People
Which Civil War general declined Lincoln’s offer to lead the Union Army because of his allegiance to his home state? And what state was it?
Robert E. Lee; Virginia
Which southern state seceded first, and in what month and year?
South Carolina; December 1860
What was the issue at the heart of the tension during the antebellum period? Why were people so riled up over it, especially in 1820?
SLAVERY; even representation in Congress (Missouri Compromise)
What was so catastrophically consequential about Stephen A. Douglas's desire to build a transcontinental railroad? Explain.
Who said the following? I know how strongly American civilization now leans upon the triumph of government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution, and I am willing, perfectly willing to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government, and to pay that debt.
Soldier Sullivan Ballou, an ordinary soldier
Who is famous for tearing up Confederate property from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864, and what was it known as?
William T. Sherman; "March to the Sea"
What were the four border states?
Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland
Between which two candidates was the Election of 1864 between, and who was the Republican candidate’s vice president?
Abraham Lincoln and George B. McClellan; Andrew Johnson
What 1862 battle presented Lincoln with an opportunity to start to shift what the War might be fought for? Explain.
Antietam offered enough of a victory to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the border states. This was a military strategy that began to show a shift from a "limited" to total war.
Who said the following and in what context and/or speech? "I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other."
Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" Speech before running against Stephen A. Douglas in Senate seat race
Which Union general was known for his failed campaign in the eastern theater, and what was that plan called?
George B. McClellan; Peninsular Campaign
What city did Grant want to capture to split the Confederacy? What would it mean he would finally have control of?
Vicksburg; the Mississippi River
What were three recognizable phases of Reconstruction (in order)? Describe and explain the transition from each.
After the abolition of slavery, what were the legal means by which Southerners resisted civil rights? What did they do first and then what after amendments prohibited them from doing so? Besides legally, what else did Southerners do to promote white supremacy?
Black Codes & sharecropping --> segregation (Jim Crow Laws); also violence (and intimidation)
Who said the following, and in what context? "...neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument..."
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857
Who was George Custer, what happened to him, and why was it significant?
He fought and died in the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, which served as a rallying cry and source of animosity for many settlers who opposed the lingering presence of Native Americans.
What was the most lethal single day of battle—and when—and the bloodiest battle—and when?
Antietam in Sept. 1862; Gettysburg in July 1863
What happened of significance during the Election of 1876?
Contested votes and establishment of an Electoral Commission; Rutherford B. Hayes took the presidency, but troops were to be removed from the South, ending Reconstruction
What were three "resolutions" offered by a Union Victory? Within each, what was still left to be worked out?
1. Preserved the Union BUT what about rebuilding the South? 2. Stronger federal government BUT what about states rights? 3. Abolition of slavery BUT what to do with freedmen and women?
Who said the following, and in what context? "On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it—all sought to avert it. ... Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came."
Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address in 1865
Name the first 19 presidents in order. (Hint: Filmore and Pierce were after Taylor and before Buchanan; Van Buren was after Jackson and before Harrison)
Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Quincy Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Filmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes
What were two pieces of Congressional legislation that sought to settle land in the Great Plains? Who were the targeted applicants for each, and what were the inherent difficulties in each?
Homestead Act - 1862 (acres given to encourage farming the land for its improvement); Dawes Act - 1887 (acres given to Native Americans to encourage assimilation); likely difficult for immigrants, inexperienced with farming and Native Americans, feeling compelled to "de-tribalize"
What were the Reconstruction amendments, when were each of them passed, and what did they state?
13th - 1865 (abolition of slavery); 14th - 1868 (rights of citizens); 15th (voting rights)
Place the following in order: Caning of Sumner, Election of Abraham Lincoln, John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry, Dred Scott v. Sandford, "Bleeding Kansas," Kansas-Nebraska Act. What shift do these occurrences reflect?
Kansas-Nebraska Act, "Bleeding Kansas," Caning of Sumner, Dred Scott v. Sandford, John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry, Election of Abraham Lincoln; a shift from being able to compromise to a full-blown, arguably inevitable national crisis
The who is MRS. SCRIPTER. What did she say were five legacies of the war that made it memorable?
First modern war; photographed war; desctructive war; brothers war; irrepressible war?