HIST 201

Study Guide #1

Reconstruction

Multiple Choice Questions (Choose the most accurate answer)

1. Place the following periods of history in Chronological Order:

a. Congressional Reconstruction __c__
b. Presidential Reconstruction __b__
c. U.S. Civil War __a__
d. Redemption __d__
e. Jim Crow South __e__

2. Which of the following lists best describes the key issues former slaves faced
during Reconstruction?
a. Jim Crow laws, starvation, Sharecropping, Secret Societies, political
corruption
b. KKK, President Andrew Johnson, Black Codes, Sharecropping, &
Redeemers
c. Armed Democrats, Carpetbaggers, Scalawags, Greed
d. Secret Societies, Jim Crow Laws, Grant’s Whiskey Ring, The Hayes
Compromise
e. None of the Above

3. According to W. E. B. Du Bois, Reconstruction was…

a. A proud period of U.S. history wherein the Union came back together in
harmony with minimal to no racial tensions
b. A period of U.S. history where Congress passed several acts and
amendments that adequately addressed past issues of racial inequality
c. A period of U.S. history that all Americans ought to be ashamed of
d. A period of U.S. history that witnessed a mix of success and failure, but
ultimately did not adequately address issues of racial inequality

4. The film Birth of a Nation is about…

a. The birth of the U.S. as a nation in 1776
b. The reunion of the nation following the U.S. Civil War
c. The post-civil War South, which was saved from corrupt Carpetbaggers
and former slaves by secret societies like the KKK
d. The post-civil War South, which U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
thoroughly enjoyed
e. C & D
 5. The passing of the 13-15 amendments brought immediate political equality for all
former slaves.
a. True
b. False

IDS

“After the War, A Southern Tour” : was a book Whitelaw Reid wrote in 1866 after he
traveled throughout the South in the aftermath of the Civil War. The book detailed the
destruction of the South and the growth of African American schools and churches. Reid
observed that African Americans were as quick to learn as any others, which was
significant because while even many abolitionists were skeptical towards the education of
former slaves, his book showed that they were capable and eager to obtain an education.
Reid also observed confederate hostility toward Washington.

40 Acres & A Mule : William T. Sherman’s General Order No. 15 which promised 40
acres and a mule to each former slave. This would allow them to support and provide for
their families.

Presidential Reconstruction : The period from 1865-1867 during which President

Andrew Johnson obstructed reconstruction attempts by Radical Republicans, such as
reversing General Order No. 15, limiting resources to the Freedmen’s Bureau, and
offering amnesty to former rebels. This severely hindered the Reconstruction movement
in the South.

Black Codes: Laws passed by southern states intended to restrict the freedom of former
slaves and keep them subordinate to whites. They granted blacks some rights, such as
legally recognized marriage and ownership of property, but regulated their freedom with
many laws that could be easily twisted against blacks. These laws trapped former slaves
in a continued state of near-slavery.

Reconstruction Act : was passed in March 1867 and reversed the Black Codes as well as
dividing the former Confederacy into five military districts. This act brought Presidential
Reconstruction to a close and marked the beginning of Congressional Reconstruction.
Beginning with this act, the Radical Republicans were able to star carrying out their plans
for reconstruction in the south.

Carpetbaggers: Republicans from the North, whether businessmen, Freedmen Bureau

agents or Union army veterans, who came to the South seeking political office. Their
motives were both a drive for personal gain and a desire to aid the reconstruction process
by bringing Northern ideas and reformations to the South.

Reign of Terror: Period from 1867 – 1872 during which terrorist groups like the KKK,
the White League, and the Camellia Society committed horrific acts against the black
population and sympathetic whites. These groups wished to frighten blacks from voting
and taking other political action, and their horrendous demonstrations certainly inspired
fear in the black community.

14th Amendment: was passed on June 13, 1866 and was the first national attempt to
define American citizenship. It stated that everyone born or naturalized in the U.S. were
citizens and were guaranteed protection of the law. This amendment built a foundation
for future challenges to states’ rights because it established the national government’s
role in assuring individual rights. It was also designed to increase the Republican party’s
power by either gaining black voters or the South losing seats in Congress. It became a
central campaign issue during the congressional elections of 1866.

Sharecropping: the arrangement white landowners made with former slaves in which they
divided their plantations into smaller farms and leased them to workers, providing seed,
fertilizer, tools, food, and clothing in return for a share of the crop. However, this trapped
former slaves in another system of labor, because sharecroppers were forced to rely on
loans, often from the landowners, which compounded and left them trapped in debt.

