Unit 2 - 1865-77

Question 1

What did the Emancipation Proclamation state?

Answer 1

That from 1/1/1863 any slave in territory under the direct control of the Confederacy would be forever free.

Question 2

Why was there controversy around the Emancipation Proclamation?

Answer 2

Because some believed it was only a strategic move to weaken the Confederacy.
The Proclamation was also opposed by the main northern opposition, the Democratic Party.

Question 3

When did reconstruction start and end?

Answer 3

1865-1877

Question 4

Whose election ended Reconstruction?

Answer 4

Rutherford B Hayes

Question 5

Why was the 13th Amendment so important?

Answer 5

Because slaves were considered property, so by freeing them the amendment wiped out $2 billion in property. It also created 4 million new freemen.
Following the amendment, Congress and many northern states passed legislation to begin breaking down the second-class position of black Americans.

Question 6

What was one of the first responses to freedom for black people?

Answer 6

Considerable internal migration across the former slave-owning states.

Question 7

What was the response of plantation owners to the abolition of slavery?

Answer 7

They wanted to keep a system of cheap black labour as similar to slavery as possible. Many slaves stayed on the same farms under very similar conditions of abuse and bad working conditions.

Question 8

What was the Freedmen’s Bureau?

Answer 8

An organisation to help former black slaves and poor white people in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War.

Question 9

What did the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction state?

Answer 9

That any former Confederate state could form a state government if 10% of voters in the 1860 election took an oath of allegiance to the USA.

Question 10

When was Lincoln assassinated / when did Andrew Johnson become president?

Answer 10

1865.

Question 11

Why had Johnson been chosen as Lincoln’s running mate?

Answer 11

As a show of north-south union. He was from Tennessee, a Confederate state, and while he did stay loyal to the US in the war, he was very conservative and racist.

Question 12

How did Johnson negatively affect reconstruction?

Answer 12

He issued a general pardon to former Confederates and allowed the southern states to have state governments and let them decide who should and shouldn’t vote. Many states elected senior Confederates to high office and none let black people vote.
He also did nothing to eliminate the black codes.

Question 13

What were the Black Codes?

Answer 13

A set of laws designed to discriminate against black people. They covered things like black rights to own property, to marry, to make contracts or to appear as witnesses in court.

Question 14

What was the purpose of the Committee of Reconstruction?

Answer 14

To decide whether or not a former Confederate state was allowed to return to the Union.

Question 15

How did Johnson try to keep the Black Codes?

Answer 15

He vetoed removing them, but this caused such outrage that Congress got the 2/3 majority needed to overrule a presidential veto.

Question 16

What were radical Republicans?

Answer 16

A group of Republicans focused on civil rights and ending slavery, as well as giving rights to black people in the South.

Question 17

Why was President Johnson impeached? Did the impeachment stand?

Answer 17

He was impeached due to high crimes and misdemeanours in office. He escaped impeachment by one vote.

Question 18

When was President Johnson impeached?

Answer 18

February 1868

Question 19

How did Johnson help the Radical Republicans?

Answer 19

He blatantly supported the southern states and attempted to undermine reconstruction. This gave way to a more radical group of Republicans who decided to implement reconstruction.

Question 20

What laws did Congress pass in March 1867?

Answer 20

-Military Reconstruction Act
-Command of the Army Act
-Tenure of Office Act

Question 21

What did the Military Reconstruction Act do?

Answer 21

It invalidated state administration approved by Johnson and divided the South into 5 military districts.

Question 22

What did the Command of the Army Act state?

Answer 22

All presidential orders to the army had to go through the army HQ run by Ulysses S. Grant.

Question 23

What did the Tenure of Office Act do?

Answer 23

It forbade the president to remove civil officers without senatorial consent.

Question 24

What was a Carpetbagger?

Answer 24

A northern white person who went south to make money after the Civil War.

Question 25

What was a Scalawag?

Answer 25

A southern white person willing to work with the reconstruction state government created by the North.

Question 26

What were the impacts of the three March 1867 laws in the South?

Answer 26

-White supremacist groups gained supporters
-Southerners felt that black people were being favoured
-Some felt they were being occupied by the Northern army
-Southern minority complex
-Many northerners moved south to exploit the political landscape

Question 27

What did the 15th Amendment do?

Answer 27

It gave all men the right to vote.

Question 28

Why did black people not have the right to vote, even after the 15th Amendment was introduced?

Answer 28

Because it failed to make requirements to vote uniform across the US, so southern states made laws to keep black men from voting.

Question 29

What was the Civil Rights Act of 1875?

Answer 29

It was the last law of reconstruction. The act supported equality of all races before the law and justice for all.
It stated that everyone was allowed in inns, restaurants and theatres, but failed to mention public schools, which would stay segregated.

Question 30

How did the southern states succeed in going against reconstruction laws?

Answer 30

They took advantage of loopholes in the legislation, so they could create their own laws while technically still following federal legislation.

Question 31

Why did reconstruction end?

Answer 31

Because the Democrats had taken control of most southern states by 1875 and dominated Congress.

Question 32

What did the 1872 Amnesty Act do?

Answer 32

It pardoned all but the most senior officers and officials of the former Confederate states.