Reconstruction

Question 1

What is the main cause of the Civil War

Answer 1

slavery

Question 2

List the 3 underlying causes of the Civil War

Answer 2

Sectionalism
State rights
Expansion

Question 3

What is sectionalism?

Answer 3

Regional differences in the Northern states vs Southern States
north= more industrial
south= cotton king

Question 4

Why did sectionalism help cause the Civil War?

Answer 4

North did not need slavery to survive economically/ was more in favor of ending

Question 5

How did states’ rights help cause the Civil War?

Answer 5

Southern states wanted to assert their authority over the federal government
abolish federal laws they didn’t support
laws interfering with the South’s right to keep slaves and take them wherever they wished.

Question 6

How did territorial expansion help cause the Civil War?

Answer 6

South wanted slavery in new western territories,
North was committed to keeping them open to white labor alone.

New states would flip the power of congress voting. Wanted to make sure they would join in on their sides to keep it balanced

Question 7

What was the spark of the Civil War/ why?

Answer 7

Republican party (Northern) = gaining prominence
members strongly opposed to the westward expansion of slavery into new states
Not dependent on slavery for money
Had members who wanted to abolish slavery

1860: election of a Republican, Abraham Lincoln, as President
without a single Southern electoral vote
clear signal to the Southern states that they had lost all influence.
turned to the only alternative they believed was left to them: secession
“To protect States Rights…”
political decision that led directly to war

Question 8

Lincolns stance on slavery?

Answer 8

top priority -preserve the Union, not free the slaves
Did not think was in his power
views and arguments changed as war dragged on( what are we fighting for?)

Question 9

Why did Lincoln issue the emancipation proclamation?

Answer 9

NOT a declaration of citizenship or of equal rights for Blacks

Only works if slaves are recognized as “property” in confederate territories

In power of president to confiscate “supplies” of confederate

Question 10

Advantages the North had during the war?

Answer 10

More fighting power
More factories/railroad s
Greater food production
Passed the national banking act

Question 11

Advantages the South had during the war?

Answer 11

King Cotton” and profits
Good generals
Military tradition
Defending homeland

Question 12

National bank act

Answer 12

During the civil war, the federal government set up a system of regulating banks better. Made banks safe for investors during war= money was flowing= taxes flowing = more money for fighting

Question 13

13th amendment

Answer 13

ended slavery

Question 14

Reconstruction

Answer 14

Period of rebuilding the United States post-Civil War.

Question 15

3 sections needed to be rebuilt during reconstruction?

Answer 15

Government: who would be in charge? What should happen with southern leaders? Southern fighters?
Should the south be let back in?
Society: how should freed slaves be treated?
Can they unify now?
Economy: how is the south going to make money?
How should it be rebuilt?

Question 16

Radical republicans

Answer 16

Republicans in congress, who wanted “radical” changes at the time, like full civil rights for freedmen.

Question 17

Thaddeus stevens

Answer 17

Leader of the radical republicans

Question 18

Wade-davis Bill

Answer 18

Radical republican’s reconstruction plan.
Wants to PUNISH the South for treason
Committed to FULL CIVIL RIGHTS FOR BLACK PEOPLE
When 50% of states population gives loyalty to union allowed back and must give suffrage to freedmen

Question 19

Ten percent plan

Answer 19

Lincolns plan for reconstruction. Wanted rapid restoration of union
When 10% of the male voting population denounced secession, they were in! No questions asked!

Question 20

Why did the Radical republicans dislike Lincoln’s plan?

Answer 20

Believed it was too lenient on southerns and did not give rights to freedmen

Question 21

Why did Lincoln’s reconstruction plan not go into effect?

Answer 21

he was assassinated

Question 22

Freedmen’s bureau

Answer 22

865 by Congress to help millions of former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War.
-The Freedmen’s Bureau was to provide food, shelter, clothing, and medical care, and land.
Problems:Understaffed /Politics /Racism

Question 23

15th amendment

Answer 23

protected the right to vote for all men regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

Question 23

14th amendment

Answer 23

made citizens of “all persons born or naturalized in the United States”
Also granted equal protection of the law
No state could deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law

Question 24

black codes

Answer 24

Southern laws enacted to restrict the movement and autonomy [political power] of freed slaves.
Imposed harsh penalties on Blacks for “crimes,” such as homelessness, loitering, associating with white people, or being unemployed

Question 25

Explain Johnson’s reconstruction policy

Answer 25

Presidential reconstruction - states welcomed back it they:
Swear allegiance to the union
Ratify the 13th amendment( ending slavery)
Wanted to not allow high-ranking officials from getting voting privileges back only

Question 26

Military Reconstruction Act of 1867- what it was and why it was created.

Answer 26

Divided southern states into 5 military districts controlled by union general
Had to make a new constitution that allowed 14th amendment before being let back into the union.

Question 27

Why was Johnson almost impeached?

Answer 27

Radical republicans mad at him for not being more aggressive in reconstruction. ( by vetoing bills and stalling reconstruction)

Question 28

scalawags

Answer 28

Democrats mad at southerners who supported the republican party

Question 29

carpetbagger

Answer 29

Southers name for northerners who moved south
thought they were exploited souths post-war turmoil to make money or political gains

Question 30

Hiram revels

Answer 30

First African American senator- elected into congress during reconstruction

Question 31

sharecropping

Answer 31

Landowners divided their land and gave each worked a few acres of land to work( leased to them)
At harvest, the workers gave a share of their harvest to the landowner( usually half)
Workers would have to rent tools etc from landowners as well.
Usually system caused a cycle of debt that the workers could not get out of, becoming tied to the land

Question 32

Explain the economic challenges in the South after the Civil War

Answer 32

Southern population and physical environment devastated
Former slaves competed with former owners and other whites for limited resources

Question 33

KKK

Answer 33

Ku Klux Klan(KKK)
Group of whites who used violence and terror against freedmen and white republicans

Question 34

Panic of 1873. What it was and the effect.

Answer 34

International financial downturn that affected much of Europe and the United States
Northern Republicans want to focus on financial issues and spend less of money & resources on Reconstruction

Question 35

Rutherford B Hayes

Answer 35

Republican candidate for president 1876- made compromise to be president and to focus on economy instead of reconstruction

Question 36

Compromise of 1877

Answer 36

Southern states who had disrupted election results because they were still under military reconstruction agreed to say hayes won presidency IF hayes promised to remove military occupation and give home rule back

Question 37

Effect of the compromise of 1877

Answer 37

Southern Democrats assert full control of state governments
Fed government makes agreement to stay out of race relations in south = jim crow south starts
Poll taxes/literacy tests get passed= keep African Americans from voting
14th amendment only guarantees protection of federal government= not citizens
Lynchings increase
Black codes get passed

Question 38

poll tax

Answer 38

Tax you had to pay before being allowed to vote

Question 39

segregation

Answer 39

Laws passed in the south to separate white and black people in public and private facilities.

Question 40

jim crow laws

Answer 40

Era of Racial segregation in the south after reconstruction ended and until the civil rights era

Question 41

plessy v ferguson

Answer 41

supreme court case that said separate but equal is allowed in public facilities