Chapter 17: The South and the West Transformed, 1865–1900
CORE OBJECTIVES
1. Analyze the ways in which a “New South” emerged in the late nineteenth century.
2. Describe the crop-lien system that emerged in the South, and explain how it shaped the
TRUE/FALSE
1. Along with the West, the South was considered a “new frontier” by 1900 in part because it
needed to be rebuilt after the Civil War.
2. The number of cotton mills in the South more than doubled between 1880 and 1900.
3. As the nineteenth century came to a close, ownership of land by southern farmers increased.
4. By 1900, the South was no longer dependent on the North for investment capital.
5. As a result of high cotton prices, many sharecroppers were able to save money and buy
farms.
6. Negrophobia was the name given to the violent racism in the late nineteenth century against
blacks, especially those who had become financially successful or influential politically in
any way.
7. A residence requirement was a major component of state constitutional amendments that
aimed to disenfranchise black voters in multiple southern states.
8. The Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) made the practice of racial
segregation legal throughout all the United States.
9. The response of African Americans to the resurgence of racism in the South was to submit
to the white culture.
10. For many, the post–Civil War West symbolized economic opportunity and personal
freedom; however, this was at odds with the toll Western expansion took on nature as well
as the way of life of Native Americans.
11. Chinese immigrants often experienced discrimination and received blame during times of
economic decline.
12. As many as a quarter of the cowboys who participated in the Texas cattle drives were
African Americans.
13. Congress led the way in creating stable communities with local governments and law
enforcement in the West.
14. Comstock Lode was a highly profitable mine in Nevada.
15. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided free land and all other materials necessary to have a
thriving western farm.
16. The Indian wars effectively ended with the capture of Geronimo, a chief of the Chiricahua
Apaches.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What was one way that the United States government encouraged western settlement?
a. Promoting the West as focused on traditional farming rather than business
b. Making a lasting peace settlement with the Indians there
c. Giving land away to former slaves
d. Distributing land at a low cost to miners, ranchers, and other settlers
e. Limiting the importance of railroad companies to the economy
2. The __________ was a romanticized interpretation of the Civil War that envisioned
Confederates as noble defenders of the southern way of life.
a. “Lost Cause”
b. Comstock Lode
c. New South
d. Exoduster South
e. Peculiar Institution
3. Many proponents of the idea of the New South believed that they had lost the war because
a. the South was too willing to follow the North’s approach to industrialization.
b. the South relied too much on technology that was new and undependable.
c. the South focused too much on vocational training.
d. the South depended too much on slavery and cotton cultivation.
e. the South’s economy had become too diverse and not specialized enough.
4. Advocates of a New South believed that the South
a. did not need to change.
b. should be run by the planter aristocracy.
c. should focus on cotton production.
d. needed to embrace new technologies.
e. should remain exclusively agricultural.
5. As the South industrialized after the Civil War, it saw its greatest industrial gains in
a. agriculture.
b. textiles.
c. housing.
d. mining.
e. cigarette production.
6. By the turn of the twentieth century, the __________ had surpassed __________ as the
largest producer of cotton fabric in the nation.
a. North; the South
b. South; the West
c. West; the North
d. South; New England
e. West; New England
7. Why were Washington Duke and his son James Buchanan significant figures?
a. They worked as the first sharecroppers.
b. They perfected the mass production of cigarettes.
c. They wrote about their struggles as industrial expansion slowed.
d. They developed a series of successful textile mills.
e. They popularized the business strategy of refusing to cooperate with competitors at all
costs.
8. Which of the following statements about the Redeemers is true?
a. They were largely composed of black sharecroppers.
b. They supported the idea of industrial progress grounded in white supremacy.
c. They sought more taxes and a less diverse economy.
d. They fought to provide African Americans with a better education.
e. They strongly disagreed with Henry Grady’s vision of a New South.
9. Which of the following statements regarding the Southern economy by 1900 is true?
a. The South experienced a rise in the amount of land owned by farmers.
b. The South was the most industrial area of the United States.
c. The South was the most educated part of the United States.
d. The South was the least urban region in the United States.
e. The South provided most of the North’s manufactured goods.
