Chapter 17
Reconstructing the Union 1865-1877

Multiple Choice Questions
 
1. (p. 332-333) The chapter introduction tells the story of Benjamin Montgomery to make the point that 
A. former slaves who really tried could achieve a measure of prosperity in the postwar South.
B. Reconstruction clearly hinged on northern rather than southern actions after the war.
C. Reconstruction was an impossible task, for neither northerners nor southerners wanted African Americans to gain political and economic opportunity.
D. for former slaves to attain meaningful lives as free citizens, they would need economic power, which in turn required political power.

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
2. (p. 333) According to your text, what two issues lay at the heart of Reconstruction? 
A. whether the federal or state government was ultimately sovereign, and whether African Americans or Native Americans were the most oppressed minority group
B. which party would gain the ascendancy, and how the government could regulate the economy
C. the future of political and economic power for African Americans, and the future of North-South economic and political relations
D. rebuilding the North's shattered economy, and restoring the South's shattered society

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction

3. (p. 334) During the war, congressional leaders felt that Lincoln's plan ________, so they passed ________. 
A. would cost them votes in the North; a program designed to attract white support in the South
B. ignored the reality of slavery; the Thirteenth Amendment over the president's objections
C. was too lenient; the more stringent Wade-Davis bill, which Lincoln pocket-vetoed
D. was acceptable; its essential provisions, but shifted primary responsibility to Congress

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
4. (p. 334-335) Both Lincoln's and Johnson's Reconstruction plans shared an intent to 
A. provide economic assistance to former slaves.
B. punish the southern planter class for its rebellion.
C. liberally grant pardons to Confederate soldiers.
D. give Congress the final say in shaping the Reconstruction process.

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
5. (p. 334) The Radical Republicans in Congress approached Reconstruction with the conviction that 
A. to heal the nation, the South should be treated with generosity and compassion.
B. to avoid any recurrence of southern resistance, the power of the planter class should be restored, with full land ownership.
C. to complete the task of the war, slavery must be totally and irrevocably abolished.
D. to keep faith with the antislavery crusade, the rights of freedmen must include rights for white and black women.

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction

6. (p. 334) The southern response to war's end and Johnson's program of Reconstruction indicated 
A. despair and defiance.
B. remorse and resolve to rebuild.
C. willingness to give an appearance of accommodation to northern desires.
D. grudging recognition that they had to repudiate their old-line Confederate leadership.

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
7. (p. 335) Under new president Andrew Johnson, presidential Reconstruction 
A. would implement a harsher program on the South than Lincoln had called for.
B. adhered substantially to the views of congressional leaders.
C. made it possible for former high-ranking Confederates to assume positions of power in the reconstructed southern governments.
D. was never implemented, because Congress passed its own program before Johnson's could go into effect.

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
8. (p. 334) Which of the following is true about the Radical-dominated Reconstruction Congress? 
A. The central focus of its program was to protect the land rights of blacks.
B. It sought to build Republican Party support in the South by winning the black vote and curtailing the power of the planter class.
C. Its influence grew when Johnson's vetoes drove moderates into the Democratic Party.
D. Its influence waned when northern voters repudiated Radical congressmen at the polls in 1866.

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction

9. (p. 336) The central issue that divided Johnson and congressional Radicals was 
A. the future place of African Americans in U.S. society.
B. how to win votes for the Republican Party in the South.
C. whether the power of the planter class should be broken.
D. whether federal troops should be stationed as an occupying force in southern states.

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
10. (p. 335) The North interpreted black codes as 
A. evidence that the South sought to keep freedmen in an economically dependent and legally inferior status.
B. evidence that the South, by granting limited rights such as allowing jury service, was slowly accommodating to an improved status for former slaves.
C. a realistic solution by the South to the problems created by sudden emancipation.
D. a dangerous experiment by the South that could lead to social equality for blacks in the North.

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
11. (p. 340) The southern governments, as initially reconstituted after the war, alarmed northern public opinion because 
A. former Confederate leaders were elected to office.
B. they were blatantly corrupt and wasteful in spending tax dollars.
C. many refused to free their slaves.
D. all enacted restrictive legal codes that reinstated slavery.

