Question 1

Which of the following is true about the Radical-dominated Reconstruction Congress?

Accepted Answer

A)   The central focus of its program was to protect the land rights of blacks.
B)   It sought to build Republican Party support in the South by winning the black vote and curtailing the power of the planter class.
C)   Its influence grew when Johnson's vetoes drove moderates into the Democratic Party.
D)   Its influence waned when northern voters repudiated Radical congressmen at the polls in 1866. B

Question 2

What is true about southern economic redevelopment?

Accepted Answer

A)   Northerners known as "scalawags" came south to exploit the South's economic vulnerability.
B)   Republican-dominated Reconstruction governments sought to encourage southern industry.
C)   Unlike the North, southern governments became notorious for corruption, which explains the skyrocketing public debt.
D)   One success of the postwar South was in laying as much railroad track as the rest of the nation combined. B

Question 3

Some northerners wished to provide for a distribution of southern lands to former slaves. Describe that plan and the fate it met. Do you think Reconstruction might have had a chance of succeeding without some form of land redistribution? Why or why not?

Accepted Answer

During Reconstruction, some northerners proposed a plan to provide for the distribution of southern lands to former slaves. This plan, known as "40 acres and a mule," called for the redistribution of land confiscated from Confederate landowners to freedmen. The idea was to provide former slaves with a means of economic independence and a stake in the post-war economy.

However, this plan ultimately met with resistance and was never fully implemented. President Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, revoked the order to distribute land to former slaves and returned the land to its original owners. This decision, along with the overall failure to implement land redistribution, left many freedmen without economic opportunities and perpetuated their dependence on the plantation owners.

Without some form of land redistribution, Reconstruction faced significant challenges in achieving long-term success. The lack of economic opportunities for freedmen meant that they were often forced to return to work on plantations under conditions similar to slavery. This perpetuated the cycle of poverty and limited their ability to fully participate in American society as equal citizens.

In essence, land redistribution was a crucial component for the success of Reconstruction. It would have provided former slaves with economic independence, the ability to build wealth, and a stake in the future of the South. Without this fundamental change in the economic structure of the South, Reconstruction was unlikely to succeed in truly transforming the lives of freedmen and ensuring their full rights as citizens.

Question 4

The North interpreted black codes as

Accepted Answer

A)   evidence that the South sought to keep freedmen in an economically dependent and legally inferior status.
B)   evidence that the South, by granting limited rights such as allowing jury service, was slowly accommodating to an improved status for former slaves.
C)   a realistic solution by the South to the problems created by sudden emancipation.
D)   a dangerous experiment by the South that could lead to social equality for blacks in the North.

Question 5

The Radical Republicans in Congress approached Reconstruction with the conviction that

Accepted Answer

A)   to heal the nation, the South should be treated with generosity and compassion.
B)   to avoid any recurrence of southern resistance, the power of the planter class should be restored, with full land ownership.
C)   to complete the task of the war, slavery must be totally and irrevocably abolished.
D)   to keep faith with the antislavery crusade, the rights of freedmen must include rights for white and black women.

Question 6

What were the black codes? What role did they play in the early stages of Reconstruction?

Accepted Answer

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Question 7

Which of the following most accurately explains the meaning of the refusal of Congress to convict Johnson?

Accepted Answer

A)   Johnson's influence in Congress was increasing.
B)   The power of the Radicals in Congress was waning.
C)   The country's support for Johnson was increasing.
D)   Radicals in Congress feared counteraction by the Supreme Court if they convicted Johnson.

Question 8

During the war, congressional leaders felt that Lincoln's plan ________, so they passed ________.

Accepted Answer

A)   would cost them votes in the North; a program designed to attract white support in the South
B)   ignored the reality of slavery; the Thirteenth Amendment over the president's objections
C)   was too lenient; the more stringent Wade-Davis bill, which Lincoln pocket-vetoed
D)   was acceptable; its essential provisions, but shifted primary responsibility to Congress

Question 9

List three major achievements of the radical governments in the South. Which do you think was the most important, and why?

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Question 10

Consider this statement: "The persistence of racism, in both the North and the South, lay at the heart of Reconstruction's failure."Agree or disagree, and explain why.

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Question 11

For southern whites, the old idea of ________ in master-slave relationships was replaced by ________.

Accepted Answer

A)   close paternalistic ties; the distance of purely economic relationships
B)   religious duty; an ideology of class conflict
C)   terrorizing blacks into submission; artfully persuading them of the wisdom of letting whites govern for them
D)   enforced segregation of the races; more complex and subtle social interactions

Question 12

Explain why four of the following issues were important to freed people after the Civil War: marriage, family, names, travel, labor contracts, and work done by women and children.

Accepted Answer

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Question 13

Describe how everyday life changed for former slaves after emancipation. How did the agricultural system of labor change in the South?

Accepted Answer

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Question 14

Outline the three stages of Reconstruction, providing specific details on each stage of development.

Accepted Answer

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Question 15

Explain the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. How was the act of impeachment legal? How was it illegal?

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Question 16

The chapter introduction tells the story of Benjamin Montgomery to make the point that

Accepted Answer

A)   former slaves who really tried could achieve a measure of prosperity in the postwar South.
B)   Reconstruction clearly hinged on northern rather than southern actions after the war.
C)   Reconstruction was an impossible task, for neither northerners nor southerners wanted African Americans to gain political and economic opportunity.
D)   for former slaves to attain meaningful lives as free citizens, they would need economic power, which in turn required political power.

Question 17

How did the election of Rutherford Hayes, a Republican, signal the end of Reconstruction?

Accepted Answer

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Question 18

According to your text, what two issues lay at the heart of Reconstruction?

Accepted Answer

A)   whether the federal or state government was ultimately sovereign, and whether African Americans or Native Americans were the most oppressed minority group
B)   which party would gain the ascendancy, and how the government could regulate the economy
C)   the future of political and economic power for African Americans, and the future of North-South economic and political relations
D)   rebuilding the North's shattered economy, and restoring the South's shattered society

Question 19

Under new president Andrew Johnson, presidential Reconstruction

Accepted Answer

A)   would implement a harsher program on the South than Lincoln had called for.
B)   adhered substantially to the views of congressional leaders.
C)   made it possible for former high-ranking Confederates to assume positions of power in the reconstructed southern governments.
D)   was never implemented, because Congress passed its own program before Johnson's could go into effect.

Question 20

After emancipation, the most important institutions for African Americans as they tried to establish their own independent family and community life were

Accepted Answer

A)   the Freedmen's Bureau and the Supreme Court.
B)   the black-controlled state legislatures and the land reform program.
C)   the sharecrop system and the black codes.
D)   the schools and the churches.

Exam 17: Reconstructing the Union 1865-1877