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Key Figures and Concepts: Post-Civil War to Westward Expansion

Total questions: 50

Worksheet time: 25mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Who became the seventeenth U.S. president after Lincoln’s death?

a)

Andrew Johnson

b)

George Washington

c)

Ulysses S. Grant

d)

Rutherford B. Hayes

2.

Who was the eighteenth U.S. president?

a)

James Madison

b)

Rutherford B. Hayes

c)

Andrew Johnson

d)

Ulysses S. Grant

3.

Which president was appointed due to the Compromise of 1877?

a)

Rutherford B. Hayes

b)

Ulysses S. Grant

c)

Andrew Johnson

d)

Theodore Roosevelt

4.

Booker T. Washington is best known as what?

a)

Educator and Tuskegee founder

b)

Civil War battlefield general

c)

Telegraph company investor

d)

Western stagecoach driver

5.

What was the main purpose of the Tuskegee Institute?

a)

Support homestead land sales

b)

Educate Black men and women

c)

Train Union Army officers

d)

Ship mail by stagecoach

6.

Who was the first Black American to serve in Congress?

a)

George Custer

b)

Samuel Morse

c)

Booker T. Washington

d)

Hiram Rhodes Revels

7.

Which leader was the first formerly enslaved Black American to serve in Congress?

a)

Joseph Rainey

b)

Hiram Rhodes Revels

c)

Rutherford B. Hayes

d)

Frederick Douglass

8.

What did the Homestead Act allow settlers to do?

a)

Send telegraphs across long distances

b)

Buy stagecoach tickets for the West

c)

Vote for presidents by mail

d)

Claim up to 160 acres with improvements

9.

What was the Pony Express?

a)

Law that granted western land

b)

Relay mail service with horses and riders

c)

Army unit led by General Custer

d)

Bank company offering stagecoach travel

10.

Who invented the telegraph?

a)

Alexander Graham Bell

b)

Thomas Edison

c)

Samuel Morse

d)

Benjamin Franklin

11.

Which company operated banks, carried mail, and offered travel in the West by stagecoach?

a)

Western Union

b)

Pony Express

c)

Wells Fargo

d)

Union Pacific

12.

Who led the Sioux during the Battle of Little Bighorn?

a)

Andrew Johnson

b)

General George Custer

c)

Chief Crazy Horse

d)

Ulysses S. Grant

13.

Which U.S. Army general died at the Battle of Little Bighorn?

a)

Samuel Morse

b)

General George Custer

c)

Rutherford B. Hayes

d)

Chief Crazy Horse

14.

What does Reconstruction mean in United States history?

a)

Making peace treaties with foreign countries

b)

Rebuilding the Southern states after the Civil War

c)

Starting new colonies in the Western territories

d)

Ending all taxes in the Southern states

15.

Who were freedmen during the Reconstruction era?

a)

Soldiers who fought for the Union army

b)

Former slaves freed by laws and proclamations

c)

Plantation owners who lost their land

d)

Immigrants arriving from European countries

16.

What was the main purpose of the Freedmen's Bureau?

a)

Help freed slaves and poor families after the war

b)

Create new battle plans for the army

c)

Build railroads across the Southern states

d)

Write novels about life in the South

17.

Which group in the Republican Party wanted strong government control of Southern recovery?

a)

Conservatives who preferred local decisions

b)

Moderates who avoided making big changes

c)

Radicals who pushed for strict federal action

d)

Libertarians who opposed most laws

18.

Which group wanted Southern states to make their own recovery decisions?

a)

Conservatives inside the Republican Party

b)

Sharecroppers working farm land

c)

Abolitionists from Northern cities

d)

Radicals in the national government

19.

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1866 declare?

a)

Only landowners could vote in national elections

b)

Native Americans gained U.S. statehood immediately

c)

All states must build new public schools

d)

People born in the U.S. were citizens with equal laws

20.

What did the Reconstruction Act of 1867 do to the South?

a)

Divided it into five military districts

b)

Moved the capital city to Atlanta, Georgia

c)

Closed all state governments for two years

d)

Gave every farmer free new equipment

21.

What did the Fourteenth Amendment state about freedmen?

a)

They were not allowed to travel

b)

They could only work on farms

c)

They must return to former owners

d)

They were citizens of the United States

22.

Which word means unfair treatment based on race or skin color?

a)

Reservation for native tribes

b)

Discrimination in schools and jobs

c)

Emancipation by federal decree

d)

Representation in the Senate

23.

What does it mean to impeach a public official?

a)

Elect the official for another term

b)

Bring criminal charges against the official

c)

Promote the official to a higher office

d)

Invite the official to a celebration

24.

Who were called carpetbaggers during Reconstruction?

a)

Local teachers opening new public schools

b)

Northern businessmen traveling south to rebuild

c)

Southern farmers moving north to find jobs

d)

Union generals retiring from the army

25.

Who were scalawags in the Reconstruction era?

a)

Western settlers exploring national parks

b)

Southerners who supported the Union with profit

c)

Northerners who avoided paying new taxes

d)

Former slaves who became elected leaders

26.

