The American Civil War, 1840–1877 · TEST YOURSELF
American Civil War quiz: 8 questions
Try these 8 multiple-choice questions on The American Civil War, 1840–1877 for free. After each answer, you can read the explanation.
The Wilmot Proviso of 1846 never became law. What makes it a turning point of the 1840s?
The votes crossed party lines: Northern Democrats and Whigs supported the proviso, while Southerners from both parties opposed it. The division was sectional. The question it raised about slavery in new territory returned in 1850, 1854 and 1860.
Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Arkansas formed the Confederacy’s strongest tier. What prompted them to secede?
All four states had voted against secession in early 1861. Lincoln’s call for troops presented them with a different choice: send men against fellow slave states or join them. They chose to leave rather than fight the Deep South, a decision distinct from the one made by the cotton states.
The Union had 22 million people and 90% of the industry; the Confederacy had 9 million people, including 3.5 million who were enslaved. Why did the Union’s advantage guarantee nothing in 1861?
The two sides needed different things from the war. The Confederacy could prevail by exhausting an invader on its own soil; the Union had to conquer and hold the territory. That difference shaped the blockade and the campaigns along the rivers, through four years of war.
Why did Lincoln wait for a battlefield victory before announcing emancipation?
Seward gave Lincoln this advice in July 1862: a proclamation would carry more force if its author appeared to be winning. Its legal force came from the war powers, which also confined its application to territory in rebellion.
Gettysburg and Vicksburg fell within a day of each other. What is the case for Vicksburg being the more consequential turning point?
Gettysburg turned Lee back, but his army escaped and fought for two more years. Vicksburg permanently removed a river, a region and an army from Confederate control. That lasting loss gives it a strong claim when we weigh turning points; it also settled who would command everything in 1864.
In 1864 Grant planned for five armies to advance at once. What Confederate capability was this meant to counter?
Since 1861 the Confederacy had survived partly by moving divisions between theaters, sending them from quieter fronts to threatened ones. Grant’s simultaneous advances sought to hold each army in place. Even secondary drives that failed in their immediate aims helped by pinning forces that could otherwise be moved.
Why is the November 1864 election considered a turning point for the whole war?
After 1863 the Confederacy hoped Northern resolve would fail at the ballot box. Atlanta undermined that strategy, and Lincoln’s election ended it. The United States held a free election during a civil war, with soldiers voting three-to-one to keep fighting.
Roughly two out of every three soldiers who died in the Civil War died from what cause?
Disease in camp killed soldiers on a vast scale, as it had in every war before antisepsis. The traditional death count of 620,000, assembled from muster rolls, likely understates the toll; census work suggests about 750,000.
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