Deck 13: The Entrenchment of Slavery and Regional Conflict

Question 1

Legally speaking, the geographic concentration of slavery in the southern part of the U.S. is explained by all of the following except

A) provisions in the Northwest Land Ordinance of 1787.
B) provisions in the constitutions of some northern states.
C) laws allowing for gradual emancipation in some northern states.
D) an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that allowed importation of slaves only through the port of Charleston after 1800.

Answer 1

an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that allowed importation of slaves only through the port of Charleston after 1800.

Question 2

With the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1787,

A) importation of slaves was made illegal.
B) importation of slaves was allowed, but only for the next 20 years.
C) importation of slaves from the Caribbean was prohibited, but importation of African slaves was allowed.
D) importation of slaves was allowed only on federally-approved vessels that met minimum crew sizes.

Answer 2

importation of slaves was allowed, but only for the next 20 years.

Question 3

Current research on the productivity of southern cotton plantations shows that

A) output per unit of input was greater on large slave plantations than on small free-family farms.
B) the majority of the South's cotton crop was grown on farm units of less than 100 acres.
C) output per slave declined during the antebellum period.
D) plantation-style agriculture was inefficient.
E) All of the above.

Answer 3

output per unit of input was greater on large slave plantations than on small free-family farms.

Question 4

The U.S. accounted for approximately what share of the transatlantic slave trade?

A) 3 percent
B) 6 percent
C) 12 percent
D) 36 percent
E) 72 percent

Question 5

Between 1820 and 1860, cotton output per slave

A) remained fairly stable.
B) increased by about 10 percent.
C) increased by fourfold or more.
D) decreased slightly.

Question 6

By 1850, the single largest U. S. commodity export (in terms of value) was

A) iron railroad tracks.
B) wheat.
C) cotton.
D) slaves.

Question 7

Gradual emancipation laws adopted by some Northern states

A) used tax revenues to compensate slave owners for the financial loss associated with freeing slaves.
B) provided for all newborn children of slaves to be freed at birth.
C) provided for the freedom of female slaves, but not male slaves.
D) recognized that after age 10 the cost of a slave to the owner was less than the benefit of a slave to the owner.

Question 8

Which region in the New World received the largest share of slaves brought to the New World?

A) Brazil
B) Colonial America
C) Cuba
D) Canada

Question 9

Contemporary observers of slavery such as Cassius M. Clay and Frederick Law Olmstead wrote that

A) slave labor was much less productive than white labor.
B) slave labor was much more productive than white labor.
C) slave labor and white labor were equally productive.
D) slave labor in the agricultural setting was more productive than slave labor in the manufacturing setting.

Question 10

The first actions taken socially to compel conformity to abolitionist sentiments was taken by

A) the Puritans.
B) various Plains Indian tribes.
C) the Quakers.
D) Roman Catholics.

Question 11

Which region in the New World received the smallest share of slaves brought to the New World?

A) Brazil
B) Colonial America
C) Spanish America
D) French Caribbean

Question 12

Which did not contribute to the rise of "King Cotton"?

A) Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793
B) soils and climate of the new Southwest
C) large shifts in slave populations
D) declines in slave populations that drove mechanical innovation

Question 13

By 1825, what area in the New World had the greatest portion of slaves?

A) Spanish colonies
B) The West Indies
C) The United States
D) Brazil

Question 14

New Jersey adopted a policy of gradual emancipation slaves that freed male slaves when they reached age 25. This policy meant that slave owners earned a rate of return ______.

A) of zero, because profits during the slave's working years about equaled the costs of rearing a slave.
B) that was about equal to the normal return, because the profits earned up to age 25 exceeded rearing costs by a substantial margin.
C) a very high rate of return because slaves were generally unproductive after their peak years.
D) that cannot be calculated because of a lack of data.

Question 15

Approximately how many slaves were brought from Africa to the New World during the operation of the transatlantic slave trade?

A) 50,000
B) 700,000
C) 5 million
D) 10 million

Question 16

Between 1780 and 1805, five Northern states enacted emancipation laws. All of the following statements characterize these laws except :

A) The emancipation laws provided for freedom of newborn babies when they reached adulthood.
B) The emancipation laws allowed owners to avoid freeing slaves by selling them to Southerners.
C) The emancipation laws provided for government agencies that assisted newly-freed slaves.
D) The emancipation laws indirectly compensated owners for the losses incurred by freeing slaves.

Question 17

The majority of slaves that were brought to the New World during the colonial period were used in the production of:

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

Question 18

From the late 1780s to immediately before the Civil War, the U.S. slave population

A) increased from roughly 300,000 to over 6 million.
B) increased from roughly 600,000 to almost 4 million.
C) stayed roughly the same.
D) increased by nearly 10 million.

Question 19

What is not correct about the Northern U.S. abolitionist movement?

A) Northern slaveholders could sell their slaves to the south.
B) Slave owners in the North suffered significant economic loss because slaves were given their freedom much sooner than in the South.
C) Most Northern states freed slaves after they had reached a minimum age.
D) In most northern states freedom was granted over a gradual period of time.

Question 20

Approximately how many slaves were brought to the colonial U.S. from Africa during the operation of the transatlantic slave trade?

A) 50,000
B) 700,000
C) 5 million
D) 10 million

Question 21

Most current economic historians believe that

A) slavery was profitable and viable.
B) slavery would have eventually ended due to its inherent unprofitability.
C) slavery was economically inefficient.
D) free labor was more productive than slave labor.

