EOCT Review Questions: The Civil War and ReconstructionGPS 9 and 10 (#’s 81 – 98)

81. Explain what happened with Dred Scott and his Supreme Court Case.

• 1857, Dred Scott, a slave in Missouri, went into a free territory with his owner to live for 4 years; the owner later returned to Missouri, where he died.

• After his death, Scott sued for his freedom – the Supreme Court ruled that he had no right to sue b/c as a slave, he was not a citizen of the U.S.

• It also declared that a slave owner could not be deprived of his “property” without due process of law.

• The decision struck down the Missouri Compromise b/c it was a violation of the 5th Amendment to declare slaves free of their owners without due process.

• It outraged abolitionists and those in favor of popular sovereignty b/c it suggests slave holders could keep their slaves in any state.

82. What is Popular Sovereignty?

• The will of the majority.•According to the Compromise of 1850, UT and NM, and the people living in these territories would vote on whether or not to allow slavery.

83. Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the failure of popular sovereignty.

• In 1854, this act allowed the previously free and unorganized territories of Kansas and Nebraska to choose whether or not to permit slavery by popular sovereignty. • It effectively repealed the Missouri

Compromise and reignited the slavery debate. • Supporters of slavery and abolitionism rushed

to Kansas to vote, set up rival gov’ts, and the territory became known as “Bleeding Kansas” as armed clashed became common. • It was brutal example of how inflamed

passions had become over the issue of slavery.

84. Who was John Brown and explain a few of his crazy outbursts.

• In Oct., 1859, a group of radical abolitionists led by John Brown attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, VA. • They hoped to seize weapons and give them

to slaves, who could then rise up in armed rebellion. • Their plan failed as troops surrounded the

arsenal and Brown was hanged. • His actions intensified southern resentment

of the abolitionist movement and many saw it as proof that the South would have to shed blood to protect its way of life.

85. Describe President Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

•March 1865, Lincoln expressed both his conviction that slavery was evil and his hope of reuniting the nation once the war was over. • Rather than basking in the glory of what everyone knew would soon be a Union victory, Lincoln expressed his sorrow that so many on both sides had suffered and communicated a vision for rebuilding the South rather than punishing it.

86. Describe President Lincoln’s efforts Gettysburg speech.

• Four months after the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, Lincoln gave his famed speech at a ceremony dedicating a cemetery at the site of the battle. • Although a relatively short speech, it was a powerful affirmation of Lincoln’s desire to see the Union survive and the nation reunited.

87. Why did Lincoln suspend habeas corpus? • Lincoln was glad several salve states

decided to stay with the Union but he realized there were many Confederate supporters in those states. • If Maryland joined the CSA, Washington

would be surrounded by CSA territory. • Concerned that CSA sympathizers would

sway Maryland to secede, Lincoln declared martial law, suspended habeas corpus – the guarantee that a person cannot be imprisoned without being brought before a judge, and jailed the strongest supporters of the Confederacy.

88. Describe the roles of these Civil War Leaders. • Ulysses Grant: command of entire Union Army in 1864;

defeated the South and accepted Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; 18th president of the U.S.

• Robert E. Lee: Command of Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia; won several impressive victories during the war but did not have enough men to sustain the war effort past early 1865; surrendered to Grant.

• “Stonewall” Jackson: CSA general and Lee’s right-hand-man; noted for ability to use geography to his advantage; move impressive move was Battle of Chancellorsville – marched troops 12 miles undetected and attacked Union; died 8 days later after being wounded.

• William T. Sherman: Union General; captured Atlanta in 1864; Most remembered for his “March to the Sea”, in which he burned and destroyed Southern cities and railways to disrupt the Confederate war effort from Atlanta to Savannah

• Jefferson Davis: the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.

89. Explain the importance of these Civil War battles. • Fort Sumter: Union fort at Charleston, SC; Confederate troops

opened fire on the fort after a Union attempt to resupply the fort – April 12, 1861; VA, NC, AR, TN joined the Confederacy

• Antietam: Sept. 17, 1862; bloodiest single day of battle during the Civil War; 22,000+ casualties; halted Confederate advance

• Vicksburg: May 15 – July 4, 1863; last CSA obstacle to total Union control of Mississippi River; Grant laid siege to the city for nearly 2 months; town surrenders on July 4th

• Gettysburg: key turning point in war for the Union; by defeating Lee’s army, it ended any hope of successful Southern invasion of the North; more than 51,000 casualties; bloodiest battle of the Civil War

• Battle for Atlanta: important Southern railway hub and wanted to disrupt Confederate supplies by capturing the city – captured Sept. 2nd, 1864; reignited support for Lincoln in election of 1864; confidence in Union victory was near; “March to Sea”

90. Describe the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.

• Jan. 1, 1863; freed slaves in Confederate states. • Lincoln hoped this order would give the

war a moral focus beyond just saving the Union. • He also hoped to undermine the South’s

reliance on slave labor and ensure support of England and France. • It also encouraged free African

Americans to serve in the Union Army – seeing the battle as one to free their own people from the bonds of slavery.

