Period 5 Terms

Question 1

Manifest Destiny

Answer 1

Coined by journalist John O’Sullivan in 1845 to describe the belief that it was God’s will for the United States to expand westward to the Pacific Ocean. It also describes a more general expansionism, such as the dispute over the Oregon Territory that Polk campaign on and the U.S. expansion into the Southwest following the Mexican-American War

Question 2

Oregon Trail

Answer 2

Throughout the 1840s, a flood of settlers began traversing the dangerous Oregon Trail. Families traveled up to six months in caravans, covering only about 15 miles per day with good weather. While living on the trail, some women began to run prayer meetings and schools to maintain some vestiges of home. Women also began to take on new roles outside of homemaking and childcare, such as repairing wagon wheels and tending to livestock.

Question 3

Martin Van Buren

Answer 3

Eighth President. Served 1837–1841. Van Buren’s presidency was marred by an economic depression resulting from the policies of his predecessor, Andrew Jackson. The Panic of 1837 dogged his administration.

Question 4

Panic of 1837

Answer 4

A financial crisis that last from 1837 until the mid 1840s. Caused, in part, by Andrew Jackson killing the Bank of the United States and issuing the Specie Circular, the latter of which caused the value of paper money to plummet.

Question 5

Whig Party

Answer 5

The Whig Party was born out of opposition to Jacksonian Democrats. The Whigs favored economic nationalism, a strong central government, and rechartering the national bank. They believed in protectionist measures such as tariffs to support American industrialization. They also promoted Clay’s American System as a way to improve the roads, canals, and infrastructure of the country. The party collapsed over the question of slavery’s expansion into newly acquired territories.

Question 6

William Henry Harrison

Answer 6

Ninth President. Served from March 4 to April 4, 1841, famously dying after 31 days in office. A hero of the War of 1812, specifically the Battle of Tippecanoe, his lively campaign saw the Whigs cart model log cabins to towns and distribute hard cider to boast of Harrison’s “poor” background. His “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too” ticket easily defeated Van Buren in 1840. However, he gave his Inaugural Address on a cold, rainy day and neglected to wear a warm coat. He contracted pneumonia and died.

Question 7

John Tyler

Answer 7

Tenth President. Served April 4, 1841 to 1845. A Virginian Whig, Tyler was that first vice president to ascend to the presidency upon the death of the incumbent. This act set the precedent that all future vice presidents would follow, as the issue was something of a legal gray area constitutionally. Tyler sought the annexation of Texas but was unable to secure it. Nicknamed His Accidency.

Question 8

Daniel Webster

Answer 8

U.S. senator from Massachusetts (1827–1841, 1845–1850) and Secretary of State under Harrison and Tyler (1841–1843) and Fillmore (1850–1852). A Whig politician and member of the Great Triumvirate. During the debate over the Tariff of 1816, he complained that New England had not developed enough to withstand interruptions in its ability to trade freely with Britain. He opposed nullification. He often sought the presidency but never won. He resigned his Senate seat over the negative reception to his support for the Compromise of 1850

Question 9

Webster-Ashburton Treaty

Answer 9

An 1842 treaty that divided a contested territory in northern Maine between the United States and Britain, settling Maine’s northern boundary.

Question 10

James K. Polk

Answer 10

Eleventh President. Served 1845–1849. An heir of sorts to Andrew Jackson, he advocated for Manifest Destiny. His campaign slogan was “Fifty-four forty or fight!” Yet while that slogan advocated a hardline position on the disputed Oregon Territory, he instead reached a diplomatic agreement with Britain. The border was drawn at the 49th parallel, which ceded what is now British Columbia, including Vancouver Island. He then oversaw the controversial Mexican-American War, expanding the U.S. into the Southwest. Having pledged to only serve one term, he declined to run for reelection in 1848

Question 11

Mexican-American War

Answer 11

A conflict between the United States and Mexico. It took place from April 1846 to February 1848. Following the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered a wayward province whose independence was a legal fiction created under duress, war broke out between the two nations. The war was deeply controversial in its time, illustrating the deepening divide between free and slave states. Many political and military leaders of the Civil War fought in this war. It also led to a major U.S. territorial expansion

Question 12

Sam Houston

Answer 12

As President of Texas, he advocated annexation by the United States. Later, as Texas governor, he resisted efforts at secession to join the Confederacy and was removed from office.

