Informational Text Questions Standard 8-5.6
Directions: Using your Informational Text, create flash cards answering the following
questions using complete sentences.
1. How long did the postwar agricultural depression continue and what did the Conservatives do
to help small farmers? The postwar agricultural depression continued after the end of
Reconstruction and the Conservative government did nothing to help small farmers.
2. What replaced large plantations? Small farms, worked by sharecroppers or tenant farmers,
had replaced the large plantations of the antebellum period.
3. What did SC farmers use to increase their production? They used fertilizers to increase their
production.
4. Why did the price of cotton fall? Worldwide supply exceeded demand and the price that
farmers were able to get for their crops fell throughout the period.
5. What made the problems of debt worse in SC? In South Carolina, the problem of debt was
exacerbated by the sharecropping and tenant farming system and the crop lien laws.
6. What happened when farmers planted more? The more farmers planted, the more prices fell.
In South Carolina, farmers also felt the impact of bank foreclosures, forfeiture of their land
for non-payment of taxes, as well as drought and pests such as the army worm and the boll
weevil that led to periodic crop failures.
7. What was the Grange? The Grange was a social organization designed to alleviate the
isolation of farm life.
8. What did the Farmers’ Alliances advocate in the 1880s? Farmers‟ Alliances in the 1880s that
advocated an increase in the monetary supply, especially the coinage of silver.
9. Why was there a white and Colored Farmers’ Alliance in SC? Because society was
segregated by both law and practice.
10. What were the six things Populists wanted? In the 1890s, alliances around the country united
to form the Populist Party, which supported the regulation of railroads and banking, the
free and unlimited coinage of silver, and a system of federal farm loans. The party also
advocated democratic reforms such as the popular election of Senators, the secret ballot,
and a graduated income tax.
11. What political party were Populists a member of in SC? Populist were a member of the
Democratic Party in SC.
12. Why did poor white farmers accept Ben Tillman? South Carolina farmers accepted the
leadership of Ben Tillman because of his extraordinary oratorical and political skills.
13. Why, was Ben Tillman considered a Populist? He could be considered a Populist because he
appealed to the values and needs of the common people against the Conservative elite.
14. What did Ben Tillman strive to do? Ben Tillman strove to gain control of the Democratic
Party in SC.
15. What did the appeal for African Americans to vote bring? Tillman‟s white supremacy
message and racist rhetoric.
16. What platform did Tillman run on? Tillman ran on the platform of “White Supremacy.”
17. What did Tillman’s bigotry and racism bring back? Tillman‟s bigotry and racism led to an
increase of violence and lynching against African Americans and to efforts to
disenfranchise the African American voter.
18. What college did Tillman support starting? Tillman supported started Clemson as an
agricultural college.
19. What was the purpose of Clemson College? Tillman wanted to teach farmers better crop
management and to develop new crops to increase their economic prosperity.
20. What is a land grant college? A land grant college is one where its operation is supported by
the system of land grants established by the national government (Morrill Act) by which
the sale of a portion of western lands was reserved to support agricultural improvements in
each of the established states.
21. Why was South Carolina State started? In order to comply with the „separate but equal”
doctrine South Carolina and other southern states established separate land grant colleges
for African America farmers.
22. Where was the epicenter of the 1886 earthquake? The epicenter of the 1886 earthquake was
in Summerville, South Carolina.
23. What good came out of the earthquake? The city‟s response to it revolutionized and
modernized practices in construction, disaster preparedness/response and scientific study
that continue to this day.
24. What did the 1893 hurricane and the others that followed do to rice production? The
hurricane that struck Charleston in 1893 and others that followed wiped out the rice fields
and competition from the Far East brought an end to the production of „Carolina Gold.‟
25. What cash crop was introduced in the Pee Dee region? Tobacco was introduced as a cash
crop to the Pee Dee but could not be grown in other parts of the Lowcountry.
26. What did Tillman call for in 1895? Ben Tillman called for a new state constitution.
27. What two things had to be done to be able to vote? You had to pass a literacy test or pay a
poll tax.
28. What was the grandfather clause and who did it help? The grandfather stated that if your
grandfather voted in 1860 you were allowed to vote after the Civil War. This clause was
put in to help poor, illiterate whites.
29. Define Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow Laws, set social segregation into law.
30. What did the court case Plessey v Ferguson decide? The Court ruled that separate-but-equal
facilities satisfied the 14th amendment‟s requirement for equal protection under the law in
the case of Plessy v Ferguson.