GED Social Studies Civil War, Reconstruction, and Civil Rights Summary

The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865 at the end of the Civil War, abolished slavery in the United States. It is the first of the three Civil War (Reconstruction) Amendments: the 13th, 14th, and 15th.

Wrong choices

• The 19th Amendment: The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.
• The 15th Amendment: The 15th Amendment barred denying the vote because of race.
• The 14th Amendment: The 14th Amendment gave citizenship and equal protection of the laws.

The 19th Amendment says the right to vote cannot be denied because of sex. It was the result of decades of work by suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Wrong choices

• The 15th Amendment: The 15th Amendment barred denying the vote because of race.
• The 13th Amendment: The 13th Amendment ended slavery.
• The 26th Amendment: The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18.

The 14th Amendment made all people born or naturalized in the United States citizens, including formerly enslaved people. It also says states may not deny any person due process or "the equal protection of the laws." Many later civil rights cases rely on it.

Wrong choices

• Giving women the right to vote: Women gained the right to vote through the 19th Amendment.
• Creating the federal income tax: The income tax was allowed by the 16th Amendment.
• Ending slavery: Slavery was ended by the 13th Amendment.

In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court allowed segregation if facilities were "separate but equal." In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Warren Court ruled that separate schools are unequal by nature and violate the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

Wrong choices

• Women have the right to vote in all states: Women's voting rights came from the 19th Amendment, not a court case.
• Separate but equal public facilities are constitutional: "Separate but equal" was allowed by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Brown rejected that idea for public schools.
• States may require literacy tests for voting: Brown was about school segregation, not voting tests.

After Reconstruction, Southern states used poll taxes (fees to vote), literacy tests, and threats of violence to keep Black citizens from voting, even though the 15th Amendment forbade race-based limits. The 24th Amendment (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965) attacked these practices.

Wrong choices

• The Electoral College and the Senate: The Electoral College and the Senate are parts of the national system, not tools aimed at Black voters.
• Secret ballots and voter registration drives: Voter registration drives helped people vote. They did not stop them.
• Direct election of senators: Direct election of senators (17th Amendment) gave voters more power, not less.

In the early and mid-1800s, the North and South developed different economies and views, especially about slavery. People grew more loyal to their own section than to the nation. This sectionalism helped lead to the Civil War (1861-1865).

Wrong choices

• Trading only with other countries: Sectionalism is about loyalty to a region within the country, not foreign trade.
• Dividing the government into three branches: Dividing government into branches is separation of powers.
• Separating church and state: Separation of church and state is about religion and government, not regional loyalty.

Civil disobedience means openly and peacefully refusing to obey a law you believe is unjust, and accepting the punishment to show the law is wrong. It was a key strategy of the Civil Rights Movement, used in sit-ins, marches, and boycotts.

Wrong choices

• Armed revolution: King called for peaceful, nonviolent action, not armed revolt.
• Leaving the country in protest: King argued for staying and working to change unjust laws, not leaving the country.
• Obeying every law no matter what: King argued that unjust laws should be disobeyed, so he did not support obeying every law.

Work it out step by step:

1. Four score = 4 x 20 = 80 years. Add 7, which gives 87 years.
2. 1863 - 87 = 1776.
3. The Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, and it contains the phrase "all men are created equal."

Check: 1776 + 87 = 1863.

Wrong choices

• The U.S. Constitution: The Constitution was written in 1787, which is 76 years before 1863, not 87.
• The Bill of Rights: The Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, which is 72 years before 1863.
• The Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln himself issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the same year as the speech.

The Seneca Falls Convention was held in 1848, more than 100 years earlier. It was the first major women's rights meeting in the United States and called for women's right to vote. The other events all belong to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Wrong choices

• The Montgomery bus boycott: The Montgomery bus boycott (1955-1956) began after Rosa Parks was arrested and was a key early event of the movement.
• The March on Washington: The March on Washington (1963) is where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.
• The passage of the Voting Rights Act: The Voting Rights Act (1965) was one of the movement's major achievements.