1844 - 1877 (Slavery, Civil War, and Change)

Question 1

Manifest Destiny

Answer 1

• Phrase coined in 1844
• Manifest Destiny was the belief that America was destined to expand to the Pacific and possibly into Canada and Mexico.
• John O’Sullivan, an American journalist, wrote an article pushing for the annexation of Texas and coined the phrase “Manifest Destiny.”
• Manifest Destiny came out of post-1812 War nationalism, the reform impulse of the 1830s, and the need for new resources.
• Whigs who supported Manifest Destiny favored more peaceful means, while other Whigs feared American expansion because it might raise the slavery issue in new territories.
• Manifest Destiny was an engine of both discovery and destruction; though it helped America push westward, the ideas behind Manifest Destiny fueled the Mexican War and the displacement of American Indians.
• American expansion efforts led to an increased focus on slavery, created international conflicts, and influenced political agendas throughout the 1800s.

Question 2

Southern Response to Slavery

Answer 2

• 1790 - 1860s
• The Southern defense of slavery shifted from an early view of slavery as a “necessary evil” (1790) to a “positive good” (after 1840).
• Proponents of slavery used scientific arguments, biblical texts, and historical examples to justify slavery.
• As time passed, both this defensive position and the abolitionist sentiment increased in fervor.
• Some Southerners defended slavery by condemning Northern “wage slavery;” they used the idea of African American inferiority to suggest that whites were protecting slaves from a world of fierce competition in which, on their own, they would not survive.
• Many Southern whites connected their status with the system of slavery, which made eliminating the practice more challenging.

Question 3

James K. Polk

Answer 3

• 1845 - 1849
• James K. Polk was the eleventh president of the United States.
• He was the “dark horse” Democratic candidate who won the presidential election.
• Polk was a big believer in Manifest Destiny and expansionism.
• He was nicknames “Polk the Purposeful” for his focus on specific goals during his presidency.
• He introduced a new independent treasury system.
• He lowered the high rates of tariffs with the Walker Tariff.
• Polk settled the Oregon boundary dispute with the Oregon Treaty.
• He acquired California.
• Polk led the United States into the Mexican War.
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 4

Negotiating the Oregon Border

Answer 4

• 1846
• Great Britain and the United States both made claims to the Pacific Northwest.
• The nations agreed to occupy the Oregon Country jointly.
• Americans began travelling west along the Oregon Trail and settling in the area.
• In 1844, U.S. politicians pushed for sole ownership of the Oregon Country.
• The northern boundary was at latitude 54’40’, and “Fifty-four forty or fight” became the rallying cry of supporters.
• In 1846, the Polk administration compromised and established the border at the 49th parallel (the current boundary between America and Canada).
• In the 1800s, the United States expanded across North America and pursued foreign trade.

Question 5

Causes of Mexican War

Answer 5

• 1844 - 1846
• The new Mexican republic would not address grievances of U.S. citizens, who claimed property losses and personal injuries from conflicts during the Mexican revolution.
• Mexico and the United States were in a dispute over their border, with the United States saying it was the Rio Grande and Mexico insisting it was the Nueces River.
• Due to sentiment arising from the idea of Manifest Destiny there was an increased American interest in Mexican-held Western territory.
• The United States had aided Texas in its revolt against the Mexican government, and there was growing momentum toward a U.S. annexation of Texas.
• When the U.S. Congress annexed Texas, Polk sent John Slidell to negotiate a settlement for that land, for California, and for western Mexico territory; the Mexican government rejected Slidell.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 6

Mexican War

Answer 6

• 1846 - 1848
• John C. Fremont (United States) won attacks on land and at sea in and near California.
• Zachary Taylor defeated large forces in Mexico.
• Mexico refused to negotiate, so President Polk ordered forces led by Winfield Scott into Mexico City.
• The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 ended the war, giving the United States land originally sought by Slidell (New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas and parts of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada).
• The U.S.-Mexico Border was set at Rio Grande.
• The Mexican War raised questions of slavery in the new territory.
• The Mexican War raised questions of slavery in the new territory.
• Henry David Thoreau and a young Whig, Abraham Lincoln, opposed the war.
• American expansion efforts were furled by governmental policies, Manifest Destiny, the growing belief in American supremacy, and the search for greater freedom and opportunity.

