Deck 12: The Meaning of Freedom: the Promise of Reconstruction

Question 1

What was not true about northern teachers, black or white, who came to the South to teach?

A) They rarely felt any connection to their students, often simply coming South for the paycheck.
B) They occasionally got frustrated with their students' lack of knowledge.
C) Some emphasized teaching cleanliness and manners over detailed academic subjects.
D) They were often from slave backgrounds themselves.

Answer 1

They rarely felt any connection to their students, often simply coming South for the paycheck.

Question 2

What was the problem with the labor contracts for many blacks?

A) There were few problems, because of the beneficial attitudes of many Freedmen's Bureau workers.
B) They were rarely done voluntarily, or on an equal basis. Blacks ended up at about the same station as during slavery.
C) Blacks refused to sign them, thinking that whites were trying to trick them into slavery again.
D) The labor contracts were not the main problem. White landowners simply refused to obey their terms.

Answer 2

They were rarely done voluntarily, or on an equal basis. Blacks ended up at about the same station as during slavery.

Question 3

What was the first concern of many African Americans once they achieved freedom?

A) forming churches
B) retaliating against former masters
C) reuniting with lost family members
D) moving to the northern cities

Answer 3

reuniting with lost family members

Question 4

The ________________ became the most important institution to blacks after Reconstruction.

Question 5

What were some of the limitations of black teachers in the South?

A) They were often former house slaves, and had no knowledge about the lives of agricultural workers.
B) They were often poorly educated themselves.
C) They were highly educated, and frequently became very frustrated with their students.
D) They had some education, but were generally forced into teaching, and therefore put little effort into it.

Question 6

Which denomination was especially fast growing in the South after Reconstruction?

A) Catholic
B) African Methodist Episcopal
C) Episcopalian
D) Methodist

Question 7

What happened to Circular 13 and Special Field Order # 15?

A) They were both revoked. Land that had been given to blacks was returned to white owners.
B) They both served as models for black freedom for the rest of the country.
C) They were generally ignored, as northern whites were just as racist as Southerners.
D) They continued as they had during the war, but had little effect, since they were of such small scale.

Question 8

What do Fisk, Hampton, Tougaloo, and Avery Colleges have in common?

A) They all began as all-white colleges, and changed to black institutions after the war.
B) They had nothing in common. Each was founded at different times, by different people, for different reasons.
C) They only taught literature and writing to blacks.
D) They were black schools established by religious organizations, along with the Freedmen's Bureau, after the Civil War.

Question 9

Who became president after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated?

A) Lyndon Johnson
B) Andrew Johnson
C) John Danielson
D) William Sherman

Question 10

What purpose did churches not serve for African Americans?

A) It allowed them separate, private spaces away from whites.
B) It filled spiritual needs in difficult times, and allowed for the development of black music.
C) Because it was a very wealthy institution, it often provided loans to its members, helping them through difficult times.
D) It provided an area for black leadership to develop, and for the development of black culture and ideas.

Question 11

Which of the following is true about the Port Royal Experiment?

A) Ex-slaves began to work the land around Port Royal, South Carolina, and some were able to purchase property.
B) It was a Southern experiment to re-institute slavery. The experiment failed when Lincoln discovered it.
C) It was an attempt to force slaves into industrial labor in the North.
D) Blacks there were immediately forced on ships to go to Africa.

Question 12

What was not a common feature of many sharecropping agreements?

A) Most of the time, landowners accepted a share of the crop for rent.
B) Sharecropping agreements spelled out blacks rights to vote and certain constitutional rights.
C) Landowners sometimes made requirements about what crops could be planted and raised.
D) Laborers could not quit or strike.

Question 13

What characteristics did some black and white ministers preach against in their sermons to the newly freed slaves?

A) lack of wealth, and lack of a desire to work hard
B) blacks' refusal to stand up for their political rights
C) the increasing level of violence among many former slaves
D) lack of morals, drinking, and gambling

Question 14

Which of the following statements is true about the importance of education to blacks after Reconstruction?

A) They didn't really consider it very important, since many realized they would only be able to get work as field hands.
B) They saw education and freedom as closely linked, and often went to great lengths to form schools and attend them.
C) They thought it was important, but felt as though they had to accomplish other things before whites would allow them an education.
D) Blacks already had access to an education in the United States. Their school attendance and attitudes did not change after Reconstruction.

Question 15

Which of the following is not true of Special Field Order #15?

A) It set aside some land between Charleston and Jacksonville for former slave use.
B) Sherman allowed some of the slaves to use army mules.
C) Relative to the freed population of slaves, it affected a very large number of people.
D) The order forced former slaves to work in repairing the wartime damages to Southern cities.

Question 16

Why did the Freedmen's Bureau try to get blacks to sign labor contracts with white landowners?

