Georgia History: Midterm Exam, 2011-2012: Covering Units 1-5
Write out the answers to the following on a separate sheet of paper to turn in (NO TYPING). When identifying, explain
what the concept is and why it was significant for that historical period. Worth a REQUIRED QUIZ GRADE and up to
10 extra credit exam points!
UNIT 5: Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction (SS8H6; SS8E1,2)
Georgia Chapters 15-17
1.
Define: secession, sectionalism, popular sovereignty, nullification, states’ rights
2.
How did the cotton gin make upland cotton profitable (and turn it into a cash crop)?
3.
How railroads impact the growth of Georgia?
4.
Explain the following fundamental causes of the Civil War by creating a CHART showing how the NORTH
and SOUTH had different views on these issues: tariffs, states’ rights, slavery, western states/territories.
*We did one of these in class!
5.
Explain these specific events that led to the Civil War: Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, KansasNebraska Act, Dred Scott case, election of 1860 (see notes)
6.
Explain the Georgia Platform. How did it impact secession?
7.
Why was Georgia important to the Confederacy?
8.
Why was support for secession weakest in the northern part of Georgia?
9.
Secession: Why did many southern states secede?
10. What were Alexander Stephens’s roles in Georgia politics? What was his opinion on slavery and tariffs?
What was his opinion on secession and nullification?
11. Describe the importance of the following events in the Civil War: Antietam, Emancipation Proclamation,
Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the effects of the Union blockade of the coast on Georgia, Sherman’s March to
the Sea, the Atlanta Campaign (why was Atlanta so important?), and Andersonville Prison.
12. Define: freedmen, carpetbagger, scalawag, crop lien, tenant farming, sharecropping
13. Why did tenant farmers and sharecroppers stay poor and in debt?
14. Identify: Jefferson Long, Robert Toombs, Andrew Johnson, Henry McNeal Turner
15. What economic problems did the South have after the war? Think about capital (money), land, and labor.
16. What were the 13th, 14th, 15thAmendments (what did each say)?
17. In what ways did the Freedmen’s Bureau help former slaves and poor whites?
18. How did Atlanta become capital of Georgia (p. 441)?
19. Name at least TWO goals of white supremacist groups like the KKK. How did they accomplish their goals?
20. Why was Georgia was put under military control again in 1869, and was the only state to rejoin the Union
twice)?
21. Name at least THREE ways Reconstruction was a failure.
22. Name at least THREE accomplishments or positive effects of Reconstruction.
UNIT 1: Geography and Prehistory (SS8H1, SS8G1)
Georgia Chapters 1 & 8
1.
List the characteristics and locations of the 5 physical regions of Georgia: Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Ridge
and Valley, Blue Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau
2.
Define: Equator, Prime Meridian, latitude, longitude
3.
Describe and explain the importance of the following: Okefenokee Swamp, Brasstown Bald, Appalachian
Mountains, barrier islands
4.
Identify the location of Georgia: region, nation, time zone, continent, and hemisphere.
5.
Contrast relative and absolute location.
6.
Identify characteristics of Georgia’s Prehistoric Indian Civilizations: Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, and
Mississippian. Include characteristics that make each period unique.
7.
Define: prehistory, history, primary source, secondary source, Beringia, archaeology, context
UNIT 2: Colonial Georgia/America (SS8H1,2; SS8E 1,2)
Georgia Chapters 8-10
1.
Explain the goals of England, Spain, and France in colonizing the New World.
2.
Describe the impact of European colonization on Native Americans, including Spanish missions on the
barrier islands and the explorations of Hernando de Soto.
3.
Who was the first…European in North America?…representative of Spain to reach the New World?…
European to set foot in Georgia?…to explore Georgia and make written records of it?
4.
Identify: James Oglethorpe, John & Mary Musgrove, the Salzburgers, Tomochichi, charter of 1732, founding
of Savannah
5.
Explain the four reasons for founding Georgia: charity, economics, defense, religion
6.
Explain the following important people, events, or issues during the trustee period: Salzburgers, Highland
Scots, malcontents, Spanish threat from Florida, triangular trade
7.
After Oglethorpe left Georgia, what did the trustees do to try to improve Georgia’s economy?
8.
Between trustee rule and royal rule how did Georgia change in terms of the following: western boundary,
slavery, social classes, land ownership laws, and government?
9.
What were the 3 unpopular rules the colonists had to follow under the trustees?
UNIT 3: The Revolutionary War & Constitution (SS8H3,4)
Georgia Chapters 11-13
1.
Contrast: Loyalists/Tories and Patriots/Whigs
2.
How was the French and Indian War a long term cause of the American Revolution?
3.
Identify how the following were causes of the American Revolution: Proclamation of 1763, Stamp Act,
Declaration of Independence, Boston Massacre, Intolerable Acts
4.
Identify and explain the significance of: Lexington & Concord, Yorktown, George Washington, King George
III, Thomas Jefferson
5.
Identify the following items that relate to Georgia in the Revolution:

Georgia Signers of the Declaration (Who are they?)

Lt. Col. Elijah Clark, Battle of Kettle Creek, Austin Dabney

Nancy Hart

Siege of Savannah, Casimir Pulaski
6.
What aspects of government were strong and weak in the Georgia Constitution of 1777?
7.
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
8.
What were Georgia’s interests at the Constitutional Convention (what issues were important to Georgia, why
did Georgia ratify the Constitution)?
9.
What 4 Georgians were delegates to the Constitutional Convention? What was the special role of Abraham
Baldwin in the Great Compromise?
10. What was the first public (state-funded) university in the nation? Who wrote its charter?
11. What are the three branches of government and their jobs?
UNIT 4: Westward Expansion (SS8H5)
Georgia Chapter 14
1.
Explain the following systems of land distribution in Georgia’s history: headright system, land lotteries, and
the Yazoo Land Fraud.
2.
Identify each, including their importance to the history of the Creeks and Cherokees: Trail of Tears, Andrew
Jackson, John Marshall, Worcester v. Georgia, Dahlonega Gold Rush, Sequoyah, Chief William McIntosh,
Alexander McGillivray
3.
What were the five major capitals of Georgia in chronological order? Why did the capital keep moving west?