Chapter 15: Reconstruction, 1865–1877
CORE OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the federal government’s major challenges in reconstructing the South after the Civil
TRUE/FALSE
1. The South emerged from the Civil War with a strong, diversified economy.
2. The Freedmen’s Bureau was the first federal effort to provide assistance directly to people
rather than to states.
3. President Johnson’s plan to restore the Union closely resembled President Lincoln’s.
4. Radical Republicans in Congress claimed they had the authority to confiscate southern
plantations, divide them into small farms, and give them to former slaves.
5. After the House of Representatives impeached President Johnson, the Senate failed to
convict him by just one vote.
6. The Fifteenth Amendment freed the slaves.
7. One of the most popular religious denominations among blacks in the postwar South was
Baptist.
8. Black military veterans formed the core of the first generation of African American political
leaders in the postwar South.
9. “Scalawags” were generally Republicans native to the South who had opposed secession.
10. Farmers and debtors generally favored “hard–money” monetary policies in which they
would pay creditors with gold, silver, and copper coins.
11. Republicans in states such as Tennessee and Virginia who thought of themselves as
“saving” the South from Democratic control and “white rule” were known as the redeemers.
12. Despite winning the popular vote in 1876, Samuel Tilden lost the presidency.
13. Waving “the bloody shirt” meant linking southern Democrats to all the horrors of the Civil
War in order to discredit the party.
14. In the Compromise of 1877, Republicans promised to withdraw federal troops from
Louisiana and South Carolina.
15. The Reconstruction era provided true social equality for blacks at least for the period from
1865 to 1877.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following was a reason for the collapse of the southern plantation economy
after the Civil War?
a. Property values in the South had increased, making plantations unaffordable.
b. Europe no longer wanted imports of southern cotton.
c. The labor force was decimated because of emancipation.
d. So many plantation owners died fighting for the Confederacy.
e. More money was invested in slavery after the war than the crops themselves.
2. How was the Union able to begin leading Reconstruction efforts in the South?
a. Lincoln strategically waited to begin the process of Reconstruction in conquered areas
until after the Civil War was officially over.
b. Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, allowing for Rebel
states to be pardoned after 10 percent of those who had voted in 1860 took an oath of
allegiance.
c. Lincoln pardoned all Confederate government officials as well as all soldiers and senior
officers in the Confederate army and navy.
d. Against Lincoln’s wishes, the Wade-Davis Bill went into effect, requiring a majority of
white male citizens who had voted in 1860 in Rebel states to pledge allegiance to the
Union.
e. The Union government agreed to allow slavery for the next 50 years but only in certain
parts of the South where it was most crucial to the economy.
3. Which of the following statements about Abraham Lincoln is correct?
a. He supported the Wade-Davis Bill.
b. He was a Radical Republican.
c. He wanted to punish the South once the Civil War ended.
d. He wished to reduce presidential authority in the postwar period.
e. He issued a fairly lenient Reconstruction plan in 1863.
4. The __________ was created to assist the newly freed slaves in acclimating to their new
status and protecting their legal rights.
a. Ku Klux Klan
b. Knights of the Golden Circle
c. Carpetbaggers
d. Freedmen’s Bureau
e. The Scalawags
5. The Freedman’s Bureau was an organization that
a. was met with much resistance from white landowners but was able to start new schools
for freedpeople across the southern states.
b. had the primary purpose of negotiating land sales between former slaves and white
landowners.
c. was founded by white landowners to write contracts requiring that their freed slaves
keep them as their employer.
d. was met with little resistance in the South and achieved most of its goals negotiating
labor contracts.
e. was established by enslaved people long before the Civil War but ended soon after they
were granted their freedom.
6. When President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton thought
a. it was an elaborate hoax.
b. Washington, D.C. might be under Confederate attack.
c. it was part of the play’s action.
d. Democrats in Congress had ordered it.
e. Radical Republicans were responsible.
7. As president, Andrew Johnson
a. favored complete legal equality for freedmen and freedwomen.
b. worked closely with the Radical Republican Congress.
c. believed in the goal of Reconstruction.
d. was prejudiced and combative.
e. wished to elevate wealthy southerners to positions of power in his government.
8. Johnson’s Restoration Plan required that each southern state
a. give all blacks equal voting rights.
b. ratify the fourteenth amendment.
c. appoint a Unionist provisional governor.
d. call a convention of Confederates to convince them to support the Union.
e. punish the wealthy aristocrats that had previously had political power.
9. What were freedmen’s conventions?
a. Secret meetings held by freedmen in the South primarily to discuss religious freedoms
b. Whites-only statewide government gatherings organized under President Johnson’s plan
c. Meetings and marches in which freedmen demanded citizenship, civil rights, and land
d. Formal assemblies where freedmen cast their first ballots and exercised their right to
vote
e. National protests for freedom for blacks that primarily took place in the North
10. Many southern state legislatures reacted to the new rights given to freedmen by
a. accepting them and creating some laws to help protect them.
b. establishing black codes to stifle them.
c. refusing to write new constitutions.
d. attempting to nullify the acts of Congress that created them.
e. withdrawing their delegations from Washington, D.C., in protest.
11. Which of the following statements about the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is accurate?
a. It allowed African Americans the privilege of voting.
b. It was directed at Native American protections.
c. It allowed women the privilege of voting.
d. It declared all persons born in the United States (excluding Indians) were citizens.
e. It repealed the Thirteenth Amendment.
12. The Fourteenth Amendment
a. protected black male suffrage.
b. made it clear that blacks were citizens.
c. gave states more power.
d. was not important.
e. was obeyed in all southern states.
13. With the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, the __________ assumed primary
responsibility for protecting civil rights.
a. state governments
b. NAACP
c. federal courts
d. Freedmen’s Bureau
e. federal government
14. What role did the election of 1866 play in shaping Reconstruction?
a. It gave the Radical Republicans a veto-proof majority in Congress.
b. It gave the Liberal Republicans a veto-proof majority in Congress.
c. It saw the first African American Representative elected to Congress.
d. It showed that the North had grown weary of the problems in the South.
e. It gave President Johnson a free hand in running Reconstruction.
15. President Andrew Johnson was impeached because he
a. fired his Secretary of War in defiance of Congress.
b. refused to testify before a congressional hearing.
c. was often drunk on the job.
d. was caught taking bribes from southern lobbyists.
e. was too critical of members of Congress.
16. Which of the following statements about the Fifteenth Amendment is accurate?
a. It gave women the right to vote.
b. It gave Native Americans the right to vote.
c. It gave African American men the right to vote.
d. It was generally supported by southern politicians.
e. It did little to change politics in the United States.
17. After the Civil War, many African American communities began to establish
a. cooperative associations to assist them in shared duties.
b. schools to educate their children.
c. banks to assist in loans to African Americans.
d. general stores to provide formerly forbidden goods.
e. hospitals that would become the centers of community life.
18. The Union League was created to
a. promote urban living.
b. recruit former slaves to the Republican party.
c. organize workers to challenge management policies.
d. agitate for women’s suffrage.
e. promote Native American citizenship.
19. Which of the following statements about the role of African Americans in southern politics
is correct?
a. No African Americans were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives during the
Reconstruction Era.
b. No African Americans had the right to vote in the postwar South until long after the
Restoration Era.
c. Black military veterans formed the core of the first generation of African American
political leaders in the postwar South.
d. Ex-Confederate whites maintained the same rights as before the war, which successfully
kept African Americans from entering politics.
e. Most black political leaders were part of the Democratic state legislatures and had not
been former slaves.
20. What was a major setback for freedmen trying to obtain their own land during
Reconstruction?