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1.  During which period did the Civil War occur?

A. 1845 - 1851 
B. 1851 - 1856 
C. 1861 - 1865
D. 1865 - 1877

2  Which statement below is NOT true about slavery as the Civil War began?

A. Some Southern whites were against slavery.
B. Some free African-Americans in the South owned slaves.
C. A few states that permitted slavery sided with the North.
D. Most Southern whites owned slaves.

3. Which was the first state to secede?

A. South Carolina 
B. Alabama 
C. Virginia 
D. Mississippi

4.  When the Civil War began, what was the main goal of the Union (the North)?

A. to end slavery once and for all
B. to force the South to enforce tariff laws passed by Congress
C. to stop the Southern states from leaving the Union
D. to make sure no Western territories would accept slavery

5.  Where is Fort Sumter, where the first shots of what became the Civil War were fired against a U.S. government fort?

A. on an island near Norfolk, Virginia
B. on an island near Wilmington, North Carolina
C. on an island in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina
D. beside the Atlantic Ocean near Savannah, Georgia

6.  What happened at the Battle of Bull Run?

A. Two famous ships, the Monitor and the Virginia, battled to a draw.
B. The Southern forces were turned back from an attack on Maryland.
C. The Union army attacked Virginia, but was stopped by the Confederates.
D. The Union navy attacked and captured New Orleans.

7.  All of these were advantages of the North at the start of the Civil War EXCEPT:

A. It had a much larger population than the South.
B. It had more factories than the South.
C. It had a better railroad system than the South.
D. It had better military officers than the South.

8.  What was an “ironclad” in the Civil War?

A. a new kind of cannon with a very long range
B. a ship like the Monitor or Virginia that was covered with iron plates
C. a nickname for Northern generals who wanted “unconditional surrender”
D. a hat used by the Southern armies

9.  Who was Jefferson Davis?

A. a general for the Union in the early war years famous for his lack of action
B. a key leader in the U.S. Congress during the Civil War 
C. president of the Confederacy
D. a famous Southern leader who opposed secession
 

10.  What was the general attitude of people on both sides toward the Civil War as it began?

A. Most people thought it would be a quick and easy war, and were eager to fight.
B. Most people expected the war would last many years, and wanted to avoid fighting. 
C. Most people thought it was mainly a fight to end slavery.
D. Most people thought President Lincoln would be fair to both sides.
 

11.  When did President Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation?

A. within a few months of the war's beginning
B. about the middle of the war, after the battle of Antietam
C. just before the end of the war, after Sherman's March
D. immediately after the South surrendered

12.  What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

A. It immediately ended slavery in all states, North and South. 
B. It declared that slaves in the Confederate-held areas were free.
C. It declared that Congress would vote on freeing slaves at the war’s end.
D. It declared that slaves in parts of the Confederacy controlled by the Union army were free.

13.  What battle is considered the turning point of the Civil War?

A. Bull Run
B. Shiloh
C. Antietam
D. Gettysburg

14.  Sherman's March is best known for

A. the use of black soldiers in combat.
B. deliberately turning warfare against civilian homes and property in the South.
C. the only successful Southern invasion of the North.
D. gaining control of New Orleans.

15.  What were "blockade runners" during the Civil War?

A. slaves who ran away to the Union army camps early in the war
B. Northern ships that raided Southern port cities
C. Southern ships that slipped through lines of Union ships placed around the South
D. men who deserted from their units during battles
 

16.  Which of these statements best summarizes Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address?

A. It declares that slavery must end.
B. It sets forth a proposal that England should side with the North.
C. It calls for the South to give up the struggle, and voluntarily end slavery.
D. It explains that the Civil War is a test of whether democracy can really work.

17.  What were “Copperheads”?

A. rapid-repeating guns used in the Civil War
B. people in the North who favored ending the war quickly with negotiations
C. specially designed warships like the Monitor and the Virginia
D. submarines used by the South against Union ships

18.  Where did General Robert E. Lee surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the Civil War?

A. at Appomattox Court House, Virginia 
B. just outside Washington, D.C. 
C. near Atlanta, Georgia
D. in Charleston, South Carolina

19.  Lincoln generally wanted the South brought back into the Union with as little pain as possible after the surrender.  Why didn't he accomplish that?

A. He didn't have the support of the Congress.
B. He was killed just after the war ended.
C. He changed his mind when he toured the South and saw its condition.
D. He gave in to advice from his military leaders.

20.  Which statement below is NOT true of the situation of the former slaves immediately after the war?

A. Some white Southerners hoped the slave system would somehow return.
B. Some former slave owners helped their freed slaves get a new start.
C. Most freed slaves owned no land or tools needed to start a new life.
D. Most freed slaves moved to Northern cities.

21.  "Carpetbagger" was a term for

A. Northerners who came South after the Civil War.
B. Southerners who passed laws to restrict the rights of the former slaves.
C. Northerners who opposed Lincoln.
D. Southerners who favored the Union side during the war.

22.  "Black Codes" were

A. laws forcing the Southern states to recognize the rights of freed slaves.
B. designed to get former slaves elected to public offices as Reconstruction began.
C. a nickname for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
D. laws that restricted the rights and movement of freed slaves after the Civil War.

23.  Radical Republicans in Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts.  These laws generally

A. declared that the President would have wide powers to deal with the South.
B. set up a military occupation of the former Confederate states.
C. gave freed slaves voting rights.
D. ended efforts by the Congress to control affairs in the South.

24.  What was the main problem created by the system called “sharecropping”?

A. Sharecroppers often ended up in debt to landowners.
B. Sharecroppers had to pay large sums of money to rent land.
C. The system left landowners without a good labor force. 
D. The system forced landowners to divide and sell their farm fields.

25. The Ku Klux Klan was formed

A. by Northern whites angry about blacks moving North after the Civil War.
B. by Northern whites who supported slavery, and wanted it to continue.
C. by Southern whites angry about freed slaves getting political power.
D. by Southern whites who wanted to steal land from blacks.

26.  The Radical Republicans impeached President Andrew Johnson.  This was mainly because

A. he was originally from a Southern state.
B. they felt he was blocking their efforts to pass laws to protect freed slaves.
C. they believed he was involved in certain financial scandals.
D. they felt he was pushing too fast for changes in racial attitudes.

27.  What is the phrase "40 acres and a mule" associated with?

A. a plan to open up land in California to encourage freed slaves to go there
B. a plan to settle former slaves on the west coast of Africa as farmers
C. a plan to break up big plantations in the South, and give land to former slaves 
D. the 15th Amendment

28.  After the Civil War, blacks and whites in the South increasingly lived in a social pattern or relationship called:

A. enumeration 
B. integration 
C. segregation
D. disestablishment

29.  What did the 14th Amendment do?

A. It ended slavery in both the North and the South forever.
B. It made blacks citizens and required states to provide equal protection of the laws. 
C. It gave black men the right to vote.
D. It gave black men and women the right to vote.

30.  What was Booker T. Washington's advice to blacks in the South in his famous speech called the “Atlanta Address"? 

A. Southern blacks should consider moving to the West to escape racism.
B. Southern blacks should concentrate on economic success, rather than social equality.
C. Southern blacks should generally stick together, and avoid contact with whites.
D. Southern blacks should demand access to public facilities like opera houses, etc.

Copyright 2001, 2016 by David Burns
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