1. Abraham Lincoln’s first goal when he took office as president was to
a. declare war on the Confederate States of America.
b. abolish slavery in the slave states that had not yet seceded.
c. stop secession from spreading to the Upper South states.
d. all of the above.
The answer is c. Lincoln’s inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1861, revealed his strategy for managing the crisis the nation faced. His first concern was to avoid any act that would push the eight slave states that were still in the Union into seceding and adding to the strength of the Confederate States.
2. Jefferson Davis’s objective as president of the newly formed Confederate States of America was to
a. establish the Confederacy as a permanent, independent republic.
b. bring the rebel states back into the Union after negotiating certain concessions from President Lincoln.
c. instigate a war with the Union as quickly as possible.
d. maintain the Confederacy at just the eight Lower South states so as to avoid overextending its resources.
The answer is a. Davis’s goal was to achieve permanence for the Confederacy. To do so, he knew he had to sustain the secession fever in the Lower South states. He also sought to strengthen the Confederacy by adding more states.
3. President Lincoln decided not to abandon Fort Sumter because he
a. did not think that the Confederacy would really attack it.
b. wanted to force the Upper South to commit to the Union.
c. had devised a military strategy for restoring the Union in which Fort Sumter was the linchpin.
d. believed that abandoning it would violate his inaugural promise to defend federal property.
The answer is d. Lincoln knew that by resupplying the federal troops at Fort Sumter, he risked alienating the states of the Upper South. However, he felt that giving up the fort would show his acceptance of the Confederacy’s existence, divide northern opinion, and undermine his new Republican administration.
4. On the question of what to do about Fort Sumter, Jefferson Davis decided
a. to take the fort before the relief expedition arrived.
b. to execute the Union soldiers at Fort Sumter as a warning to the federal government.
c. to fire on the Union supply ship as it entered Charleston harbor rather than attack the fort directly.
d. to refrain from any military action against the fort.
The answer is a. After considerable debate with his cabinet, Davis ordered Confederate troops in Charleston to take the fort before the Union relief expedition arrived.
5. Most Southerners who backed the Confederate cause did so to
a. defend the institution of slavery.
b. protect the southern way of life.
c. defend the territorial integrity of the Confederacy.
d. all of the above.
The answer is d. Though only slave owners had a direct economic stake in preserving slavery, most whites in the South embraced the Confederate cause. They emphasized that they were preserving the South’s distinctive culture from northern domination and contended that they were fighting for states’ rights, self-determination, and liberty. Furthermore, Yankee “aggression” had moved from a threat to a pressing reality.
6. To most white Northerners, southern secession
a. was an attack on a valid, democratically elected government.
b. constituted a legitimate if extreme way of challenging governmental decisions.
c. echoed America’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1776.
d. was a hasty but understandable response to provocation.
The answer is a. Northerners felt that by seceding, Southerners were making an unconscionable attack on the authority of a valid government. They felt that the South’s refusal to accept the outcome of a legitimate, democratic election and its attack on government property were challenges to the rule of law, the authority of the Constitution, and the whole idea of Republican self-rule.
7. When the Civil War broke out in 1861,
a. the South had many more resources than the North.
b. the North had many more resources than the South.
c. both the North and the South had about the same number of resources.
d. the North had superior economic resources, while the South had the advantage in manpower.
The answer is b. The North had enormous advantages by most measures. The North had more than twice the population of the South and many more miles of railroads. It produced 90 percent of the nation’s industrial goods, including 13 times as much textiles as the South, 16 times as much iron, and 32 times as many firearms.
8. Southerners expected that Britain and perhaps France would ally with the Confederacy to avoid having their
a. sailors impressed.
b. supply of cotton interrupted.
c. source of tobacco cut off.
d. bank loans defaulted on.
The answer is b. Britain was especially dependent on southern cotton. More than 700 million pounds of the 900 million pounds of cotton that Britain imported annually came from the South. Southerners believed that if that supply were interrupted, Britain would become a Confederate ally out of economic necessity.
9. The significance of the battle of Bull Run was
a. the incredibly high number of casualties that both sides suffered.
b. its strategic importance.
c. the subsequent decision of European nations to intervene in the war.
d. the lessons both sides drew from it.
The answer is d. Bull Run seemed to Southerners to confirm the superiority of their army and the inevitability of their eventual triumph. For Northerners, it indicated that the war was going to be longer and more difficult than they had expected; within four days of the loss, Lincoln signed bills authorizing the enlistment of one million men for three years.
10. General George McClellan’s weakness as commander of the Army of the Potomac was that he was
a. from a nonmilitary background.
b. a poor military trainer.
c. unpopular with his troops.
d. indecisive and slow to act.
The answer is d. McClellan, second in his class at West Point, was an energetic administrator who was able to whip the Army of the Potomac into shape after the disaster at Manassas; however, he lacked decisiveness. Lincoln wanted a general who would take risks. McClellan, he complained, suffered from “the slows.”
