Module 04: American Civil War

Question 1

Module 04: American Civil War

Why do images of John Brown, such as this one, vary so much in their portrayal of the man? (5 points)

1. Few images of Brown exist from the time, so artists can only guess at his actual appearance.
2. Brown was convicted and executed as a criminal, yet he was seen as a hero by many abolitionists.
3. Few supporters of Brown existed during his time, yet that changed after his death.
4. Brown was suspected of insanity, and some artists focus on that instead of his acts.

Answer 1

2. Brown was convicted and executed as a criminal, yet he was seen as a hero by many abolitionists.

Question 2

Module 04: American Civil War

How did people in the North react to the Fugitive Slave Law? (5 points)

1. Most accepted it as an unavoidable evil to achieve the Compromise of 1850 and so followed the law.
2. Some refused outright to honor it, and some abolitionists actively helped runaway slaves to evade it.
3. Few tried to resist the law, and many actually spoke out against those who did as troublemakers and thieves.
4. A majority openly denounced the law and found ways to support the Underground Railroad to Canada.

Answer 2

2. Some refused outright to honor it, and some abolitionists actively helped runaway slaves to evade it.

Question 3

Module 04: American Civil War

How did railroad building lead to increased division between the North and South? (5 points)

1. The South had no interest in building railroads and saw the North as destroying the landscape by initiating them.
2. The South needed railroads to expand markets for their crops, but Northern businessmen refused to invest there.
3. The North was increasingly a manufacturing economy and tied with the West, while the South remained agrarian.
4. The North built railroads to the West to encourage settlement there by those who were against expanding slavery.

Answer 3

3. The North was increasingly a manufacturing economy and tied with the West, while the South remained agrarian.

Question 4

Module 04: American Civil War

How did the Panic of 1857 reveal the sectional nature of the economy? (5 points)

1. The North saw little effect, while the South was devastated.
2. The West saw little effect, while the East was devastated.
3. The North was more severely affected than the South.
4. The West was more severely affected than the East.

Answer 4

3. The North was more severely affected than the South.

Question 5

Module 04: American Civil War

In John C. Calhoun’s eyes, what made slavery “a positive good”? (5 points)

1. It led to more rapid economic and industrial development than was possible in the regions without it.
2. Slaves who ran away to the North suffered great hardships that led many to return to their former masters.
3. It contributed to the strength of the Union because it caused regions to depend so clearly on each other.
4. Slaves had a better quality of life than wageworkers in factories, who had no health care or other protections.

Answer 5

4. Slaves had a better quality of life than wageworkers in factories, who had no health care or other protections.

Question 6

Module 04: American Civil War

How did abolitionists react to the Kansas-Nebraska Act? (5 points)

1. They praised popular sovereignty as the best way to end slavery and encouraged others to support it.
2. They set up a society to encourage people to move there so they could vote against allowing slavery.
3. They vilified Stephen Douglas as a Southern sympathizer, ruining his reputation and political future.
4. They claimed that it would lead to violence and suggested that anti-slavery settlers leave the area.

Answer 6

2. They set up a society to encourage people to move there so they could vote against allowing slavery.

Question 7

Module 04: American Civil War

Why was the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision significant? (5 points)

1. It said that free people who assisted runaway slaves could be captured and sold into slavery themselves.
2. It provided that any enslaved person who traveled into a free territory or state would be forever free.
3. It gave free African Americans the right to seek justice or compensation for their experiences in slavery.
4. It ruled that African Americans were not citizens and therefore had no rights or protection under federal law.

Answer 7

4. It ruled that African Americans were not citizens and therefore had no rights or protection under federal law.

Question 8

Module 04: American Civil War

What is the connection between the event shown on this map and the start of the American Civil War? (5 points)

1. The 1860 election had no clear winner, causing deadlock in Congress and the walkout of Southern leaders.
2. The election of Abraham Lincoln sparked outrage in the South and led to the secession of several states.
3. During the campaign, Abraham Lincoln promised to end slavery as his first priority if elected president.
4. During the campaign, Southern members of Congress threatened secession if Breckinridge did not win.

