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Reconstruction era - Quiz
Contributed by: Ball
  • 1. The Reconstruction era followed which major historical event?
A) World War I
B) American Civil War
C) War of 1812
D) The Great Depression
  • 2. How many amendments were added to the Constitution to grant citizenship and equal rights to freed slaves?
A) Two
B) Four
C) Three
D) Five
  • 3. What methods did former Confederate states use to prevent Black citizens from voting?
A) Religious test oaths
B) Age restrictions and land ownership
C) Required military service
D) Poll taxes and literacy tests
  • 4. Which institution played a vital role in establishing a free labor economy in the South?
A) The United States Army
B) The Red Cross
C) The Supreme Court
D) The Freedmen's Bureau
  • 5. What was the purpose of the Freedmen's Bureau?
A) To manage the Confederate government
B) To collect taxes from the South
C) To provide food and shelter to freed slaves
D) To conduct military trials
  • 6. Which plan for readmission of states did Abraham Lincoln favor?
A) Ten percent plan
B) The Redeemers plan
C) Radical reconstruction plan
D) Wade-Davis Bill
  • 7. Who succeeded Abraham Lincoln as President after his assassination?
A) William Seward
B) Ulysses S. Grant
C) Rutherford B. Hayes
D) Andrew Johnson
  • 8. What were the restrictive laws passed by Southern states during Andrew Johnson's presidency called?
A) Confederate Statutes
B) Reconstruction Acts
C) Black Codes
D) Jim Crow Laws
  • 9. Which political group gained majorities in Congress in the 1866 midterm elections?
A) Radical Republicans
B) Whigs
C) Democrats
D) Moderates
  • 10. What groups engaged in paramilitary insurgency and terrorism to disrupt Reconstruction governments?
A) Freedmen's Committees
B) Ku Klux Klan, White League, and Red Shirts
C) The Union Army and Navy
D) Congressional delegates
  • 11. What was the result of Andrew Johnson's impeachment by the House of Representatives?
A) He was sent to prison
B) He was not convicted by the Senate
C) He resigned immediately
D) He was removed from office
  • 12. Which legislation was enacted under President Ulysses S. Grant to enforce civil rights?
A) Confiscation Act
B) Ku Klux Klan Act
C) Wade-Davis Bill
D) Ten percent plan
  • 13. What event effectively ended the Reconstruction era?
A) Compromise of 1877
B) The impeachment of Johnson
C) Election of 1866
D) The Civil War
  • 14. Who won the presidential election of 1876?
A) Andrew Johnson
B) Ulysses S. Grant
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) Rutherford B. Hayes
  • 15. What did the failure of the Lodge Bill in 1890 signify?
A) The beginning of the Freedmen's Bureau
B) The start of the Civil War
C) The election of Andrew Johnson
D) The end of efforts to enforce federal civil rights in the South
  • 16. What was a primary goal of the 'Redeemers' in the South?
A) To assist the Freedmen's Bureau
B) To restore white supremacy
C) To enforce the Wade-Davis Bill
D) To support the Radical Republicans
  • 17. What legislation provided the precedent for the Emancipation Proclamation?
A) Black Codes
B) Lodge Bill
C) Ku Klux Klan Act
D) Confiscation Acts
  • 18. What period of time does the American Civil War span?
A) 1865–1877
B) 1850–1860
C) 1877–1890
D) 1861–1865
  • 19. What does the text suggest is one of the positive legacies of Reconstruction?
A) The total replacement of Southern elite
B) The total elimination of poverty
C) The immediate end of all violence
D) Establishing a legal framework for racial equality
  • 20. What did the Reconstruction Acts of 1867–68 dictate?
A) Conditions for ending slavery
B) Terms for readmission of former Confederate states
C) Restrictions on federal spending
D) Terms for presidential impeachment
  • 21. Which historian proposes 1863 as the start date of Reconstruction?
A) Heather Cox Richardson
B) Manisha Sinha
C) Eric Foner
D) Fritzhugh Brundage
  • 22. What was the significance of November 7, 1861, for the Gullah population?
A) They gained the right to vote
B) They formed a new government
C) They were relocated to the North
D) They became free overnight
  • 23. Heather Cox Richardson argues that Reconstruction ended in 1920 with the election of which president?
A) Warren G. Harding
B) Ulysses S. Grant
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) Rutherford B. Hayes
  • 24. According to the text, what happened after the Battle of Port Royal?