11. In September 1862, Robert E. Lee pushed the fighting across the Potomac into Maryland because
a. Maryland possessed crucial resources.
b. McClellan had chased him out of Virginia.
c. he believed a Confederate victory on northern soil might end the war.
d. Jefferson Davis had commanded him to do so.
The answer is c. Lee believed that a victory on northern soil would convince Maryland to leave the Union and perhaps force Lincoln to sue for peace. But a Union soldier found a copy of Lee’s orders to his army, giving McClellan a major advantage in the fighting. However, McClellan was too cautious to fully exploit that knowledge to destroy Lee’s army.
12. By the end of 1862, the military struggle in the East had
a. demonstrated that McClellan was right to avoid battles.
b. reached a stalemate.
c. proved the overwhelming superiority of the Army of Northern Virginia.
d. proved the overwhelming superiority of the Army of the Potomac.
The answer is b. Despite its victory at Antietam, by the end of 1862 the Union had not succeeded in achieving any of its goals in the eastern theater: It had failed to take Richmond, defeat Lee, or decisively end the rebellion.
13. As the Civil War dragged on, President Lincoln decided that emancipation was necessary because
a. Democratic politicians demanded it.
b. white Northerners were in favor of it.
c. slaves were the underpinning of the Confederate war machine.
d. it would undermine Confederate morale.
The answer is c. The Confederates used slaves to perform essential war work, including building fortifications, hauling materiel, tending to horses, and doing camp chores. Slaves also worked in ironworks and shipyards and as agricultural laborers, making supplies and growing food for Confederate soldiers and civilians. Thus, it gradually became obvious that to defeat the Confederacy, the North would have to destroy slavery.
14. Throughout 1861, abolitionists pressed President Lincoln to emancipate southern slaves, arguing that
a. the freed slaves would be a valuable addition to the fighting forces of the North.
b. in seceding, Southerners had forfeited their right to constitutional protection.
c. emancipation would solidify white northerners’ support for the war.
d. the Republicans could survive without Democratic support.
The answer is b. Abolitionists insisted that when the southern states seceded, they gave up their right to the protection of the Constitution. As traitors, their property—including their human possessions—could legally be confiscated. Yet Lincoln was concerned that any hint that he was considering emancipation would cause slaveholders in the loyal border states to defect to the South.
15. In March 1862, Congress established a national policy on fugitive slaves that
a. made runaways the property of border state slave owners.
b. returned runaways to their masters.
c. declared all runaways free.
d. forbade the return of runaways to their masters.
The answer is d. At first, Union commanders sent fugitive slaves back to their owners, but some officers accepted the runaways and put them to work. General Benjamin F. Butler devised a new status for these fugitives, calling them “contraband of war,” or confiscated property. Congress made the policy official in March 1862 by forbidding the practice of returning fugitive slaves to their masters. Slaves still were not legally free, but there was a slight tilt in favor of emancipation.
16. To make emancipation more acceptable to white Northerners, President Lincoln initially
a. tried to educate the northern public about racial prejudice.
b. offered to deport African Americans out of the country.
c. hoped to confine it to slaves in those areas of the Confederacy that were occupied by Union troops.
d. wanted to settle freed slaves in the western territories.
The answer is b. Most white Northerners were afraid of freed slaves moving north into white neighborhoods and competing for white jobs. To calm these racial fears, Lincoln tried to promote colonization programs that would send freed blacks out of the country to Haiti, Panama, or other destinations. Blacks, however, resisted colonization, and the program was never funded properly.
17. The easiest task Jefferson Davis and the Confederate government faced was
a. working with the states to decide the disposition of money, supplies, and soldiers.
b. building the armed forces of the Confederacy.
c. financing the war.
d. creating an industrial sector to supply war material.
The answer is b. The Confederate army and navy had to be built from scratch. However, hundreds of officers had resigned from the federal army out of loyalty to the South. Also, there were hundreds of thousands of volunteers to fill the rebel ranks. Thus, the Confederacy soon had assembled considerable military manpower.
18. The Union blockade of the Confederate states made it necessary for the Confederate government to
a. build its own industrial sector.
b. support a fleet of blockade runners.
c. socialize private industries.
d. smuggle in manufactured goods from the North.
The answer is a. As the Union naval blockade grew more effective, it became increasingly necessary for the Confederate government to develop an independent source for manufactured goods. Thus, the government funded clothing and shoe factories, mines, arsenals, and powder works in addition to harnessing private companies to the war effort.
19. Ultimately, the Confederate government’s bold measures
a. failed to transform the South’s agricultural economy into an industrial one.
b. successfully transformed the South’s agricultural economy into an industrial one.
c. allowed the South’s production to keep pace with that of the North.
d. backfired and actually reduced the South’s industrial production.
The answer is a. The Confederacy did manage to manufacture more than most people thought possible. Still, it never produced as much as the South needed, and the gap between northern and southern production continually widened.