Answer 8

2. The election of Abraham Lincoln sparked outrage in the South and led to the secession of several states.

Question 9

Module 04: American Civil War

What is the connection between the event shown on this map and the start of the American Civil War? (5 points)

1. The 1860 election had no clear winner, causing deadlock in Congress and the walkout of Southern leaders.
2. The election of Abraham Lincoln sparked outrage in the South and led to the secession of several states.
3. During the campaign, Abraham Lincoln promised to end slavery as his first priority if elected president.
4. During the campaign, Southern members of Congress threatened secession if Breckinridge did not win.

Answer 9

2. The election of Abraham Lincoln sparked outrage in the South and led to the secession of several states.

Question 10

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D. 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.”—From the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union, 1860

According to this excerpt, what issue was the main basis for South Carolina’s secession? (5 points)

1. Election results
2. States’ rights
3. Nullification
4. Slavery

Answer 10

2. States’ rights

Question 11

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“You dislike the emancipation proclamation; and, perhaps, would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional—I think differently. I think the constitution invests its Commander-in-chief, with the law of war, in time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are property. Is there—has there ever been—any question that by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed?”—President Abraham Lincoln, 1863 letter

Which of the following is supported by the excerpt? (5 points)

1. The president maintained correspondence with Confederate leaders he respected.
2. Defining slaves as property started to create support for the president in the South.
3. People in the North thought the president planned to force former slaves to fight.
4. Resistance to the president’s policies existed within the Union itself during the war.

Answer 11

4. Resistance to the president’s policies existed within the Union itself during the war.

Question 12

Module 04: American Civil War

Which of the following is true about preparations of the North and South for the Civil War? (5 points)

1. Both sides were fairly equal in amount and quality of resources at the outset.
2. The South had a distinct advantage in industrial goods bought from Europe.
3. Each side successfully employed a draft to raise manpower early in the war.
4. Overall the North had the resource advantage in goods and infrastructure.

Answer 12

4. Overall the North had the resource advantage in goods and infrastructure.

Question 13

Module 04: American Civil War

Why does historian Eric Foner call the Emancipation Proclamation “perhaps the most misunderstood of the documents that have shaped American history?” (5 points)

1. The document did not actually free any slaves at all.
2. It was intended to be a threat and not an actual law.
3. The document freed slaves only in areas of rebellion.
4. It was meant to encourage slaves to leave the country.

Answer 13

3. The document freed slaves only in areas of rebellion.

Question 14

Module 04: American Civil War

How was the Emancipation Proclamation intended as a military strategy? (5 points)

1. The expected confusion it would cause would scatter armies and elicit surrender to the North.
2. It would relieve Northern leaders of responsibility for escaped slaves, who drained resources.
3. The outcry and debate would distract Southern leaders as well as troops from their cause.
4. It would allow Union enlistment of free and newly free blacks and disrupt work in the South.

Answer 14

4. It would allow Union enlistment of free and newly free blacks and disrupt work in the South.

Question 15

Module 04: American Civil War

In which of the following did the Confederacy have the advantage early in the war? (5 points)

1. Firearms and weapons
2. Roads and railroads
3. Military leadership
4. Population

Answer 15

3. Military leadership

Question 16

Module 04: American Civil War

How did the Siege of Vicksburg fit into an overall Union war strategy? (5 points)

1. Control of the area would divide the South from critical supply lines.
2. Control of the Southern capital would undermine their government.
3. It was a defensive plan aimed to maintain control of federal forts.
4. It used mostly African American troops to demoralize the South.

Answer 16

1. Control of the area would divide the South from critical supply lines.

Question 17

Module 04: American Civil War

Why was 1863 a turning point in the war? (5 points)

1. General Robert E. Lee began to consider surrender as the only possible outcome to the conflict.
2. The Union won key victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg with stronger strategy and leadership.
3. A Confederate win at Chancellorsville emboldened Southern troops and encouraged participation.
4. President Lincoln expected the South to give up in response to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Answer 17

2. The Union won key victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg with stronger strategy and leadership.

Question 18

Module 04: American Civil War

How was destruction of the Richmond-Petersburg area, such as that shown in the image, a factor in the South’s surrender in April 1865? (5 points)

1. The cities were considered the heart of the South and Confederate morale imploded afterward.
2. It was the only significant area that was still under Confederate control as of this point in the war.
3. Richmond was the Confederate capital and Petersburg a critical source of supplies by railroad.
4. Southern commanders elsewhere surrendered immediately as it was the first total war on a city.