A) They thought that action was in the best interests of blacks.
B) They were pressing for economic stability in the area, which needed labor to produce crops.
C) They hoped to break the spirit of the South, by showing how blacks could become economically independent.
D) The Freedmen's Bureau had absolutely no role in helping blacks with labor contracts.

Question 17

What was not a limitation of the Freedmen's Bureau?

A) Congress failed to appropriate enough money to it.
B) There were never enough personnel involved and staff members frequently held racist views of blacks.
C) The Freedmen's Bureau was given huge responsibilities, including education, mediating labor contracts, obtaining land, and settling criminal disputes.
D) The Freedman's Bureau was not supported by any whites in the North.

Question 18

How did some former masters react to the emancipation of their slaves?

A) Some were tremendously hurt and surprised when their slaves chose to run away or leave after freedom.
B) Many were hopeful for their slaves' chances in freedom.
C) Some whites reacted with violence against slaves.
D) Most masters fled the country after the end of the war, so they were not present for emancipation.

Question 19

What was the main purpose of the Freedmen's Bureau?

A) to free the slaves in the South
B) to help blacks find jobs in the North
C) to help assist the newly freed slaves in their transition to freedom
D) to press for civil and political rights for blacks

Question 20

What would be an accurate description of black Presbyterian, Congregational, and Episcopal churches?

A) They were formed only recently after the Civil War by freed blacks.
B) They were more rowdy and vocal than the slave religious ceremonies had been.
C) Their membership included generally the more prosperous, and lighter skinned, blacks in society.
D) They died out after the Civil War.

Question 21

Why did many oppose the land bill Thaddeus Stevens introduced in Congress in late 1865?

A) They felt that it was too mild a punishment for Confederate officers.
B) They felt that property rights of Southerners were more important than granting land to blacks.
C) They felt that taking away land already owned by blacks was unfair.
D) They didn't want land taken away from their states, which would make them unpopular politically.

Question 22

What were the terms of Johnson's reconstruction plan?

A) Johnson never came up with his own reconstruction plan. He simply accepted the one offered by Congress.
B) The Confederate states had to formally accept the Thirteenth Amendment, and repudiate Confederate war debts.
C) Johnson hoped to achieve civil and political rights for blacks.
D) Johnson wanted the South to pay reparations to the North, and to pay each slave for their lifetimes of labor.

Question 23

What was true about the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1866?

A) It was intended to make black codes illegal.
B) It would have made all minorities and racial groups, if they had been born in America, citizens of the United States.
C) It applied to women as well as men, and would have granted universal voting rights to all over the age of 18.
D) It was a very weak law, and would have had no effect on blacks in reality.

Question 24

What types of arguments did blacks not use at conventions to try to persuade whites to give them more rights?

A) They reminded whites that blacks loved America, and were patriotic.
B) They asked for a justice that was blind to color.
C) They asked that whites live by the terms of the Declaration of Independence.
D) They said they would be content with being subservient, but wanted freedom.

Question 25

Which of the following is true about racially integrated schools in the South in the decades following Reconstruction?

A) Because of limitations to funding, the first schools after Reconstruction were generally integrated, although students attended separate classrooms by race.
B) No integrated schools were established immediately after Reconstruction.
C) Racially integrated schools faced very high levels of violence from whites.
D) Only Upper South states had racially integrated schools.

Question 26

Which of the following was a black college established after the Civil War?

A) Morehouse
B) Hampton
C) Cheyney University
D) Wilberforce University

Question 27

Which of the following was not a way whites reacted to blacks attempting to establish schools in the South?

A) Sometimes with violence, including killing teachers.
B) Sometimes by burning school buildings.
C) With verbal opposition, stating that blacks simply could not learn.
D) By establishing integrated schools with very limited financial support.

Question 28

Which of the following was not a part of the "black codes"?

A) They granted blacks the right to purchase property, sue or be sued, and testify in court.
B) They allowed blacks the right to serve on juries.
C) They restricted black occupations and labor with employment contracts, corporal punishment, and high occupation fees.
D) They denied blacks the right to vote.

Question 29

Why did Andrew Johnson veto the Freedmen's Bureau Bill?

A) He did not think that it went far enough in granting rights to blacks.
B) He felt it would increase the federal bureaucracy too much.
C) He hoped to gain control of the agency for himself, rather than leave it in the hands of Congress.
D) He wanted blacks to focus on access to land and jobs, not the vote.

Question 30

How was Lincoln changing his opinion of blacks shortly before he was assassinated?

A) He suggested that perhaps some blacks who were educated or veterans should be able to vote.
B) He thought that not only should all blacks be free, but also that they should enjoy the same political and social rights as whites.
C) He thought that the federal government should give each freed black "forty acres and a mule."
D) He was really not changing his mind at all. He was always more concerned with the Southern states than the black people in them.

