Deck 4: Eighteenth-Century Slave Societies

Question 1

The slave population of the Chesapeake was remarkable for being the first black population in the New World to

A)assimilate to the European culture of the slaveholding class.
B)increase by natural reproduction.
C)create stable Maroon communities beyond white control.
D)include a large proportion of free blacks in addition to slaves.

Answer 1

increase by natural reproduction.

Question 2

What impact did religion have on slavery throughout most of the eighteenth century in New England?

A)Because of their religious convictions,white New Englanders implemented abolitionist policies which would end slavery in their region by the middle of the eighteenth century.
B)Although they held fervently to their religious beliefs,white New Englanders did not allow those beliefs to interfere with the profits to be made from slavery and the slave trade.
C)Despite their religious convictions,white New Englanders imposed slave codes and punishments on their slaves which,on the whole,were more brutal than what was common farther South.
D)Because of their religious convictions,white New Englanders refused to participate in the trans-Atlantic slave trade,though they grudgingly accepted the existence of slavery within their own colonies.

Answer 2

Although they held fervently to their religious beliefs,white New Englanders did not allow those beliefs to interfere with the profits to be made from slavery and the slave trade.

Question 3

African-born slaves differed from Creoles in all of the following ways EXCEPT

A)African-born slaves were more likely to have filed teeth.
B)African-born slaves were more likely to have "country marks."
C)Creoles sometimes looked down on unassimilated African-born slaves.
D)Creoles usually attempted escape in groups whereas African-born slaves fled as individuals.

Answer 3

Creoles usually attempted escape in groups whereas African-born slaves fled as individuals.

Question 4

Approximately what percentage of African-born slaves died within the first year of their arrival in Virginia?

A)15
B)25
C)45
D)65

Question 5

Which region of colonial North America had the smallest black population?

A)Lower South
B)Upper South
C)Mid-Atlantic
D)New England

Question 6

Which of the following statements about the black population of eighteenth-century New England is LEAST accurate?

A)Although the number of blacks in the New England colonies increased significantly,blacks remained a very small percentage of the population in most of the colonies.
B)Because the number of blacks in New England was so small,the black population there kept to itself and had little social interaction with the white population.
C)Most of the black population of New England was concentrated in urban centers rather than the rural countryside.
D)Many slaves in New England worked in skilled trades or as domestic servants.

Question 7

All of the following trends were evident in eighteenth-century North American slave society EXCEPT

A)men were imported in larger numbers than women.
B)slaves were increasingly imported from the Caribbean instead of directly from Africa.
C)the enslaved population of North America began to grow through natural increase as well as importation.
D)the number of enslaved persons imported to North America increased dramatically from the number imported in the seventeenth century.

Question 8

Compared to other regions of colonial North America in the eighteenth century,the Mid-Atlantic region was notable for its

A)unusually large black population.
B)almost complete absence of African slaves.
C)cultural and ethnic diversity.
D)entrenched tradition of racial equality.

Question 9

Which colony had the largest number of slaves in the North throughout the eighteenth century?

A)Massachusetts
B)Pennsylvania
C)New York
D)Rhode Island

Question 10

By the middle of the eighteenth century,the slave population of the Chesapeake exhibited all of the following characteristics EXCEPT

A)ethnic differences within the slave population became less pronounced.
B)the number of slaves imported from Africa continued to increase steadily.
C)the number of female slaves increased,leading to a more balanced sex ratio.
D)the health and longevity of slaves improved noticeably.

Question 11

Which New England colony experienced the most significant growth in its enslaved population during the eighteenth century?

A)Massachusetts
B)Connecticut
C)Rhode Island
D)New Hampshire

Question 12

When speaking of slavery in eighteenth-century North America,the phrase "seasoned slave" refers to an enslaved person who

A)spent time in the Caribbean before reaching North America.
B)was brought to North America directly from Africa.
C)had assimilated to the labor system prevalent in the region in which he or she lived.
D)had acquired unusual artisanal skills.