A) The Emancipation Proclamation was signed
B) Federal troops were defeated
C) Slaveholders fled the area
D) The Lodge Bill was introduced
  • 25. What event in 1860 does Manisha Sinha link to the beginning of Reconstruction?
A) The Battle of Port Royal
B) The ratification of the 13th amendment
C) The start of the Civil War
D) Lincoln winning the presidency
  • 26. How many Southern states seceded from the United States following Lincoln's election?
A) Thirteen
B) Seven
C) Nine
D) Eleven
  • 27. What event prompted Lincoln to raise an army to quell the South?
A) The assault on Fort Sumter
B) The secession of South Carolina
C) The Emancipation Proclamation
D) The collapse of the plantation economy
  • 28. How many named battles were fought during the American Civil War?
A) 500
B) 300
C) 150
D) 237
  • 29. What type of jobs were Black women largely confined to after the war?
A) Railroad construction
B) Lumber mill management
C) Legal advocacy
D) Domestic work
  • 30. What economic system replaced the plantation system following the war?
A) Sharecropping
B) Mercantilism
C) Industrial manufacturing
D) State-run collective farming
  • 31. According to David W. Blight, which vision emphasized full citizenship and constitutional equality?
A) The plantation revival vision
B) The reconciliationist vision
C) The white supremacist vision
D) The emancipationist vision
  • 32. Which vision of Reconstruction focused on coping with the death and devastation of the war?
A) The industrialization vision
B) The reconciliationist vision
C) The white supremacist vision
D) The emancipationist vision
  • 33. What happened to the value of the Confederate dollar by early 1865?
A) It had nearly zero value
B) It doubled in purchasing power
C) It remained stable
D) It increased in value due to gold backing
  • 34. How many cities in the Confederate States were occupied by Union forces at some point?
A) 835
B) 11
C) 297
D) 162
  • 35. Which of these cities was noted for being destroyed or severely damaged by military action?
A) Atlanta
B) Montgomery
C) Savannah
D) New Orleans
  • 36. What percentage of Southern livestock had been killed by the end of the war?
A) 40%
B) 10%
C) 25%
D) 60%
  • 37. What became a high priority for Reconstruction state governments?
A) Building new military forts
B) Expanding the banking system
C) Restoring the infrastructure
D) Increasing farm mechanization
  • 38. How much of the South's railroad infrastructure was in areas reached by Union armies?
A) Nearly all
B) Less than one-quarter
C) Over two-thirds
D) Exactly half
  • 39. What fraction of Southern White men of military age died during the Civil War?
A) Over a quarter
B) One-third
C) One-tenth
D) One-half
  • 40. To what amount did the per capita income for White Southerners decline by 1879?
A) $50
B) $125
C) $80
D) $100
  • 41. Who led the unionist government in Virginia that was recognized by the United States during the Civil War?
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) Wade Davis
C) Andrew Johnson
D) Francis Harrison Pierpont
  • 42. Which state was formed after the Pierpont government separated the northwestern counties of Virginia?
A) Tennessee
B) Arkansas
C) West Virginia
D) Louisiana
  • 43. On what date did Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation?
A) December 8, 1863
B) April 14, 1865
C) January 16, 1865
D) January 1, 1863
  • 44. Who issued Special Field Orders No. 15 on January 16, 1865?
A) Robert E. Lee
B) Andrew Johnson
C) Ulysses S. Grant
D) William Tecumseh Sherman
  • 45. Who did Robert E. Lee surrender to on April 9, 1865?
A) William Tecumseh Sherman
B) Ulysses S. Grant
C) Andrew Johnson
D) Abraham Lincoln
  • 46. Who assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865?
A) Andrew Johnson
B) John Wilkes Booth
C) Edwin Stanton
D) Robert E. Lee
  • 47. Which state was the first to be readmitted to the Union on July 24, 1866?
A) Georgia
B) Tennessee
C) Louisiana
D) South Carolina
  • 48. What event took place in New Orleans on July 30, 1866?
A) The passing of the Enforcement Act
B) A riot at a constitutional convention
C) The surrender of Robert E. Lee
D) The impeachment of Andrew Johnson
  • 49. When was the Fourteenth Amendment ratified?
A) February 3, 1870
B) July 9, 1868
C) May 31, 1870
D) December 6, 1865
  • 50. What was the final Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union?