Question 7

Wilmot Proviso

Answer 7

• 1846
• The Wilmot Proviso was an amendment to a Mexican War appropriations bill.
• It proposed that slavery could not exist in any territory that might be acquired from Mexico.
• The amendment was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives several times, but it was ultimately defeated on each occasion because the South had power in the Senate.
• It represented the looming question of slavery’s future, which would be decided in the civil war.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 8

Popular Sovereignty

Answer 8

• 1840s
• Popular sovereignty was a doctrine under which the status of slavery in the territories was to be determined by the settlers themselves.
• The doctrine was first put forward by General Lewis Cass.
• It was promoted by Stephen A. Douglas.
• Popular sovereignty was meant to be a resolution to the looming crisis of the slavery question.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 9

Seneca Falls Convention

Answer 9

• 1848
• Women were excluded from an abolitionist conference in London.
• In response, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Seneca Falls Convention.
• It was attended by women who challenged the cultural and legal restrictions they faced.
• The Seneca Falls Convention is often considered the birth of the women’s rights movement.
• The convention’s Declaration of Sentiments states, “All men and women are created equal.”
• Religious, secular, and cultural developments led to greater support for minority rights and social justice.

Question 10

Free Soil / Free Labor

Answer 10

• 1848 - 1854
• Free Labor was an anti-slavery idea that was less opposed to the institution of slavery than it was to the extension of slavery into the United States’ Western territories.
• Supporters wanted land to be available for white people to settle and to become financially independent without competition from slavery.
• The Free Soil Party was created in 1848, drawing from anti-slavery Whigs and former Liberty Party members.
• It opposed the extension of slavery into new territories, supported national improvement programs, and promoted small tariffs to help raise revenue.
• Zachary Taylor defeated Free Soil candidate Martin Van Buren for president in 1848.
• The Free Soil Party was mostly taken over by the Republicans in 1854.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 11

Mexican Cession and Slavery

Answer 11

• 1848
• Conflict ensued over slavery in the newly acquired Mexican Cession.
• States’ righters believed that the territory was the property of all states and that the federal government had no right to prohibit property ownership in territories.
• Many anti-slavery and federal government supporters contended that Congress had the power to make laws for the territories.
• An argument in favor of federal power was based on the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 12

Gold Rush

Answer 12

• 1848 - 1850s
• Miners who rushed to California after the discovery of gold were called “Forty Niners.”
• More than 80,000 prospectors “rushed” to San Francisco.
• The increased population led to California joining the Union as a free state.
• The Gold Rush connected to the idea of Manifest Destiny.
• American expansion efforts were furled by governmental policies, Manifest Destiny, the growing belief in American supremacy, and the search for greater freedom and opportunity.

Question 13

Zachary Taylor

Answer 13

• 1849 - 1950
• Zachary Taylor was the twelfth president of the United States.
• He was a famous general in the Mexican War.
• He was a Whig President.
• Taylor opposed the spread of slavery.
• He encouraged territories to organize and seek admission directly as states to avoid the issue of slavery.
• Taylor died suddenly in 1850 and was replaced by Millard Fillmore.
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 14

Stephen Douglas

Answer 14

• 1813 - 1861
• Stephen Douglas was the senator from Illinois dubbed the “Little Giant.”
• He was an expansionist and a supporter of the Mexican War.
• Douglas broke the Compromise of 1850 into smaller, more acceptable pieces of legislation and pushed it through using various allies in Congress.
• He introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854.
• During a Senate campaign in 1858, he participated in debates against Abraham Lincoln (dubbed the Lincoln-Douglas debates.)
• He believed popular sovereignty was the appropriate way to handle the slavery question.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 15

Compromise of 1850 (Omnibus Bill)

