Booklet 3 Results of Civil War

Question 1

1. What is the federal government in American politics?

Answer 1

This is the central government that sits in Washington DC. They have power over issues the affect the whole country like war, foreign policy, currency and trade.

Question 2

2. What are the state governments in American politics?

Answer 2

These are the governments of each state. They have power over issues that affect their state such as education, public safety, death penalty and local government.

Question 3

3. Why was federal vs state power an issue when banning slavery?

Answer 3

The southern states argued that the federal government did not have the power to ban slavery if the state governments did not agree.

Question 4

4. How did the federal government ban slavery if the southern states did not agree?

Answer 4

The federal government passed a series of acts or laws that forced

Question 5

5. What was the 13th Amendment?

Answer 5

Slavery would be banned, Congress (government in Washington) had the power to enforce this law, southern states would not be allowed back in the union if they did not agree.

Question 6

6. The southern states introduced a series of laws after 1865 that were not equal, e.g. interracial marriage was banned. What were these called?

Answer 6

The Black Codes

Question 7

7. What was the aim of the 14th Amendment passed in 1868?

Answer 7

All people born in the USA are citizens of the USA and the state that they live in. Citizens should have equal rights.

Question 8

8. Why could Congress NOT force the southern states to give African Americans the vote?

Answer 8

Voting and elections are state powers, not federal.

Question 9

9. What was the aim of the 15th Amendment passes in 1870?

Answer 9

It became illegal for voting to be denied based on race. Southern states found loopholes, like giving literacy tests to voters. Most ex slaves could not read.

Question 10

10.What was the period directly after the war called?

Answer 10

Reconstruction

Question 11

11. When was President Lincoln assassinated?

Answer 11

14th April 1865

Question 12

12. Why did the new president, Andrew Johnson, pardon 13,000 Confederate soldiers?

Answer 12

President Johnson was hoping to get the South back into the union as soon as possible, so wanted to get supporters.

Question 13

13. What did the Reconstruction Act of 1867 do to the South?

Answer 13

This law reorganised the south into 5 districts, each run by a general.

Question 14

14. What does it mean if the President VETOES an act?

Answer 14

Presidents can stop an act becoming a law and force Congress to review the act. Congress can revote and overrule the President.

Question 15

15. Why did President Johnson VETO the 14th Amendment?

Answer 15

President Johnson thought that the south would never agree to give ex slaves rights and would therefore refuse to re-join the union.

Question 16

16. By what year were all the Southern states finally readmitted to the union?

Answer 16

1870

Question 17

17. How did black southerners overcome the Black Codes so that they could vote?

Answer 17

Getting an education. If they could pass the literacy tests, they would be able to vote. Many Baptist Churches set up schools for black southerners.

Question 18

18. Who was the first black senator in 1872?

Answer 18

Hiram Revels of Mississippi

Question 19

19. How much money did slave owners lose from the abolition of slavery?

Answer 19

About 2 million dollars in the short term (slaves were property)

Question 20

20. What was sharecropping?

Answer 20

Freed slaves could not afford to buy land, so they worked for landowners (who needed workers) in exchange for a percentage/share of the crops. They got their tools and seeds on credit.(had to be paid back)

Question 21

21. Did sharecropping give freed slaves economic stability?

Answer 21

No, many spent their lives in debt to the landowner or the merchants.

Question 22

22. Who were the EXODUSTERS?

Answer 22

EXODUSTERS were freed slaves that left the south and went west. Some became Homesteaders.

Question 23

23. Did the south’s economy ever recover from the war and abolition of slavery?

Answer 23

No, when production of cotton and tobacco returned to pre-war levels the prices of these goods had fallen, (Europeans could get cheaper products from East Asia). The southern states are amongst the most deprived areas of the USA today.

Question 24

24. Who were nicknamed the CARPET BAGGERS?

Answer 24

These were northerners who came south to take advantage of the problems. For example, they might buy up cheap farms or get contracts rebuilding the railroad that was destroyed during the war. A CARPET BAG is a large bag and Southerners used this nickname to illustrate how these people were filling their bags with riches at the south’s expense.

Question 25

25. What was a SCALLYWAG?

Answer 25

This is not a nice term. White republicans that supported the Union in the war. They abused their roles in the new southern governments to make themselves money.

