Deck 15: Transforming Fire: the Civil War, 1861-1865

Question 1

Jefferson Davis's goal in the 1862 general offense he ordered against the North was to

A) seize and operate northern iron works.
B) convince the invaded states to conclude a separate peace with the Confederacy.
C) stop the flow of northern troops into the South.
D) capture Cincinnati and halt the flow of trade on the Ohio River.

Answer 1

convince the invaded states to conclude a separate peace with the Confederacy.

Question 2

During the course of the Civil War, the Confederacy

A) never experienced food shortages since all available land was used for growing staple crops such as wheat, corn, and rice.
B) established food distribution centers for its citizens.
C) was plagued by severe inflation.
D) successfully raised war revenue by imposing direct taxes on land and slaves.

Answer 2

was plagued by severe inflation.

Question 3

In order to win the war, Jefferson Davis believed that the Confederacy would have to

A) convince the border states to join the Confederacy.
B) move toward a centralization of power.
C) industrialize.
D) convince nonslaveowning whites to join the all-volunteer Confederate army.

Answer 3

move toward a centralization of power.

Question 4

During the Civil War, the North differed from the South in which of the following respects?

A) Agricultural production increased in the South; northern agricultural production plummeted.
B) The South became poorer; the North remained prosperous.
C) The South's industry expanded a little; all northern industries experienced unprecedented growth.
D) The South experienced severe inflation; northern prices remained stable.

Question 5

Which of the following is true concerning Confederate military supplies?

A) By 1865 the Confederacy had to depend on blockade runners to obtain the small arms and ammunition it needed to conduct the war.
B) By 1865 the Confederacy was manufacturing all of its small arms and ammunition.
C) In 1864 the Union naval blockade caused such severe weapon shortages that the Confederacy was forced to furlough troops.
D) Throughout the war the Confederacy obtained weapons from northern manufacturers eager to profit from the war.

Question 6

As a consequence of the Battle of Shiloh,

A) General Grant realized that a complete conquest of the South would be necessary to save the Union.
B) Lincoln gave command of Union forces to General Ulysses S. Grant, replacing General George McClellan.
C) General Robert E. Lee suggested that President Davis open peace negotiations with the Union.
D) McClellan's forces were forced to retreat to the Potomac, thus saving the Confederate capital at Richmond.

Question 7

The Civil War caused which of the following in the North?

A) Mechanization of agriculture slowed.
B) Food shortages frequently led to urban riots.
C) The shift to mechanized agriculture accelerated.
D) New railroad construction increased.

Question 8

In conducting the Civil War, the Confederate Congress

A) refused to allow conscription into the Confederate army.
B) nationalized all industry in the Confederate states.
C) adopted a hands-off policy in relation to the southern economy.
D) passed laws giving the central government almost full control of railroads in the Confederacy.

Question 9

Which of the following is true of General McClellan?

A) His plan to take Richmond would probably have worked if Lincoln had not forced him to delay his attack.
B) In the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, he ignored President Lincoln's order to advance against Confederate forces.
C) His brilliant strategy was responsible for the Union victory at Shiloh.
D) His decision to divide his army in the face of a superior Confederate army was the main reason for the thousands of Union casualties at the Battle of Shiloh.

Question 10

As a result of the fall of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson,

A) Union forces gained control of the entire Mississippi River.
B) a path into Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi lay open before the Union Army.
C) the last Confederate outposts in the far West fell to Union forces.
D) New Orleans fell to Union troops.

Question 11

Which of the following battles ended attempts by the Confederacy to take the New Mexico Territory?

A) The Battle for the Cimarron
B) The Battles of Fort Yuma
C) The Battles at Glorieta Pass
D) The Battle of Shiloh

Question 12

The case of Jay Cooke illustrates which of the following?

A) The extent to which the mechanization of agriculture increased in the North during the Civil War
B) The wartime partnership between the federal government and northern business interests
C) The stark contrast between the living conditions of Confederate soldiers and the living conditions of Confederate government officials
D) The suffering endured by southerners due to food shortages and inflation

Question 13

Which of the following led to official condemnation of the Confederation Congress by the North Carolina legislature and increased class anger within the Confederacy?

A) The decision to allow upper-class women to work as schoolteachers
B) Exemption from military duty of anyone supervising twenty slaves or more
C) The legal requirement that all able-bodied males over the age of sixteen serve in the Confederate Army
D) The low wages paid to those working in the Confederate bureaucracy

Question 14

When Union naval forces seized part of the Sea Islands off the South Carolina coast, they discovered which of the following?

