Chapter 11 Reading

Question 1

1. The development of the North and the South differed in that the South
   a. did not expand to the West
   b. had fewer cities
   c. used more wage labor
   d. became less agricultural
   e. did not participate in international commerce

Answer 1

b. had fewer cities

Question 2

2. The most important crop in the South of the 1850s was
   a. cotton
   b. tobacco
   c. rice
   d. sugar
   e. indigo

Answer 2

a. cotton

Question 3

The growth of cotton as the major crop for the South was enhanced by the

a. thriving condition of the tobacco industry
b. success of a new variety of cotton
c. stabilization of the cotton market
d. concentration of the industry in only a few states
e. decline in the use of slave labor

Answer 3

b. success of a new variety of cotton

Question 4

The greatest disadvantage for crops that competed with cotton was that the other crops

a. had no foreign market
b. needed more extensive processing than cotton
c. made no profits in the domestic market
d. were limited by soil and climate conditions
e. did not show a profit for the growers

Answer 4

d. were limited by soil and climate conditions

Question 5

By the 1850s, the South had large numbers of

a. manufacturing plants
b. banks
c. professional people
d. canals and turnpikes
e. textile factories

Answer 5

c. professional people

Question 6

From 1820 to 1860, the slave population

a. decreased dramatically
b. experienced a huge increase in the lower South
c. increased, but only in the upper South
d. experienced a decrease on cotton plantations
e. remained close to population figures of the 1700s

Answer 6

b. experienced a huge increase in the lower South

Question 7

The percentage of white Southerners who were members of slave-owning families was approximately

a. 10 percent
b. 25 percent
c. 40 percent
d. 55 percent
e. 65 percent

Answer 7

b. 25 percent

Question 8

The Southern planter class

a. constituted the majority of the population
b. had occupied its position of wealth and power for generations
c. did not dirty its hands by involving itself in the day-to-day affairs of business
d. lived in modest middle class homes
e. dominated the political, economic, and social life of the region

Answer 8

e. dominated the political, economic, and social life of the region

Question 9

Which practice continued in the South long after it had largely vanished in the North?

a. dueling
b. live minstrel shows
c. Shakespearean farces
d. boxing
e. merchant capitalism

Answer 9

a. dueling

Question 10

Compared with white women in the North, white women in the South had

a. less access to education
b. a lower birth rate
c. more access to the public
d. more legal rights
e. greater access to personal income

Answer 10

a. less access to education

Question 11

The “Southern lady” of the mid-1800s was taught to

a. insist on her husband’s fidelity
b. participate in reform movements
c. question traditional morality
d. obey her husband in all matters
e. voice her opinion in public

Answer 11

d. obey her husband in all matters

Question 12

Small farmers in the South possessed all of the following characteristics except

a. a close relationship with their slaves
b. ownership of few, if any, slaves
c. limited access to educational opportunity
d. independence from the plantation system
e. low prospects for social mobility

Answer 12

d. independence from the plantation system

Question 13

The group in white Southern society that most objected to the institution of slavery was the

a. hill people
b. plain folk
c. sand hillers
d. yeoman farmers
e. planter elite

Answer 13

a. hill people

Question 14

Many non-slave owning whites in the South were tied to the slave system by all of the following circumstances except

a. They depended on the plantations for economic favors
b. They often relied on planters for credit
c. They were often related by blood to wealthy slaveowners
d. They shared the Southern belief in white racial superiority
e. They feared the terrorist tactics that plantation owners used

Answer 14

e. They feared the terrorist tactics that plantation owners used

Question 15

The greatest unifying force in the South was

a. cotton
b. plantations
c. race
d. slavery
e. class

Answer 15

c. race

Question 16

The slave system was characterized by

a. generally good conditions for slaves
b. prison-like conditions for most slaves
c. a uniformly applied set of stern but fair slave codes
d. considerable variety in the conditions under which slaves lived
e. a concentration of labor in the Upper South

Answer 16

d. considerable variety in the conditions under which slaves lived

Question 17

The slave codes did all of the following things except

a. prohibiting slaves from having legal rights
b. trying to protect slaves from abuses by their masters
c. requiring the courts to take action against only major crimes
d. setting harsh punishments for crimes by slaves
e. restricting congregation of slaves

Answer 17

b. trying to protect slaves from abuses by their masters

Question 18

According to some scholars, the material conditions of slaves in the South

a. were better than those of Southern yeomen farmers
b. may have been better than those of Northern industrial workers
c. were about the same as those of European industrial workers
d. were worse than those for slaves in the Caribbean
e. depended largely on each state’s regulatory laws

