DSST Civil War and Reconstruction Study Guide

In July 1863 Vicksburg and Port Hudson fell within days of each other. What was the most important strategic result of these Union victories?

• AThe Union took control of every Atlantic coast port
• BUnion forces captured the Confederate capital at Richmond
• CThe Confederacy was split, with Texas and Arkansas cut off
• DLee's army in Virginia was forced to surrender to Meade

Union victories in February 1862 on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers opened the Confederate heartland to invasion. They were

• Athe capture of Forts Henry and Donelson
• Bthe fall of Memphis to Union gunboats
• Cthe battle of Perryville in Kentucky
• Dthe surrender of Vicksburg after a long siege

In May 1856, after proslavery raiders sacked the free-state town of Lawrence, John Brown responded by

• Apublishing a Boston newspaper that demanded immediate emancipation
• Bhelping to found a political party opposed to slavery's expansion
• Cleading a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia
• Dkilling five proslavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek

In August 1864 Lincoln believed he might lose reelection. Which event most improved his prospects in the weeks that followed?

• AGrant's victory at Cold Harbor, which opened the road to Richmond
• BSherman's capture of Atlanta, which lifted Northern morale
• CHood's surrender of his army in Tennessee
• DFarragut's capture of New Orleans

Which law answered the Black Codes by declaring persons born in the United States citizens with equal rights to make contracts and own property?

• AThe First Reconstruction Act
• BThe Tenure of Office Act
• CThe Civil Rights Act of 1875
• DThe Civil Rights Act of 1866

In May 1861 Kentucky declared itself neutral and refused to send troops to either side. How did that neutrality end?

• ANeutrality lasted until 1865 and kept Kentuckians out of the war
• BKentucky voters approved secession and joined the Confederacy
• CConfederate troops invaded, and the legislature turned to the Union
• DIts eastern mountain counties broke away to form a new Union state

Sherman's army treated South Carolina more harshly in early 1865 than it had treated Georgia. The main reason was that South Carolina was

• Athe headquarters of Lee's army
• Bseen as the cradle of secession
• Cthe home of the Confederate government
• Dthe site of the largest Confederate army

Three days of fighting in July 1863 ended with a failed Confederate assault across open ground against the Union center. Who commanded the Union army that repulsed it?

• AGeorge G. Meade
• BGeorge B. McClellan
• CAmbrose Burnside
• DJoseph Hooker

In March 1862 a Confederate ironclad destroyed two wooden Union ships at Hampton Roads. The next day the USS Monitor arrived, and the battle between the two ironclads

• Agave the Confederacy lasting control of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers
• Bended in a draw, showing that wooden warships were becoming obsolete
• Cended in a Confederate victory that broke the Union blockade of Virginia's ports
• Dcaused Britain to recognize the Confederacy

At Freeport in 1858, Stephen Douglas argued that a territory could keep out slavery despite Dred Scott by not passing laws to protect it. This answer most hurt him with

• ASouthern Democrats, who wanted slavery protected
• BFree Soilers, who wanted slavery abolished everywhere in the South
• CNorthern Republicans, who wanted Congress to ban slavery in every territory without exception
• DNorthern Whigs, who opposed any role for the Supreme Court in territorial questions