FINAL EXAM ESSAY QUESTIONS
The Civil War

You may use a single 4" x 8" index card, to jot down important events, names, dates, places, etc. to use while writing your essay. You must turn this card in, along with your essay on exam day to receive credit. Bring at least 8 sheets of paper and a pen to CEN423C on the day of the midterm.

The following questions are actual exam questions. You will write a total of 2 essays, one from Section A and one from Section B. Only three of the four questions in each section will appear on the day of the exam. You may choose one of the three from each section. (If you prepare for at least two of the questions from each section, you will be assured that two of the four you’ve prepared for will be on the exam.)

Your discussion should be detailed and well organized. You should take a moment to draft a brief outline of your answer. Do NOT write your essays in the first person.

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Section A

1. Most older textbooks scarcely mention African Americans as participants in the war that freed them, and yet Frederick Douglass insisted that the nation's "soft white hand" was not enough for victory, but an "iron black hand" was needed also. Write an essay analyzing the role of black people in the Civil War.

2. 1864 was an election year in America. In the North, despite the war, it was politics as usual; Democrat George B. McClellan was a serious challenger to incumbent Abraham Lincoln. But in the South, there was no election; Jefferson Davis, with a six-year term, never faced an electoral challenge. Which president do you think was in the stronger position to be a wartime leader? Why?

3. "I think that he [Robert E. Lee] should have been hanged. It was all the worse that he was a good man and a fine character and acted conscientiously. It is always the good men who do the most harm in the world."

What are the personal qualities of Lee that Henry Adams alludes to? And how do you explain his startling statement?

4. If the Democratic candidate for president, George B. McClellan, had been elected in 1864, what do you think would have been the result?

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Section B

1.Which side was responsible for the breakdown of prisoner-of-war exchanges? Why? How could the continued suspension of exchanges be justified?

2. If the Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves in states in rebellion to be free and, by the war's end, all the states were in Union hands, why was the Thirteenth Amendment needed?

3. Frederick Douglass said that if a black man served in the Union army, "there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship." Howell Cobb said, "... if slaves seem good soldiers, then our whole theory of slavery is wrong." Explain the reasoning behind these statements.

4. Near the end of the television program, Barbara Fields says, "...the Civil War is still going on. It's still to be fought and regrettably it can still be lost." Explain her meaning. Do you agree?