Reconstruction Era

After General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, the main priority of the United States was to —

• elect a new president and vice president
• complete construction of the Capitol
• establish Union forts in the former Confederate state
• implement a plan to bring Confederate states back into the Union

What is the historical significance of this act?

• It was the first time Congress voted to overrule a presidential veto.
• It represented a shift in federal power after the impeachment of President Johnson.
• It was the first time Congress passed a law that protected racial minorities.
• It represented the failure of northern abolitionists to influence Reconstruction policies.

The election of Hiram Rhodes Revels in 1870 was significant because he was the first African American to —

• win an election as a member of the Democratic Party
• win a majority of the popular vote in Mississippi
• serve as a member of the U.S. Senate
• run for public office in the South

What was one long-term consequence of the sharecropping system?

• Agricultural workers organized labor unions.
• Many former slaves became trapped in a cycle of debt.
• Many agricultural workers moved to cities to start small businesses.
• Landowners sold property to pay wages to former slaves.

The abolitionist movement achieved its goal with the passage of which amendment?

• Twelfth Amendment
• Thirteenth Amendment
• Fourteenth Amendment 
• Fifteenth Amendment

Which of these prompted Congress to propose the Fourteenth Amendment?

• The popular sovereignty provision in the Kansas-Nebraska Act
• The positions taken in the Know-Nothing Party platform
• The Black Codes enacted by southern states after the Civil War
• The opposition by southern states to the Emancipation Proclamation

The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in order to —

• establish legal requirements for the education of former slaves
• mandate fair labor contracts between African American workers and plantation owners
• abolish the institution of slavery
• protect the voting rights of African American men

This list describes conditions found in —

• California following the Gold Rush
• Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812
• western territories after the U.S.-Mexican War
• southern states at the beginning of Reconstruction

Southern states passed the codes described in this excerpt in order to —

• limit the effects of the Reconstruction Amendments
• increase the labor supply for factory jobs in the North
• decrease the number of northern representatives in Congress
• improve relations with the Democratic Party

Which legislation gave free land titles to territory west of the Mississippi River which required the holder to improve land for ownership?

• Homestead Act
• Dawes Act
• 12th Amendment
• Wilmot Proviso