Question 22

According to estimates by Richard Vedder, rates of exploitation for slaves

A) are similar to those of antebellum manufacturing workers.
B) indicate that slaves received nearly the full value marginal product of their labor.
C) equaled 50-65 percent of their value marginal product.
D) cannot be determined due to inadequate data on maintenance costs of adult slaves.

Question 23

Between 1850 and 1860 the prices of slaves ____ and the price of cotton ______.

A) rose, rose.
B) rose, fell.
C) fell, rose.
D) fell, fell.

Question 24

Productivity gains on southern cotton plantations were due to

A) improved varieties of seeds.
B) use of the gang system.
C) longer work hours.
D) All of the above.
E) Both a and b are correct.

Question 25

Which statement is most accurate about the U.S. between 1800-1860?

A) New states were always permitted to choose whether they wanted to be free or slave states.
B) Slaves were prohibited from the western territories and new states.
C) The threat of having their jobs replaced by slaves led many southerners to unionize.
D) The total value of slaves in the U.S. increased substantially after the slave trade was stopped in the early 1800s.

Question 26

In 1860, the total value of U.S. slaves was

A) greater than GNP.
B) about $3 billion.
C) greater than $10 billion.
D) about $1 billion.

Question 27

According to Walton and Rockoff, large slave plantations were _____ efficient than farms without slaves because of (among several reasons) _______.

A) more, the great intensity per hour with which slaves were forced to worked.
B) more, large plantation owners used political power to control the best land.
C) less, free men work harder than slaves.
D) less, slaves frequently sabotaged production.

Question 28

On the eve of the Civil War, which U.S. region had the highest per capita income?

A) the Northeast region
B) the South Atlantic region
C) the North Central region
D) the West South Central region

Question 29

The "gang system" is an example of

A) specialization and division of labor.
B) diminishing marginal product.
C) the envelope theorem.
D) Gresham 's law.

Question 30

"Economic exploitation" is measured by

A) the sum of all input costs, both direct and indirect.
B) the difference between the value of output a worker adds and what she receives.
C) the difference between a monopoly's profit and the profit of a competitive firm.
D) the average wage of a skilled worker divided by the average wage of an unskilled worker.

Question 31

Which statement is most correct: According to new research by Olmstead and Rhodes in 2008, productivity gains in cotton

A) included a nearly 10 percent per annum increase in labor productivity.
B) were accomplished by mechanical innovations.
C) were accomplished by biological innovations.
D) were entirely due to the depletion of Eastern soils, which drove production to the Southwest.

Question 32

In the Dred Scott decision (1857), the Supreme Court declared that

A) Congress could not admit a free state without simultaneously admitting a slave state.
B) slavery was not legal in the western territories.
C) fugitive slaves were not legally protected from bounty hunters.
D) Congress could not prohibit slavery in the western territories.

Question 33

In 1860, the Republican Party formed a coalition of anti-slavery voters that elected Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. Members of this coalition included all of the following groups except :

A) Northwestern farmers.
B) Irish and German immigrants.
C) Producers who were economically linked by the Northern Gateway.
D) Large property owners in New Mexico and Utah.

Question 34

Research by Fogel and Engerman shows that, holding other factors constant, output per unit of total input was highest for Southern farms with

A) no slaves.
B) 1 to 15 slaves.
C) 16 to 50 slaves.
D) more than 50 slaves.

Question 35

The break-up of slave families was most often due to

A) the sale of fathers.
B) the sale of mothers.
C) the sale of children.
D) divorce.

Question 36

Which statement is most accurate about the U.S. in 1860?

A) The per capita income of free people in the Western South was about twice the national average.
B) The per capita income of free people in the entire U.S. decreased.
C) The per capita income of free people in the entire U.S. increased, but increased more slowly than it did before the Revolution.
D) The Northwest was the poorest part of the nation, as measured by per capita income of free people.

Question 37

Between 1810 and 1860, the value of slaves in the United States

A) nearly doubled.
B) tripled.
C) increased nearly fourfold.
D) increased nearly tenfold.

Question 38

Which of the following statements about the slave family in the U.S. is most accurate ?

A) Slave owners preferred slaves who lived in intact families.
B) In most two-parent slave families, the parents lived on different plantations.
C) The father was white in about 75 percent of the households headed by single slave mothers.
D) About half of children under 15 years of age were sold away from their families.

Question 39

In examining incomes of free southerners prior to the Civil War, Walton and Rockoff  conclude that, compared with northerners, free southerners were ______.

A) generally far poorer than northerners and falling further behind.
B) generally far poorer than northerners, except in the old South.
C) generally doing fairly well, even in the old South.
D) far richer than northerners but a downward trend was noticeable.

Question 40

In the 20 years before the Civil War real per capita incomes were ___ in the South than in the North, and the growth rate was ___ in the South than in the North.

A) higher, higher.
B) lower, higher.
C) higher, lower.
D) lower, lower.

Question 41

If the consumer price index in 2007 is 25 times that of 1860, and a slave cost $2,000, how much is that in terms of 2007 dollars?

A) $12,500
B) $25,000
C) $50,000
D) $75,000
E) $750,000

Question 42

What aspect of economic exploitation does Richard Vedder's method of calculating the rate of exploitation not account for?

A) the loss of incentive to self-improve
B) wage raises in the task system
C) better food rations on large plantations
D) earning opportunities for urban slaves

Question 43

Which of the following family type constituted the absolute majority among slaves?

A) One parent, female headed
B) One parent, male headed
C) Two parent, divided residence
D) Two parent, consolidated

Question 44

At what age was a slave child most likely to be sold away from its family?

A) 2 years
B) 5 years
C) 10 years
D) 16 years