A) Slaves celebrated what they hoped was their freedom as frightened planters abandoned their lands and fields.
B) To provide stability to the large slave population, it was best to allow the plantation owners to remain.
C) Despite the war, plantations in the area were running in a smooth and orderly fashion.
D) Slaves in the area fought valiantly on the side of their masters, having little idea of what the war was about.

Question 15

Which of the following was a consequence of the battles of Elkhorn Tavern and Honey Springs, Arkansas?

A) Confederate forces gained control of the Arkansas River, giving them a water route into the western territories.
B) After suffering defeat at the hands of a powerful alliance of Indian tribes, Union forces withdrew from the region.
C) Union forces lost control over the portion of the Mississippi River that marked the boundary between Arkansas and Tennessee.
D) The Confederacy lost control of the region, and its operations in Indian Territory were reduced to guerrilla raids.

Question 16

In the American West, the Civil War marked the beginning of

A) the lucrative mining of gold in California.
B) prolonged warfare against Indian peoples in the region.
C) cotton production in Arizona.
D) an enduring alliance between the United States government and the Pueblos.

Question 17

Which of the following beliefs is most closely associated with Confederate nationalism?

A) The Confederacy will stand as the bastion of direct democracy throughout the world.
B) The Republic was built on the concept of the dignity of labor, and that is the cause for which the Confederacy fights.
C) Opposition to centralized power is the true legacy of the American Revolution, and that is the cause for which the Confederacy fights.
D) All people should be equal under the law, and that is the cause for which the Confederacy fights.

Question 18

Which of the following was true of the South during the early months of the Civil War?

A) Critical of South Carolina's decision to fire on Fort Sumter, many southerners called for peace negotiations.
B) Nonslaveholders began openly to express their long-suppressed hostility toward slaveholders.
C) Most southerners viewed the future with uncertainty.
D) Confederate armies had more volunteers than the government could properly arm.

Question 19

The northern naval blockade of southern ports was

A) nonexistent until the final year of the war.
B) weak at first but increasingly effective as the war continued.
C) never strong enough to have a significant effect.
D) effective from its start in choking off goods going into the South.

Question 20

During the Civil War substantial numbers of wealthy southerners avoided military service by

A) bribing draft officials.
B) volunteering as nurses and orderlies in Confederate hospitals.
C) furnishing a hired substitute.
D) relocating to England for the duration of the war.

Question 21

Which of the following was a reason for Lincoln's avoidance of the issue of slavery early in the war?

A) Officials in the border states coerced Lincoln into remaining silent on the issue.
B) Lincoln wanted Republican Party officials to accept a leadership position on the issue of slavery.
C) Because all northerners saw slavery as a moral outrage, Lincoln saw no reason to deal with the issue.
D) Bringing up the issue would have destroyed any chance of a pro-Union majority asserting itself in the South.

Question 22

As indicated in his response to Horace Greeley's call for emancipation, Abraham Lincoln's primary goal was to

A) win re-election in 1864.
B) punish Confederate officials.
C) guarantee equality for freed slaves.
D) save the Union.

Question 23

Creation of the national banking system led to

A) increased flexibility in the money supply.
B) a sounder currency.
C) a more complicated monetary system.
D) a banking system responsive to local needs, irrespective of region.

Question 24

On the eve of the 1864 Republican national convention, Lincoln urged the inclusion of which of the following in the party platform?

A) A detailed plan for the readmission of the southern states to the Union
B) A promise that the Republicans would seek a negotiated settlement with the South
C) A plank calling for the adoption of a constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery
D) A plank calling for legislation to extend the right to vote to African Americans

Question 25

Which of the following is true of the Emancipation Proclamation?

A) It was denounced by many as being clearly unconstitutional.
B) It was issued by Lincoln on the basis of his powers as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
C) It barely passed Congress over the bitter opposition of virtually all Democrats.
D) It passed Congress with overwhelming support from both Republicans and Democrats.

Question 26

During the Civil War, Congress enacted legislation that

A) led to the creation of land-grant colleges.
B) lowered tariff rates.
C) imposed the first tax on income.
D) established federal agencies to regulate industry.

Question 27

Northern women made up most of the volunteers who ran the thousands of auxiliaries of this organization during the Civil War.

A) The American Red Cross
B) Daughters of the Union
C) The U.S. Public Information Agency
D) The U.S. Sanitary Commission

Question 28

Which of the following led to a year-long investigation by the House of Representatives during the Civil War?

