History 371HON

Devine

Fall 2014

Questions on Emancipation and Reconstruction

Why did Lincoln propose a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery rather than just having Congress pass a law ending it?

Why were southern plantation owners in particularly bad financial shape after the Civil war?

Why could “freedom” be both a blessing and a curse for African Americans right after the Civil War?

Why was it so difficult for the freedmen to escape oppression and make a life for themselves after the Civil War?

What had poor southern whites lost as a result of the Civil War?

What had the north won as a result of the Civil War?

How did the Civil War recast political power in Washington, DC?

Why did many (factory owners and workers) in the North support a high tariff on imports? Why had southerners opposed raising tariffs before the Civil War?

Why did the assassination of Lincoln make it less likely that reconstruction would be easy on the South?