Civil war and reconstruction test review sheet

Essay Questions

  1. In your own words describe what is contained in each of the 4 parts of the 14th amendment.

Section 1 Citizenship & Rights:

This section says that anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. is a citizen and that states must treat all citizens equally under the law. It protects civil rights, including due process and equal protection.

Section 2 Representation:

This section explains how states earn representation in Congress. If a state denies the vote to male citizens, its representation in Congress can be reduced.

Section 3 Former Confederates:

This section banned former Confederate leaders who had broken an oath to the U.S. from holding federal or state office, unless Congress voted to allow it.

Section 4 Civil War Debt:

This section says the Union’s war debts must be paid, but Confederate debts are illegal, and former slave owners cannot be paid for lost enslaved people.


  1. How did the Emancipation Proclamation change the civil war?

It shifted the war’s purpose from only preserving the Union to ending slavery, allowed African Americans to join the Union army, and prevented foreign countries from supporting the Confederacy.


  1. Who was the President of the Confederacy?

Jefferson Davis


  1. What events followed the election of Lincoln?

Southern states seceded from the Union, formed the Confederate States of America, and rising tensions led to the Civil War.


  1. What was Lincoln’s plan after the succession?

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan aimed for quick and lenient Reconstruction, requiring only 10% of voters in a seceded state to swear loyalty to rejoin the Union.


  1. What states seceded?

11 states seceded:

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina


  1. How did the Civil War start?

The war began in April 1861 when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.


  1. What was the significance of the 1866 Congressional election?

It gave Radical Republicans control of Congress, allowing them to override President Andrew Johnson and enforce Radical Reconstruction.


  1. Who was in charge of the Reconstruction of the South?

Congress controlled Reconstruction after 1867


  1. What is the 13th Amendment?

It abolished slavery in the United States, making it illegal in all states and territories. It was ratified in 1865 and officially ended slavery except as punishment for a crime.


  1. What is the 15th Amendment?

It was ratified in 1870 and gave African American men the right to vote, stating that voting rights could not be denied because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.


  1. What did African Americans do to rebuild their lives after the Civil War?

  • Built schools and churches

  • Voted and held political office

  • Worked for wages or became sharecroppers

  • Reunited families

 

  1. How/why did reconstruction end?

Reconstruction ended in 1877 due to:

  • Northern fatigue and racism

  • Economic focus after the Panic of 1873

  • The Compromise of 1877, which removed federal troops from the South

The Freedmen’s Bureau: 

was a U.S. government agency created in 1865, right after the Civil War, to help formerly enslaved people and poor whites in the South during Reconstruction.

  • Built schools and helped provide education

  • Supplied food, clothing, and medical care

  • Helped freedmen negotiate labor contracts and access courts

  • Assisted with housing and land issues

Ku Klux Klan:

was a white supremacist terrorist organization founded in 1865 by former Confederate officers during Reconstruction.

  • Used violence, intimidation, and terror against African Americans

  • Targeted Black voters and white Republicans to stop Reconstruction

  • Attacked schools, churches, and leaders supporting Black civil rights

Radical Republicans:

were a group within the Republican Party during Reconstruction who wanted strict treatment of the former Confederate states and full civil and political rights for formerly enslaved African Americans.

  • Pushed for military Reconstruction

  • Supported the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

  • Wanted to reshape Southern society and punish Confederate leaders

  • Backed federal enforcement of civil rights laws

Carpetbaggers:

were Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction after the Civil War.

Scalawags:

were white Southerners who supported the Republican Party during Reconstruction.