91. Explain the Northern/Southern Advantages in the Civil War.

• People: the Union had a much larger population = larger army, more people to produce war goods during the conflict; Emancipation Proclamation added to both aspects of Northern population.

• Railroads: The North had more railroads = allowed Union to move supplies more efficiently and quicker than Confederates

• Leadership: Most of the nation’s military colleges were in the South; most officers sided with the Confederacy; all the South had to do was repel a Northern invasion and they were fighting for their home

• Factories/Industrial Output: The Northern economy had much more industry and its factories allowed the Union to produce weapons, ammunition, clothes, blankets, etc. much easier and in greater number than the South.

• Food: the North produced more than twice as much as the South; even though the South’s economy was based on agriculture, it was mainly focused on cotton

SSUSH1092. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction. (Part I)

• Presidential Reconstruction• 1 – Southerners who swore allegiance to the Unions were pardoned (forgiven of any crimes against the United States)• 2 – Former Confederate states could hold constitutional conventions to set up state governments. • 3 – States had to void (cancel) secession and ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which ended slavery throughout the nation. • 4 – Once the 13th Amendment was ratified, states could then hold elections and be part of the Union.

92. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction. (Part II)

• Radical Republican Reconstruction•1 – Southern states were put under military rule. •2 – Southern states had to hold new constitutional conventions. •3 – African Americans were allowed to vote. •4 – Southerners who had supported the Confederacy were not allowed to vote (temporarily). •5 – Southern states had to guarantee equal rights to African Americans. •6 – Southern states had to ratify the 14th Amendment, which made African Americans citizens of each state as well as the nation.

93. What was the goal of the Freedman’s bureau?

• In an effort to help freed slaves, Congress created the Freedman’s Bureau in 1865. • As the first federal relief agency in U.S. history, it provided clothes, medical attention, food, education, and even land to African Americans coming out of slavery. • It ended in 1869 but during its brief time, it helped many slaves transition to freedom throughout the South.

94. Explain the significance of Morehouse College. • In 1867, a group of ministers joined forces to help

found a school to train African American men to be ministers and/or teachers.

• The school eventually became Atlanta Baptist Seminary and, later, Atlanta Baptist College.

• Finally, in 1913, during the tenure of its first African American president, John Hope, the institution changed its name to Morehouse College.

• Morehouse has traditionally been one of the most prestigious African American colleges in the nation.

• It paved the way for higher education among blacks in the years following emancipation.

95. Describe the Civil War Amendments.

• 13th Amendment: ended slavery throughout the nation.

• 14th Amendment: guaranteed that no person, regardless of race, would be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law.

• 15th Amendment: guaranteed that no citizen may be denied the right to vote “by the United States or any state on the account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This amendment had a great impact in the South by guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote in elections.

96. Explain Black Codes, the Ku Klux Klan, and other forms of resistance to racial equality during Reconstruction. • Black Codes: Passed under Presidential Reconstruction; laws that

limited the rights of freed African Americans so much that they basically kept them living like slaves – curfews which made it illegal for them to gather after sunset; could be whipped or sold into forced labor if convicted of vagrancy; often restricted to renting land only in rural areas

• Ku Klux Klan (KKK): a secretive organization whose members often dressed in hooded white robes, the Klan used violence, murder, and threats to intimidate African Americans and those who favored giving them equal rights; practiced “lynchings” – mob initiated murders in which the victim is kidnapped and murdered.

• Southern resentment of “carpetbaggers” – northerners who came to the South to do business and profited off Reconstruction.

• Scalawags were another hated group; southern Republicans who supported Reconstruction; Southern newspapers often published their names to ensure persecution from southerners and groups like the KKK

97. Explain the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in relationship to Reconstruction.

• The battle b/t Congress & President Johnson came to a head in 1868 when Johnson tried to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton b/c he was closely tied to Radical Republicans. • Such a move violated the “Tenure in Office

Act” and led by Radical Republican, Thaddeus Stevens, Congress voted to impeach Johnson. • On May 16, 1868, the Senate voted to

spare Johnson’s presidency by one vote.

98. How did the Compromise of 1877 mark the end of Reconstruction? • After a controversial presidential election in 1876,

Democrat finally agreed to give the presidency to the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, in exchange for Washington loosening its grip on the Southern states.

• African Americans soon lost whatever political position they gained in the years following emancipation.

• Southern states passed Jim Crow laws, avoided the 15th Amendment with literacy tests or poll taxes in order to vote, and grandfather clauses – clauses that exempted citizens from restrictions on voting if they, or their ancestors, had voted in previous elections or served in the Confederate army or navy.

• Such measures limited the impact of African Americans in southern politics for decades and helped maintain the “Solid South”.