Question 13

Alamo

Answer 13

The site of a famous battle in San Antonio, Texas. A small force of Texans found themselves under siege from February 23 to March 6, 1836. Mexican forces led by Santa Anna eventually took the Alamo, killing all the defenders in the process. However, news of the resistance inspired other Texans to rebel, especially thanks to an open letter—To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World—by the Alamo’s commander, William B. Travis.

Question 14

Republic of Texas (Lone Star Republic)

Answer 14

A republic declared in 1836. Santa Anna was forced to signed a peace treaty recognizing its independence from Mexico while in custody of Sam Houston’s forces. Its initial attempts to join the United States were rebuffed under Jackson and Van Buren for fear of tipping political power toward the slave states. Congress rejected Tyler’s efforts to absorb it in 1844. It was finally annexed under the Polk administration.

Question 15

John Slidell

Answer 15

A special envoy sent by President Polk to to inform the Mexican government of U.S. desires to draw the Texas border at the Rio Grande, rather than the Nueces River farther south, and to purchase California. In anticipation of Mexican resistance to Slidell’s proposal, Polk amassed the U.S. Army, led by Zachary Taylor, along the disputed southern border of Texas at the Rio Grande River in January of 1846.

Question 16

Zachary Taylor

Answer 16

Twelfth President. Served 1849–1850. Died of a stomach ailment. Tyler was a Mexican-American War general. The Whigs nominated him in the 1848 election. While a slave-owner, he did not advocate the expansion of slavery, believing that the practice wasn’t economically viable in the West.

Question 17

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 17

Sixteenth President. Served 1861 to his assassination on April 15, 1865. A former Whig who had opposed the Mexican-American War, he joined the newly formed Republican Party. His 1860 election triggered the secession of several states, and he deftly led the Union through the ensuing Civil War.

Question 18

Wilmot Proviso

Answer 18

Following the Mexican-American War, Representative David Wilmot proposed that slavery would be forbidden in any new lands acquired by the war with Mexico. The final bill passed in the House but failed in the Senate. This bill, the Wilmot Proviso, signaled the start of an even deeper crisis that would pit the North against the South over issues of slavery’s expansion, states’ rights, and government representation.

Question 19

Bear Flag Republic

Answer 19

An unrecognized independent California that existed from June 14 to July 9, 1846. Led by John C. Fremont, and annexed into the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Question 20

John C. Fremont

Answer 20

Temporary leader of the Bear Flag Republic and later governor of California. Fremont is perhaps best remembered for his role in the 1856 presidential election, where he served as the very first nominee of the newly founded Republican Party. He came in second with a little over 33 percent of the popular vote. During the Civil War, he served as a Union major general, fighting mainly in the Midwest.

Question 21

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Answer 21

Signed in February 1848, it ended the Mexican-American War. The treaty granted California and most of the Southwest (including current-day New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada) to the United States. The U.S. government agreed to pay war reparations in the sum of $15 million to the Mexican government. Despite continued bitter debate over the expansion of slavery, the treaty was ratified.

Question 22

Gadsden Purchase

Answer 22

An 1853 treaty between the U.S. and Mexico. It was ratified in 1854. The treaty resolved a border issue lingering from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In exchange for $10 million, the U.S. purchased a chunk of modern-day Arizona and a small portion of southwest New Mexico. This was the last notable expansion of the continental U.S.

Question 23

Free Soil Party

Answer 23

Inspired by the Wilmot Proviso, antislavery advocates from various political parties founded the Free Soil Party to oppose the expansion of slavery into the new Western territories. Martin Van Buren ran for president as a Free Soil candidate in 1848. The Free Soil Party’s membership was later absorbed into the new Republican Party.

Question 24

Gold Rush

Answer 24

Commonly refers to the California Gold Rush, which took place between 1848 and roughly 1855. The population of California ballooned as prospectors flocked to the state to seek a fortune in mining gold. Over 100,000 American Indians died as settlers and prospectors violently displaced them. See: Forty-Niners.

