Deck 14: A New Birth of Freedom: the Civil War, 1861-1865

Question 1

As a general, what was George McClellan's biggest contribution to the Union's ultimate victory?

A) He molded the Army of the Potomac into an effective fighting force.
B) He led the Union to a major victory at Gettysburg.
C) He saved lives by limiting the amount of troops used during battles.
D) His sizing up of Confederate forces before a battle.

Answer 1

He molded the Army of the Potomac into an effective fighting force.

Question 2

At the first Battle of Bull Run:

A) spectators from the city came with picnic baskets 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.

Answer 2

spectators from the city came with picnic baskets to watch.

Question 3

What did fighting a defensive war mean for the Confederates?

A) The Confederate soldiers could sleep in their own beds at night.
B) It was a strategy that Robert E. Lee did not agree to use.
C) Since the weapon technology was basically equal, it was an advantage for the Confederates.
D) This strategy did not work because the Union used the same defensive tactics.

Answer 3

Since the weapon technology was basically equal, it was an advantage for the Confederates.

Question 4

Which Union general in Missouri decreed freedom to that state's slaves in 1861, a year before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

A) George McClellan.
B) John Frémont.
C) Phil Sheridan.
D) William Sherman.

Question 5

Monitor and Merrimac were:

A) ironclad ships.
B) steam locomotives.
C) battle sites in Virginia.
D) nicknames of Generals Grant and Lee.

Question 6

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 Union's river fleet proved crucial to the outcome.

Question 7

The example of German immigrant Marcus Spiegel demonstrated that:

A) freedom motivated the immigration of Irish immigrants, but German immigrants of the mid-nineteenth century came to the United States in pursuit of economic success.
B) the significant Jewish population in the United States was ambivalent about the issues that caused the Civil War.
C) the views of average Americans evolved considerably during the course of the Civil War.
D) Democrats were unwilling to go to war with a Republican president in the White House.

Question 8

Gettysburg Address (1863)
Abraham Lincoln
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
One goal of the Gettysburg Address was to

A) speak out against the evils of the Confederacy.
B) explain the significance of the Civil War for the future of the nation.
C) remind soldiers that their families will be looked after during the Civil War.
D) explain the Union strategy for concluding the war.

Question 9

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.

Question 10

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.

Question 11

The last nation in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery was:

A) the United States.
B) Cuba.
C) Brazil.
D) Haiti.

Question 12

Among the Confederacy's advantages during the Civil War was:

A) that its rail network was more advanced than the Union's.
B) its large size, which made it more difficult for the Union to conquer.
C) that the Lower South had long had significant manufacturing facilities.
D) that its military-aged white male population was slightly larger than the Union's.

Question 13

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.

Question 14

When did Great Britain abolish slavery in its empire?

A) 1790s.
B) 1810s.
C) 1830s.
D) 1850s.

Question 15

What was the most important piece of technology during the Civil War?

A) Primitive hand grenade.
B) Ironclad ship.
C) Observation balloon.
D) Rifle

Question 16

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.

Question 17

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.

Question 18

Approximately how many Union and Confederate soldiers died during the Civil War?

A) 110,000.
B) 245,000.
C) 440,000.
D) 750,000.

Question 19

The major Confederate army in the East, commanded by Robert E. Lee, was called the Army of:

A) the Rappahannock.
B) Northern Virginia.
C) Southern Maryland.
D) the Chesapeake.

Question 20

Gettysburg Address (1863)
Abraham Lincoln
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Why does Lincoln invoke the American Revolution in his opening sentence?

A) to compare the dead at Gettysburg to the patriots of the American Revolution
B) to remind listeners of the nation's relative youth compared to other nations
C) to explain the ideals at stake in the current war
D) to explain the role of slavery in the American Revolution

Question 21

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.

Question 22

Colonel John Chivington is remembered for:

A) becoming a martyr when tortured and killed by Sioux warriors.
B) leading an attack that killed perhaps 400 Indian men, women, and children.
C) his refusal to surrender his Confederate troops until weeks after Lee's final surrender.
D) organizing a band of pro-Union Creek Indians who fought bravely at Vicksburg.

Question 23

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.

Question 24

What resulted from the completion of the first transcontinental railroad?

A) The Civil War ended sooner.
B) Various Indian tribes sabotaged it by destroying several railroad junctions.
C) Lincoln was the first president to travel across the country.
D) The amount of time to travel across the country dramatically decreased.