Topic: Reconstruction by Southern Governments
 
12. (p. 336) What won the support of congressional moderates for the Radical program? 
A. the behavior of southern reconstruction governments
B. the persuasive actions of Radicals in rallying public opinion for their program
C. secret lobbying offering lucrative opportunities in a South occupied by northern troops
D. the president's uncompromising veto of a civil rights bill

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction

13. (p. 337-338) The congressional Reconstruction program enacted in 1866-1867 provided for all of the following EXCEPT 
A. citizenship and suffrage for former slaves.
B. a requirement that southern states ratify the Fourteenth Amendment before readmission.
C. military occupation.
D. a land reform measure that would grant small tracts of farmland to deserving freedmen.

Topic: Congressional Reconstruction
 
14. (p. 344) The Fifteenth Amendment 
A. abolished slavery.
B. defined citizenship.
C. expanded suffrage.
D. officially ended Reconstruction.

Topic: The End of Reconstruction
 
15. (p. 339) Andrew Johnson narrowly avoided conviction on impeachment charges because 
A. of his earlier cooperative attitude toward Congress.
B. Radical Republicans were beginning to support his policies.
C. some Republicans feared that removal would set a bad precedent for using impeachment as a political weapon against the presidency.
D. only a minority of the Senate voted to convict.

Topic: Congressional Reconstruction
 
16. (p. 339) Which of the following most accurately explains the meaning of the refusal of Congress to convict Johnson? 
A. Johnson's influence in Congress was increasing.
B. The power of the Radicals in Congress was waning.
C. The country's support for Johnson was increasing.
D. Radicals in Congress feared counteraction by the Supreme Court if they convicted Johnson.

Topic: Congressional Reconstruction

17. (p. 339) African Americans who held political office in southern Reconstruction governments generally 
A. alienated whites by pushing for social equality and land reform.
B. were more radical in their views than the black population at large.
C. manipulated the Freedmen's Bureau to impose unequal labor contracts on white planters.
D. were educated professionals, independent landowners, or otherwise from the ranks of black elites.

Topic: Reconstruction by Southern Governments
 
18. (p. 340) What is true about southern economic redevelopment? 
A. Northerners known as "scalawags" came south to exploit the South's economic vulnerability.
B. Republican-dominated Reconstruction governments sought to encourage southern industry.
C. Unlike the North, southern governments became notorious for corruption, which explains the skyrocketing public debt.
D. One success of the postwar South was in laying as much railroad track as the rest of the nation combined.

Topic: Reconstruction by Southern Governments
 
19. (p. 340) One measure of black efforts to experience freedom was the 
A. fact that males would rather work for wages than live the rough life of a sharecropper.
B. small but tidy homes built by hand in villages separate from the land they farmed.
C. tendency of husbands to insist that their wives and children work alongside them in the fields.
D. adoption of a surname.

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves

20. (p. 341) After emancipation, the most important institutions for African Americans as they tried to establish their own independent family and community life were 
A. the Freedmen's Bureau and the Supreme Court.
B. the black-controlled state legislatures and the land reform program.
C. the sharecrop system and the black codes.
D. the schools and the churches.

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves
 
21. (p. 342) In the years after the Civil War, many freedmen ended up working as 
A. farmers on land they owned.
B. farmers under a sharecropper system.
C. wage laborers in the new textile mills.
D. itinerant day laborers in domestic and service jobs.

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves
 
22. (p. 343) The Freedmen's Bureau 
A. had as its main purpose to prevent armed clashes between former masters and former slaves.
B. regulated working conditions for former slaves, primarily through Freedmen's Courts.
C. was criticized bitterly by the planter class but consistently praised by former slaves.
D. was canceled by Congress over the opposition of Radicals, who saw the need for a permanent welfare agency for African Americans.