Question 13

A unique feature of slavery in the Mid-Atlantic colonies was that

A)the region's Quaker colonists began to debate the morality of slavery and to launch an antislavery movement earlier than colonists elsewhere.
B)the abundance of food produced in the region ensured that most of the black population was well-fed,and health problems related to malnutrition were rare.
C)the cold climate killed off most germs,leaving northern slaves free from afflictions such as measles and whooping cough which devastated slave populations in more southern regions.
D)slaves in the Mid-Atlantic worked almost exclusively in artisanal trades,while the large farms of the Hudson Valley were worked almost entirely by white laborers.

Question 14

Which of the following statements best describes Negro Election Day?

A)It was an annual ceremony in which the black population of several New England states was allowed to select token representatives to the colonial assemblies.
B)It was an annual ceremony run by white colonists in several New England states who used it as an opportunity to mock and ridicule the black population.
C)It was an annual ceremony secretly conducted by disgruntled slaves in several New England states who chose representatives to lead resistance against the slave system.
D)It was an annual ceremony in which both slaves and masters participated that simultaneously strengthened communal ties among blacks and secured obedience to the slave system.

Question 15

The introduction of which profitable crop in the late seventeenth century transformed black life in the South Carolina Lowcountry?

A)rice
B)cotton
C)tobacco
D)sugar

Question 16

The slave Onesimus,given to the illustrious colonial clergymen Cotton Mather,is most notable for what accomplishment?

A)He introduced Mather to the process of inoculation for smallpox.
B)Under Mather's tutelage,he became the first black slave to convert to Christianity.
C)He introduced Mather to African call-and-response techniques which Mather popularized within the Puritan church.
D)He introduced Mather to rice-cultivating techniques which made his master a rich man and which introduced a new cash crop to North America.

Question 17

Approximately what percentage of slaves imported into Virginia between 1727 and 1740 came directly from Africa?

A)15
B)37
C)64
D)93

Question 18

By the middle of the eighteenth century,the manumission of slaves in the Mid-Atlantic colonies had been

A)prohibited entirely by colonial assemblies.
B)enacted completely by legislative decree.
C)dramatically increased by monetary rewards offered to masters who freed their slaves.
D)dramatically decreased by legal requirements that masters post heavy bonds before freeing their slaves.

Question 19

By 1740,blacks constituted approximately what percentage of the Chesapeake's overall population?

A)70
B)55
C)40
D)25

Question 20

Celebrated in New York and New Jersey,the black festival of Pinkster combined African elements with elements derived primarily from which European culture?

A)Dutch
B)English
C)French
D)Spanish

Question 21

Which of the following statements about the Stono Rebellion is MOST accurate?

A)The uprising lasted for several days before it was finally put down.
B)The uprising resulted in the deaths of almost four hundred white colonists.
C)The uprising was led by slaves who had converted to evangelical Protestant faiths during the Great Awakening.
D)The uprising was led by slaves who hoped to escape to freedom in the western lands across the Mississippi River.

Question 22

Which people introduced English colonists to the techniques used to grow rice in Carolina?

A)Native Americans
B)West Africans
C)East Asians
D)Spaniards

Question 23

In 1750,blacks represented approximately what percentage of the population of South Carolina?

A)30
B)45
C)60
D)75

Question 24

In the mid-eighteenth century,the assembly of South Carolina purchased the freedom of the slave Caesar in response to

A)his skill in minkisi,or sacred medicine.
B)his service in the colony's militia during a war against neighboring Indians.
C)his long-term,faithful service to his invalid master.
D)his invention of a new machine for harvesting rice.

Question 25

Between 1763 and the end of the American War for Independence,Florida was controlled by

A)Britain.
B)Spain.
C)France.
D)Portugal.

Question 26

In 1729,black Louisianans joined a rebellion against the French led by which Indian people?

A)the Choctaws
B)the Natchez
C)the Chickasaw
D)the Miami

Question 27

What was Francisco Menendez's claim to fame?