A) Louisiana
B) Georgia
C) Tennessee
D) South Carolina
  • 51. When did the Ku Klux Klan Act become law?
A) February 28, 1871
B) April 20, 1871
C) May 22, 1872
D) May 31, 1870
  • 52. What was the required percentage of White males needed to take the Ironclad Oath in the Wade–Davis Bill?
A) 25%
B) 51%
C) 75%
D) 10%
  • 53. What policy did Lincoln announce in his second inaugural address?
A) Total revolution of Southern institutions
B) Immediate enfranchisement of all freedmen
C) Malice toward none
D) Punishment for all Confederates
  • 54. Who insisted that Reconstruction must revolutionize Southern institutions, habits, and manners?
A) Thaddeus Stevens
B) Abraham Lincoln
C) Andrew Johnson
D) The Copperheads
  • 55. On what date did Andrew Johnson veto the Civil Rights Act?
A) April 15, 1865
B) December 1, 1865
C) March 27, 1866
D) January 1, 1866
  • 56. Which group did Johnson align himself with during the political warfare with Congress?
A) The Whigs
B) The Radical Republicans
C) The Unionists
D) The Democrats
  • 57. Which 1866 event was used as evidence of violence against Black people?
A) The Civil War draft riots
B) Memphis riots
C) The Kansas-Nebraska uprising
D) The Boston Tea Party
  • 58. How did Stevens view the status of Southern states after secession?
A) As fully restored Union members
B) Like new territories
C) As unaffected entities
D) As sovereign nations
  • 59. In what year were the Reconstruction Acts passed by Congress?
A) 1867
B) 1877
C) 1865
D) 1869
  • 60. Which amendment were Southern governments required to accept to be readmitted?
A) Fifteenth Amendment
B) Fourteenth Amendment
C) Twelfth Amendment
D) Thirteenth Amendment
  • 61. What status did constitutional amendments grant to all African Americans?
A) Military exemption
B) Land ownership
C) Tax immunity
D) Full citizenship
  • 62. Who were the primary individuals moving from the North to aid freedmen?
A) European immigrants
B) Confederate refugees
C) Southern plantation owners
D) Educated Blacks
  • 63. What was the derogatory term used by White Democrats for Southerners supportive of the Union?
A) Carpetbaggers
B) Loyalists
C) Scalawags
D) Mugwumps
  • 64. What was the derogatory term used by White Democrats for Northerners who migrated to the South?
A) Freedmen
B) Unionists
C) Carpetbaggers
D) Scalawags
  • 65. What tool did Radical Republicans repeatedly use to try to prevent former Confederates from voting?
A) The Bill of Rights
B) The Ironclad Oath
C) The Reconstruction Act of 1867
D) The Emancipation Proclamation
  • 66. How many freedmen were to be counted as citizens according to the census debates?
A) 4 million
B) 2 million
C) 8 million
D) 1 million
  • 67. What was the approximate White illiteracy rate in North Carolina in 1880?
A) 70%
B) 33%
C) 9%
D) 25%
  • 68. When did women finally gain the right to vote through a Constitutional amendment?
A) 1890
B) 1908
C) 1867
D) 1920
  • 69. What mechanism did some Southern states use to allow illiterate Whites to vote while disenfranchising Blacks?
A) Wealth requirements for Blacks only
B) Literacy tests administered in private
C) Grandfather clauses
D) Poll taxes
  • 70. Which department ordered the meeting of the Southern Treaty Commission?
A) Department of War
B) Interior Department
C) State Department
D) Treasury Department
  • 71. What did the Congress statute allow the president to suspend if a tribe was in hostility to the U.S. government?
A) Appropriations
B) Migration patterns
C) Trade routes
D) Sovereign rights
  • 72. Who was the Attorney General responsible for the poor enforcement of the Confiscation Acts?
A) Abraham Lincoln
B) David Hunter
C) John C. Frémont
D) Edward Bates
  • 73. What happened to Major General John C. Frémont after refusing to rescind his emancipation order?
A) Terminated from active duty
B) Sent to negotiate with Native Americans
C) Promoted to commander in Washington
D) Given a formal reprimand but kept his post
  • 74. What territory was created as a de facto result of the treaties negotiated by the Southern Treaty Commission?