Question 25

Compromise of 1850

Answer 25

A package of several bills that alleviated some of the tension between the North and South, delaying the Civil War for another decade. Orchestrated by Henry Clay. Its key points were: California was admitted as a free state; it created the New Mexico and Utah Territories, and popular sovereignty would determine slavery’s status in them; it banned the slave trade in Washington, D.C.; it enacted a stricter Fugitive Slave Act; it give Texas monetary compensation to drop its claims to part of New Mexico’s territory.

Question 26

Fugitive Slave Act

Answer 26

A controversial law that constituted part of the Compromise of 1850. It required that escaped slaves, upon their capture, would be returned to their masters, and that the authorities in a free state had to cooperate with this process. Nicknamed the “Bloodhound Law” by abolitionists for the common use of such dogs in hunting down slaves

Question 27

William H. Seward

Answer 27

A radical abolitionist New York senator (1849–1861). He argued that slavery should be banned on moral grounds. Initially a Whig, he joined the Republican Party in 1855. Seward served as Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869. He was one of the officials targeted by John Wilkes Booth’s conspiracy but narrowly survived multiple stab wounds. He masterminded the purchase of Alaska in 1867, an act initially nicknamed Seward’s Folly.

Question 28

Millard Fillmore

Answer 28

Thirteenth President. Served 1850–1853. Took office after the sickness and death of Zachary Taylor. A longtime House member, Fillmore worked to help pass the Compromise of 1850. Notably, he dispatched the Perry Expedition to Japan. After failing to gain the Whig nomination in 1852, he served as the Know-Nothing Party nominee in 1856.

Question 29

Stephen A. Douglas

Answer 29

A senator from Illinois nicknamed the “Little Giant.” He is notable for creating the Kansas-Nebraska Act as well as participating in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. He initially supported the Dred Scott decision until it proved politically unpopular. He opposed the Lecompton Constitution. A staunch Unionist, he supported Lincoln during the Civil War, even holding the man’s stovepipe hat during the Inauguration ceremony. However, he died in June 1861 of typhoid fever.

Question 30

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Answer 30

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, this novel expressed Northern abolitionist frustrations with the Fugitive Slave Act. In the North, the novel quickly gained fame and convinced many that slavery was morally wrong. Meanwhile in the South, the commitment to protecting the institution of slavery intensified.

Question 31

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Answer 31

Proposed by Senator Stephen A. Douglas in 1854, it functionally repealed the Missouri Compromise. The act proposed the Nebraska Territory be divided into two regions, Nebraska and Kansas, and each would vote by popular sovereignty on the issue of slavery. It was presumed that Nebraska would become a free state, while Kansas would become a slave state. Douglas was able to push his bill through Congress, and President Pierce signed it into law in 1854. It helped spur the formation of the Republican Party

Question 32

Bleeding Kansas

Answer 32

The nickname for a period of bloody conflict in what became Kansas. Lasted 1855–1859. Proslavery and antislavery forces engaged in a number of battles, massacres, and raids in order to determine whether Kansas would be a free or slave state. Due to decrying slavery in Kansas, Senator Charles Sumner was nearly beaten to death on the Senate floor by Preston Brooks. Due to the objections of Southern states, Kansas would not be admitted to the United States until the start of the Civil War

Question 33

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Answer 33

A landmark 1857 Supreme Court case that was a major contributing factor to the outbreak of the Civil War. Dred Scott, a slave in Missouri, spent years in Wisconsin and Illinois with his master. After his master’s death, Dred Scott sued for freedom. The Court ruled that all African Americans (free or slave) were not citizens. Taney also ruled that Congress had no right to deny citizens of their individual property, and therefore the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional for stripping slave owners of their rightful property once they moved north.

Question 34

Freeport Doctrine

Answer 34

During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln challenged Douglas to rationalize the concept of popular sovereignty with the decision of the Dred Scott case. Douglas stated that territories would have to pass and enforce laws to protect slavery. In essence, he argued that Dred Scott would still be the law of the land but that, by willfully choosing to not arm themselves with the means to police the issue, territories could still functionally be free soil. This attempt to appease both wings of the Democratic Party alienated supporters in the South, dwindling the chances of Douglas to win the presidency in 1860.

