Quiz on the War Between the States
Test your knowledge of the War Between the States with the following quiz. These
questions are not intended to be "trick" questions, but the answers
(which are below) may surprise you.
Questions
- True or False: The War Between the States proved the illegality of
secession.
- True or False: The federal government, not the states, is the legal sovereign since the War
Between the States.
- True or False: The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in the
United States.
- True or False: The Confederacy initiated the War Between the States by
firing on Fort Sumter.
- True or False: The United States Constitution gives the President the
authority to suppress rebellions in the states.
- True or False: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is
similar to that of the United States of America.
- Of the Constitution of the Confederate States and that of the United
States, which had the strongest prohibition against the importation of
slaves?
- In how many of the 13 original states was slavery legal when the
Declaration of Independence was signed? In how many was slavery legal when
the Constitution of 1787 was adopted?
- Which state was admitted into the Union under the Missouri Compromise?
- True or False: Delaware was the first state.
- As they observed the War Between the States from Europe, Karl Marx and Frederick
Engels supported the revolutionary tactics of which party in America: a)
Democrats, b) Whigs, c) Know-Nothings, d) Republicans?
- What was reconstructed during the post-War Reconstruction period: a) the
buildings and infrastructure that had been destroyed during the War, b) the
good-will between North and South, or c) the Constitution of the United
States.
- The Constitution of the United States refers to the United States as a)
singular, or b) plural.
Answers
- False. West Virginia successfully seceded from Virginia during the War Between
the States, in spite of Article IV, Section 3 of the United States
Constitution, which states that "no new State shall be formed or
erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed
by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the
Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the
Congress."
- False. As a de facto matter, the federal government acts as if it were
sovereign. However, as a matter of law, the Colorado Constitution, adopted
in 1876 (11 years after the close of the War Between the States), says, in
Article II, Section 2, "The people of this state have the sole and
exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign and
independent state; and to alter and abolish their constitution and form of
government whenever they may deem it necessary to their safety and
happiness, provided, such change be not repugnant to the constitution of the
United States."
- False, on several grounds. First, everyone, including Lincoln, recognized
that the Emancipation Proclamation was a legal nullity. Second, it
specifically applied only to slaves in seceded states, and then only to
those slaves in counties that were occupied by Confederate forces. Slaves in
states such as Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and in federally occupied counties in
Louisiana were specifically exempted from the Proclamation.
- False. It is pretty simple to judge which side started the war by the
location of the early battles. Fort Sumter is in South Carolina, and
Manassas is in Virginia. In each case, the Confederate forces were defending
themselves from invasion.
- False, unless the legislature or the governor of the state has applied for
such assistance. See Article IV, Section 4.
- True. There are only a handful of minor differences between the two.
- That of the Confederate States. It strictly prohibited the importation of
slaves, while the United States Constitution left this matter in the control
of Congress after 1808. As a practical matter, both effectively restricted
the importation of slaves.
- In 1776, all of them. In 1787, all of them except Massachusetts.
- Maine, in 1820. By the time Missouri was admitted in 1821, the Missouri
Compromise had been abandoned by the Northern states, and Missouri was
admitted under a different set of principles. See Stephens' Constitutional
View of the War Between the States, Vol. II, Colloquy XV (included on
the "Cause of the South" CD).
- False. All thirteen of the original colonies became free, sovereign, and
independent states simultaneously, regardless of whether they became so in
1776, when independence from Britain was declared, or when Britain
recognized their independence in 1783. With regard to which state first
became a state in the United States, there were at least five
states that ratified the Articles of Confederation before Delaware did. With regard to the new Constitution of 1787, it is correct to say that
Delaware was the first state to ratify it. However, since the new
Constitution was not effective until the ratification of nine states, those
nine states came under the jurisdiction of the new Constitution
simultaneously upon the ratification of the ninth state.
- d. Marx and Engels correctly identified the tactics of the Republican
party, waged with the resources of the United States, as being
revolutionary, and strongly supported the Northern cause.
- c. The meaning of Reconstruction is that the Constitution of the United
States was rebuilt on principles quite contrary to its original intent.
- b. The Constitution refers to the United States in the plural. See, for
example, Article II, Section 1, paragraph 6 (in the original), where the
President is prohibited from receiving additional payments "from the
United States, or any of them." See also Article III, Section 3: "Treason
against the United States, shall consist only
in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them
Aid and Comfort."