Answer 18

3. Richmond was the Confederate capital and Petersburg a critical source of supplies by railroad.

Question 19

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“Every time a bunch of No’thern sojers (soldiers) would come through they would tell us we was free and we’d begin celebratin’ … [but] before we would get through somebody else would tell us to go back to work, and we would go. Some of us wanted to jine (join) up with the army, but we didn’t know who was goin’ to win and didn’t take no chances.”—Ambrose Douglass, a former slave in North Carolina

What does this quote suggest about the limits of the Emancipation Proclamation? (5 points)

1. Slaves were eager to experience freedom, to fight for it, and were confident the North would protect them.
2. Not all slaves left plantations immediately in response to the news out of fear that it was not permanent.
3. Most former slaves enlisted in the Union army as soon as Union troops delivered news of the document.
4. The document ended up having little effect on slavery, as the majority of slaves did not believe it was true.

Answer 19

2. Not all slaves left plantations immediately in response to the news out of fear that it was not permanent.

Question 20

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“[Because of the Emancipation Proclamation] the condition of things [became] … unsettled, revolutionary, with nothing clearly defined, neither slave nor slaveholder having any rights which they felt bound mutually to respect … Slave property in the state of Missouri was almost a dead weight to the owner; he could not sell because there were no buyers.”—H.C. Bruce, a former slave in Missouri

What does this excerpt suggest about the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation? (5 points)

1. It also undermined slavery in the border states despite not being in effect there.
2. It caused complete disintegration of southern society in the states that seceded.
3. It led to slave owners not even trying to stop their slaves from leaving the farms.
4. It prevented riots or chaos as both owners and slaves simply ignored each other.

Answer 20

1. It also undermined slavery in the border states despite not being in effect there.

Question 21

Module 04: American Civil War

How did the crop-lien system contribute to the survival of sharecropping and tenant farming for generations after Reconstruction? (5 points)

1. Farmers who sought to eventually own land in the same area saw it as a way to save money toward the purchase.
2. It required former slaves to pay back their value as slaves in increments through the sale of crops before being paid.
3. Poor farmers had to borrow against the value of future crops for supplies, creating a cycle of debt they could not escape.
4. The system assumed an increasing rate of production, even as the prices were falling and the economy suffered downturns.

Answer 21

3. Poor farmers had to borrow against the value of future crops for supplies, creating a cycle of debt they could not escape.

Question 22

Module 04: American Civil War

How did sharecropping and tenant farming compare to plantation slavery? (5 points)

1. While living and working conditions were similar, freedmen could choose where to work and no longer faced forced sale and relocation.
2. By the end of the century, the only significant difference was the arrangement of housing and the existence of schools and churches.
3. Landowners treated farm laborers much better and competed to give favorable contract terms in order to secure farm stability.
4. Most freedmen found their new conditions much worse, as they did not have the means to provide the way their former masters did.

Answer 22

1. While living and working conditions were similar, freedmen could choose where to work and no longer faced forced sale and relocation.

Question 23

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“The attempt to make black men American citizens was in a certain sense all a failure, but a splendid failure.”—W.E.B. DuBois (1868–1963), African American historian and activist

To which of the following aspects of Radical Reconstruction does the excerpt refer? (5 points)

1. 14th Amendment
2. Military rule
3. Black Codes
4. 13th Amendment

Answer 23

1. 14th Amendment

Question 24

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“The attempt to make black men American citizens was in a certain sense all a failure, but a splendid failure.”—W.E.B. DuBois (1868–1963), African American historian and activist

What does DuBois mean by “a splendid failure”? (5 points)

1. He saw Radical Reconstruction as a wondrous time for African American history, where anything seemed possible.
2. While efforts to gain civil rights for freedmen did not survive, they did have some enduring achievements such as public schools.
3. Activists for civil rights learned many great lessons about how people would resist, undermine, and circumvent their work.
4. State laws that restricted the rights of freedmen also contained many helpful provisions that went underappreciated.