What did the Fifteenth Amendment protect?

a)

Voting rights regardless of race or past servitude

b)

Ownership of farms by former Confederates

c)

Free travel between military districts

d)

Business licenses for Northern merchants

27.

Which location is known as America’s first national park?

a)

Yellowstone National Park in the West

b)

Central Park in New York City

c)

Yosemite Valley in California

d)

Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee

28.

What was the National Weather Bureau created to do?

a)

Build forts along the coastline

b)

Track and predict weather patterns

c)

Grow crops for government use

d)

Teach science in public schools

29.

Why was the Department of Justice established during Reconstruction?

a)

Manage parks and forest lands

b)

Collect taxes from Southern businesses

c)

Train soldiers for the army

d)

Ensure fair treatment of newly freed slaves

30.

What is a sharecropper?

a)

Farmer who works land for a share of profit

b)

Merchant who sells goods from a suitcase

c)

Leader who writes laws in Congress

d)

Teacher who opens schools for freedmen

31.

What was the Compromise of 1877 mainly known for?

a)

Agreement that ended Reconstruction

b)

Plan that created new colonies

c)

Treaty that began the Civil War

d)

Law that built the first dam

32.

What does segregation mean?

a)

Voting for local leaders

b)

Trading goods between states

c)

Sharing land with neighbors

d)

Separating people by skin color

33.

What were the Black Codes?

a)

Southern laws only for Black Americans

b)

Maps showing Native reservations

c)

Rules for building railroads safely

d)

Taxes placed on imported cattle

34.

What is a transcontinental railroad?

a)

Path used only by cowboys at night

b)

Route for moving cattle to towns

c)

Train that stays within one city

d)

Railroad that crosses the United States

35.

Which battle is also called Custer’s Last Stand?

a)

Battle of Little Bighorn

b)

Battle of Wounded Knee

c)

Battle of Gettysburg

d)

Battle of San Juan Hill

36.

What did the Dawes Act try to do?

a)

Create new states along the coast

b)

Stop construction of railroads entirely

c)

Force cowboys to pay higher taxes

d)

Break up tribal lands into separate plots

37.

What happened at the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890?

a)

Congress gave land to new settlers

b)

Railroad workers went on strike

c)

Cowboys defeated ranchers in battle

d)

Over 200 Lakota people were killed

38.

What are Indian reservations?

a)

Busy towns near railroad tracks

b)

Small farms owned by cowboys

c)

Mines where gold was discovered

d)

Large land areas set aside for tribes

39.

What did the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 do?

a)

Gave railroads free farmland

b)

Built dams along western rivers

c)

Ended all cattle drives forever

d)

Made Native Americans U.S. citizens

40.

What was the goal of the Indian Reorganization Act?

a)

Make large areas of land available

b)

Create new transcontinental roads

c)

Close reservations permanently

d)

Require cowboys to carry badges

41.

Who were American cowboys?

a)

Leaders elected to city councils

b)

Soldiers who protected eastern forts

c)

Men hired by ranchers to care cattle

d)

Miners who dug for silver ore

42.

What is a cattle drive?

a)

Process of herding cattle to cow towns

b)

Race where riders chase wild horses

c)

Law that taxes beef sold in markets

d)

Train route used to ship dairy milk

43.

What were range wars mainly about?

a)

Fights over grazing and water rights

b)

Conflicts about voting on weekends

c)

Battles to stop wagon trains

d)

Arguments about building schoolhouses

44.

Which region was called the “Breadbasket of America” because of the grain grown there?

a)

Great Plains central prairie area

b)

Promontory Summit railroad site

c)

Oklahoma Territory western lands

d)

Chisholm Trail cattle pathway

45.

What happened at Promontory Summit, Utah, during westward expansion?

a)

A cattle trail opened to Kansas

b)

Two railroads met with a golden spike

c)

Settlers rushed into unassigned lands

d)

A cow town began shipping beef

46.

Which choice best describes a cow town during the cattle drive era?

a)

Town with a railroad for cattle

b)

Farm area growing many grains

c)

Mountain pass used by trains

d)

Place where land was given away

47.

The Chisholm Trail was mainly used for which activity?

a)

Driving cattle from Texas

b)

Rushing to claim new lands

c)

Linking two railroads together

d)

Carrying grain to markets

48.

What was the Oklahoma Territory known for in the late 1800s?

a)

Central area of prairie farming

b)

Meeting point of two railroads

c)

Route used for cattle drives

d)

Western land ready for settlement

49.

In the Oklahoma Territory, what were the Unassigned Lands?

a)

Fields called the breadbasket

b)

Towns built along railroads

c)

Trail used by Texas cowboys

d)

Areas not given to tribes

50.

What event is called the Oklahoma Land Rush?

a)

Completion of a cross-country railroad

b)

Opening of a major cattle trail

c)

Founding of a prairie farming region

d)

Race to claim unassigned lands