Answer 15

• 1850
• The Compromise of 1850 was a bill proposed by Henry Clay and handled by Stephen Douglas.
• Douglas broke the legislation into various pieced, which helped ensure its passage; this allowed Northern and Southern legislators to vote against just the parts they didn’t like.
• The Compromise led to sectional harmony for several years.
• California was admitted as a free state.
• New Mexico and Utah territories would be decided by popular sovereignty.
• Slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia.
• A tough Fugitive Slave Act passed.
• Federal payment was made to Texas ($10 million) for lost New Mexico territory.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 16

Fugitive Slave Act

Answer 16

• 1850
• The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850.
• This new act reinvigorated enforcement of some guidelines that had already been established in the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which had been mostly ignored by Northern states.
• It created federal commissioners who could pursue fugitive slaves in any state and paid $10 per returned slave.
• African Americans living in the North and claimed by slave catchers were denied portions of legal due process.
• Some Northern states passed personal liberty laws that contradicted the act.
• It led to small riots in the North and increased the rift between the North and South.
• American slavery was enforced using a range of methods that included harsh laws, regulations, and restrictions.

Question 17

Millard Fillmore

Answer 17

• 1850 - 1853
• Millard Fillmore was the thirteenth president of the United States.
• He became president after Zachary Taylor died.
• As a congressman, he revealed his opposition to both the expansion of slavery and various abolitionist activities, driving away supporters.
• He supported the Compromise of 1850.
• Fillmore failed to obtain a nomination in 1852 but was nominated by both the Whigs and the Know-Nothing movement in 1856.
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 18

Know-Nothings

Answer 18

• 1840s - 1850s
• The Know-Nothings were part of a nativist political movement that supported Americans and American ideals over what it saw as the influence of immigrants.
• It drew power from those dissatisfied with local leadership.
• It was influenced by German and Irish Catholic immigration; Know-Nothings suspected the immigrants of anti-Americanism and feared the influence of the Pope in Rome.
• The movement’s name came from its roots in secrecy; in its early days, members were supposed to answer that they did not know about the organization if asked by outsiders.
• The movement grew in size and political representation in 1854 and 1855, but it was split by the slavery issue, and most members joined the Republican Party by the 1860 presidential election.
• Expansion and opportunity opened the doors for increased immigration, which would not only lead to America’s growth but also bring with it religious, cultural, geographical, and political conflicts.

Question 19

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Answer 19

• 1811 - 1896
• Harriet Beecher Stowe worked with the Grimke sisters, Elizabeth Stanton, and other leaders to pursue activist goals.
• She was an early activist in the feminist movement and author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (1851), a novel critical of slavery.
• “Uncle Tom’s Cabin was denounced in the South and praised in the North; it turned many toward active opposition to slavery and helped bolster sympathy for abolition by Europeans who had read it.
• Slavery was opposed through political, cultural, organizational, and even violent means in an attempt to end its spread and existence.

Question 20

Franklin Pierce

Answer 20

• 1852 - 1856
• Franklin Pierce was the fourteenth president of the United States.
• He was a Democratic president from New Hampshire.
• He supported Manifest Destiny despite Northern concerns over the spread of slavery.
• Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
• He sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry into Japan to open the country to diplomacy and commerce (Treaty of Kanagawa).
• He opened Canada to greater trade.
• Pierce’s diplomats failed in their attempts to purchase Cuba from Spain, leading to the drafting of the Ostend Manifesto.
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 21

Commodore Perry’s Expedition to Japan

Answer 21

• 1852 - 1854
• America sought to open new markets and became more interested in trade with Japan as the U.S. economy grew and as West Coast ports developed.
• Japan had been nearly isolated from the West since the 1600s despite attempts by America and Europe to establish business and diplomatic connections.
• Following a plan that President Fillmore enacted during the Pierce administration, Commodore Matthew C. Perry led two separate naval expeditions to Japan.
• Perry was able to secure a trade treaty with Japan.
• America pursued economic and cultural programs to open trade with Asia.

Question 22

Ostend Manifesto

Answer 22

• 1854
• The Ostend Manifesto was drafted by James Buchanan, John Mason, and Pierre Soule after Soule failed to purchase Cuba from Spain.
• The manifesto suggested that the United States should take Cuba from Spain by force if Spain refused to sell it.
• Abolitionists saw the Ostend Manifesto as a plot to extend slavery.
• Southerners supported the manifesto, as they feared Cuba would be a free “black republic.”
• American expansion efforts were furled by governmental policies, Manifest Destiny, the growing belief in American supremacy, and the search for greater freedom and opportunity.

