Flashcards on U.S. History: Founding to Reconstruction
U.S. History: Founding to Reconstruction - Student Guide
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Civil War and Reconstruction
54 cards
Card 1
Question: What event in February 1861 marked the formal creation of the Confederacy and who was chosen as its first president?
Answer: The Confederate States of America formed in February 1861 and chose Jefferson Davis as its first president.
Card 2
Question: What were three major advantages the North (Union) had over the South at the start of the Civil War?
Answer: Larger population, broader industrial base, and better access to arms, railways, and food supplies.
Card 3
Question: What Union naval strategy steadily weakened Confederate trade and logistics?
Answer: The Anaconda Plan — a naval blockade to cut off Confederate trade and supplies.
Card 4
Question: How did General Grant's approach to the war differ and how is he described in the notes?
Answer: Grant pressed the Confederacy continuously and is known as a fighting general.
Card 5
Question: Why could Confederate military success not ultimately win the war?
Answer: Confederate success could not overcome the South’s shrinking resources.
Card 6
Question: How did Abraham Lincoln compare to Jefferson Davis as a wartime leader according to the notes?
Answer: Lincoln was a stronger war leader who kept the Union politically coherent during setbacks, unlike Jefferson Davis.
Card 7
Question: What was the significance of the Battle of Antietam (17 Sep 1862) for Lincoln's policies on slavery?
Answer: Antietam gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, making the war legally about slavery and discouraging European support f
Card 8
Question: What limitation did the Emancipation Proclamation have according to the notes?
Answer: It did not free all slaves — it applied only to slaves in the rebelling Southern states.
Card 9
Question: Which two battles in July 1863 are identified as marking a strategic turning point in the war?
Answer: The Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg (July 1863).
Card 10
Question: What strategic effects resulted from the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg?
Answer: Confederate momentum faded and Union control of the Mississippi was strengthened.