Question 35

Confederate States of America

Answer 35

An illegal, unrecognized state that existed from 1861 to 1865. It attempted to secede from the United States in order to preserve the institution of slavery, as explicitly stated in the secession declarations of several states. It was led by by Jefferson Davis and its capital was in Richmond, Virginia. Its members included: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. It attempted to lay claim to territory in the American Southwest, as well as to Kentucky and Missouri. Union loyalists in Virginia counter-seceded from the CSA to form West Virginia.

Question 36

Jefferson Davis

Answer 36

The sole President of the Confederate States. Served February 22, 1862 to May 10, 1865. Davis was a Democrat from Mississippi. A veteran of the Mexican-American War, he had served in the House (1845–1856) and Senate (1847–1851, 1857–1861), as well as Secretary of War (1853–1857) under Franklin Pierce. Davis was a micromanager who hampered the Confederate war effort by refusing to delegate issues or authority to his subordinates. He also lacked the political skill to overcome the decentralized, states’ rights structure of the Confederacy, which made him reliant on state governors in a way Lincoln did not deal with.

Question 37

John Crittenden

Answer 37

A senator from Kentucky, Crittenden proposed in early 1861 an amendment to the Constitution to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific border, with slavery prohibited north of the line and protected south of it. President-elect Lincoln rejected the compromise, as the extension of slavery opposed Republican beliefs

Question 38

John C. Calhoun

Answer 38

A South Carolina politician and member of the Great Triumvirate. Calhoun was an ardent supporter of states’ rights, nullification, and slavery. Calhoun, who had served as Andrew Jackson’s vice president, resigned from that office to return to the Senate, where he felt he could better defend the virtues of nullification. From his deathbed, Calhoun wrote fierce attacks upon the proposed Compromise of 1850 and affirmed the right of secession.

Question 39

Fort Sumter

Answer 39

A sea fort near Charleston, South Carolina. On April 12–13, 1861, the first shots of the Civil War were fired there. The Confederate Army fired upon the unarmed merchant vessel Star of the West, which was attempting to resupply the U.S. forces stationed at the fort.

Question 40

New York Draft Riots

Answer 40

New York City erupted into rioting from July 13 to July 16, 1863. Started primarily by Irish immigrants, hundreds were killed and entire city blocks were destroyed by fire. The rioters feared that newly emancipated African Americans would undercut them in the labor market, and they resented that wealthy men were able to buy exemptions from the military draft.

Question 41

Copperheads

Answer 41

Northern Democrats who demanded a peace settlement with the Confederacy. The term was initially a pejorative coined by Republicans, who likened the anti-war Democrats to the venomous copperhead snake, but was adopted by Democrats as a symbol of Liberty (owing to the Liberty Head large cent copper coins in circulation at the time).

Question 42

Civil War

Answer 42

Also known as the American Civil War, it was fought from 1861 to 1865. Several states seceded to form the Confederate States of America, an illegal act. The Confederacy sought to protect the institution of slavery from perceived interference by Lincoln, who had won the 1860 election without his name even being on the ballot in many Southern states, thus showcasing the relative declining power of the South over U.S. domestic policy. The war cemented the supremacy of the federal government over the states. The death toll is estimated to be over 620,000.

Question 43

Battle of Bull Run/Battle of Manassas

Answer 43

Known as Manassas in Confederate histories, the (First) Battle of Bull Run took place on July 21, 1861. It was an early Confederate victory in the Civil War, showing the North that this would be a long and bloody war, while Southerners felt emboldened by their victory. Union forces had expected an easy victory; many Congressman and D.C. elites actually brought their families along to hold picnics to watch the battle.

Question 44

“Stonewall” Jackson

Answer 44

A Confederate general who worked under Lee. Until his death in 1863, he was involved in every major battle in the eastern theater of the war. He is considered an able officer by military historians. Jackson was accidentally shot by Confederate soldiers in May 1863. He lost his arm and died from infection shortly thereafter.