A) The Missouri Territory
B) The Western Reconstruction Zone
C) The Arkansas District
D) Unorganized Oklahoma Territory
  • 75. Where did Lincoln advocate for compensated emancipation in a conference?
A) Washington D.C.
B) Appomattox
C) Gettysburg
D) Hampton Roads
  • 76. Where did Lincoln urge African American leaders to colonize in August 1862?
A) Europe
B) Australia
C) Canada
D) Central America
  • 77. Which prominent activist criticized Lincoln's colonization plans?
A) Benjamin Flanders
B) Frederick Douglass
C) Andrew Johnson
D) Edward Stanly
  • 78. How many Black colonists were sent to Chiriqui?
A) 2000
B) 453
C) 50
D) 1000
  • 79. Who did Lincoln appoint as military governor of Louisiana?
A) Edward Stanly
B) Andrew Johnson
C) John S. Phelps
D) George Foster Shepley
  • 80. What reason did Lincoln give for his authority to strike at slavery in July 1862?
A) A military necessity
B) International pressure
C) Congressional mandate
D) Public opinion polls
  • 81. How many days did the preliminary proclamation give the rebels to return to the Union?
A) 100 days
B) 120 days
C) 60 days
D) 30 days
  • 82. Which of these states was not included in the Emancipation Proclamation because it had not seceded?
A) Kentucky
B) Mississippi
C) Alabama
D) South Carolina
  • 83. What prevented Lincoln from appointing a commissioner for the Freedmen's Bureau?
A) Congressional opposition
B) Lack of qualified candidates
C) The end of the war
D) His assassination
  • 84. Which specific area of Washington, D.C. transport did Lincoln outlaw discrimination in?
A) Public railroads
B) Public street cars
C) Public ferries
D) Horse-drawn carriages
  • 85. Which Confederate official attended the Hampton Roads conference?
A) Jefferson Davis
B) Alexander H. Stephens
C) Stonewall Jackson
D) Robert E. Lee
  • 86. What country did the Southern delegation suggest a joint attack on?
A) Canada
B) Great Britain
C) France
D) Mexico
  • 87. Who was the Emperor of Mexico at the time of the Hampton Roads conference?
A) Napoleon III
B) Porfirio Diaz
C) Maximilian I
D) Benito Juarez
  • 88. What did Lincoln propose regarding the costs of freedom for slaves?
A) Foreign loans
B) Confiscation of Southern property
C) Taxation of the South
D) Compensated emancipation
  • 89. How did Lincoln characterize the future of slavery during the conference?
A) Slavery is a state issue
B) Slavery is essential
C) Slavery is doomed
D) Slavery must continue
  • 90. What was the final outcome of the Hampton Roads peace conference?
A) No agreements were settled
B) The Confederacy surrendered
C) A joint attack on Mexico was planned
D) A truce was signed
  • 91. What was the tone of the meeting at Hampton Roads?
A) Cordial
B) Violent
C) Secretive
D) Hostile
  • 92. Which individual was the commandant of the Andersonville prison camp?
A) Jefferson Davis
B) Benjamin Franklin Perry
C) Champ Ferguson
D) Henry Wirz
  • 93. What labor system did freed people prefer over gang labor?
A) State-run labor camps
B) Family-based labor groups
C) Plantation slavery
D) Industrial factory work
  • 94. Who provided a harsh assessment of the conditions for freedmen along the Gulf Coast?
A) Henry Wirz
B) Benjamin Franklin Perry
C) Andrew Johnson
D) Carl Schurz
  • 95. What was the primary goal of the county courts regarding Black defendants?
A) Fast conviction
B) Legal education
C) Fair trial
D) Rehabilitation
  • 96. Who was the provisional governor of South Carolina appointed by Johnson?
A) Henry C. Magruder
B) Carl Schurz
C) Jefferson Davis
D) Benjamin Franklin Perry
  • 97. Who was the Senate leader of the Radical Republicans?
A) Charles Sumner
B) Thaddeus Stevens
C) Lyman Trumbull
D) James Schouler
  • 98. How many members were on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction?
A) 15
B) 12
C) 20
D) 10
  • 99. Who led the moderate Republicans in the Senate?
A) Andrew Johnson
B) Charles Sumner
C) Lyman Trumbull
D) Thaddeus Stevens
  • 100. What was the House vote count for the Civil Rights Bill?
A) 50–50
B) 111–38
C) 33–12
D) 15–0
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