Question 25

After comparing the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, what conclusion can be made?

A) Lincoln appeared more indecisive.
B) Davis benefited from attending the military academy.
C) Lincoln learned from his past experiences as a slaveholder.
D) Lincoln was pragmatic in his decision making.

Question 26

Lincoln's 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 building up American industry.
D) allowed for African-Americans to achieve freedom because they already lived in the United States but did not extend to immigrants.

Question 27

What did the Morrill Land Grant College Act establish?

A) It helped create colleges.
B) It gave free land to white settlers.
C) It sped up the process of naturalization for immigrants.
D) It allowed women the opportunity to apply to men's colleges.

Question 28

Lincoln spoke of "a new birth of freedom" for the nation in his:

A) Gettysburg Address.
B) Second inaugural address.
C) Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
D) Sanitary Commission speech.

Question 29

During the Civil War, black soldiers:

A) did nothing to dispel racial prejudice with their performance.
B) were mostly northern-born free blacks.
C) performed the same duties as white soldiers from the outset, but at lower pay.
D) helped inspire Republicans to believe that emancipation also demanded equal rights before the law.

Question 30

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) a northern politician banished to the Confederacy.

Question 31

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.

Question 32

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.

Question 33

The Civil War proved to be disastrous for which noncombatants?

A) Slaves in Maryland.
B) Slaves in South Carolina.
C) Iroquois.
D) Navajos.

Question 34

Besides preserving the Union, how else has Lincoln's legacy lived on in today's America?

A) Through an executive order, he gave ex-slaves the right to votey.
B) He brought harmony between the races.
C) He overcame regional differences to build a new nation-state.
D) He encouraged African-Americans to convert to Christianity.

Question 35

How would the service of African-American soldiers in the Civil War best be categorized?

A) They were treated as equals.
B) Many served, but they did not help in the Union war effort.
C) Few African-American soldiers served, so it is difficult to judge.
D) They were treated unfairly.

Question 36

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.

Question 37

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 Richmond's surrender.
D) a regiment that was fully integrated, with noncommissioned black and white soldiers fighting side-by-side.

Question 38

Starting in 1863, why did Frederick Douglas believe that African-Americans should serve as soldiers in the Union army?

A) They needed to take ownership of their freedom.
B) They were better equipped physically to fight.
C) They needed a paying job.
D) It was the best way to gain revenge on slaveholders.

Question 39

During the first two years of his presidency, what was a facet of Abraham Lincoln's slavery policy?

A) He said slavery was the impetus for the Civil War.
B) He experimented with the colonization of freed slaves near Haiti.
C) He urged Union commanders to start emancipating slaves immediately.
D) He said there should be no compensation of slaveowners in Union states like Missouri.

Question 40

Lincoln's 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.

Question 41

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) Slaveowning Indians generally supported the Confederacy.
D) Treating Indian tribes as fully independent nations, the Confederacy sent ambassadors to the Five Civilized Tribes.

Question 42

Captains of industry like steel magnate Andrew Carnegie and oil man John D. Rockefeller:

A) began creating or consolidating their fortunes during the Civil War.
B) benefited after the war from the respect their military service earned for them.
C) became important advisers to President Lincoln.
D) voluntarily provided important resources to the war effort.

Question 43

What was ironic about the Confederate government?

A) This new centralized government became stronger than the national government had been before the war.
B) The leadership found little need for slaves doing fieldwork during the war.
C) The Confederacy openly encouraged other countries to grow cotton.
D) Jefferson Davis led troops into battle.

Question 44

In July 1863, the Union won two key victories that are often identified as turning points in the war. These victories occurred at:

A) Wilmington, North Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana.
B) Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Vicksburg, Mississippi.
C) Lexington, Kentucky, and Charleston, South Carolina.
D) Antietam Creek, Maryland, and Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

Question 45

Which of the following is true of Jefferson Davis and his governing?

A) Although Davis had a poor prewar reputation as an orator, his speechmaking rose to new heights as the Confederacy's president.
B) His administration actually suffered from the Confederacy's lack of political parties.
C) He had Lincoln's common touch, but the lack of newspapers in the South reduced his ability to communicate it.
D) He strongly opposed centralizing authority in the Confederacy's Richmond government.

Question 46

What caused economic problems for the Confederacy?

