Deck 13: The Slave South 1820-1860

Question 1

What did mid-nineteenth-century southern men need in order to achieve high social standing and success in the world of politics?

A) A reputation for using violence on their slaves
B) A strong education from a reputable school
C) Connections to northern industry
D) An honorable reputation

Answer 1

D

Question 2

According to Map 13.2: The Agricultural Economy of the South,1860,which southern state grew both corn and cotton?

A) Texas
B) Arkansas
C) Mississippi
D) Kentucky

Answer 2

B

Question 3

According to South Carolina political leader John C.Calhoun,what happened in states where slavery was abolished?

A) The condition of blacks got worse.
B) Blacks began to dominate politics.
C) Former slaves lived happy lives.
D) Blacks continued to contribute to the economy.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which statement characterizes white southerners in the antebellum South?

A) Most worked small farms with the help of only a few slaves.
B) The average white southerner owned about twenty slaves.
C) Most white southerners did not own slaves.
D) The majority of whites considered themselves planters.

Question 5

How did white Virginians respond to the violence of Nat Turner's rebellion?

A) Many emancipated their slaves.
B) The legislature passed laws to encourage more lenient treatment of slaves.
C) They blamed the revolt on outside agitators.
D) Planters started to openly criticize the institution of slavery.

Question 6

Prior to the Civil War,why did the South remain agriculturally based instead of diversifying its economy?

A) Southerners shunned the idea of capitalism.
B) Planters made good profits and feared economic change.
C) There were too few cities in the South to support industry.
D) The South's earlier experiment with textile manufacture had failed.

Question 7

How did the institution of slavery affect social relations in the South?

A) Poor whites identified more with free blacks than with planters.
B) People who owned no slaves generally disapproved of the planters' practices.
C) Planters treated whites who owned no slaves as far inferior to themselves.
D) Whites were unified around race rather than divided by social class.

Question 8

"Be it good or bad,it [slavery] has grown up with our society and institutions,and is so interwoven with them,that to destroy it would be to destroy us as a people.But let me not be understood as admitting,even by implication,that the existing relations between the two races in the slaveholding States is an evil: far otherwise;I hold it to be a good....I appeal to facts.Never before has the black race of Central Africa,from the dawn of history to the present day,attained a condition so civilized and so improved,not only physically,but morally and intellectually.It came to us in a low,degraded,and savage condition,and in the course of a few generations,it has grown up under the fostering care of our institutions,reviled they have been,to its present comparatively civilized condition.This,with the rapid increase of numbers,is conclusive proof of the general happiness of the race,in spite of all the exaggerated tales to the contrary.... I may say with truth,that in few countries so much is left to the share of the laborer,and so little exacted from him,or where there is more kind attention paid to him in sickness or infirmities of age.Compare his condition with the tenants of the poor houses in the more civilized portions of Europe-look at the sick,and the old and infirm slave,on one hand,in the midst of his family and friends,under the kind superintending care of his master and mistress,and compare it with the forlorn and wretched condition of the pauper in the poor house."
Which of the following did John Calhoun give as a justification to allow the South to remain a slave society?

A) Slavery improved slaves' spiritual lives by teaching them Christianity.
B) Slavery was still legal in other countries.
C) Slaves were better off than their laboring counterparts in Europe.
D) Without slavery,poor whites would have no way to distinguish themselves from blacks.

Question 9

Historians use the term planter to identify whites who owned at least how many slaves?

A) Five
B) Ten
C) Twenty
D) Fifty

Question 10

What was a consequence of the mid-nineteenth-century South's lack of economic diversity?

A) Newly arrived European immigrants tended to settle in the North.
B) The South was dependent on the North for food products.
C) Southern legislatures could not create banking systems.
D) Southern governments increased the income tax.

Question 11

How important was agriculture to the economy of the North in the mid-nineteenth century?

A) It played no role in the northern economy.
B) It dominated the northern economy as it did in the South.
C) It combined with commerce and manufacturing in a mixed economy.
D) It flourished in New England only.

Question 12

How did slaves manipulate planters' emphasis on paternalism?

A) They sometimes negotiated concessions like small garden plots.
B) They convinced masters to abandon violence in the fields.
C) They often negotiated the terms of their own freedom.
D) They convinced masters to teach them to read and write.

Question 13

In 1831,Alexis de Tocqueville observed that the major differences between the North and South revolved around

A) the vast amounts of free land available to southerners.
B) the fact that the northern states were overcrowded.
C) the southerners' preference for a weak centralized government.
D) the southern institution of slavery.

Question 14

The lithograph "The Fruits of Amalgamation" portrays anxiety over what possible effect of emancipation?

