U.S History Quiz

National Banking Act

Passed in 1863, this act created a system of national banks, established a uniform national currency, and helped stabilize the banking system.

Morrill Tariff

Passed in 1861, this tariff increased duties on imported goods to protect American industries.

Pacific Railway Act

Enacted in 1862, it authorized the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad.

Homestead Act

Passed in 1862, it provided 160 acres of public land to settlers for a small fee if they improved the land by building a dwelling and farming it for five years.

Civil Rights Act of 1867

A law that aimed to extend civil rights to all citizens, including Black Americans, and affirmed the equality of all citizens under the law.

Greenbacks

Paper currency issued by the U.S. Treasury during the Civil War to finance the war effort.

Dorothea Dix

A social reformer and advocate for the mentally ill.

Elizabeth Blackwell

The first woman in the U.S. to receive a medical degree.

Clara Barton

A nurse during the Civil War who founded the American Red Cross.

Frederick Douglass

Former enslaved African American, abolitionist, and influential writer and speaker.

54th Massachusetts Regiment

The first African American regiment in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Trent Affair

A diplomatic incident in 1861 where the U.S. Navy captured two Confederate diplomats on a British ship, the Trent.

Laird Rams Crisis

A diplomatic incident in 1863 involving British-built Confederate warships (the Laird Rams) intended for use against the Union.

Maximilian Affair

France’s installation of Maximilian I as emperor of Mexico in 1864, which the U.S. opposed.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that freed slaves in Confederate states.

Gettysburg Address

A speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in 1863.

Conscription

The practice of drafting individuals into military service, which was used by both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War.

13th Amendment

Ratified in 1865, this amendment abolished slavery in the United States.

14th Amendment

Ratified in 1868, it granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and ensured equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

Ratified in 1870, it granted voting rights regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Ten Percent Plan

President Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan, offering amnesty to Southern states if 10% of voters pledged loyalty to the Union.

Wade-Davis Bill

A more stringent Reconstruction plan introduced by Radical Republicans in 1864, requiring a majority of Southern white males to take an oath of loyalty.

Freedmen's Bureau

Established in 1865, it was an agency designed to assist freed slaves and poor whites in the South during Reconstruction.

Forty Acres and a Mule

A proposed policy that aimed to redistribute land to freed slaves (never fully implemented).

Radical Republicans

A faction of the Republican Party that advocated for the full abolition of slavery, civil rights for freed slaves, and harsh treatment of the South during Reconstruction.

Scalawags

White Southern Republicans who supported Reconstruction.

Carpetbaggers

Northern Republicans who moved to the South during Reconstruction, often to take advantage of economic opportunities.

Grandfather Clauses

Laws passed in the South to prevent African Americans from voting by requiring them to pass literacy tests unless their grandfathers had been eligible to vote.

Literacy Tests

Tests used to determine if a person could read and write, often used as a means to disenfranchise Black voters.

Poll Taxes

Fees required to vote, often imposed in the South as a way to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The 1896 Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of 'separate but equal.'

Civil Rights Act of 1875

A law that guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and prohibited discrimination in jury service.

Force Bill

A law passed in 1870 and 1871 authorizing the federal government to use military force to suppress Ku Klux Klan violence in the South.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

A white supremacist terrorist organization formed during Reconstruction to intimidate and disenfranchise Black voters and suppress Reconstruction efforts.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, resulting in the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the end of Reconstruction.

Redeemer Governments

Southern Democratic governments that reclaimed control from Republican Reconstruction governments.

Fort Sumter

The site of the first battle of the Civil War in 1861, when Confederate forces attacked the Union garrison at the fort.

First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run)

The first major battle of the Civil War, fought in July 1861, resulting in a Confederate victory.

Antietam

A pivotal 1862 battle in Maryland, known as the bloodiest single day in American history.

Gettysburg

A decisive 1863 battle in Pennsylvania, where the Union repelled the Confederate invasion.

Vicksburg

A significant 1863 Union victory in Mississippi that gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.

Fall of Atlanta and Sherman’s "March to the Sea"

A1864 campaign in which Union General William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta and then led a destructive march through Georgia to the coast.

Appomattox

The site where General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army to General Ulysses S. Grant in 1865, effectively ending the Civil War.