Question 23

Evolution of the Major Political Parties to Pre-Civil War

Answer 23

• 1787 - 1854
• Key Moment: Debate over the adoption of a federal constitution
• Parties: Federalists and Anti-Federalists, who disagreed about the power and influence of the central government
• Evolutionary Point: After the Constitution was adopted, the Jeffersonian Republicans absorbed the Anti-Federalists, and by 1800, the Federalists had declined.
• Key Moment: Disagreement over John Q. Adams’s defeat of Andrew Jackson
• Parties: Democratic-Republicans and the Whig Party, which was a combination of those who opposed President Jackson’s policies and those who had supported John Q. Adams.
• Evolutionary Point: After the death of Whig president William Henry Harrison, parties focused more on issues of sectional unrest.
• American democracy encouraged debate over the role of the federal government and the rights and liberties of its citizens, leading to the development of organizations and political parties to represent and promote these concerns.

Question 24

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Answer 24

• 1854
• Stephen Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act to organize the area west of Missouri and Iowa.
• The act aimed to facilitate the building of a transcontinental railroad that ran west from Chicago.
• It called for two territories to be created (Kansas and Nebraska) and the issue of slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty.
• The act revoked a provision of the Missouri Compromise, allowing everything above 36’30 to be free.
• Kansas’s status was impacted by fighting between pro- and anti-slavery groups that moved to the area.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 25

Creation of Lincoln’s Republican Party

Answer 25

• 1854
• The Democratic Party divided along North-South lines.
• The Whig Party disintegrated, with its members either joining the Know-Nothings or the newly created Republican Party.
• The Republican Party’s unifying principle was that slavery should be banned from all the nation’s territories and not permitted to spread any further to established states.
• The issues around expansion, immigration, and slavery broke political parties apart and helped found new ones.

Question 26

James Buchanan

Answer 26

• 1857 - 1861
• James Buchanan was the fifteenth president of the United States.
• He presided over the country when the Dred Scott decision was announced.
• He backed the Leecompton Constitution to appease the South.
• Buchanan, still acting as president after Lincoln’s election, denied the legal right of states to secede but believed that the federal government could not legally prevent them.
• Before leaving office, Buchanan appointed Northerners to federal posts and helped to prepare Fort Sumter with reinforcements.
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 27

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Answer 27

• 1857
• Dred Scott v. Sandford was a Supreme Court case involving a slave, Scott, who was taken by his master from Missouri, a slave state, to Illinois, a free state.
• After Scott had been returned to Missouri, he sued for freedom for himself and his family claiming that he had ended his slavery by residing in a free state.
• President Buchanan meant for the case to serve as the bias for the slavery issue.
• Pro-South Judge Taney ruled that Scott did not have the right of citizenship, which he would need to be able to bring forth a suit.
• He ruled further that the Missouri Compromise itself was unconstitutional because Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories, as slaves were property.
• The Scott decision would apply to all African Americans, who were regarded as inferior and therefore without rights.
• Despite attempts to settle the slavery question through legislation and the courts, neither approach provided a resolution.

Question 28

Leecompton Constitution

Answer 28

• 1857
• The Leecompton Constitution submitted by pro-slavery leaders in territorial Kansas put no restrictions on slavery.
• Free-soilers boycotted the constitutional convention in Leecompton because the document would not leave Kansas a free territory.
• Though President Buchanan supported the constitution as the basis for Kansas’ statehood, Congress voted against it.
• The constitution was turned down, and Kansas remained a territory.
• The continued expansion spurred by Manifest Destiny increased the debate over the extension of slavery.