Question 45

Winfield Scott

Answer 45

A U.S. Army general with a storied career in the nineteenth century. He commanded troops in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. While too old for field service during the Civil War, he served as a strategist and masterminded the defense of Washington D.C. He ran for president in 1852 as a Whig but lost to Franklin Pierce.

Question 46

Anaconda Plan

Answer 46

Winfield Scott’s four phase plan to defeat the Confederacy. Phase 1 had the U.S. Navy blockaded all Southern ports. Phase 2 had the Navy split the Confederacy in half by taking control of the Mississippi River. Phase 3 had the Union Army cut through Georgia, and then travel up the coast to the Carolinas. Phase 4 saw the Union capture the Confederate capitol at Richmond.

Question 47

George McClellan

Answer 47

A veteran of the Mexican-American War, McClellan is most famous for his short tenure as general-in-chief of the Union Army during the Civil War. McClellan was a meticulous planner, taking care to plan his operations and train his men. However, he was timid on the battlefield, and frequently overestimated the strength of Confederate forces. Lincoln removed him as general-in-chief of the Union Army after Antietam. He was the Democratic nominee for president in 1864 election.

Question 48

Robert E. Lee

Answer 48

Lee served as an aide to Winfield Scott during the Mexican-American War, where he gained experience in artillery and troop movements. During John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, Lee commanded the mixed force of militia and soldiers that suppressed his attempted slave uprising. However, his legacy would be defined by betraying the U.S. and taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War.

Question 49

Antietam

Answer 49

A Civil War battle that took place on September 17, 1862. The bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. history, it saw 22,717 killed. Despite stopping Lee’s invasion of Maryland, McClellan failed to exploit an opening to destroy Lee’s army and shorten the war, leading to Lincoln removing him as general-in-chief of the Union Army. Nevertheless, Antietam offered good enough news to allow Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

Question 50

Battle of Fredericksburg

Answer 50

A Civil War battle fought December 11–15, 1862. A lopsided Confederate victory, it saw Union forces suffer 3-to-1 casualties. Lincoln removed General Burnside as a result, replacing him with Joseph Hooker.

Question 51

Ironclads

Answer 51

A steam-powered warship that is armored (or “clad”) in iron plates. While an evolutionary halfway point between wooden sailing ships and all-metal ships, it represented a revolution in naval warfare. The South’s first ironclad was named Merrimac while the North’s first was called the Monitor. In a five-hour battle in March 1862, the two ships fought to a draw.

Question 52

Ulysses S. Grant

Answer 52

18th President. Served 1869–1877. Grant served in the Mexican-American War, where he worked as a quartermaster. During the Civil War, he led Union forces in the West, winning famous victories at Shiloh and Vicksburg. He eventually was placed in command of the whole US Army in 1864, where he fought several engagements with Lee. He supervised Reconstruction and prosecuted efforts against the KKK. He served two terms as president, to decidedly mixed results. The cronyism of his administration led to a push for civil service reform.

Question 53

Battle of Gettysburg

Answer 53

Arguably the most significant battle of the Civil War. Fought July 1–3, 1863 in southern Pennsylvania. Over 50,000 men died there. It was the final major Confederate push into the North, and Lee’s defeat ended any hope of Britain or France recognizing the Confederacy as a legitimate nation. General Meade’s failure to chase and destroy Lee’s retreating army, however, lengthened the war.

Question 54

Gettysburg Address

Answer 54

A brief, poignant address by Abraham Lincoln commemorating the Battle of Gettysburg. It was delivered on November 19, 1863. Harkening back to the Declaration of Independence 87 years prior, Lincoln proposed the idea of equality—“all men are created equal”—as the core spirit of the Declaration and the Constitution. He goes on to reframe the context of the Civil War as a trial to see if equality can endure rather than being solely an issue of preserving the Constitution’s political framework (“the Union”).

