General Sherman’s land policy was reversed and not sustained after the war. Which option best describes its fate?

• A. It was quickly expanded to every state.
• B. It was implemented as law nationwide.
• C. It was reversed and not sustained.
• D. It applied only to a few plantations.

Answer: (C)

During Reconstruction there was real debate about giving land to newly freed people, but those promises did not last. Sherman’s policy briefly set aside coastal lands for freed slaves, offering up to 40 acres per family and a mule. Yet after the war, President Andrew Johnson reversed the order, and the land was returned to former Confederate owners. Because this policy did not become lasting federal law and was undone, it failed to endure beyond that immediate postwar period. That’s why the best description of its fate is that it was reversed and not sustained.