Q&A Hero

Q: The Interstate Commerce Act created the nation's first regulatory commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Q: In 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act to regulate railroad rates.

Q: The Depression of the 1870s helped to galvanize the nation's southern and western farmers into action.

Q: Many farmers, black and white, realized after the Civil War that labor gains could be made only through solitary and individual action.

Q: Frederick Douglass, who helped defeat slavery and cement blacks to the Republican party, died in 1875.

Q: At the Tuskegee Institute, founded by Booker T. Washington, blacks received a highly disciplined education based on the skilled and unskilled trades.

Q: Blacks founded all-black towns in the Midwest, West, and even in Mexico, and most towns are still going strong today.

Q: Those who settled the Great Plains generally found life easy and free from major problems.

Q: During the late nineteenth century, international conditions had little effect on the American farmer.

Q: The stories of the Leepers and Ebbesons illustrate some of the problems confronting rural America in the last part of the nineteenth century.

Q: Ed Coy, like more than 1,400 black men in the 1890s, was killed by a southern white A) firing squad. B) lynch mob. C) sheriff. D) child.

Q: In the mid-1880s, African American workers in the South enthusiastically joined the A) Knights of Labor. B) American Federation of Labor. C) Populist Party. D) Democratic Party.

Q: In 1900, roughly 84 percent of African Americans worked in A) the hotel industry. B) manufacturing. C) agriculture. D) shipping.

Q: "Jim Crow" laws in the South imposed segregation in A) transportation. B) education. C) recreation. D) All of the above.

Q: All of the following describe the functioning of the Interstate Commerce Commission EXCEPT A) thousands of cases overwhelmed its tiny staff. B) the ICC proved to be highly effective. C) the ICC brought offenders into federal court for lengthy proceedings. D) the ICC's authority was limited to commerce that crossed state lines.

Q: What did the Ocala Platform call for? A) the direct election of senators B) a lower tariff C) a subtreasury system D) All of the above.

Q: To contribute to the Grange movement, black farmers in 1888 founded the A) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. B) Afro-American League. C) Colored Farmer's Alliance. D) Citizen's Equal Rights Association.

Q: Which of the following groups were not welcome in the People's Party in the South? A) African Americans. B) Irish Americans. C) British Americans. D) Canadians

Q: In December of 1890, the National Alliance gathered in Ocala, A) South Carolina. B) Florida. C) North Carolina. D) Virginia.

Q: What were the main tenets of the Afro-American League? A) independent voting B) desegregation C) anti-lynching D) All of the above.

Q: Chief leader of the moderate approach to achieving black rights within American society was A) Ida B. Wells. B) W.E.B. Du Bois. C) T. Thomas Fortune. D) Booker T. Washington.

Q: Between 1865 and 1900, black workers in the South A) found more opportunities in the industrializing southern cities. B) were often excluded from industrial jobs. C) seldom engaged in agricultural labor. D) increased among the skilled laborers.

Q: According to the Plessy v.Ferguson decision, A) black voters could be disfranchised through the "good character" clause. B) the races could be separated but equal accommodations must be provided. C) separate facilities for blacks and whites were illegal. D) segregation laws violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

Q: During the late nineteenth century, the Supreme Court A) declared the concept of "separate but equal" to be unconstitutional. B) strongly defended the rights of blacks under the Constitution. C) decided no important cases involving black rights. D) gradually abandoned support of black rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Q: In the late nineteenth century, southern agriculture A) generally abandoned the cultivation of cotton. B) abandoned the crop lien system. C) remained dependent on cotton cultivation. D) was characterized by a trend toward diversification of crops.

Q: In the period from 1865 to 1900, southern factory workers A) seldom included children in their ranks. B) generally were required to work fewer than 40 hours a week. C) earned wages higher than similar workers in the North. D) often earned wages insufficient to support their families adequately.