Question 29

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Answer 29

• 1858
• Part of the Illinois senatorial campaign between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, these debates centered on the issue of slavery.
• Douglas maintained that the basic elements of democracy supported popular sovereignty.
• Douglas offered the “Freeport Doctrine”; despite the Dred Scott case, slavery could be prevented if people living in a territory refused to pass laws favorable to slavery.
• Lincoln had a moral opposition to slavery’s spread and demanded constitutional protection where it existed.
• Lincoln lost the Senate election to Douglas, but he stepped into the national limelight.
• Lincoln’s rise to national prominence signaled that the slavery issue was coming to a boiling point.

Question 30

John Brown

Answer 30

• 1809 - 1859
• Brown and his sons killed five pro-slavery settlers in Kansas in an incident known as the “Pottawatomie Creek Massacre” (1856)
• He was supported by some Northern abolitionists who aimed to start a countrywide revolution.
• He led followers to seize a federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, hoping to start the rebellion (1859).
• Brown was arrested and hanged.
• Slavery was opposed through political, cultural, organizational, and even violent means in an attempt to end its spread and existence.

Question 31

Election of 1860

Answer 31

• 1860
• Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln.
• Lincoln believed in the free soil movement; the major planks of his campaign were the containment of slavery and development of the transcontinental rail.
• The Democratic vote was split between Douglas and several other strong candidates.
• Lincoln won the election, and the South began to secede thereafter.
• Lincoln’s rise to national prominence signaled that the slavery issue was coming to a boiling point.

Question 32

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 32

• 1861 - 1865
• Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States.
• The Lincoln-Douglas Debates won him national regard and, eventually, the Republican nomination for president.
• He formed and led a Northern army to defend the Union against secessionists.
• He suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, which was upheld by Congress.
• Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing many slaves in the Confederacy.
• He developed the “10% Plan” for Reconstruction.
• Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, which began “Four score and seven years ago…”
• He was assassinated while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington; the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, believed he was assisting the Southern cause.
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 33

Secession

Answer 33

• Began December 1860
• Secession was the response to the election of Abraham Lincoln who sought to contain slavery.
• South Carolina voted to secede on December 20, 1860.
• Over the following two months, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas seceded.
• The remaining states-Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina- seceded after the fall of Fort Sumter.
• These states declared themselves the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis as president, adopting a constitution that permitted slavery rights and the sovereignty of states.
• Lincoln’s rise to national prominence signaled that the slavery issue was coming to a boiling point.

Question 34

Civil War Conscription

Answer 34

• 1860s
• Congress passed a federal conscription law in 1863.
• Rioting took place in the North, notably in New York City, when drafted individuals were permitted to avoid service by hiring a substitute or paying $300.
• The Confederacy’s short supply of manpower meant an earlier draft, beginning in 1862.
• Southerners could also hire substitutes or purchase an exemption.
• The North and South had to adjust the war’s effects on their economies, cultural life, and population.

Question 35

Civil War Advantages for the South

Answer 35

• 1860s
• The South only needed to resist being conquered.
• The South was vast in land size.
• Southern troops would fight in their familiar home territory.
• The South had highly qualified senior officers including Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, Albert Sidney Johnston, and “Stonewall” Jackson.
• The South was inspired to protect its familiar institutions and culture.
• The Union’s leadership, tactics, economy, and moral battle cry allowed it to overcome the Confederacy’s leadership and home battlefield advantage.

Question 36

Civil War Advantages for the North

Answer 36

• 1860s
• The North had a greater population than the South.
• The North had better railroad lines and more established trade routes than the South.
• The North had more wealth than the South.
• The North used the moral issue of fighting slavery as motivation.
• The Union’s leadership, tactics, economy, and moral battle cry allowed it to overcome the Confederacy’s leadership and home battlefield advantage.

Question 37

Anaconda Plan

Answer 37

• 1861
• The Anaconda Plan was a Civil War strategy organized by Northern General Winfield Scott to crush the Southern rebellion.
• It called for a naval blockade to shut out European supplies and exports, a campaign to take the Mississippi River (and thereby split the South), and the targeting of Southern cities in hopes that pro-Unionists would rise up in the South and overthrow the secession.
• Both the blockade and the taking of the Mississippi were successful.
• The Union’s leadership, tactics, economy, and moral battle cry allowed it to overcome the Confederacy’s leadership and home battlefield advantage.