A) Within the first year of the war, a majority of slaves refusing to do work.
B) The abundance of food and cotton creating a buyer's market.
C) The issuing of paper money.
D) An influx of immigrants creating high unemployment.

Question 47

"Greenback" was a Civil War-era nickname for:

A) sailors.
B) draft dodgers.
C) members of the Irish Brigade.
D) paper money.

Question 48

What was a result of the expanding Union economy?

A) The government borrowed great amounts of money from overseas.
B) The protective tariff decreased, bringing with it free trade.
C) The size and spending of the government increased tremendously.
D) The Union could buy the freedom of many slaves in the Confederacy.

Question 49

What was the spark for a deadly riot in New York in 1863?

A) Food shortages.
B) A military draft.
C) Peace negotiations with the South.
D) Irish immigrants being asked not to serve.

Question 50

The U.S. Sanitary Commission:

A) was the first major organization to be run entirely by women.
B) raised money for the families of soldiers on both sides.
C) coordinated war donations on the northern home front.
D) was the nation's first garbage collection agency.

Question 51

"King Cotton diplomacy" led Great Britain to:

A) find new supplies of cotton outside the South.
B) recognize the independence of the Confederate States of America.
C) repudiate the Emancipation Proclamation.
D) use its warships to break the Union blockade.

Question 52

What role did slaves play with the Confederate army?

A) Robert E. Lee asked for slave soldiers at the beginning of the war.
B) Slaves willingly took up arms and served for the Confederates.
C) The Confederate government never officially recruited slaves as soldiers.
D) Numerous slaves worked as laborers for the Confederate military.

Question 53

What happened to Cherokee slaveholders after the Civil War?

A) They were slaughtered.
B) They were forced to leave the United States.
C) They were forced to give former slaves some of their land.
D) They were forced to march to Oklahoma.

Question 54

When facing a food shortage on the Confederate home front, southern wives did what?

A) Most times, they abandoned their family farms.
B) They sold their children into slavery so that at least they would be fed.
C) They petitioned the government in large numbers for relief.
D) They forced the slaves to steal food from a neighbor.

Question 55

Who lobbied for the United States to endorse the First Geneva Convention of 1864?

A) Clara Barton.
B) Elizabeth Van Lew.
C) Zebulon Vance.
D) Bret Harte.

Question 56

During the Civil War, northern white women:

A) staged "bread riots" in major cities to protest food shortages.
B) began obtaining jobs as government clerks.
C) were recruited to sell war bonds door-to-door.
D) were allowed to accompany their husbands into battle if they did not have children.

Question 57

How can the treatment of Native Americans by the Confederacy be characterized?

A) They were given access to millions of acres of land.
B) They were ignored by Jefferson Davis.
C) They received scorn from the Confederacy due to some Native Americans siding with the Union.
D) They were given a say in the Confederate government.

Question 58

Rose Greenhow:

A) was president of the American National Red Cross.
B) worked as a nurse in the Union army.
C) was a Confederate spy in Washington, D.C.
D) was a Union soldier who hid her gender from the troops.

Question 59

Copperheads were:

A) what Republicans called northern opponents of the war.
B) supporters of minting more copper coins to inflate the currency.
C) advocates of creating the Third Bank of the United States.
D) southern whites who opposed the Confederacy.

Question 60

By analyzing the New York City draft riots, what can be determined about the Civil War?

A) The draft was efficient in signing up soldiers.
B) The German immigrants were unhappiest about the war.
C) The riots helped bring an end to the Civil War.
D) The Civil War was a rich man's war and a poor man's fight.

Question 61

Evaluate the extent to which African-Americans and women contributed to the Civil War and its outcome.

Question 62

Which September 1864 event helped Lincoln win reelection as president that November?

A) Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.
B) The Confederate surrender of Savannah.
C) Sherman's capture of Atlanta.
D) McClellan's rout of the Confederates at Seven Pines.

Question 63

Why was Vicksburg essential?

A) Capturing the city allowed the Union to control the entire Mississippi River.
B) Stonewall Jackson lost his life here.
C) It served as a gateway to the Appalachian Mountains.
D) Before the Civil War, the port in this city had shipped more cotton than any other.

Question 64

In the May and June 1864 battles in Virginia (between the armies of Grant and Lee):

A) the Union army was forced to retreat down the peninsula in defeat.
B) Lee's brutality earned him the nickname "the Butcher."
C) the Confederates launched the heroic but unsuccessful Pickett's Charge.
D) the Union army, despite high casualties, pressed forward in its campaign.