Q: Under the leadership of the New South advocates, the South A) still remained economically dependent on the North. B) rejected all of its older values. C) reaped many of the benefits of industrialization. D) improved its economic position in manufacturing relative to the North.

Q: In the period after the Civil War, southern industrial progress A) failed to occur at all. B) made the South more industrial than the North. C) was impeded by southern loyalty to the past. D) brought general prosperity to the poor people of the South.

Q: Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, the southern economy A) expanded as southerners took advantage of industrial opportunities. B) sputtered and remained dependent on the North. C) grew as the industries established earlier matured. D) flourished as cotton fields became productive again.

Q: The philosophy of the New South advocates stressed A) rejection of northern investments in the South. B) a policy promoting industrialization of the southern economy. C) a return to the South's agricultural past. D) a move toward a socialist economy.

Q: Those Indians who followed the Ghost Dance movement believed that A) tribal unity would prevent the white man from taking Indian lands. B) the buffalo would return and bring greatness to the tribes. C) the Indians could defeat the white man militarily. D) natural disasters would destroy the whites, but not the Indians.

Q: The Dawes Act was designed to A) provide Indians with individual land ownership. B) compensate Indians for past abuses by the whites. C) guarantee blacks 40 acres and a mule. D) help the Indian preserve tribal traditions.

Q: In the years following the Civil War, weekly and monthly magazines A) soared in number as illiteracy decreased and the publishing industry advanced. B) appealed only to highly educated and cultured urban dwellers. C) suffered decreasing popularity. D) contained few, if any, illustrations.

Q: The federal government's Indian policy between 1876 and 1900 was characterized by a(n) A) concern for the preservation of a tribal lifestyle among the Indians. B) movement to end Indian power and culture. C) program to protect and maintain the buffalo herds. D) attempt to compensate the Indians for past mistreatment.

Q: An important factor in the white man's defeat of the Plains tribes was A) general agreement among the Indians not to resist white settlements in the area. B) destruction of the buffalo herds. C) the inability of the Indians to use guns. D) the Indians' refusal to use the horse.

Q: In the last three decades of the nineteenth century, Indians on the Great Plains A) accepted their removal to reservations without resistance. B) eagerly abandoned their nomadic ways for the sedentary ways of the whites. C) often fiercely resisted white settlement in the area. D) generally believed that the U.S. government had dealt fairly with them.

Q: The development of agriculture in California during the late nineteenth century was characterized by A) small family farms. B) a concentration on the production of cotton. C) large profits for the original Mexican landholders. D) large-scale farming.

Q: Between 1865 and 1900, immigrants to the United States who settled on the Great Plains A) came chiefly from the Soviet Union. B) came largely from Germany, the British Isles, and Canada. C) came primarily to make their fortunes and return to their native countries. D) usually migrated as single males.

Q: By the mid-1880s, cattle raising in the American West A) remained highly successful using open-range techniques. B) had precluded settlement of the area by farmers. C) faced numerous problems from both man and nature. D) proved highly profitable for the legendary cowboys.

Q: In general, American agriculture in the second half of the nineteenth century became A) increasingly diversified. B) less reliant on government intervention. C) less dependent on market forces. D) more dependent on market forces.

Q: An important factor in transforming the nature of American agriculture after the Civil War was A) the scarcity of land in the Great Plains. B) a decrease in the size of the average American farm. C) increasing utilization of machinery. D) a decline in international markets for American farm products.

Q: Between 1860 and 1900, farmers A) used few new machines. B) rose in number as immigrants and city dwellers moved to the plains. C) contributed to national wealth with an increase from one-quarter to one-third. D) represented a smaller percentage of the labor force.

Q: In 1869, two ________ met in Utah, linking the Atlantic and the Pacific for the first time.

Q: The Democratic party in Mississippi used a special program known as the ________ Plan to thwart Republican rule in the state.

Q: Three ________, passed by Congress during the Grant administration, helped to protect voters from violence or fraud.

Q: Democrats called their victory in Louisiana, "________."

Q: In the period after the Civil War, most rural southern blacks became either tenants or ________.