A)He led a militia composed of loyal slaves which helped to hunt down the Stono rebels.
B)He helped to establish a free black town in Florida and to recapture it after a British invasion.
C)He became the first African chief of the Creek Indians and led them into war against the colony of Georgia.
D)He led a band of blacks from slavery in Spanish Florida to freedom in British Georgia.

Question 28

In general,how did slavery in the Chesapeake differ from slavery in the Lowcountry of South Carolina?

A)In the Chesapeake,interracial contact was more daily and pervasive than in the Lowcountry.
B)In the Lowcountry,slaves were more closely supervised by their masters than in the Chesapeake.
C)In the Chesapeake,slaves were expected to complete a certain task during the day,after which their time was theirs to do with as they pleased; in the Lowcountry,slaves were worked by drivers from dawn till dusk.
D)In the Lowcountry,African cultural traits disappeared more quickly than they did in the Chesapeake.

Question 29

Which escaped slave was a leader of the Maroon villages called Gaillardeland?

A)St.Maló
B)Miró
C)Mose
D)Menendez

Question 30

A significant difference between slavery in South Carolina and slavery in Louisiana was that

A)slaves in South Carolina enjoyed considerable cultural autonomy whereas slaves in Louisiana did not.
B)slaves in Louisiana enjoyed considerable cultural autonomy whereas slaves in South Carolina did not.
C)the slaves brought to Louisiana early in the colony's history came mostly directly from Africa whereas the slaves brought to South Carolina came from the West Indies.
D)the slaves brought to South Carolina early in the colony's history came mostly directly from Africa whereas the slaves brought to Louisiana came from the West Indies.

Question 31

The War of Jenkins' Ear spilled over into North America when which governor and founder of Georgia attacked the Spanish fortress at St.Augustine?

A)Francisco Menendez
B)James Oglethorpe
C)John Norman
D)Cotton Mather

Question 32

In terms of racial demographics,the colony of South Carolina most closely resembled colonies in

A)the Chesapeake.
B)the Mid-Atlantic.
C)the Caribbean.
D)New England.

Question 33

The three major crops grown in early eighteenth-century Louisiana included all of the following EXCEPT

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

Question 34

The African words zinzin and gris-gris referred to

A)strains of rice grown in Louisiana.
B)charms or amulets carried for protection.
C)a special headdress which distinguished Bambara people from other African groups.
D)the land allotted to slaves to work for their own profit.

Question 35

In which decade did the slave population of South Carolina begin to achieve growth through natural reproduction?

A)1780s
B)1760s
C)1800s
D)1740s

Question 36

Which of the following statements about slaves living in Charleston,South Carolina,is most accurate?

A)Their close proximity to the white population gave slaves in Charleston far less mobility and social freedom than slaves in the Lowcountry.
B)Because slaves in Charleston tended to be skilled artisans,there were far fewer female slaves in the city than there were in the countryside.
C)Slaves in Charleston were far less likely than Lowcountry slaves to adopt English clothing or the English language.
D)Mulattoes in Charleston enjoyed greater privileges and a higher status than other blacks in the city.

Question 37

In the Lower South,slaves were attracted by the promise of freedom in Florida,a colony controlled in the first half of the eighteenth century by which power?

A)France
B)Britain
C)Spain
D)Portugal

Question 38

The first black town in North America was known as

A)St.Augustine.
B)Stono.
C)St.Maló.
D)Mose,or Fort Mose.

Question 39

Throughout most of the eighteenth century,the majority of slaves imported from Africa to North America were from which African region?

A)Gambia
B)Kongo
C)Benin
D)Angola

Question 40

In 1693 and 1733,the Spanish crown offered freedom to British slaves who escaped to Spanish dominions and

A)agreed to serve in the Spanish navy against Great Britain.
B)served for fifteen years as apprentices to Spanish masters.
C)professed adherence to Roman Catholicism.
D)brought with them scalps from two British subjects.