A) Free blacks taking white jobs
B) Interracial marriage
C) Revenge killing of white slave owners by free blacks
D) The economic collapse of the South

Question 15

"Jesus Christ recognized this institution [slavery] as one that was lawful among men,and regulated its relative duties....I affirm then,first, (and no man denies,)that Jesus Christ has not abolished slavery by a prohibitory command: and second,I affirm,he has introduced no new moral principle which can work its destruction,under the gospel dispensation;and that the principle relied on for this purpose,is a fundamental principle of the Mosaic law,under which slavery was instituted by Jehovah himself.... To the church at Colosse ...Paul in his letter to them,recognizes the three relations of wives and husbands,parents and children,servants and masters,as relations existing among the members ...and to the servants and masters he thus writes: 'Servants obey in all things your masters,according to the flesh: not with eye service,as men pleasers,but in singleness of heart,fearing God: and whatsoever you do,do it heartily,as to the Lord and not unto men;knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance,for ye serve the Lord Christ....Masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal,knowing that you also have a master in heaven.'"
According to Reverend Thornton Stringfellow,who initially established the institution of slavery?

A) Jehovah
B) Moses
C) Jesus
D) Paul

Question 16

What was the primary cause of the growth in the southern slave population between 1790 and 1869?

A) The importation of slaves from Africa
B) Natural reproduction
C) Miscegenation
D) Southerners buying slaves from the North

Question 17

Mid-nineteenth century planters began to treat their slaves marginally better because

A) it was in the master's best interest to treat his slaves well enough so they could have children.
B) legislatures passed laws mandating a certain minimum level of physical welfare for slaves.
C) masters became more fearful of slave uprisings with the passage of time.
D) slaves could block sales to plantation owners who had a bad reputation.

Question 18

What did plantation owners mean when they described the master-slave relationship in terms of "paternalism"?

A) Masters had no direct contact with their slaves.
B) A slave's labor and obedience were exchanged for the master's care and guidance.
C) The master's relationship with his slave mirrored his relationship with God.
D) The relationship between master and slave was like that of government and citizen.

Question 19

How did larger planters have the time to concentrate on marketing and finance while still running a profitable plantation?

A) They left their wives in charge of plantation discipline.
B) They had so many slaves that they policed themselves.
C) They hired overseers to go to the fields with the slaves.
D) They hired white servants to work the fields with the slaves.

Question 20

Which staple crop was grown almost exclusively along a narrow strip of coast stretching from the Carolinas into Georgia?

A) Tobacco
B) Sugar
C) Hemp
D) Rice

Question 21

The typical plantation belt yeoman aspired to

A) overthrow slavery.
B) move up to the planter class.
C) leave the farm and open a shop in town.
D) earn an education.

Question 22

Which statement describes the daily lives of southern women on the plantation?

A) Elite women had few responsibilities.
B) They worked long hours performing plantation duties.
C) Women's only responsibility was to bear children.
D) They were only responsible for educating their children.

Question 23

The majority of plantation slaves worked as

A) skilled artisans.
B) field hands.
C) house servants.
D) tobacco farmers.

Question 24

How did southern men's emphasis on chivalry affect southern law?

A) Women could more easily seek divorce in the South than in the North.
B) White women kept their own property after they married.
C) Laws protected women from unfair treatment by their husbands.
D) Southern laws affirmed the paramount rights of husbands.

Question 25

Why did planters promote Christianity in the slave quarters?

A) They didn't want infidels playing with their children.
B) They hoped that religion would help the slaves live longer.
C) They believed Christianity would make slaves more obedient.
D) Evangelicals were advocating Christianizing the slaves.

Question 26

What percentage of non-slaveholding rural white men were landless and very poor?

A) 5 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 75 percent

Question 27

How did yeomen in the South's plantation belt feel about wealthy planters?

A) They relied on planters to ship and sell their cotton for them.
B) Most raged at the oppression of the planter regime.
C) They tried to avoid their richer neighbors and carve out their own market niche.
D) Most were opposed to slavery in principle.

Question 28

Why were open slave revolts uncommon in the South?

A) Heavily armed whites outnumbered blacks two to one by 1860.
B) The majority of slaves believed slavery was better than being free and poor.
C) Slave religion discouraged open revolt.
D) Slaves lacked the organizational skills needed to stage a revolt.

Question 29

Which statement characterizes how southern plain folk viewed religion?

A) They typically avoided it.
B) Most embraced Catholicism.
C) They enjoyed religious revivals.
D) They attended traditional church services each week without fail.

Question 30

Most upcountry yeomen focused on cultivating

A) cotton.
B) food.
C) tobacco.
D) indigo.

Question 31

By 1860,the southern slave system existed

A) exclusively on plantations.
B) in almost every industry.
C) only on farms.
D) in rural but not urban areas.

Question 32

What does the drawing titled "Camp Meeting,Mid-Nineteenth Century" suggest about those who attended camp meetings and revivals?

A) They possessed a relatively low-class status.
B) They were slaves.
C) They were wealthy.
D) They were a racially and economically diverse group.

Question 33

Most runaway slaves

A) escaped to Canada.
B) found refuge in the free North.
C) were caught and returned.
D) were executed by angry owners.

Question 34

What happened to slave men when they became elderly?

A) They were allowed to retire from the plantation.
B) They primarily worked in the big house.
C) They became supervisors of the younger slaves.
D) They moved on to new jobs,like cleaning stables.