Q: The one person Congress imprisoned as a result of the Civil War was ________.

Q: The ________ Amendment guaranteed civil rights for blacks.

Q: In the House of Representatives, ________ led the opposition to President Johnson's plan for Reconstruction.

Q: After the Civil War, southern state governments attempted to reestablish white dominance by passing the ________.

Q: The Grant administration strongly pursued a policy of defending black rights in the South. Explain why you agree or disagree with the this statement, citing historical evidence to support your position.

Q: Discuss the methods by which conservative white Democrats regained control of the southern state governments at the end of Reconstruction.

Q: Evaluate the successes and failures of the Republican administrations that controlled the southern state governments during the period of Reconstruction.

Q: Discuss the economic conditions of poor blacks and poor whites during the period of Reconstruction.

Q: Discuss Congress's plan for Reconstruction and explain what Congress hoped to achieve as a result of that plan.

Q: Describe the general attitude of the Union soldiers stationed in the South toward blacks during Reconstruction. Support your answer by citing specific incidents that occurred during that period.

Q: Discuss President Johnson's plan for reconstruction and Congress's response to that plan.

Q: Discuss how southern whites reacted to the emancipation of blacks during the period of Reconstruction.

Q: Compare the economic conditions of the South with the economic conditions of the North during the period of Reconstruction.

Q: Explain how blacks responded to their former masters after the Civil War had ended.

Q: The primary reason for the Democrats' return to power was violence.

Q: Class divisions among blacks in Louisiana helped to end Reconstruction there.

Q: By the 1880s, African American school attendance had decreased from 40 to 5 percent.

Q: Republicans increased taxes and state debts in the South during Reconstruction.

Q: Democratic governments created the South's first public school systems.

Q: President Johnson vetoed Reconstruction Acts, hindered the work of the Freedman's Bureau, and undermined congressional Reconstruction efforts in many other ways.

Q: In the Memphis race riot of 1866, Union soldiers firmly defended blacks against attacks by whites.

Q: Because of the loyalty of their former slaves, southern whites had little fear that the freedpeople would try to take revenge on southern white people.

Q: At the end of the Civil War, the newly freed slaves often demonstrated their independence by changing their behavior toward whites.

Q: When the Allstons returned to their plantation at the end of the Civil War, they were unable to regain control of their property from the freed slaves.

Q: Which of the following states had disputed election results in the 1876 presidential election?A) LouisianaB) FloridaC) South CarolinaD) All of the above.

Q: Why did Reconstruction end? A) Black issues became secondary to other national priorities and interests. B) Financial panic and economic hard times distracted northerners. C) Southern white Democratic violence halted black political control. D) All of the above.

Q: In 1872, which of the following men became president of the United States? A) Horace Greeley B) Ulysses S. Grant C) Andrew Johnson D) Abraham Lincoln

Q: All of the following statements describe the Credit Mobilier scandal EXCEPT: A) President Grant was involved in the scandal. B) The scandal involved certain congressmen. C) The scandal involved a dummy corporation building transcontinental railroads. D) Congressmen received stock in the company in exchange for generous contracts.

Q: During the late 1860s as Republicans lost interest in the South, American women like Susan B. Anthony A) fought for women's rights. B) remained at home adhering to traditional values. C) joined the U.S. Army. D) gave up on helping other women.

Q: By 1868, the Republicans had changed from a party of moral reform to a party of A) material interests. B) pro-black sentiment. C) anti-southern sentiment. D) pro-Democratic party sentiment.

Q: Stimulated by the Civil War, many American workers during Reconstruction formed A) prisons. B) unions. C) asylums. D) railroad companies.

Q: The Republican coalition lasted longest in the A) Upper South. B) West. C) Deep South. D) Midwest.

Q: Which of the following statements describes the corruption in the South during Reconstruction? A) It took place in railway bonds. B) It took place in construction contracts. C) It took place in land sales. D) All of the above.