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves
 
23. (p. 343) For southern whites, the old idea of ________ in master-slave relationships was replaced by ________. 
A. close paternalistic ties; the distance of purely economic relationships
B. religious duty; an ideology of class conflict
C. terrorizing blacks into submission; artfully persuading them of the wisdom of letting whites govern for them
D. enforced segregation of the races; more complex and subtle social interactions

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves

24. (p. 346) Who won the disputed election of 1876? 
A. the Republican candidate
B. the southern candidate
C. the candidate who received the greatest number of popular votes
D. the candidate nominated by a breakaway reform faction of the Republican Party

Topic: The End of Reconstruction
 
25. (p. 346-347) Which of the following is an accurate explanation of the South's "redemption"? 
A. Gradually, conservative and racist white Democrats regained political control in the former Confederate states.
B. A fresh wave of evangelical revivals spread across "the Bible Belt."
C. Southern acceptance of the end of slavery meant northern acceptance of the South as a restored section.
D. Southern states gradually came to experience economic prosperity and development.

Topic: The End of Reconstruction
 
26. (p. 348) Reconstruction is best understood as a 
A. radical, vengeful program, imposing northern values on southerners.
B. program of political and economic adjustment that failed because of racism.
C. time defined by the failure to send blacks to Liberia.
D. time of presidential dominance that ended in corruption and disillusionment.

Topic: The End of Reconstruction

Fill in the Blank Questions
 
27. (p. 337) President Johnson's home state of ________, in which he had served as senator and then ruled as military governor, ratified the Fourteenth Amendment against his wishes and was thus readmitted in 1866 before the Reconstruction Acts were passed. 
Tennessee

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction

28. (p. 336) The agency established by the federal government to protect freedpeople's economic rights was commonly known as the ________ Bureau. 
Freedmen's

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
29. (p. 342) The economic system whereby a farmer rents the land by paying not with cash but with a fraction (often half) of the harvest is known as ________. 
sharecropping

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves
 
30. (p. 346) ________ finally won the 1876 election after an electoral commission awarded him all of the disputed electoral votes from three southern states. 
Rutherford B. Hayes

Topic: The End of Reconstruction
 
31. (p. 347-348) Ultimately, wartime ideals and the goals of a real Reconstruction were scuttled by a deep-seated ________ in America. 
racism

Topic: The End of Reconstruction

Essay Questions
 
32. Contrast the terms of Lincoln's program of Reconstruction with Johnson's program. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction

33. What were the black codes? What role did they play in the early stages of Reconstruction? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
34. Explain why four of the following issues were important to freed people after the Civil War: marriage, family, names, travel, labor contracts, and work done by women and children. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves
 
35. What were the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
 
36. Why did Republicans in Congress impeach Johnson? Was this action justified? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Congressional Reconstruction
 
37. How did the election of Rutherford Hayes, a Republican, signal the end of Reconstruction? 
Answer will vary

Topic: The End of Reconstruction

38. What were the advantages and disadvantages of sharecropping to black laborers? To white landowners? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves
 
39. Describe how everyday life changed for former slaves after emancipation. How did the agricultural system of labor change in the South? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves
 
40. Consider this statement: "The persistence of racism, in both the North and the South, lay at the heart of Reconstruction's failure." Agree or disagree, and explain why. 
Answer will vary

Topic: The End of Reconstruction
 
41. List three major achievements of the radical governments in the South. Which do you think was the most important, and why? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Reconstruction by Southern Governments

42. Some northerners wished to provide for a distribution of southern lands to former slaves. Describe that plan and the fate it met. Do you think Reconstruction might have had a chance of succeeding without some form of land redistribution? Why or why not? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Congressional Reconstruction
 
43. Why did religion and education play such a key role in African American culture in the South during the Reconstruction era? Give examples of how both areas were important to black life. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Lives of Former Slaves
 
44. Outline the three stages of Reconstruction, providing specific details on each stage of development. 
Answer will vary

Topic: Congressional Reconstruction
Topic: Presidential Reconstruction
Topic: Reconstruction by Southern Governments
 
45. Explain the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. How was the act of impeachment legal? How was it illegal? 
Answer will vary

Topic: Congressional Reconstruction