Ans. In total, fifteen hundred African Americans held political office during Reconstruction (1868-1877).
2. Define these opposites: Carpetbeggars and Redeemers.
Ans. Carpetbaggers were the people from the Northern US who went to the southern states after the American Civil War and were perceived as exploiters by the locals. Whereas the Redeemers were a political coalition of landowners, businessmen, and professionals from South US, united by this perceived belief of exploitation by Carpetbaggers from the North, and their goal was to oust the political coalition of radical Republicans (freedmen, carpetbaggers, and scalawags).
3. How did the Arkansas state government accumulate so much debt?
Ans. There were not enough resources available for the state government to run the government. Influential Slaveholding planters made sure the lawmakers kept taxes low. Also, decentralization of the government left the center unable to utilize its limited resources. Money raised for development from the selling of public land had to be divided between the localities, which utilized these funds inefficiently. The situation was further exacerbated by the failure of the newly established Arkansas State Bank and Real Estate Bank due to corruption, nepotism, and favoritism coupled with a crippling overall economy, leaving the state government with multimillion-dollar debt.
4. What was the initial purpose of the Ku Klux Klan in Arkansas?
Ans. The initial purpose of the Klan in Arkansas was to carry out “clean up” like other states in the country. The Klan was used to regulate moral standards and promote Victorian standards, particularly for women. Klan was associated with Anti-unionism, Red Scare, and bigotry.
5. Describe the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Who wrote the book Uncertain Freedom on this subject?
Ans. The bureau was established on March 3, 1865. Its activities during the years of operation include feeding people, building hospitals, provisioning medical care, negotiating labor contracts for ex-slaves and settling labor disputes, legalizing marriages of former slaves, assisting in finding lost relatives, and assisting black veterans. The book “Uncertain Freedom” is written by Randy Finley.
6. What role did the state militia under Governor Clayton play in the era?
Ans. Under the command of Governor Clayton, his militia raided the St. Francis River in the month of March 1863. On July 4, 1863, his militia fought bravely at the Battle of Helena. In October of the same year, they successfully defended Pine Bluff and carried out various expeditions in the surrounding countryside until the end of the war.
7. Identify The Brooks-Baxter War. Factions of what party were battling each other? President Grant decided the gubernatorial election in which candidate’s favor?
Ans: Brooks-Baxter Affairs or Brooks-Baxter War was an armed conflict in 1874, over the disputed 1872 state gubernatorial elections in Little Rock, between the two factions of the Republican Party viz. “Minstrel” Faction, backed by Carpetbaggers and led by Elisha Baxter, versus the “Brindel Tail” Faction, led by Joseph Brooks and supported by Scalawags and freedmen, where the former faction came out as a victor in the conflict. President Grant decided the
8. The Exodus of 1879 was a migration by what particular category of people out of Arkansas? To where are they headed?
Ans: African Americans migrated to Kansas from Arkansas during the Exodus of 1879.
9. What former Confederate served as Attorney General of the US?
Ans: Robert White.
10. What signified the end of Reconstruction in Arkansas and the success of the new Redeemer politics that followed it?
Ans: Approval of a new constitution for Arkansas that changed the political sphere of the state by putting Democrats on the steering wheel and displacing the Republicans.
11. What does the textbook describe as the state of relations between black and white Arkansans immediately after Reconstruction?
Ans: After the Reconstruction, Blacks gained some economic and social freedom in urban areas, but in rural regions, they were not as lucky. This new gain in freedom and poverty of poor whites resulted in defections from the Democratic party, which, in an attempt to hold the rural white vote bank, introduced segregation laws commonly known as Jim Crow Laws.
12. The term “Harnessed Revolution” refers to what event?
Ans: The return to power of the Antebellum elite.
13. What three economic activities did as much as anything else in the state’s history to transform landscapes?
Ans: Railroad construction, the development of the timber industry, and the petroleum sector changed the state’s economic landscape.
14. When and in what capacity did the “Hanging Judge” gain historical notice?
Ans: Issac Charles Parker was the District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas and convicted 15 out of 18 men who were charged with murder on May 4, 1875.
