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AP®HistoryCollege BoardUS HistoryExam QuestionsPeriod 5: 1844-1877Failure of Reconstruction

Failure of Reconstruction (College Board AP® US History): Exam Questions

4 mins4 questions
11 mark

"And the said IG Bailey party of the first part, agrees and binds himself to furnish necessary Mules and farming implements to cultivate said crop and to feed said Mules to furnish said Cooper Hughs Freedman and his family five hundred and fifty pounds of meat, to furnish said Charles Roberts Freedman and his family four hundred and eighty seven pounds of meat and to give said parties of the second part, one half of the crop of cotton and third of the crop of corn and fodder cultivated and raised by them in said year 1867."

Isham G. Bailey, Contract with Cooper Hughs and Charles Roberts, January 1, 1867

The labor system described in the excerpt is best identified as

  • Contract labor system used for Chinese railroad workers

  • Sharecropping agreements between landowners and freedmen

  • The indentured servitude system of the early American colonies

  •  Convict leasing systems used in the post-Reconstruction South

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21 mark

"And the said IG Bailey party of the first part, agrees and binds himself to furnish necessary Mules and farming implements to cultivate said crop and to feed said Mules to furnish said Cooper Hughs Freedman and his family five hundred and fifty pounds of meat, to furnish said Charles Roberts Freedman and his family four hundred and eighty seven pounds of meat and to give said parties of the second part, one half of the crop of cotton and third of the crop of corn and fodder cultivated and raised by them in said year 1867."

Isham G. Bailey, Contract with Cooper Hughs and Charles Roberts, January 1, 1867

Which of the following best explains why freed Black Americans entered into agreements like the one described in the excerpt?

  • The Freedmen’s Bureau provided financial assistance that allowed freedmen to become independent landowners

  • Black Codes and economic coercion restricted freedmen’s ability to work independently

  • The federal government redistributed Confederate land to former enslaved individuals

  • Northern industrialists recruited former slaves to work in factories in large numbers

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31 mark

"And the said IG Bailey party of the first part, agrees and binds himself to furnish necessary Mules and farming implements to cultivate said crop and to feed said Mules to furnish said Cooper Hughs Freedman and his family five hundred and fifty pounds of meat, to furnish said Charles Roberts Freedman and his family four hundred and eighty seven pounds of meat and to give said parties of the second part, one half of the crop of cotton and third of the crop of corn and fodder cultivated and raised by them in said year 1867."

Isham G. Bailey, Contract with Cooper Hughs and Charles Roberts, January 1, 1867

The process described in the excerpt reflects which of the following developments in the nineteenth century?

  • Rise of industrial labor unions demanding better wages and working conditions

  • Shift of the Southern economy from agriculture to manufacturing following the Civil War 

  • Expansion of land ownership for formerly enslaved individuals through government land grants

  • Continuation of economic dependency for freed Black Americans in the post-Reconstruction South

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41 mark

"And the said IG Bailey party of the first part, agrees and binds himself to furnish necessary Mules and farming implements to cultivate said crop and to feed said Mules to furnish said Cooper Hughs Freedman and his family five hundred and fifty pounds of meat, to furnish said Charles Roberts Freedman and his family four hundred and eighty seven pounds of meat and to give said parties of the second part, one half of the crop of cotton and third of the crop of corn and fodder cultivated and raised by them in said year 1867."

Isham G. Bailey, Contract with Cooper Hughs and Charles Roberts, January 1, 1867

Which of the following historical events best illustrates a continuity with the labor system described in the excerpt?

  • Tenant farming in the early 20th century

  • The expansion of free labor during the Great Depression

  • The increase in industrial employment for Black Americans

  • The implementation of the New Deal’s agricultural policies

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