KSU Georgia Constitution Practice Exam

When Reconstruction politics were reshaping the South, many white Georgians viewed postwar constitutions as not truly homegrown but imposed from outside. The 1865 Georgia Constitution fits that pattern, being seen by many Southerners as the handiwork of northern outsiders—carpetbaggers—and of Southern whites who cooperated with them—scalawags. This perspective captured the sense that the changes were driven by occupying Union authorities and Republican reform, rather than by Georgia voters alone. That mindset explains why describing the constitution as the work of northern “carpetbaggers” or “scalawags” is the best fit. It reflects the prevailing resentment and suspicion toward Reconstruction-era reshaping of state governments. The other views—that it was celebrated by all groups, ignored by the public, or rejected by both Northern and Southern leaders—don’t align with the common Reconstruction-era sentiment that outsiders were dictating constitutional changes in Georgia.