Question

omprehension Questions
1. Why did Georgians disagree about whether to stay in the Union?
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2. What was the purpose of the Compromise of 1850 and the Georgia Platform?
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3. What did the Dred Scott decision say about enslaved people?
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4. How did the Union blockade affect life in Georgia?
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5. What was the goal of Sherman’s March to the Sea?
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6. Why was Andersonville prison such a tragic part of Georgia’s history?
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7. How did Georgia change by the end of the Civil War?
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Answer 1

1. Georgians disagreed about staying in the Union because some depended on slavery and believed secession was necessary to protect their economy and states’ rights, while others—especially in poorer, less slaveholding regions—valued the economic and political ties to the North and wanted to avoid war.

2. The Compromise of 1850 was a package of laws intended to calm sectional tensions (admitting California as a free state, stronger Fugitive Slave Act, territorial popular sovereignty, etc.). The Georgia Platform accepted that compromise as a temporary settlement while warning that Georgia would consider leaving the Union if the North failed to respect Southern rights.

3. The 1857 Dred Scott decision said that Black people, whether enslaved or free, were not U.S. citizens and therefore could not sue in federal court, and it ruled that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories—treating enslaved people as property protected by the Constitution.

4. The Union blockade greatly reduced imports and exports for Georgia, causing shortages, skyrocketing prices, loss of export income (especially cotton), widespread hardship for civilians, and increased smuggling and food scarcity as the war went on.

5. Sherman’s March to the Sea (late 1864) aimed to destroy the Confederacy’s ability and will to fight by wrecking its infrastructure and supplies, breaking the South’s economic base, and demoralizing civilians through a campaign of “total war” from Atlanta to Savannah.

6. Andersonville (Camp Sumter) was tragic because extreme overcrowding, poor sanitation, little food, and disease produced horrific suffering and a very high death rate—about 12,000–13,000 Union prisoners died there—making it one of the worst prison camps of the war.

7. By the end of the Civil War Georgia had been physically devastated (railroads, farms, and cities damaged), its economy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and its social and political order was upended—setting the stage for Reconstruction, military occupation, and major changes in labor and government.