Redeemers: armed democrats and secret societies who launched a counterrevolution to

“redeem” the South and regain control of southern state governments. They tried to
reestablish white supremacy and racism and tried to frighten blacks and Republicans by
attacking Freedmen trying to vote or hold political conferences.
Birth of A Nation: was a movie released in 1915 that glorified the KKK and other
“redeemers”, while presenting a biased view of Carpetbaggers and Black Republicans as
greedy, uneducated, and amoral. It was so successful that in 1916 President Woodrow
Wilson played it at the White House.

Jim Crow South: the period at the end of Reconstruction after the Republican Retreat
during which White Supremacy triumphed in the South. Democrats manipulated the law
to ensure a stable black work force, established ways to exclude the black vote, and
implemented “separate but equal” segregation. After struggling through Reconstruction,
former slaves were still left to face racism oppression.

Reflection Questions: What political, social, economic and civil issues did former
Confederate states face immediately after the U.S. Civil War?

Confederate states faced economic disrupt when the slaves they’d invested in and
relied on for free labor were set free. They maintained racist views and resented the
Union and the Radical Republican’s efforts to control their governments.

What was the first phase of Reconstruction named? Discuss some of the methods and
processes the White House and former Confederate state governments took to reconstruct
their states.

The first phase of Reconstruction was called Presidential Reconstruction.

President Andrew Johnson held a lenient policy toward former rebels, trying to rebuild a
unified country rather than reconstruct southern society. He insisted that Confederate
state governments ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, but also compromised a lot with
them, and they were only interested in restoring the old racial order. The governments of
former Confederate states passed “Black Codes” that severely restricted the freedom of
former slaves, preserving that racial order.

How did Congress attempt to reconstruct the south? Were these measures successful,
why or why not?

During Congressional Reconstruction, Radical Republicans accomplished the

ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Republicans
won a three-to-one majority in the congressional elections of 1866 and used that power to
further Reconstruction with acts such as the First Reconstruction Act and others which
undid some of the presidential reconstructions and created new requirements for former
confederate states to re-enter the Union. After Congress passed several acts to limit
President Johnson’s power and he violated one of them, Congress voted to impeach the
president. The impeachment was unsuccessful, failing by one vote. Congress’ attempts to
reconstruct the South were heavily manipulated by Radical Republicans, but their
reforms made more progress than Presidential Reconstruction did.

As a whole, what did the Reconstruction period entail? What lessons can we learn about
the general process of reconstructing post-martial states in the world today? Does
Reconstruction open windows of opportunity for great civil, social, political and
economic change, or is it just a period where things go back to the way they were before
the given crisis?

The Reconstruction period was filled with political manipulations and shifts in the
South. While some significant things changed, such as slavery, the attitudes of people did
not, and when there is no change of attitude, people will fall right back into their previous
ways of life. It is important to observe this natural aspect of humanity and be prepared to
address it when attempting to reconstruct post-martial states in the world today. Any state
in that position certainly needs reconstruction and reconciliation, but it must be done
gingerly and thoughtfully, recognizing the downfalls of humanity and addressing them.

The Wild West

Multiple Choice Questions (choose the most accurate answer)

1. The phrase, “If Hell lay to the west, Americans would cross Heaven to get there,”
reflects…
a. A drive to travel to horrific places
b. The popularity of religious sayings during the late 19th century
c. The supposed American pioneering spirit to travel regardless of the
end destination
d. None of the Above.

2. The frequency of U.S. cowboys fighting Indians was astronomical

a. True
b. False

3. Which of the following lists best outlines why pioneers traveled west…
a. Cattle driving, computer chips, transpacific trading
b. Transpacific trading, oil, gold and silver mining
c. Cattle driving, wheat farming, gold, silver, and copper mining
d. Land, cattle driving, oil, and copper mining

4. Wyoming is the first U.S. territory to give women the right to vote because…
a. Wyoming was home to some of the most open-minded pioneers of the
mid-late 19th century
b. Wyoming was desirous to become a state and the only way they could do
that was by attracting more women to live in WY
c. Wyoming was increasingly fearful of Mormon influence
 d. B & C
e. None of the Above

5. The Massacre of Wounded Knee was actually a battle

a. True
b. False

6. Which of the following lists best explains strained U.S.-Sino immigrant relations?
a. Poor Chinese hygiene, opium dens, and worker’s competition
b. Worker’s competition and opium dens
c. Chinese refusal to assimilate in mainstream U.S. culture and opium dens
d. Worker’s Competition