Question 38

Homestead Act

Answer 38

• 1862
• The government used the Homestead Act to promote national economic development and to help settle the West.
• It granted 160 acres of government land to any person who would farm it for at least five years.
• This “free soil” proposal became law when the Southern Democrats were not part of Congress.
• American expansion efforts were furled by governmental policies, Manifest Destiny, the growing belief in American supremacy, and the search for greater freedom and opportunity.

Question 39

Morrill Land Grant Act

Answer 39

• 1862
• The Morrill Land Grant Act was a Republican-led act to promote secondary education.
• The federal government granted land to the states that they could sell to raise money for “land grant” colleges.
• These colleges were to focus on science, engineering, agriculture, and other practical skills.
• The Morrill Act helped establish more than 70 institutions.
• The Union government created legislation to promote its agenda, which included education, military power, and expansion.

Question 40

Emancipation Proclamation

Answer 40

• Effective January 1, 1863
• The Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves to be free in areas under rebel control, thus exempting conquered areas of the South.
• Lincoln was criticized for not abolishing slavery everywhere.
• It led to slaves in the South leaving their plantations, and it increased morale in the North.
• Partly, the Emancipation Proclamation was designed to keep England from joining the war on the side of the South.
• President Lincoln altered the perception of the war from a conflict to preserve the Union to a war that would end slavery.

Question 41

Battle of Gettysburg

Answer 41

• July 1 - 3, 1863
• Southern General Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania from Virginia, pursued by Northern General George Meade.
• Lee was defeated and retreated to Virginia.
• Gettysburg was the bloodiest, most decisive battle of the Civil War.
• It represented the farthest northern advance of the Confederacy.
• The Union’s leadership, tactics, economy, and moral battle cry allowed it to overcome the Confederacy’s leadership and home battlefield advantage.

Question 42

Lincoln’s “10% Plan”

Answer 42

• 1863
• Lincoln believed that seceded states should be restored to the Union quickly and easily, with “malice toward none, with charity for all.”
• Lincoln’s “10% Plan” allowed Southerners, excluding high-ranking confederate officers and military leaders, to take an oath promising future loyalty to the Union and an end to slavery.
• When 10% of those registered to vote in 1860 took the oath, a loyal state government could be formed.
• This plan was not accepted by Congress.
• The desire to reunite the nation as quickly as possible while empowering freed slaves and helping rebuild a new South impacted politics, society, and culture throughout post-Civil War America.

Question 43

Sherman’s March to the Sea

Answer 43

• 1864
• General William Tecumseh Sherman led Union troops through Georgia.
• Sherman and Union Commander Ulysses S. Grant believed in a “total war” that would break the South’s psychological capacity to fight; Sherman’s army sought to eliminate civilian support of Southern troops.
• Sherman captured and burned Atlanta in September 1864.
• The purpose of destroying Atlanta was to lower Southern morale and diminish supplies.
• Sherman led troops to Savannah and then on to South and North Carolina.
• The Union’s leadership, tactics, economy, and moral battle cry allowed it to overcome the Confederacy’s leadership and home battlefield advantage.

Question 44

Sand Creek Massacre

Answer 44

• November 29, 1864
• The federal government assured Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders that conflict had ended and instructed these American Indian peoples to await a peace delegation.
• Colonel John M. Chivington led an American attack upon the Cheyenne and Arapaho village, disregarding their surrender flags.
• The U.S. Army killed over 200 people, the majority of whom were women and children.
• Territorial expansion continued post-Civil War, allowing the nation to develop geographically and demographically but igniting conflicts between the federal government and American Indians over land rights.

Question 45

Wade-Davis Bill

Answer 45

• 1864
• The Wade-Davis Bill was a proposal to reunite the country by Senators Wade and Davis.
• It required that 50% of a state’s white male voters take a loyalty oath to be readmitted to the Union.
• It demanded stronger efforts on behalf of states to emancipate slaves.
• Lincoln “pocket-vetoed” the bill in favor of his “10% Plan.”
• The desire to reunite the nation as quickly as possible while empowering freed slaves and helping rebuild a new South impacted politics, society, and culture throughout post-Civil War America.

