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Write down your definition of a “fairy tale”

DEFINITION: An unbelievable or untrue story

What happens when a fairy tale has an unhappy ending? For some people, the antebellum or pre-Civil War South was an American fairy tale. There were handsome princes, ladies fair, and a noble code of honor. The pace of life was serene and genteel. But in this fairy tale, no one was destined to live happily ever after.

  When people speak of the antebellum South, they generally mean:       The South after the Civil War       The pre-Civil War South       The time when women wore hoop skirts       That the South was slow-moving and backward

Even before the Civil War, the South was not quite the place of enchantment it might have seemed. The agricultural economy relied heavily on slave labor. Thousands of black slaves were forced to work on the large plantations. They certainly did not lead storybook lives. Neither, for that matter, did poor whites. The fabled Southern culture may have been real only to the wealthy upper class.

  Why was slave labor so important to the Southern economy?       Slave labor freed the upper class to work at their white collar jobs.       Workers were needed for the many factories.       Workers were needed for large-scale farming.       Southerners weren't used to working.

In any case, nothing was the same for anyone after the war. By the time of Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the South lay in ruin. Cities, farms, and homes were burned and ravaged by cannon fire. Railroads and bridges were destroyed. Business and industry were nearly wiped out. Almost 300,000 men were dead.

   How many Southern men died in the Civil War?       Almost 300,000       Over 500,000       Over 600,000       50, 500

In the midst of this shattered fairy tale, daily life followed a rocky path. Everything from food to fuel was in short supply, if it could be found at all. Families dug in burned and shell-studded fields for root crops or any kind of edible vegetation. Tents or ruined houses were shelter for many. Disease added to the huge death toll.

The Deep South lay in desolation. The rubble was a monument to General William T. Sherman's determined destruction of anything that could be used by the Confederacy. Rebuilding was a much lower priority than survival.

   Which General's plan called for complete destruction of anything useable?       General Robert E. Lee       General Grant       General William Sherman       General Stonewall Jackson

In the border states of Kentucky, Arkansas, and Missouri, prowling bands from both armies plundered homes and towns in "foraging" raids. Raiders took food, livestock, or whatever they could carry off. It took time for the official cease-fire to filter down to these guerilla-like groups. In some areas, these raids occurred regularly for weeks on end, even after the war was over.

Shortly after the cease-fire, Northern relief agencies came with food and other basic supplies for displaced slaves and poor whites. One way or another, most people made it through until the fields began to produce enough food to stave off starvation. The immediate crisis passed.

The federal government launched its rebuilding plans. Military governments and newly forming state agencies began to bring some order to the chaos. Life assumed a pattern that was not quite so desperate. But even for people not used to luxury, the war brought an existence totally different from what they had known.

The once-tranquil pace of the South was based on an agricultural lifestyle. With the loss of slave labor, large-scale farming could no longer be sustained. Federal control weakened the power of state governments. This change struck deep at the heart of Southern life. The Confederacy had gone to war to slay this dragon-sized threat. But the monster had defeated the hero, the castle was spoiled, and enchantment was no more.

Partisan wrangling through the process of Reconstruction made peace and stability seem hopelessly out-of-reach. Then federal oversight gradually wound down. President Rutherford B. Hayes removed the last Union troops from southern occupation posts. In a process known as redemption, the "white man's party" of Southern Democrats took over state governments.

   Which President ended occupation of the South by government troops?       Johnson       Hayes       Lincoln       Grant

   Southern Democrats were known as:       The poor man's party       The white man's party       Abraham Lincoln's party       The champions of civil rights