It Came from the Civil War Trivia Quiz

Answer: Democrats

Prior to the war the argument the South used to justify slavery was States' Rights and was backed by the Democratic Party. Abolitionists used the moral argument that no state had the right to enforce slavery and were backed by the Republicans. Before that they were backed by the Federalists. Those Democrats who still served during the war were called Warhawks.

A deep rift developed that saw the Democratic Party being heavily backed by the south and it just wasn't cool to be Democrat in the North.

Answer: The draft

Prior to the war the army was all volunteer and very small. Originally the draft was to be held only during a declared war but after World War II Truman declared the Cold War and kept the Draft going until the early 1970's when it was repealed under President Nixon, who got us out of Vietnam.

The draft also brought us the New York city draft riots of 1862, the worst riot in American history.

Answer: States that had rebelled were denied representation in Congress

No state that had rebelled could elect an official to a Federal post until a State Constitution was drawn up by them and approved by the Federal Government. It was a painstakenly slow process that took many years so the Democratic Party was low in numbers. The first Democratic President after the Civil War was Grover Cleveland, elected in 1884.

Answer: How much power the Federal Government should have

The idea behind the Articles of Confederation were with the Democrats in the years leading up to the Civil War and they thwarted attempts by other parties to bring in a strong federal government.

Answer: Centralized Banking

Before the war States had the option of choosing their own bank to print money or grant the right to the individual counties. There were many different designs and denominations making it a heyday for counterfeiters. The idea was not new: it had been attempted twenty years ealier but died as the Democrats cried "States' rights".

Answer: They were formed into the National Guard

The Federal Government wanted to give the State Militias money for their part in the Civil War but could not because they were not a federal entity, so the government merged them into the National Guard.
Ironically they first saw action as guard members against strikers.

Answer: Railroad

Lincoln saw the idea of a National Railroad prior to the war but congress was wary of the idea. During the war the railroad moved hundreds of thousands of troops and supplies to the front getting them there faster and more rested then the Confederate troops. After the war the government helped fund the railroads for mass transportation.

Answer: A torpedo

The torpedo, as it was called back then. The Hunley was a submarine designed to sneak up on its enemy. The torpedo was a charge of gunpowder that was fastened to a spike and a long rope which was also attached to the submarine. The Hunley was to ram the spike into the side of the ship then back away making the rope tighter and tighter until finally it would set off the charge of gunpowder. Novel idea for the time but unfortunately for the Hunley the rope was not long enough and they sank with the Housitania.

This kind of torpedo was never tried again.

Answer: Shoes

Up until the war shoes were being made by hand, which was very costly and time consuming. A way was figured out to make the shoes through mechanical means, speeding up the process and getting them to the soldiers faster and cheaper. After the war the company that came up with the idea was going to market them to the general public. So cobblers across the country banded together, calling themselves the Knights of St. Crispin, and petitioned Congress to stop the manufacturer.

It was a shortlived movement and the beginning of the end for the cobblers.

Answer: Alcatraz

Alcatraz was originally a fort built in the 1850's. By the late 1800s the fort was now accomodating military prisoners. In the early 1900s federal inmates were shipped there to relieve overcrowding. The federal inmates outnumbered the military prisoners and it became a part of the federal prison system.

In the 1940's inmates held a cell block and weapons gallery for two days. The United States Marines and Coast Guard rendered assistance as the guards took the areas back.