Question 65

General Sherman marched from Atlanta to the sea in order to:

A) link up with Grant's army.
B) engage Lee in battle.
C) demoralize the South's civilian population.
D) secure Richmond for the Union.

Question 66

The Thirteenth Amendment:

A) abolished slavery throughout the United States.
B) was strongly supported by Democrats in 1864.
C) set up a gradual plan of emancipation.
D) defined U.S. citizenship to include African-Americans.

Question 67

In his last speech, Lincoln said what regarding postwar policy?

A) Democracy demanded that African-Americans should play leading roles in southern politics.
B) Southern whites would never concede defeat, so Reconstruction must be mild.
C) He would defer to Radical Republicans in Congress.
D) There should be at least limited black suffrage.

Question 68

The Union's manpower advantage over the Confederacy:

A) was short-lived once the Confederacy began using slaves as soldiers.
B) proved essential for the success of Grant's attrition strategy.
C) was rather slight.
D) although substantial, did not matter in determining the war's outcome.

Question 69

The Wade-Davis Bill in 1864:

A) received strong support from congressional Democrats but not from Republicans.
B) called for at least two-thirds of a southern state's voters to take a loyalty oath.
C) showed Radical Republicans' frustration with Lincoln's Reconstruction plan.
D) was the model for Lincoln's later Ten-Percent Plan.

Question 70

How was Ulysses Grant received in Europe during his tour in the 1870s?

A) He was regarded as a mediocre military leader.
B) He was praised as a "Hero of Freedom."
C) He was heralded as greater than Lincoln.
D) He was criticized widely for his "war of attrition."

Question 71

Rehearsals for Reconstruction during the Civil War demonstrated that:

A) African-Americans were so used to slavery, they would work only when forced to do so.
B) the main aspiration of former slaves was the ownership of their own land.
C) African-Americans were willing to sign contracts forcing them to labor if they were treated more fairly than they had been under slavery.
D) former slaves would not work for wages, only for land.

Question 72

What separated Grant from the other Union generals who commanded the Army of the Potomac?

A) Grant was the only one who went to the U.S. military academy.
B) The other generals were or had been slaveholders.
C) Grant was willing to wage a war of attrition.
D) The other generals had more respect and trust from Abraham Lincoln.

Question 73

What could be one possible reason that Robert E. Lee invaded the North in 1863?

A) He hoped to deliver a knockout blow to the Union.
B) He wanted to control some northern factories.
C) He wanted revenge for Stonewall Jackson's death.
D) Gettysburg was a significant railroad junction.

Question 74

Frederick Douglass viewed the abolition of slavery as:

A) not the end of the nation's work, but the beginning of a new phase of it.
B) the crowning achievement of his life.
C) proof that the nation really did not suffer from racial prejudice.
D) confirmation that Lincoln deserved to be remembered as a Christ-like martyr.

Question 75

Besides ending slavery, the Civil War had what result?

A) The government ignored the rights of African-Americans.
B) It increased the power of small landowning farmers and shopkeepers.
C) Northern capitalists and industrialists came to dominate on the national scene, taking power away from the former southern slaveholder.
D) It greatly expanded the powers of the presidency.

Question 76

In the middle of the war, what did Lincoln hope to accomplish with his Ten-Percent Plan of Reconstruction?

A) He wanted to weaken the cause of the radical abolitionists.
B) He wanted rich slaveowners to pay 10 percent of their family wealth to the federal government in return for amnesty.
C) He hoped 10 percent of the southern slaves would be freed automatically in all of the Confederate states.
D) He sought to expand slavery in Mississippi and lessen it in Missouri.

Question 77

Lincoln's second inaugural address:

A) blamed the South for the war.
B) described the Civil War as divine punishment.
C) blamed the North for the war.
D) proved to be his final speech.

Question 78

The "Sea Island Experiment" refers to:

A) northern reformers' efforts to assist former slaves with the transition to freedom.
B) the Confederacy's trial use of slaves as soldiers along the South Carolina coast.
C) a U.S. government plan to introduce advanced technology to southern farming in order to decrease the need for slaves.
D) the unsuccessful effort of General Ulysses Grant to allow former slaves to run their own farms in Mississippi.

Question 79

Evaluate the extent to which the election of Abraham Lincoln marked a turning point in United States history, analyzing what changed and what stayed the same from the period before his election to the period after it.