Question 55

William Tecumseh Sherman

Answer 55

A Union general. Sherman’s army captured and destroyed Atlanta in September of 1864. Sherman then marched to South Carolina, and ordered troops to burn and destroy fields, homes, and cities as they marched through Georgia. His goal was to inflict misery on Southerners so they would be compelled to surrender. This strategy made the Civil War the first modern “total war,” with citizens as targets. Sherman was able to capture Savannah, Georgia in December 1864 and Columbia, South Carolina in February 1865. Famously disdained war itself, stating that its “glory is all moonshine.”

Question 56

Appomattox Court House

Answer 56

The site of the formal surrender of General Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Union forces led by General Grant. This act triggered a series of other Confederate forces surrendering, finally ending the Civil War. Took place on April 9, 1865, in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean.

Question 57

Emancipation Proclamation

Answer 57

Issued on January 1, 1863, it was an executive order that freed any slave in areas in open rebellion against the United States government. Slavery in the border states was still legal. Despite its limitations, the proclamation did much to bolster the morale of Union troops and supporters at home. However, some Unionists felt betrayed, believing they had been duped into fighting a war for emancipation instead of merely for the Union’s preservation. The Proclamation also served to dissuade Britain and France from recognizing the Confederacy, as it reframed the moral context for the war as opposition to slavery.

Question 58

Thirteenth Amendment

Answer 58

It banned slavery and involuntary servitude, and functionally repealed the Three-Fifths Clause. Passed in early 1865 and ratified later that year, this amendment was one of Lincoln’s last major achievements prior to his assassination.

Question 59

Writ of habeas corpus

Answer 59

During the Civil War, Lincoln exercised his executive power to limit Americans’ civil rights and liberties to protect the Union. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which meant that the federal government could hold an individual in jail with no charges levied against him or her. For many alleged traitors, this meant long jail terms with no charges ever filed. Lincoln intended for this suspension to be only temporary, and the constitutional right would be restored after the war was over. When the Taney Court ruled his actions illegal, Lincoln ignored the court order.

Question 60

Homestead Act of 1862

Answer 60

A law that provided a settler with 160 acres of land if he promised to live on it and work it for at least five years. About 500,000 families took advantage of this Homestead Act, while many more bought land from private purveyors. Unfortunately, the parcels of land on the Great Plains were difficult to farm, owing to lack of rain and hard-packed soil. Many homesteaders left the land behind and returned home.

Question 61

Morrill Land Grant Act

Answer 61

Passed in 1862, this act gave federal lands to states for the purpose of building schools that would teach agriculture, engineering, and technical trades. It provided the foundation for the state university system still in use throughout the United States

Question 62

Andrew Johnson

Answer 62

Seventeenth President. Served 1865–1869. One of only two presidents to be impeached; like Bill Clinton, he was not convicted. Took office after Lincoln’s assassination. A Democrat who had run with the Republican Lincoln, he was disliked by Congress, especially for his mild terms for Reconstruction and disinterest in protecting newly freed slaves; this all led to Radical Republicans passing the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 63

Ten Percent Plan

Answer 63

Also known as the “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction,” Lincoln proposed this plan in 1863 as a way to bring Southern states back under the wing of the federal government. The plan reestablished state governments and required at least 10 percent of the states’ voters to swear an oath of loyalty to the United States and the Constitution. Lincoln was also prepared to grant complete pardons to any former Confederate, but required an oath of allegiance and agreement to eliminate slavery

Question 64

Wade-Davis Bill

Answer 64

Passed by both houses in 1864 in response to Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan. It required that 50 percent of Southern state voters take the loyalty oath, and it allowed only those citizens who had not been active members or supporters of the Confederacy to approve of the new state constitutions. Exercising his executive power, Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill by refusing to sign it.

Question 64

Freedman’s Bureau

Answer 64

A government program created in 1865 to help manage and assist newly emancipated slaves. The bureau provided assistance in the form of food, shelter, and medical attention to African Americans. Eventually, the bureau would establish schools across the South to help educate large numbers of former slaves. The Freedman’s Bureau struggled as Congress refused to increase its funding, which expired in 1872.

Question 65

Black Codes

Answer 65

Laws passed by Southern legislatures in response to legal emancipation of slaves. These codes restricted the actions, movements, and freedoms of African Americans. Under these codes, African Americans could not own land, so they were tied instead to small plots leased from a landowner. This began the system of sharecropping.