20. Confederate states responded to Richmond’s policy of impressment with
a. unfailing support.
b. quiet resignation.
c. objections that it usurped states’ rights.
d. suggestions that taxation would be a better tool for financing the war.
The answer is c. The need to supply the Confederacy with goods and personnel to engage in war forced the government in Richmond to intrude on the lives of Confederate citizens. The Confederacy adopted a policy of impressment, which allowed the government to confiscate slaves, food, horses, and other goods. Individuals objected to Jefferson Davis’s “despotism” while leaders of Confederate state governments decried Richmond’s usurpation of states’ rights.
21. During the Civil War, Republicans were able to
a. prevent the federal government from interfering in the economy.
b. enact their platform of federal programs to encourage economic growth.
c. pass very little of the legislation they supported.
d. pass laws to undermine the Democratic Party.
The answer is b. When 11 slave states seceded, the Democrats’ strength in Congress was halved. As a result, there was very little opposition to Republican programs, and Congress was easily able to pass the Legal Tender Act, the National Banking Act, the Internal Revenue Act, the Homestead Act, the Pacific Railroad Act, a higher tariff, and a series of sweeping tax laws.
22. Legislation passed by the Republicans during the Civil War
a. helped the northern war effort.
b. had no lasting effect on the nation.
c. both of the above.
d. neither of the above.
The answer is a. The initiatives that Republicans passed during the war revolutionized the country’s banking, monetary, and tax structures and bolstered the North’s war effort. Moreover, Congress created the Department of Agriculture and passed a Land-Grant College Act that set aside public land to support universities emphasizing “agriculture and mechanical arts.” These initiatives had long-term consequences for agriculture and industry and permanently changed the nation.
23. When northern farmers took up arms in the Civil War, their domestic tasks were taken over by
a. runaway slaves.
b. women.
c. paid agricultural laborers.
d. government employees.
The answer is b. With more than a million farm men serving in the military, farm women added men’s chores to those they were already doing. Rising agricultural production indicated that they were successful at plowing, planting, and harvesting.
24. During the Civil War, Congress aimed to integrate the West more thoroughly into the nation by
a. approving the Homestead Act.
b. passing the Pacific Railroad Act.
c. subsidizing the Pony Express.
d. all of the above.
The answer is d. During the war, the Republican-dominated Congress passed various legislation to better integrate the West into the Union including the Homestead Act, which offered 160 acres of land to settlers; the Pacific Railroad Act, which provided massive federal assistance for building a transcontinental railroad that ran from Omaha to San Francisco; and subsidizing the Pony Express mail service to deliver U.S. mail in the West.
25. General Ulysses S. Grant took the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by means of
a. a direct assault.
b. a complicated naval operation.
c. delicate negotiations.
d. a lengthy siege.
The answer is d. In 1863, the city of Vicksburg was the only thing keeping the Union from controlling the entire Mississippi River. Vicksburg was extremely well defended, however; impenetrable terrain made it impossible to take the city from the north, and it was fortified with cannons aimed down at the river. Grant tried to attack the city directly but ended up settling in for a long siege, eventually starving the city’s inhabitants into surrendering.
26. In 1863, General Lee decided to attack the Union army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, after
a. the Confederacy’s embarrassing loss at Vicksburg.
b. becoming emboldened by his stunning victory at the battle of Chancellorsville.
c. Southerners questioned his ability to defeat Union forces.
d. the Union took control of the Mississippi River.
The answer is b. Lee had won a stunning victory over the Union forces at Chancellorsville, Virginia, and felt confident that he could mount an aggressive assault on the North and undermine its morale.
27. After General Grant became the general in chief of the Union armies in March 1864, he made two important decisions—to send the western armies into
a. Georgia and to take on Lee directly.
b. South Carolina and to avoid fighting Lee.
c. Georgia and to avoid fighting Lee.
d. South Carolina and to take on Lee directly.
The answer is a. As the commander of all the Union armies, Grant was able to implement his strategy for a war of attrition. He ordered a series of simultaneous assaults throughout the South; his most significant decisions, however, involved sending the western armies southeast toward Atlanta under the command of General William T. Sherman, and taking personal control of the Army of the Potomac to go head-to-head with Lee in Virginia.
28. Despite suffering heavy losses in his 1864 Virginia campaign, General Grant did not believe that he was defeated because he
a. had easily taken the important railroad junction of Petersburg, Virginia.
b. knew that the Confederates lost even more soldiers than did the Union.
c. had captured Richmond, the Confederate capital, by June of that year.
d. knew that the Confederates had lost proportionally as many men.
The answer is d. Grant lost twice as many soldiers as the Confederates in four weeks of heavy fighting in Virginia. However, Lee had only half the number of troops that Grant had and so had lost proportionally as many men. Grant was well aware that the South could not replace its lost soldiers.
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