Civil Liberties: The Civil War and Reconstruction Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What was the name of the Congressional bill that Reconstruction Republicans hoped would provide persons of color with greater economic and educational opportunities?

Answer: Second Freedman's Bureau Bill

The Freedman's Bureau was established in 1865 by a Republican-led Congress in the aftermath of the Civil War to protect the rights that people of color had won when amendments 13-15 were written into law. Many southern states continued to restrict their rights despite the new amendments to the Constitution.

The Second Freedman's Bureau Bill was vetoed by president Andrew Johnson, but a second version overrode his decision. Passing in 1866, it extended the work of the agency for two more years.

2. During the Reconstruction, state courts with Democratic majorities more often declared segregated schools unconstitutional.

Answer: False

Republican majorities more often declared segregation unconstitutional. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Michigan, Illinois, and New Jersey all passed desegregation laws after the Civil War. In a sense, they were anticipating the Brown vs. Board decision nearly 100 years later.

3. Women's suffrage did not make as much headway during the Reconstruction as feminists had hoped. Section 2 of which amendment deprived women from states of representation?

Answer: 14

Section 2 states "...the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State." Note the key word "male" in this amendment, which meant that while colored men were suddenly able to vote, women were still unable. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony argued that the 14th amendment enfranchised women because the privileges and immunities clause included all citizens, not just men.

In the 1870s, the Supreme Court ruled against their interpretation.

4. Which of these women passed the Illinois bar examination only to be denied from practicing law by the Supreme Court?

Answer: Myra Bradwell

In Bradwell vs. Illinois (1873), the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of prohibiting women from practicing law. Justice Bradley argued that states could prohibit women on the basis that women were not naturally suited to be lawyers. I don't think his opinion would stand in today's courts!

5. Habeas corpus was suspended and martial law was frequently declared during the Civil War era. What U.S. president authorized these civil rights violations?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln cited the security of the union as the reason for restricting these once inalienable civil rights. By suspending habeas corpus, the Lincoln administration could detain disloyal citizens without a trial. Martial law allowed the administration to try persons suspected of interfering against the war effort through military commissions and not juries.

Many of Lincoln's critics found this unconstitutional, saying martial law violated the right to trial by jury, and that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus.

6. Which Supreme Court case in 1866 determined that a Confederate sympathizer in Indiana had been falsely detained during the Civil War?

Answer: Ex Parte Milligan

Milligan was arrested and sentenced to death by a military commission in 1864 on grounds that he was plotting to steal and provide weapons for the Confederate Army. Two years later, the Supreme Court found that the Lincoln administration violated the Habeas Corpus Act of 1863, which required that persons denied habeas corpus be tried by a civilian court.

7. What Francophile state was accused of violating the Fourteenth Amendment in the Slaughter-House cases of 1873?

Answer: Louisiana

Louisiana wanted to improve sanitary conditions by establishing a corporation that would regulate slaughter-houses. Butchers who felt dispossessed by the new monopoly charged the state with interfering with their right to make a living. The ruling by the Supreme Court went 5-4 in favor of Louisiana, holding that the U.S. Constitution only protects rights guaranteed by the federal government, not individual states.

8. Abraham Lincoln never acknowledged that he had violated constitutional rights.

Answer: True

Lincoln insisted that some violations of civil rights are appropriate, but only during wartime. Referring to habeas corpus, Lincoln stated to Congress in 1861: "It was decided that we have a case of rebellion and that the public safety does require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ (habeas corpus) which was authorized to be made."

9. What was the act passed by Congress that called for the seizure of land and property from disloyal American citizens during the Civil War?

Answer: Second Confiscation Act

The Second Confiscation Act stated that convictions of treason could be punishable by death. While the act targeted disloyal citizens, it also stated that slaves who came under the Union's control during the war would be freed. This set the stage for Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation a year later.

10. What case near the end of the Reconstruction hindered the progress of federal efforts to protect the civil rights of African Americans?

Answer: United States v. Cruikshank

This decision reversed the conviction of a white supremacist militia responsible for the Colfax massacre, where 100-280 African Americans were killed. The reason for the reversal was that the Supreme Court decided the Bill of Rights did not apply to state governments. Considering how the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were written curb crimes like these, the decision was a major setback to the progress Congress had made during the Civil War.

It also invigorated the Klu Klux Klan, which would haunt African Americans for decades.

Source: Author albert11

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Congress and the president instituted more radical reforms during the Civil War era than any other period of American history. This quiz is about the judicial tumult that unfolded, and the various struggles of social groups to win their freedom.

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