Question 46

Conclusion of the Civil War

Answer 46

• April 9, 1865
• With his forces surrounded, Southern General Robert E. lee surrendered to the Union’s Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
• Lee’s surrender caused the remaining Confederate soldiers to lay down their arms.
• By the end of the war, the country had sustained more than 600,000 casualties.
• The Union’s leadership, tactics, economy, and moral battle cry allowed it to overcome the Confederacy’s leadership and home battlefield advantage.

Question 47

Reconstruction

Answer 47

• 1865 - 1877
• Reconstruction was the period following the Civil War in which the United States tried to transform the organization and society of former Confederate states.
• It determined how the South would take over its own governance.
• In 1867, Congress put the South under the army’s control to oversee election, ensure the rights of freed slaves, and prevent Confederate leaders from gaining power.
• New Republican state governments offered a variety of reconstruction programs, but former Confederates, suspicious of these efforts, claimed corruption within state leadership; some turned to violent opposition.
• Reconstruction concluded with the Compromise of 1877 and the end of federal control in the South; former Confederate states began enacting Jim Crow laws and disenfranchising many African Americans.
• While the Civil War ended slavery and maintained the Union, it did not fully change the cultures that had motivated the conflict, and it created a tumultuous political environment.

Question 48

Hiram Rhode Revels

Answer 48

• 1827 - 1901
• Hiram Rhodes Revels was an African American born to a free family in North Carolina.
• An ordained minister, Revels served in the Civil War, in which he helped recruit and organize two regiments.
• He became the first African American U.S. senator, representing Mississippi.
• Revels filled the seat that had belonged to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.
• African American leaders, thinker, and scholars worked diligently to help African Americans find a place in the post-Civil War nation.

Question 49

Freedmen’s Bureau

Answer 49

• 1865
• The Freedman’s Bureau was a congressional support agency providing food, clothing, and education for freed slaves.
• Ex-slave states were divided into districts that were managed by assistant commissioners.
• Despite its benefits, the bureau failed to establish the freed slaves as landowners.
• It organized the African American vote for the Republican Party, creating great animosity toward the bureau in the South.
• Even though slaves were emancipated in the South, their integration into Southern society would lead to conflicts with whites over land ownership, political rights, and their place in society.

Question 50

Radical Republicans

Answer 50

• 1860s
• The Radical Republicans were a faction of the Republican Party; they believed the Civil War was meant to stop slavery and emancipate all slaves.
• Its members held that Congress, not the president, should control Reconstruction.
• Radical Republicans rejected the reentry of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana into the Union, despite their qualification under the “10% Plan.”
• They wanted the rebellious South to be dealt with in a harsher manner,
• Ben Wade and Thad Stevens were among its members.
• Even though the Civil War ended slavery and maintained the Union, it did not fully change the cultures that had motivated the conflict, and it created a tumultuous political environment.

Question 51

Civil War Amendments

Answer 51

• 1865 - 1870
• The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) abolished slavery in the United States.
• The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) made African Americans citizens, and no state could deny them life, liberty, or property without due process of the law.
• The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) states that no state could deny the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
• Reconstruction legislation reflected the North’s ideals and sought to give representation to traditionally disenfranchised groups, while the South continued to battle against such charges.

Question 52

Black Codes

Answer 52

• Began in 1865
• Black Codes were restrictions set by Southern states on former slaves.
• They were designed to replicate the conditions of slavery in the post-Civil War South.
• Various codes prohibited meetings without a white person present, whereas others established segregated public facilities.
• Black Codes led to Radical Republican opposition and the exclusion of Southern representation in Congress.
• Reconstruction legislation reflected the North’s ideals and sought to give representation to traditionally disenfranchised groups, while the South continued to battle against such changes.