15. Explain the repudiation of the “Holford Bonds.”
Ans: James Holford purchased Holford Bonds from a New York bank, which were transferred to the bank by Real Estate Bank of Arkansas. The state was then unable to pay back the bonds by refunding. The state legislature passed a law to refund the bonds in 1869, vetoed by Governor Baxter. In 1884, the Fishback Amendment was passed and added to the state constitution, which prohibited the payment of these bonds.
16. C. Vann Woodward is a noted historian who studied and wrote about the “New…”
Ans: He studied the American South and racial relations in the area.
17. What was the mission of the WCTU?
Ans: Its mission was to ban alcohol, abstain from drugs, and protect the home.
18. What was the primary educational mission of Arkansas AM & N college?
Ans: The primary educational mission of the Arkansas AM & N college was to train teachers and provide land grants.
19. What were Rosenwald schools?
Ans: There were over five thousand schools, teacher homes, and shops in the Southern US in the early 20th century for the education of African Americans.
20. What was the largest church denomination in Arkansas?
Ans: Methodist Episcopal Church.
21. What was the purpose of the Agricultural Wheel, and when and where was it organized?
Ans: Its purpose was to improve farmers’ economic condition by cooperative buying, teaching progressive farming, removing anaconda mortgages, and working for the removal of the one-crop system. It was founded on February 15, 1882, in Prairie County near Des Arc.
22. What Republican congressional candidate was assassinated in Conway County after its unsuccessful campaign for office?
Ans: John Clayton.
23. The state’s first segregation law: what, when, and why?
Ans: The Separate Coach Law passed in 1891 mandated the separation of races in railroad coaches. The general reason for the promulgation of segregation laws was the common belief in whites that blacks were an inferior race and needed to be kept under control.
24. What apparatus did Democrats use to consolidate their political control of Arkansas?
Ans: Disenfranchisement of African American voters through the Election Law of 1891, followed by a poll tax amendment in 1892. Also, the suppression of the coalition between Republican and farmer-labor parties, the imposition of assessing fees for registration and voting, and the establishment of the election board and officials resulted in the complete isolation of African American representatives for decades to come.
25. Why would an attempt at organizing a union among African Americans be so difficult in a place like Phillips County in the second decade of the twentieth century?
Ans: The hold of white supremacists and the perceived threat of unions to capitalism made it difficult for African Americans in places like Phillip County to organize unions.
26. What was the purpose of the White Primary and the poll tax?
Ans: The primary purpose was to deny political, economic, and social of former slaves and their offspring.
27. What campaigning technique did Jeff Davis use to continue his hold on the statehouse? What is the title of Jeff Davis’ biography?
Ans: He resorted to race-baiting and demagogy.
28. Define the period terms: Sharecropper and tenant farmer.
Ans: Tenant farmer leased land from landowners and provided all labor to plant, cultivate, and harvest the crop and paid a percentage of crop harvest or cash payment. While a sharecropper is a tenant who contributes labor only to the land, equipment, production supplies, and personal needs are provided by the landowner, and the sharecropper receives a smaller harvest share compared to the tenant farmer.
29. What was the root cause of the Elaine Race Riot of 1919? How many people died in this event? What were the effects of World War I on the bearing and hopes of Arkansas black men?
Ans: Tense racial relations and growing concern of white supremacists about labor unions were the root cause of the Elaine Race Riot. Five white people and many blacks, whose number is estimated in the hundreds, lost their lives. World War I stirred the Black people to rise against discrimination and segregation, and the hope of a truly democratic America with equal rights for all emerged in the community.
30. The Constitutional Convention of 1917-1918 proposed what sort of reforms for Arkansas? Did Arkansas voters approve of this Constitution?
Ans: It proposed women’s suffrage, statewide prohibition, and the creation of a lieutenant governor’s office, among other things, but it failed to get the approval of the voters in the state.
31. What was the effect of the Progressive movement on the laws of Arkansas? Where did President Woodrow Wilson sit with Progressive reforms for the United States?
Ans: The state was second in the US to approve women’s suffrage, a demand that came from the progressive movement. President Woodrow Wilson was a leading Progressive reforms advocate and passed many legislations related to the movement.
32. For what party did Sam Faubus campaign in the 1930’s?
Ans: He supported the socialist party in the state.
33. Who were the “Progressive governors” of Arkansas? They gave two examples of Progressive reforms. See the Governor’s list of answers.