Answer 18

b. may have been better than those of Northern industrial workers

Question 19

Slavery in the South exhibited all of the following characteristics except

a. The African slave trade grew larger each decade until the Civil War
b. The slave population increased through natural reproduction
c. Growing cotton was much easier work than growing sugar
d. Masters frequently protected young slave children from hard work
e. Slaves generally had better living conditions than those of Caribbean slaves

Answer 19

a. The African slave trade grew larger each decade until the Civil War

Question 20

For dangerous tasks, many plantation owners used

a. immigrant labor
b. poor Southern whites
c. older slaves
d. troublemaking slaves
e. Native Americans

Answer 20

a. immigrant labor

Question 21

In the 1850s, the price of a prime field hand slave was about

a. $100
b. $1,000
c. $5,000
d. $10,000
e. $100,000

Answer 21

b. $1,000

Question 22

Slaves often disliked serving as household servants on large plantations for all of the following reasons except

a. they were isolated from their fellow slaves
b. they lacked privacy from the watchful eyes of the master’s family
c. they received punishments more than did other slaves
d. they were more likely to be sold to the owners of other plantations

Answer 22

d. they were more likely to be sold to the owners of other plantations

Question 23

Southerners considered slavery incompatible with city life because they

a. feared possible educational opportunities for slaves in the cities
b. were suspicious of a union between slaves and poor white laborers
c. could not find employment for slaves there
d. feared possible slave conspiracies and insurrection
e. believed that slaves would not work without supervision

Answer 23

d. feared possible slave conspiracies and insurrection

Question 24

One effect of Nat Turner’s rebellion was

a. the U.S. Senate’s call for an end to slavery
b. the establishment of mediation boards to hear slaves’ complaints
c. the creation of antislavery societies throughout the lower South
d. the victory of the Whig party in the election of 1840
e. the decline in the number of slaves freed in the South

Answer 24

e. the decline in the number of slaves freed in the South

Question 25

The domestic slave trade in the period 1820–1860

a. often included the separation of families
b. decreased due to a rise in the importation of African slaves
c. resulted in more slaves eventually receiving their freedom
d. caused a decline in the number of runaway slaves
e. managed to obliterate all traces of African culture

Answer 25

a. often included the separation of families

Question 26

he least common form of black resistance to slavery was

a. trying to escape
b. performing tasks improperly
c. refusing to work hard
d. losing or breaking tools
e. revolting against masters

Answer 26

e.revolting against masters

Question 27

Since the Civil War, a wide variety of historical interpretations of slavery have appeared. The following pairs match authors with the themes of their books. The incorrect pair is

Answer 27

Robert Fogel and Stanley Engemen—slavery was not economically beneficial, and was very harsh

Question 28

Slaves developed their own African-American versions of all of the following cultural forms except

Answer 28

school

Question 29

Characteristics of slave families included

Answer 29

domination by the male members

Question 30

An instrument that had its origins in Africa is the

Answer 30

banjo

Question 31

By 1820 concentration of slaves followed cotton production in all of the following states except

Answer 31

Kentucky

Question 32

By 1860 cotton production had increased along with concentration of slaves in all states except

Answer 32

Virginia and Tennessee

Question 33

Cotton came to dominate the Southern economy for all of the following reasons except

Answer 33

sugar growers had to compete with established Caribbean sugar plantations

Question 34

As settlement rapidly pushed into the Southwest during the 1840s and 1850s, plantations

Answer 34

from the upper South sold slaves to the lower South to maintain their profits

Question 35

In the antebellum era, the South never developed a significant industrial economy because

Answer 35

cotton prices were high and provided adequate incentives for Southerners to continue investment in that sector

Question 36

he ideal of the “Southern lady” embodied which of the following characteristics?

Answer 36

lives centered in the home as wives and mothers rather than as public figures

Question 37

Even though divided by a large gap in income and wealth, Southern plain folk were linked to the planter aristocracy

Answer 37

since race and kinship ties linked the two groups

Question 38

In practice, before the Civil War slave codes

Answer 38

regulated the behavior of both blacks and whites with respect to each other

Question 39

Some historians maintain that conditions for Northern factory workers were worse than those of slaves for the reason that

Answer 39

planters had an economic incentive to keep their slaves healthy

Question 40

Growing resistance to slavery in the cities was a result of

Answer 40

white fears of insurrections by the relatively unsupervised slaves

Question 41

Looking at the overall economy of the United States before 1860

Answer 41

Southerners feared economic colonialism, with the Northern economy becoming their master

Question 42

How might an historian today interpret the following 1849 statement?
“[N]either mule nor Negro can be made to do more than a certain amount of work; and that amount so small in comparison to the amount done by the white laborers at the North it is a universal observation at the South.”

Answer 42

Deliberate resistance may have decreased slave productivity.