Question 35

The rarest job on the plantation for slaves was that of driver,the person who

A) transported the slaves to the fields from their quarters.
B) worked alongside the carpenter,driving in nails.
C) sat in the farm equipment and managed the animals that pulled it.
D) made sure all slaves worked hard.

Question 36

Which of the following was the most common way slaves reacted to their bondage?

A) Quiet suffering
B) Suicide
C) Small-scale resistance
D) Organized rebellions

Question 37

African American Christianity,created by slaves themselves,

A) emphasized justice.
B) delivered the same message taught by white preachers.
C) resembled Catholicism more than Evangelical Protestantism.
D) focused on passive resistance.

Question 38

The economy of the upcountry South depended on

A) slave ownership.
B) cash crops.
C) servant labor.
D) barter.

Question 39

Which statement describes slave marriages?

A) Some were long-lasting.
B) They were protected by law.
C) Masters were obligated to honor the bonds of marriage.
D) Slaves did not marry.

Question 40

Most plantation mistresses kept their opinions on issues to themselves,but the diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut echoed most women in railing against

A) miscegenation.
B) racial discrimination.
C) the institution of slavery.
D) the South's lack of public schools.

Question 41

The large numbers of blacks in the antebellum South had profound effects on the region.Give several examples of how blacks influenced southern culture.

Question 42

Why did the South remain agricultural when the economy of the North was diversifying?

Question 43

Explain how plain folk in both the plantation belt and the upcountry viewed the idea of white supremacy,and what led them to adopt these views.

Question 44

Which statement describes the life of free black elites in southern cities?

A) They worshiped in white churches.
B) They had the right to vote.
C) They still lived in ghettoes.
D) They never left the state of their birth.

Question 45

How did powerful whites defend slavery from attacks by critics?

A) They triumphed in public debates.
B) They acknowledged the diversity of opinions.
C) They argued that all slaves would eventually gain freedom.
D) They used intimidation tactics to silence critics.

Question 46

After 1820,the South began passing strict slave codes and put a great deal of effort into justifying the institution of slavery.What were some of the defenses southerners used to justify slavery?

Question 47

Explain how the politics of slavery helped knit together all of white society in the South.

Question 48

What did the Whig and Democratic parties have in common?

A) Both supported state-run banks.
B) Both opposed state support of railroads.
C) Both emphasized the importance of education.
D) Both declared allegiance to republican equality.

Question 49

Most free blacks in the antebellum South

A) lived in cities.
B) worked as skilled laborers.
C) gradually assimilated into the rural white society.
D) lacked education.

Question 50

How did the democratization of politics in the South change the shape of government?

A) Planters' power became more proportionate to their population.
B) Yeomen captured the majority of political offices.
C) Most new legislators did not own slaves.
D) Democratization changed the voter rolls more than the officeholders.

Question 51

Discuss the roles and responsibilities of plantation mistresses.

Question 52

By the 1850s,the political system of the white South

A) had extended suffrage for all adult white males.
B) had restricted suffrage to keep yeomen from holding office.
C) was characterized by poor voter turnout.
D) was largely free from partisan voting.

Question 53

Why did southerners move westward in 1815? Where did they tend to settle?

Question 54

Elite southerners maintained their power over the yeoman majority by

A) using violent intimidation to gain votes.
B) convincing yeomen of their shared interests.
C) raising voter requirements to weed out poor voters.
D) proclaiming their moral superiority.

Question 55

The majority of poor white men in the mid-nineteenth-century South would agree on which statement?

A) The South should promote agriculture.
B) They system of slavery benefitted only the rich.
C) Women workers deserved the same rights as men.
D) Planter politicians should be overthrown.

Question 56

List and describe the various kinds of jobs that slaves held outside of plantations.

Question 57

The goal of most free blacks in the South was to

A) become slaveholders.
B) raise a slave rebellion.
C) preserve their own freedom.
D) move to Africa.

Question 58

Which of the following restrictions was placed on the 260,000 free blacks in the South by 1860?

A) They could not legally marry.
B) They could not participate in politics.
C) They could not own any property.
D) They could not own slaves.

Question 59

Why was the cotton kingdom also a slave empire?

Question 60

How did southern whites view free blacks in the antebellum period? What kinds of legislation did southern whites pass in regard to the rights of free blacks?

Question 61

There were some free blacks in the South during the antebellum years.Describe them,and include in your answer (a)how they were treated by whites, (b)what their status was in society, (c)what kinds of labor they performed,and (d)whether they owned any slaves.

Question 62

Describe in detail the family,religious,and community life of slaves.Were slaves able to retain any of their African culture?

Question 63

Discuss the southern concepts of paternalism and chivalry.Identify the similarities between them and compare the complex relationship between subordinated women and oppressed slaves.

Question 64

Although a new nation was created under the Constitution in 1789,there were already significant differences between the North and the South.Discuss the evolution of the South as a distinctive region economically.What role did slavery play? How did white southerners enforce slavery and argue its positive aspects?

Question 65

Besides planters and their slaves,the population of the antebellum South included plantation belt yeomen,upcountry yeomen,and poor whites.Characterize each group,describing their relationship to the planter class,their aspirations,and their views on slavery.