Ans: Governors such as Charles Brough, who endorsed the Progressivism movement in the U. S., aimed to transform the states in social and economic spheres, challenging the existing laws and concepts. The reforms included legislation and more funding for education, women’s suffrage, end of the convict leasing system, etc.
34. Labor and union strikes in Arkansas occur mainly in what industry? What was the outcome?
Ans: The agricultural industry saw the most union strikes in Arkansas state history, leading to a reduction in crop production and food scarcity.
35. What governor endorsed the initiative and referendum proposals, and how did this governor campaign for them? What national politician campaigned for these Progressive reforms?
Ans: Georgy W. Donaghey. He went to all places in summer and organized labor and farmer unions. William J. Bryan campaigned for these reforms.
36. The voting act Arkansas voters approved in the 1920s widened the franchise to include what group?
Ans: Women were allowed to vote.
37. The third party that ran Teddy Roosevelt for president in 1912 polled more votes than the Republican candidate in the national election, but that split opened the door to the presidency for the Democratic party candidate; who was? In that election, which candidate got Arkansas’s votes? What movie did this president show in the White House Theater?
Ans: Woodrow Wilson was the Democratic candidate. The majority of votes from Arkansas went to him, and he showed “Birth of a Nation” in the White House Theater.
38. Who was the last U. S. Senator in Arkansas (and in the nation) to be elected by the state legislature? (and why) He is the namesake of this building.
Ans: Joseph Robinson was the last Senator elected by the state legislature. Robinson is the namesake of Camp Joseph T. Robinson, downtown Robinson Center, and Arkansas primary National Guard base.
39. Who was governor when the state adopted a state income tax and what amendment to the U. S. Constitution provided the basis for it?
Ans: Enoch Lincoln was the first governor to impose state income tax. The thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution provided the basis for it.
40. What woman, because she was a woman, was rejected from entering the Arkansas Medical School in 1887?
Ans: Ida Josephine Brook.
41. What distinction came to Maud Duncan in 1925? See Petticoat’s government in the textbook.
Ans:
She was elected Mayor. First time for a woman in U. S. history.
42. Governor Charles Hillan Brough: What were his positions on women’s suffrage and prohibition? Did this make him a “Progressive” governor? What was his reaction to the Elaine Riots in 1919?
Ans: He pushed for and succeeded in achieving the right to vote in party primaries in the state in 1917 and he supported the strengthening of prohibition laws, this and other efforts made him one of the prominent “Progressive governors in the history. He sent in National Guards and formed a commission that was charged with preventing future such events after the Elaine Riots.
43. How did Harvey Couch set about changing habits, indeed the culture of families in Arkansas?
Ans: By encouraging people to use electricity and electric appliances at home.
44. What U. S. government New Deal agency (FDR administration) bought cheap and widespread electricity to the southeastern U. S. through dams on the Tennessee River and tributaries?
Ans: Tennessee Valley Authority.
45. What was the REA, what was its purpose, and who opposed it most bitterly? On the other hand, what person was a champion of electric cooperatives in Arkansas?
Ans: It stands for Rural Electrification Administration, and its purpose was to provide electricity to rural areas. President Herbert Hoover opposed it most fiercely, and Clyde T. Ellis was the champion of the electric cooperative who co-sponsored a bill to establish an Arkansas River Valley Authority.
46. When and on what river was Arkansas’ first hydroelectric dam built? What was the name of the lake the dam created?
Ans: Remmel Dam was the first hydroelectric dam built on the Ouachita River in 1924.
47. What was the great natural disaster in Arkansas and other lower Mississippi River states that occurred in 1927? What recent book describes the flood as changing America?
Ans: The Great Mississippi River Floods of 1927 were the greatest natural disaster in Arkansas and U.S. history. Rising Tide, written by John M. Barry, describes the floods as changing America.
48. What national award did John Gould Fletcher receive? Who is the biographer of Fletcher?
Ans: He received Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He wrote his autobiography by the name “Life is My Song”.
49. Commonwealth College in Mena, Arkansas, had what kind of political leanings?
Ans: The college had socialist leanings.
References
Hopper, S. E., Baker, T. H., & Browning, J. (2008). An Arkansas History for Young People. (4th, Ed.) Fayetteville, Arkansas: The University of Arkansas Press.
