
C) Southern blacks voted, in large numbers, for Ulysses S. Grant.
D) The Fourteenth Amendment was passed by Congress.

Question 52

What is the correct order of presidential succession?

A) Grant, Johnson, Hayes
B) Johnson, Hayes, Grant
C) Grant, Hayes, Johnson
D) Johnson, Grant, Hayes

Question 53

In which year did "Liberal Republicans" in Congress have the most power?

A) 1866
B) 1869
C) 1874
D) 1884

Question 54

Which event happened last?

A) Congress passed its second Civil Rights Act.
B) Radical Republicans moved to oust President Johnson from office.
C) Republican civil rights advocate Charles Sumner died.
D) The Ku Klux Klan emerged as a force of terror in the South.

Question 55

In what year was the Southern Homestead Act passed?

A) 1866
B) 1869
C) 1871
D) 1873

Question 56

Which event happened first?

A) President Johnson impeached
B) Colfax Massacre
C) Fifteenth Amendment ratified
D) Ku Klux Klan founded

Question 57

What accomplishments did the Freedmen's Bureau make during Reconstruction?

Question 58

In what ways did southerners and northerners differ in expressing their memories of the Civil War?

Question 59

During Reconstruction, what factors made the Republican Party a powerful force in all national elections?

Question 60

What laws and amendments were passed by Congress in its effort to extend the parameters of democracy during Reconstruction?

Question 61

Historians are divided in opinion regarding Reconstruction's events and outcomes. What do you feel were the events that best expressed the Reconstruction period? Why do you feel Reconstruction reforms were ended in 1877?

Question 62

What factors accounted for the rise of the Republican Party in the South, and then the reemergence of the Democratic Party as the dominant power in the South?

Question 63

Describe how powerful whites in the South regained their position as political and economic elites.

Question 64

Many historians feel that both the promise and disappointment of Reconstruction provided the foundation for the next 100 years of race relations in the South. In what ways is this idea true?