In July 1862 Congress passed an act that punished treason by seizing the property of rebels and freed enslaved people held by disloyal owners once they came under Union control. Which act was this?

In May 1861 the Union commander at Fortress Monroe in Virginia refused to hand three escaped enslaved men back to their owner, arguing that men digging Confederate fortifications were "contraband of war." Who was he?

Which 1862 act authorized the president to employ "persons of African descent" in any capacity for the suppression of the rebellion, opening the way to Black military labor and service?

Lincoln issued a warning order 100 days in advance, promising that enslaved people in areas still in rebellion on January 1, 1863 would be declared free. On what date was that preliminary proclamation issued?

Lincoln had decided to wait for a Union success before announcing emancipation. Which September 1862 battle in Maryland, which turned back Lee's first invasion of the North, gave him that occasion?

The Emancipation Proclamation rested on the president's wartime authority, so its force could be questioned once the fighting stopped. Which measure abolished slavery throughout the United States permanently?

In May 1863 the War Department set up an office inside the Adjutant General's department to recruit, organize and keep the records of the Black regiments raised under federal command. What was it called?

The Emancipation Proclamation declared enslaved people in the loyal slave states of Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delaware to be free.

The Emancipation Proclamation states that "such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places." What does that passage authorize?

The Proclamation exempts thirteen Louisiana parishes and "the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia," saying they are "left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued." What did the exempted places have in common?

The Emancipation Proclamation ends: "And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind." What kind of authority does Lincoln claim?

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Speaking in 1863, which founding act is Lincoln counting back to?

At Gettysburg on November 19, 1863 Lincoln closed with the hope "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." What does he present the war as being fought to secure?

At Gettysburg Lincoln said of the cemetery ground: "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract." What is he claiming about the ceremony he is speaking at?

Under the Enrollment Act of March 3, 1863 a drafted man could pay $300 or hire a substitute. Of 88,171 men held to service, more than 52,000 paid the fee. Congress repealed the payment option in July 1864. What complaint had the fee drawn?

For four days in July 1863 New York City mobs attacked draft offices and the city's Black residents and burned the Colored Orphan Asylum. How was the rioting finally put down?

On October 11, 1862 the Confederate Congress exempted one white man from the draft on any plantation holding twenty or more enslaved people. What was this exemption meant to accomplish?

The Confederate Impressment Act of March 26, 1863 let army officers seize food, fuel, wagons and enslaved labor from civilians at prices the government set. What did the policy produce?

On April 2, 1863 several hundred women, many of them wives of Richmond ironworkers and ordnance workers, broke into shops demanding bread until Jefferson Davis climbed onto a wagon and threatened to have troops fire on them. What lay behind the protest?

Within days of the firing on Fort Sumter, Lincoln declared a naval blockade of the Southern coastline. What was the blockade meant to do?

In 1861 Lincoln let commanders suspend the writ of habeas corpus along the route between Washington and the North, and Chief Justice Taney objected in Ex parte Merryman that only Congress could suspend it. Which problem was the suspension aimed at?

The Revenue Act signed on August 5, 1861 laid a three percent tax on annual incomes above $800, the first federal income tax in United States history. Which problem was it meant to solve?

The Legal Tender Act of February 25, 1862 authorized paper notes, soon nicknamed greenbacks, that were not redeemable in gold or silver. What did that measure produce?

Which colonel commanded the 54th Massachusetts Infantry in its assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina on July 18, 1863, and was killed leading the attack?

Black soldiers were first paid $10 a month with $3 deducted for clothing, while white soldiers received $13 with no such deduction. How did the men of the 54th Massachusetts answer that difference?

In May 1862 an enslaved harbor pilot took the Confederate steamer Planter out of Charleston past the harbor forts and delivered it to the Union blockading squadron. Who was he?

In June 1863 a formerly enslaved woman guided Union gunboats up the Combahee River in South Carolina in a raid that freed more than 700 enslaved people. Who was she?

Jefferson Davis ordered private hospitals closed in 1861, so he commissioned the founder of one Richmond hospital as a captain in the Confederate army in order to let it keep operating. Who was she?

About how many Black men served as soldiers in the United States Army during the Civil War?

During the war the federal government began hiring women as paid clerks in Washington offices, including the Treasury Department.