Question 31

How did Andrew Johnson's becoming president affect blacks?

A) It didn't affect them. Johnson followed all of Lincoln's plans and initiated none of his own.
B) Johnson felt that blacks should not vote or have a role in government, and were vastly inferior to whites. He destroyed many of their hopes.
C) Johnson felt that blacks were the social and political equals of whites, and that they should be given the same rights as whites.
D) Johnson was president only for a few months, and therefore had little effect .

Question 32

What form did the violence in the South take?

A) only against individuals, when whites saw blacks "stepping out of line"
B) generally, only with mobs of whites lynching black men
C) generally, with significant provocation from the black victim before murders took place
D) violence was widespread, and took any form and any level of brutality

Question 33

What did the Joint Committee on Reconstruction find?

A) Blacks were grossly inferior to whites, and should have been left in slavery.
B) Southern states were carrying out reconstruction goals to the best of their ability.
C) Blacks were being treated very poorly, and Southern whites didn't seem to realize they had lost the war.
D) Blacks were being treated poorly, but with additional education they should be able to gain political rights for themselves.

Question 34

What did the Radical Republicans not do to Andrew Johnson in response to his vetoes of Senator Lyman Trumbull's bills?

A) impeach him
B) remove him from office-removal only failed by one vote
C) override his vetoes
D) Radical Republicans lacked political power since racism was so entrenched; they were unable to do anything about Johnson's vetoes

Question 35

How did Johnson treat the former Confederates?

A) He treated them with extreme leniency. Even many of the high leaders were granted pardons under Johnson.
B) He treated them very harshly. He hated them for looking down on him when he lived in Tennessee.
C) He basically ignored them, and hoped that blacks would gain political power in the South.
D) Johnson refused to pardon them, but would allow them to vote if they swore allegiance to the United States.

Question 36

Why did many blacks meet in conventions in 1865 and 1866 across the South?

A) to elect black leaders and black political candidates
B) to protest the black codes, and respectfully ask that whites live up to the ideals of America
C) Blacks were never allowed to meet in large groups anywhere in the South at that time.
D) to organize trips to Africa to escape the harsh situation in America

Question 37

Why was there so much violence in the South after Reconstruction?

A) Blacks became increasingly frustrated with a lack of political rights, and frequently resorted to violence.
B) Blacks were forced to retaliate against initial white violence.
C) White Southerners were frustrated by their loss during the Civil War, and resented blacks acquiring freedom and status.
D) Confederates never officially disbanded their army, so Southerners continued to fight against the North.

Question 38

Which black man was selected from South Carolina to participate in the 1864 Republican National Convention?

A) Frederick Douglass
B) Earl Little
C) Robert Smalls
D) Booker T. Washington

Question 39

How did women's suffragists feel about the Fourteenth Amendment?

A) They enthusiastically supported the Fourteenth Amendment, since it offered gains for women.
B) Since women couldn't vote, they had no opinion on the Fourteenth Amendment.
C) They felt betrayed and angry, since the Fourteenth Amendment included only men.
D) They felt that working for black men should be their first priority, and they gladly accepted the terms of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 40

What did the Fourteenth Amendment not do?

A) It made all people born in the United States citizens.
B) It unpardoned many of the people Johnson had pardoned.
C) It made the black codes unconstitutional.
D) It explicitly gave black men the right to vote.

Question 41

Some feel that blacks became apathetic and content after receiving the right to vote. What evidence do we have that this statement is not true?

A) Blacks initiated sit-ins, labor strikes, and other unrest to protest unfair conditions.
B) Black intellectuals began writing on the subject of racial harmony and peace.
C) Black folk tales and other cultural developments began to grow stronger.
D) None-Most historians think this is what happened to blacks after the Fifteenth Amendment passed, and why it took so long for blacks to gain their rights.

Question 42

What was the purpose of the Union Leagues in the South?

A) They were racist white organizations designed to stop blacks from gaining rights.
B) They were interracial organizations working for racial harmony.
C) They were social and sometimes political organizations, in which blacks often played a prominent role.
D) They were business organizations for blacks.

Question 43

What effect did the First Reconstruction Act have on black political power?

A) It stated that all adult males could vote (with a few exceptions) and was the culmination of what blacks had been working for.
B) No effect whatsoever. It was a weak, ineffective piece of legislation.
C) It took the vote away from many blacks, since it required literacy in order to vote.
D) It allowed all blacks to vote, giving them tremendous power in both houses of Congress.

Question 44

What was the significance of the Election of 1866?

A) Republicans gained two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate. They could, therefore, override any presidential veto.
B) Republicans gained simple majorities in both the House and Senate. They could, therefore, override any presidential veto.
C) Democrats gained strength, since Americans saw the impeachment attempt of the president as a political sham.
D) A new, independent party, the National Democrats, gained significant amounts of power through the black vote.