Question 66

Sharecropping

Answer 66

Sharecroppers would lease land and borrow supplies to till their plots, while giving a significant portion of their harvest to the landowner as payment for the loan. This exploitative system ensured that farmers were never able to harvest enough to pay the landlord and feed their families. Generations of African Americans remained tied to their plot of land until the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Question 67

Fourteenth Amendment

Answer 67

A response to the lackluster Reconstruction efforts by President Johnson. Proposed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, it protected the rights of all U.S. citizens, granted all African Americans full citizenship and civil rights, and required states to adhere to the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitution. Furthermore, it disallowed former Confederate officers from holding state or federal office. It would decrease the proportional representation of any state that denied suffrage to any able citizen

Question 68

Tenure of Office Act

Answer 68

An 1867 law. It disallowed the president (Johnson) from discharging a federal appointee without the Senate’s consent. With the act, Republicans in Congress attempted to protect their positions from Johnson. The president chose to ignore the act and fired Republican Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The House promptly submitted articles of impeachment to the floor by charging Johnson with 11 counts of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Question 69

Thaddeas Stephens

Answer 69

He was a Radical Republican member of the House, serving until his death in August 1868. A firebrand abolitionist and proponent of civil rights for African Americans, he was at the forefront of pushing a sterner Reconstruction agenda over President Johnson’s objections. He served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the Civil War, giving him significant leeway to tackle his goals.

Question 70

Charles Sumner

Answer 70

U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1851–1874). A Radical Republican abolitionist, he pushed for the protection of civil rights in Southern states. Famously caned on the floor of the Senate by Preston Brooks.

Question 71

Fifteenth Amendment

Answer 71

Ratified in 1870, in barred any state from denying a citizen’s right to vote on the basis of race, color, or previous servitude. However, it did not ban poll taxes or literacy tests, which would be a loophole exploited by whites after the end of Reconstruction to suppress African American voters.

Question 72

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Answer 72

The last of the Reconstruction-era civil rights reform made it a crime for any person to be denied full and equal use of public places, such as hotels, rail cars, restaurants, and theaters. Unfortunately, this act lacked any wording to enforce it, and it was therefore ignored by most states, both Northern and Southern.

Question 73

Scalawags

Answer 73

Coined by Southern Democrats, it was a derogatory term for Southern Republicans that meant they were pirates who sought to steal from state governments and line their own pockets.

Question 74

Carpetbaggers

Answer 74

A pejorative term for the stereotype of the Northerner who packed all of his worldly possessions in a suitcase made from carpet, with the aim of moving to the South during Reconstruction to make a fortune. In the present day, the term is used to describe politicians who move to an area they have no previous connection with in order to gain election.

Question 75

Ku Klux Klan

Answer 75

An underground society of whites who ruthlessly and successfully used terrorist tactics to frighten both white and black Republicans in the South. While quashed by the Force Acts of 1870 and 1871, the organization survived, resurfacing and spreading throughout the country in later years.

Question 76

Redeemers

Answer 76

A political movement that sought to return control of the former Confederacy to white Southerners. Their policy, Redemption, sought to purge the South of the influence of Republicans, carpetbaggers, and newly emancipated slaves.

Question 77

Rutherford B. Hayes

Answer 77

Nineteenth President. Served 1877–1881. While a Civil War veteran and a Republican, he ended Reconstruction as part of the Compromise of 1877 to resolve the disputed 1876 election. Enacted modest civil service reform. Ordered federal troops to break up the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Pledged not to run for reelection and returned to Ohio.

Question 78

Samuel Tilden

Answer 78

A Democratic governor from New York, he had a reputation for political reform, largely from fighting Tammany Hall corruption. With civil service reform a hot button issue after the corruption of the Grant administration, he became the Democratic nominee in the 1876 Presidential election. Won the popular vote but lost the election.

Question 79

Compromise of 1877

Answer 79

A deal that resolved the hung election of 1876. It provided that Rutherford B. Hayes would become president only if he agreed to remove the last remaining federal troops stationed in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. The end of martial law in the South signaled the end of Reconstruction in the United States.