Question 26

26. Name THREE improvements the republicans made to the South after the war.

Answer 26

State school systems for black southerners, equality before the law, rebuilt infrastructure (roads, railroad, bridges)

Question 27

27. Why did the Republicans eventually lose support in the South by 1877? (3 reasons)

Answer 27

corruption (vote rigging and ballot stuffing corrupted elections), Washington was too busy to help as they were fighting the Indian Wars, KKK growing popularity

Question 28

28. What does the KKK stand for?

Answer 28

Ku Klux Klan. (Ku Klux comes from the term Kuklos which means circle. Klan was added later)

Question 29

29. When and where did the KKK start?

Answer 29

1866 in Tennessee

Question 30

30. Why did the KKK wear white robes and masks?

Answer 30

Many important members of society were in the Klan and they wanted to hide their identity. (Judges, teachers, sheriffs etc.)

Question 31

31. What was the aim of the KKK?

Answer 31

To stop equality for black southerners. They used terrorism to intimidate blacks and white supporters of equality.

Question 32

32. What terror methods did the KKK use?

Answer 32

lynchings (hangings without a trial), kidnapping, murder, beatings, burning crosses on people’s yards, burning bricks through windows.

Question 33

33. Did Washington do anything to stop the KKK?

Answer 33

Washington passed the Enforcement Acts which banned people wearing disguises and made it illegal to intimidate government officials, but it was hard to stop the KKK.

Question 34

34. Was the KKK defeated?

Answer 34

Bad publicity made the KKK unpopular, especially in the north, so they lost influence by the 1870s.

Question 35

35. What was a Homesteader?

Answer 35

These were farmers who took advantage of the free land on offer by the US government on the Plains after 1862.

Question 36

36. Give four reasons why the Homesteaders went west in 1862.

Answer 36

The free land, land was too expensive in the east or Europe, the railroad (finished by 1869) made it easier to travel, advertising by the government and the railroad companies, poverty in the east or Europe, the end of the Civil War (freed slaves and ex soldiers).

Question 37

37. What is the difference between a PUSH and PULL factor in getting people to move west?

Answer 37

Push factors are reasons why they HAD to leave their homes in the east or Europe (e.g. poverty or expensive land) whereas PULL factors are reasons that attracted people to the Plains (e.g. free land)

Question 38

38. Give FOUR reasons why life on the Plains was hard for Homesteaders before 1869.

Answer 38

Water shortages, no resources (food or wood for building), Sioux attacks, dirt and disease, Isolation, extreme weather (very cold/snowy in winter, very hot in summer), insects. The railroad was completed in 1869, so life was a bit easier after that.

Question 39

39. What was a SOD HOUSE?

Answer 39

Homesteaders had to build their houses out of sod (grass/dirt bricks) because there wasn’t any wood on the Plains.

Question 40

40. How were water shortages solved?

Answer 40

Windmills were first used in 1874 by Daniel Halliday. This could pump water from deep under the Plains.

Question 41

41. How did Homesteaders solve the problem of growing suitable crops on the Plains?

Answer 41

Russian immigrants introduced Turkey Red Wheat which grew well on the Plains as the climate was similar to Russia.

Question 42

42. How did Homesteaders stop buffalo or cattle trampling their new crops on the Plains?

Answer 42

Joseph Glidden invented BARBED WIRE in 1874 which could be used to fence off crops. Cheaper than wood.

Question 43

43. What challenges to living on the Plains could not be easily solved by Homesteaders?

Answer 43

Insects like locusts and grasshoppers, grass fires, extremes of weather, hard work

Question 44

44. What was the SOD-BUSTER invented by John Deere?

Answer 44

A strong plough that could cut through the tough grass on the Plains. Still a well known tractor manufacturer today!

Question 45

45. What is the connection between the Homesteaders and the Indian Wars?

Answer 45

Homesteaders came into conflict with the Sioux. They hunted buffalo, put up barned wire fences and kept animals such as sheep that disrupted the buffalo. As their numbers increased, there were more Sioux attacks. ALSO, the US government took a very strict approach to the Sioux in the 1870s, 80s and 90s by using the army to force all Indians onto the Reservations. This was because of the need to protect the increasing number of Homesteaders.