A) It was learned that leading peace Democrats in the Senate gave top secret information to the Confederacy.
B) The press revealed that the secretary of state had ignored Confederate overtures for peace negotiations.
C) There were stories of war profiteering by contractors who sold inferior merchandise to the government at inflated prices.
D) It was learned that the secretary of war received kickbacks from government contractors.

Question 29

Which of the following is true of the Emancipation Proclamation?

A) It freed all slaves in the South immediately.
B) It freed slaves in the North and the South.
C) It freed slaves only in the border states and the western territories.
D) It freed slaves only in those areas in which the federal government exercised no control.

Question 30

The greatest number of deaths among Union troops in the Civil War resulted from

A) bullet wounds.
B) hand-to-hand bayonet combat.
C) unsanitary surgical equipment.
D) disease and accidents.

Question 31

As president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis

A) put forward plans for the emancipation of slave-soldiers during the last months of the war.
B) failed to appreciate the need to centralize power in the South.
C) drew his most enthusiastic support from the common people of the South.
D) enjoyed strong backing from most southerners until the last few weeks of the war.

Question 32

While serving as a volunteer nurse in Washington, D.C., Walt Whitman

A) made official complaints to Congress about the discriminatory treatment of African American soldiers in U.S. Army hospitals.
B) wrote of the lack of skill and absence of compassion of army surgeons.
C) gained inspiration from the courage and sacrifice of the common soldier.
D) spoke of the outstanding performance of women in the Army Nursing Corp.

Question 33

During the Civil War, Congress and the Treasury Department

A) outlawed the issuance of bank notes by state banks.
B) created a national banking system with the authority to issue national bank notes.
C) established the Independent Treasury System.
D) reformed the national banking system to insure its responsiveness to local needs, irrespective of region.

Question 34

Northern industrial workers during the Civil War

A) found that their pay did not keep up with inflation.
B) suffered from high unemployment.
C) enjoyed unprecedented prosperity.
D) experienced genuine job security for the first time.

Question 35

Women such as Dorothea Dix, Mary Ann Bickerdyke, and Clara Barton

A) advanced the professionalization of nursing during the Civil War.
B) gained the respect and admiration of the male-dominated medical profession for their work as nurses during the course of the Civil War.
C) received official recognition from President Lincoln for their service to the Union cause.
D) pioneered the way for the acceptance of women as physicians by being among the first of their gender to attend medical school.

Question 36

Both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis would agree with which of the following statements?

A) War requires active presidential leadership.
B) The legislative branch of the government works best without executive leadership.
C) A nation's domestic affairs are handled most efficiently when power is decentralized.
D) A president is bound by the same constitutional restrictions in war as he is in peace.

Question 37

Which of the following was true of the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad during the Civil War?

A) Not only did they receive large loans from the federal government, they also received millions of acres of land.
B) The two corporations were plagued by worker unrest and strikes.
C) Due to lack of funds, they were forced to halt the laying of track that would have provided a link between Omaha, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California.
D) The two railroad corporations were unable to agree on a standard track gauge, which prevented the creation of a unified transportation system.

Question 38

Which of the following is true of the Civil War?

A) The chances of a wounded soldier surviving were remarkably good.
B) Despite the bloodshed, soldiers in the war continued to romanticize the fighting.
C) Rifled muskets firing the minie ball are one explanation for the high number of casualties.
D) Because the armies usually fought from well-defended trenches and seldom moved, casualties remained remarkably low.

Question 39

Which of the following was a consequence of the Emancipation Proclamation?

A) Thousands of former slaves joined the Union armies.
B) The Confederacy was able to secure a much-needed loan from Holland.
C) Great Britain decided to recognize the Confederacy.
D) Several southern states decided to abandon the Confederacy and signed a separate peace with the Union.

Question 40

Early in the war, Jefferson Davis tried to rally southerners to the Confederate cause by

A) telling them that they were fighting for constitutional liberty.
B) hinting that the Confederate government was considering a bonus of two slaves for all nonslaveholding soldiers.
C) emphasizing the importance of maintaining the slave system.
D) calling for a redistribution of land to help landless southern whites.

Question 41

During the months preceding the election of 1864, Abraham Lincoln

A) feared that war-weariness among northerners would lead to his defeat.
B) considered jailing several Democratic leaders until the election was over.
C) attempted to win the Democratic nomination as well as the Republican nomination.
D) devoted himself to electing Republicans to Congress because he felt certain he would be re-elected.