10. Which of the following statements regarding the southern economy at the end of the
nineteenth century is accurate?
a. The southern economy was comparable to the northern economy.
b. The South was producing as much cotton as it had before the Civil War.
c. The South’s economy was stronger than the North’s.
d. The South’s economy was growing faster than the North’s.
e. The South’s economy was very diverse.
11. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, most southern communities lacked
__________, so they relied on __________.
a. stores; barter
b. banks; imports
c. banks; barter
d. merchants; liens
e. banks; exports
12. Which of the following statements regarding southern sharecroppers is accurate?
a. Sharecroppers were mostly poor whites.
b. Sharecroppers often also worked as merchants.
c. Sharecroppers worked in return for things like shelter and seed.
d. Sharecroppers ran textile mills and other industries.
e. Sharecroppers tended to make a lot of money.
13. __________ were poor white farmers who rented land in return for a substantial share of the
crop they helped bring in.
a. Sharecroppers
b. Exodusters
c. Share tenants
d. Merchants
e. Carpetbaggers
14. Which statement regarding the crop-lien system is accurate?
a. The system usually allowed tenants to break even.
b. The system was inefficient, corrupt, and racially unfair.
c. The system helped make the soil in the South more fertile.
d. The system helped poor blacks make significant economic gains.
e. The system largely took place in factories.
15. As a result of the crop-lien system in the South, farmers often had __________ at the end of
the harvest.
a. a better education
b. a bonus in pay
c. ownership of land
d. a larger debt
e. a smaller debt
16. The __________ was a series of state constitutional amendments designed to restrict black
voting rights in the 1890s.
a. Mississippi Plan
b. Louisiana Plan
c. Georgia Plan
d. Virginia Plan
e. crop-lien system
17. __________ was a tax that had to be paid before a person could vote.
a. An excise tax
b. A tariff
c. A sales tax
d. A poll tax
e. A surcharge
18. What was the effect of the Mississippi Plan?
a. It hurt both black and poor white voters.
b. It helped black voters.
c. It was rarely implemented in the post–Civil War South.
d. It benefited immigrants.
e. It was widely opposed by southern Democrats.
19. The so-called grandfather clause originated in what state?
a. Mississippi
b. Louisiana
c. Georgia
d. Virginia
e. Alabama
20. In 1883, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the __________ was unconstitutional,
resulting in the spread of segregation.
a. Thirteenth Amendment
b. Fourteenth Amendment
c. Fifteenth Amendment
d. Civil Rights Act of 1875
e. decision in Plessy v. Ferguson
21. The landmark Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson established the legal precedent of
a. separation of powers.
b. judicial review.
c. “separate but equal.”
d. racial integration.
e. capital punishment.
22. Which of the following statements about the Jim Crow laws is accurate?
a. They punished members of the Supreme Court for being racially prejudiced.
b. They called for places to be designated as “Colored Only” and “White Only.”
c. They were followed by a decrease in violence.
d. They were another name for the grandfather clause.
e. They outlawed lynchings.
23. Which of the following statements regarding race relations in the last years of the nineteenth
century is accurate?
a. Economic, legal, and social discrimination against blacks increased.
b. Social discrimination against blacks increased, but not legal discrimination.
c. Legal discrimination, but not social discrimination, against blacks increased.
d. Legal, social, and economic discrimination against blacks declined.
e. Legal and social, but not economic, discrimination declined.
24. What was the predominant reason southern whites used the practice of lynching during the
New South era?
a. To protest mob rule such as that imposed during the Wilmington Insurrection
b. To assault blacks in secret outside of the public eye to avoid legal ramifications
c. To punish criminals because the courts were not tough enough on them
d. To exert social, economic, and political control on southern blacks
e. To protest the terms of the Jim Crow laws
25. Why did W. E. B. Du Bois disagree with what he called the Atlanta Compromise?
a. He argued that because it was a piece of legislation written by white men, it would not
make a difference in everyday lives of African Americans.
b. He argued that the education of blacks should be strictly vocational because training
new black leaders would lead to backlash.
c. He argued that Booker T. Washington’s ideas aimed to satisfy powerful whites, thereby
giving credence to the idea that African Americans were inferior.
d. He argued that the civil rights strategy that Booker T. Washington advocated was too
militant and dangerous.
e. He argued that it focused too much on political and social equality for blacks and not
enough on economic prosperity and assimilation.