7. The Mormon Church illegalized polygamy because…

a. Wilford Woodruff received a spiritual revelation that demonstrated the
evils of polygamy
b. The Union threatened to divide Utah amongst its neighboring states
c. The Supreme Court Case U.S. v. Reynolds said it was illegal
d. The Federal government threaten to seize the financial assets of the
Mormon Church
e. A & D

8. Turner argues the Frontier was so important because…

a. It allowed an escape for disgruntled Americans on the East Coast
b. It enhanced the transformation of the U.S. government from a Republic to
a Democracy while also enabling citizens to obtain their own land
c. It led to the U.S. government looking abroad for more colonies
d. None of the Above. “separated America from Europe because it
allowed individualism and democracy to develop” Gillon pg 685

IDs

John Deere Steel Plow: was made of steel which is lighter and stronger than iron, which
most plows had been made of previously. It allowed settlement in the Midwest to be
possible by improving cultivation of the soil.

Pacific Railway Act: provided federal funding to build the Transcontinental Railroad. It
made possible the construction of the railway, which connected the west coast with the
rest of the expanding U.S. and unified the country across the Midwest.
Central Pacific Railroad Co.: worked with the Union Pacific Railroad Co. to build the
Transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific started in Sacramento, California, and laid
track eastward to meet the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah. The Central Pacific relied
heavily on labor from Chinese immigrants.

Pioneer Women: did the domestic chores usually expected of women as well as working
out in the fields with their husbands. Despite all of their hard work, pioneer women were
still regarded as inferior to men and held little power; they could not even sell land
without a husband’s approval.

Wounded Knee: The Massacre at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890 was a result of
U.S. unease over the Ghost Dance, a Native American doctrine that held that if the Native
Americans lived righteously and performed the Dance correctly, the U.S. invaders would
vanish. After the Ghost Dance leader, Sitting Bull, was killed, the Miniconjou Lakotas
fled their camp for safety elsewhere, pursued by the U.S. military. When the Seventh
Cavalry caught up, Col. James W. Forsyth demanded that the Miniconjous surrender their
guns. One native, Black Coyote, refused, and in the struggle over the gun, it fired,
spurring the U.S. troops to open fire. What resulted was a bloody massacre of over 250
Lakota natives. The U.S. reported the event as a battle and therefore a glorious victory,
but since then the Massacre at Wounded Knee has become a stunning symbol of the U.S.
government’s inhumane treatment of Native Americans.

Chinese Exclusion Act: was passed in 1882 and enacted a ten-year-long ban on Chinese
labor immigration, which was followed by another ten-year-long ban. Only Chinese that
had a parent or child or could prove (difficultly) that they were not laborers were
permitted to immigrate to the U.S. This flowed from American hostility toward the
Chinese over worker’s competition.

U.S. v. Reynolds (1878): was a supreme court case that outlawed polygamy, which was
practiced by the Mormons.

“The Frontier Thesis” : a book published in 1893 by Frederick J. Turner that described
how the American frontier developed individualism, democracy, and progress in the
nation. He pointed out that the closing of the Frontier was the end of the first important
period in U.S. history.
Reflection Questions: What major events led to the U.S. settling on the west coast and
central plains? How long was this process? What technological innovations made this
westward expansion possible?

The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, which connected the west

coast with the established nation in the East and Midwest, and the passage of acts like the
Homestead Act, which provided 160 acres of land for a fee of $10 as long as the
purchaser stayed there for five years, led many pioneers to settle across the plains and on
the west coast from 1865 to 1895. Technological innovations such as John Deere’s Steel
Plow and Cyrus Hall McCormick’s grain reaper made pioneer life and expansion
possible.

Ultimately, different groups went westward for different reasons. List some of the
prevalent occupations and professions that made westward expansion so desirable.

Settlers spread westward for religious purposes, like the Mormons in the 1840’s,
to seek prosperity, like the rushes for gold, or to fulfill Manifest Destiny and the idea that
the U.S. was meant to spread across the entire continent. The flourishing of the cattle
industry and gold, silver, copper, and nickel mines provided more opportunities for
settlers, as well as wheat and other kinds of farming.

What were some groups that conflicted with the U.S. during this period of western
expansion? How did the U.S. responses vary from group to group?

The U.S. experienced conflict with Native Americans, Chinese, and Mormons.
The U.S. handled conflict with the Native Americans by dominating them by force. They
treated the Chinese with hostility and racial prejudice, creating laws against them. The
Mormons the U.S. treated with more civility, though there was a general distaste for
them, and negotiated with them through the government.