Answer 24

2. While efforts to gain civil rights for freedmen did not survive, they did have some enduring achievements such as public schools.

Question 25

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“[In order to vote] Must reside in the State [Alabama] two years, one year in the County and three months in the election precinct.
Poll taxes for 1901 and each year since then must be paid before the first of February prior to the election.
Must be registered and hold a certificate of registration.
In order to register, must be able to read and write any Article of the Constitution of the United States, and must be regularly engaged in some work.”—Excerpt from a pamphlet published for African Americans in the South

What was the intention of rules such as those expressed in this excerpt? (5 points)

1. Ensure equality in voting opportunities for blacks and whites
2. Inform teachers of educational standards for voting citizens
3. Raise money to repair damages from the war
4. Disenfranchise former slaves and poor whites

Answer 25

4. Disenfranchise former slaves and poor whites

Question 26

Module 04: American Civil War

How did groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the White League interfere with the expansion of civil rights for freedmen? (5 points)

1. They appealed to local and state leaders to refuse to honor federal laws related to civil rights as they felt the freedmen were not prepared to exercise them.
2. Their use of violence and the threat of violence prevented many freedmen from exercising their rights or resisting local political efforts to undermine them.
3. They secretly committed widespread election fraud to destroy the ballots of freedmen and white Republicans and return white leaders to elected positions.
4. Their main mission was to recruit supporters and enforcers for the Black Codes and operate as a kind of vigilante police in preventing rights for freedmen.

Answer 26

2. Their use of violence and the threat of violence prevented many freedmen from exercising their rights or resisting local political efforts to undermine them.

Question 27

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“[W]oman has a thousand ways to attach herself to the governing power of the land and already exerts an honorable influence on the course of legislation. She is the victim of abuses, to be sure, but it cannot be pretended I think that her cause is as urgent as that of ours [black suffrage].”—Frederick Douglass

The opinion expressed in this excerpt contributed to which of the following events? (5 points)

1. Creation of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union
2. Removal of military troops from the South
3. Split in the women’s rights movement
4. The Compromise of 1877

Answer 27

3. Split in the women’s rights movement

Question 28

Module 04: American Civil War

Question refers to the excerpt below.

“Miss Phoebe Cozzens considered it [the 15th Amendment] an insult to the entire mass of women in the United States. It admitted to suffrage negroes, Chinese, Alaskans, and every description of ignorant and imbruted male foreigners; while it excluded women from that right … In regard to the voting of negro men, she said that not only were white women more fitted to vote than they, but negro women as a class likewise.”—From The New York Times, reporting on an 1869 meeting of the NWSA

According to this excerpt, why did Phoebe Cozzens oppose the 15th Amendment? (5 points)

1. It did not extend suffrage to black men.
2. It did not extend suffrage to women.
3. It did not extend suffrage to migrants.
4. It did not extend suffrage to farmers.

Answer 28

2. It did not extend suffrage to women.

Question 29

Module 04: American Civil War

What was the overall impact of Supreme Court cases related to civil rights in the Reconstruction era, such as United States v. Cruikshank? (5 points)

1. They affirmed the constitutionality of legislation such as the Civil War Amendments, but they had no power to enforce them.
2. They encouraged Congress to pass additional civil rights laws aimed at supporting and enforcing provisions of the Civil War Amendments.
3. They denied the legitimacy of civil rights laws aimed at protecting the legal citizenship and protections of former slaves and their families.
4. They left application and enforcement of civil rights in the hands of state governments, which stripped away rights for Southern blacks.

Answer 29

4. They left application and enforcement of civil rights in the hands of state governments, which stripped away rights for Southern blacks.

Question 30

Module 04: American Civil War

Why do historians like Eric Foner emphasize the long-term significance of the Civil War Amendments (Reconstruction Amendments)? (5 points)

1. They were central to establishing and protecting rights for freedmen during Reconstruction.
2. Their success was limited by state governments, but they were the basis for later civil rights activism.
3. The amendments led to services such as public schools and legal aid that would not exist otherwise.
4. The amendments had little impact beyond ending slavery, but they remain part of the Constitution.

Answer 30

2. Their success was limited by state governments, but they were the basis for later civil rights activism.