Question 53

Andrew Johnson

Answer 53

• 1865 - 1869
• Andrew Johnson was the seventeenth president of the United States.
• He was the vice president who took over the presidency after Lincoln’s assassination.
• He initially followed Lincoln’s policies but gradually changed course, giving amnesty to former Confederate officials and opposing legislation that dealt with former slaves.
• His veto of the Civil Rights Act was overridden by Congress, which decreased his political power.
• Johnson’s opposition to the Radical Republicans and his violation of the Tenure of Office Act led to his impeachment by the House.
• The Senate was organized as a court to hear the impeachment charges, but it came one vote short of the constitutional two-thirds required for removal.
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 54

Carpetbaggers and Scalwags

Answer 54

• Post-Civil War
• “Carpetbaggers” was a derogatory Southern name for Northerners who came to the South to participate in Reconstruction governments.
• “Scalwags” was a derogatory name for Southerners working for or supporting the federal government during Reconstruction.
• Some of these Southerners had opposed the war from the beginning; others helped Reconstruction for financial gain.
• Partially in response to Reconstruction, a group of Southern whites formed the Ku Klux Klan, which targeted carpetbaggers, scalwags, African Americans, and others with aggressive and sometimes violent acts/
• Reconstruction legislation reflected the North’s ideals and sought to give representation to traditionally disenfranchised groups, while the South continued to battle against such changes.

Question 55

Ulysses S. Grant

Answer 55

• 1869 - 1877
• Ulysses S. Grant was the eighteenth president of the United States.
• Grant fought in the Mexican War, captured Vicksburg as a Union general, and accepted General Lee’s surrender.
• He was appointed secretary of war by Andrew Johnson in 1867; Grant disagreed with Johnson’s policies and won election through support of the Radical Republicans.
• Despite Grant’s personal honesty and honor, his administration was marred by scandals such as Credit Mobilier and the Whiskey Ring.
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 56

Battle of Little Bighorn

Answer 56

• June 25 - 26, 1876
• The Battle of Little Bighorn was fought between the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne during the Sioux Wars.
• These wars were a result of the continued encroachment of the United States onto American Indian lands.
• 263 U.S. Army soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer, died in the defeat.
• It is referred to “Custer’s Last Stand.”
• Territorial expansion continued post-Civil War, allowing the nation to develop geographically and demographically but igniting conflicts between the federal government and American Indians over land rights.

Question 57

Chief Joseph

Answer 57

• 1890 - 1904
• Chief Joseph was the leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce American Indian tribe.
• After a gold rush on the Wallowa reservation, the federal government reduced the band’s land holding size, which led to several major battles.
• Chief Joseph and his tribe gained widespread admiration across the United States for their resistance.
• After his surrender, Chief Joseph met with President Rutherford B. Hayes to press his case.
• Despite these measures, his people were unable to return to the Pacific Northwest for another six years, and Joseph remained in exile until his death.
• Territorial expansion continued post-Civil War, allowing the nation to develop geographically and demographically but igniting conflicts between the federal government and American Indians over land rights.

Question 58

Rutherford B. Hayes

Answer 58

• 1877 - 1881
• Rutherford B. Hayes was the nineteenth president of the United States.
• He was the former Ohio governor who was the Republican presidential nominee in 1876.
• He won the election through the Compromise of 1877.
• During his term, he moved federal troops from the South.
• Hayes dealt with the railroad strike in 1877
• The election and actions of U.S. presidents reflect the major issues concerning the federal government, the country’s stance in the world, political parties, and the American people.

Question 59

Compromise of 1877

Answer 59

• 1877
• The Compromise of 1877 came after a disputed presidential election between Hayes and Tilden.
• Tilden won the popular vote, but neither candidate won the electoral vote because the electoral votes in three states were in dispute.
• The Democrats agreed to give Hayes the presidency.
• Hayes promised to show consideration for Southern interests, end Reconstruction, aid Southern industrialization, and withdraw the remaining forces from the South.
• The settlement left freed African Americans in the South without support from the Republican Party.
• Reconstruction tensions between the North, South, and federal government impacted America’s political, economic, and cultural landscape.

Question 60

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Answer 60

• 1877
• Pay cuts caused labor strikes to spread through the country.
• Workers of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad went on strike over a second pay cut.
• President Hayes used federal troops to restore order after workers wee killed.
• Unions, community leaders, and workers battled with management over wages and working conditions.

Question 61

n

Answer 61

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