Question 42

One of the factors contributing to the 1863 New York City riots was

A) anti-black sentiment on the part of white working-class New Yorkers.
B) the long delay in implementing emancipation.
C) the exemption of Irish immigrants from the draft.
D) the passage of heavy new taxes to finance the war.

Question 43

Which of the following was a feature common to both the Confederate draft and the Union draft?

A) Both were instituted only after approval in a referendum.
B) Both exempted large landowners from service.
C) Both allowed the hiring of substitutes.
D) Both exempted young men enrolled in colleges and universities.

Question 44

Which of the following was a consequence of the Battle of Chancellorsville?

A) It led directly to the Emancipation Proclamation.
B) It was a devastating defeat for the Confederacy.
C) Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston was forced to resign.
D) Stonewall Jackson was mistakenly killed by Confederate troops.

Question 45

The most fundamental problem faced by the Confederacy during the war was

A) lack of industry.
B) shortage of labor.
C) lack of natural resources.
D) internal problems caused by the class system of the South.

Question 46

During the final two years of the Civil War, it became obvious that southern planters

A) were willing to accept momentous changes in their lives in order to bolster the Confederate war effort.
B) recognized that the idea of states' rights had been a casualty of the war.
C) were about the only element left in the South that still supported the Confederate government.
D) were more committed to their own selfish interests than to the creation of an independent southern nation.

Question 47

As a result of this incident in November 1864, U.S. troops massacred over 100 Cheyenne men, women, and children.

A) The Sand Creek Massacre
B) The Massacre at Wounded Knee
C) The Thompkin's Ferry Massacre
D) The Washita Massacre

Question 48

A Union victory in this battle cut the Confederacy in half and gave Union forces control of the Mississippi River.

A) The Battle of Atlanta
B) The Battle of Chancellorsville
C) The Battle of Gettysburg
D) The Battle of Vicksburg

Question 49

Northern Democrats leveled which of the following charges against the Republican government during the war years?

A) The Republicans are too concerned with abiding by the Constitution to prosecute the war successfully.
B) The Republicans are not willing to extend government aid to northern business interests.
C) Republican policies extend aid to farmers but ignore the plight of urban laborers.
D) Republican policies are designed to flood the North with blacks.

Question 50

The Union Army's march to the sea through Georgia under General Sherman was notable because

A) the northern soldiers engaged in an orgy of rape and murder of civilians.
B) it ended with Sherman's army bogged down in trench warfare much like what was to come in the First World War.
C) the soldiers inflicted total destruction on the land and its economic resources.
D) the army foolishly blundered into several Confederate ambushes and suffered needlessly heavy casualties.

Question 51

Which of the following is true of desertions from the Confederate army?

A) The army was suffering a high rate of desertion by 1863, and the problem continued to grow worse.
B) The army was plagued by a high rate of desertion from the beginning of the war.
C) The army began experiencing significant desertions only in the last few months of the war.
D) The army never had the desertion problem experienced by the northern army because southerners were so fervently committed to their cause.

Question 52

The results of the Confederate congressional elections of 1863 indicate that

A) dissatisfaction with the war was growing in the South.
B) southerners were still overwhelmingly committed to the war.
C) the South had developed a successful two-party system.
D) public confidence in Jefferson Davis remained high.

Question 53

Abraham Lincoln, unlike Jefferson Davis,

A) did not become emotionally involved in the war effort.
B) always consulted with Congress before making major decisions.
C) refused to use his emergency war powers to suspend basic constitutional rights.
D) knew how to stay in touch with the common people.

Question 54

Which of the following is true of Jefferson Davis?

A) He communicated better with the common people than with members of his own class.
B) His amiable, warm, and open nature endeared him to all classes of southerners.
C) Because of his intelligence and insightfulness, he was a masterful war leader.
D) Because he was never able to reach out to the masses or understand their suffering, he lost the support of the common people.

Question 55

Major southern offensive actions ended as a result of

A) Grant's seizure of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.
B) the defeat of Lee's forces at Gettysburg.
C) Lee's defeat in the Seven Days Battles.
D) The defeat of Confederate forces in the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Question 56

In his campaign against the Navajos, Kit Carson

A) adopted a conciliatory approach that resulted in a Navajo alliance with the Union.
B) met with such determined resistance that he withdrew Union troops from the New Mexico Territory.
C) was victorious largely as the result of an alliance he forged with the Mescalero Apaches.
D) adopted a scorched earth policy.