Walsingham Academy - SCIENCE 101

CHAPTER 11: THE SOUTH, SLAVERY, AND KING COTTON, 1800-1860

TRUE/FALSE

1)One of the most realistic depictions of the Old South comes from the classic film Gone with the Wind.

2. The percentage of the native-born population in the South was high in comparison to other parts of the country.

3. The Old South was a socially, culturally, and economically unified region of the United States.

4. Tobacco was the first major cash crop of the South.

5. Agricultural diversity in the Old South was practically nonexistent.

6. Falling crop prices and soil exhaustion spurred many residents from the Carolinas and Virginia to migrate to the Old Southwest.

7. Men on the southern frontier generally avoided alcohol, gambling, or fighting.

8. The large-scale slaveholding planter class made up only a very small portion of the overall southern society.

9. A black overseer on a plantation was known as a driver.

10. Visitors to the South often had a hard time telling poor whites apart from small farmers.

11. The slave population in the South showed no significant growth between 1790 and 1830.

12. Free blacks were usually wealthy and highly educated.

13. The operation of the domestic slave trade often meant separating families from each other.

14. The South was overwhelmingly Catholic.

15. Denmark Vesey plotted a slave insurrection in Charleston, South Carolina.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. The movie Gone with the Wind:
   1. realistically portrays slavery
   2. mirrors the portrayal of the South in Uncle Tom’s Cabin
   3. presents a mythic view of the Old South
   4. has little remaining influence in our culture
   5. offended white southerners at the time of its release

2. The development of southern industry:
   1. lagged behind the North
   2. was more significant than agriculture to the southern economy
   3. was the only sector of the southern economy that did not rely on slaves
   4. turned the North into a colonial dependency of the more developed South
   5. was nonexistent before the Civil War

3. All the following might be used to explain the South’s distinctiveness EXCEPT:
   1. its climate
   2. its preponderance of farming
   3. its biracial population
   4. the high proportion of immigrants that comprised the overall southern population
   5. its determination to preserve slavery

4. The South’s population:
   1. was more ethnically diverse than any other area in the country
   2. had more immigrants from Germany than from any other country after the Revolution
   3. declined significantly after the Revolution
   4. had a high proportion of native-born, both black and white
   5. was racially unified due to the region’s ban on all immigration

5. Which of the following was NOT part of the myth of the Old South’s superiority?
   1. The standard of living in northern states had declined since slavery had been banned.

1. 2. Kind planters indulged their happy slaves.
   3. Slavery was beneficial to both the master and slave.
   4. The South was morally superior to the North.
   5. One southerner could defeat ten northerners in combat.

6. By 1860, slavery was most concentrated:
   1. in the Lower South                                  d. in Texas and Louisiana
   2. in the Carolinas                                       e.   equally through the South
   3. in the Upper South

7. By the antebellum period, all of the following remained significant cash crops in the South EXCEPT:
   1. cotton                                                      d. tobacco
   2. sugar                                                       e.   indigo
   3. rice

8. The focus on cotton and other cash crops has obscured the degree to which:
   1. the antebellum South fed itself from its own fields
   2. the South became totally dependent on the West for its food
   3. the South relied on Britain for its manufactured goods
   4. the North had to use imported cotton from overseas for its textile manufacturers
   5. most white southerners lived and worked in cities

9. During the first half of the nineteenth century, cotton became the most profitable form of agriculture, surpassing:
   1. swine                                                       d. tobacco
   2. rice                                                          e.   hemp
   3. indigo

10. In the antebellum period, which of the following was in the Old Southwest?
    1. Virginia                                                   d. Georgia

1. 2. North Carolina                                        e.   South Carolina
   3. Mississippi

11. The Old Southwest:
    1. included Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah
    2. attracted thousands of settlers in the 1820s and 1830s with its low land prices and suitability for cotton production
    3. attracted nearly twice as many female as male settlers in the early years
    4. soon boasted the nation’s highest standards of public education
    5. was a promised land for slaves because of superior work conditions

12. Life in the Old Southwest was characterized by:
    1. a lack of women                                     d. pacifism
    2. pleasant working conditions                   e.   opposition to slavery
    3. prohibition of alcohol

13. Slaves forced to migrate to the Old Southwest were particularly despondent over:
    1. the lack of meaningful work that awaited them
    2. the control that women exerted over the region’s culture and society
    3. the absence of alcohol on the frontier
    4. the urban and industrial nature of the region
    5. the breakup of family ties that resulted from the migration

14. Which of the following was not a part of the “masculine” culture of the Old Southwest’s frontier?
    1. violence                                                   d. gambling
    2. gender equality                                       e.   sexual promiscuity
    3. alcohol use

15. As southerners moved farther west and south between 1812 and 1860:
    1. cotton production soared
    2. the South became less agricultural
    3. the South became less distinctive
    4. fewer slaves were needed
    5. North–South relations got better

16. By 1860, the significance of Britain to the southern economy was based on the fact that:
    1. Britain provided most of the slaves to the South
    2. Britain was the major consumer of southern tobacco
    3. British consumers sparked the growth of the thriving southern indigo trade
    4. Britain had pledged itself to protect the institution of slavery
    5. Britain was a major importer of southern cotton

17. The rapid expansion of the cotton belt in the South:
    1. reduced the significance of slavery
    2. spurred a rise in the number of enslaved blacks given their freedom
    3. ensured that the region became more dependent on enslaved black workers
    4. increased the responsibilities of field work for the plantation mistress
    5. eliminated the presence of all other staple crops throughout the region

18. Most southern men prided themselves on adhering to a moral code based on:
    1. deference to female authority               d. the disregard of elders
    2. racial equality                                         e.   pacifism
    3. a prickly sense of honor

19. The frequency of dueling in the South was probably caused by:
    1. hot weather that elevated tempers
    2. lack of education of the participants
    3. the absence of police departments
    4. the beauty of southern women
    5. southerners’ exalted sense of honor

20. What portion of the South’s white population had no proprietary interest in slaves?
    1. one tenth                                                 d. two thirds
    2. one fourth                                               e.   three fourths
    3. one half

21. To be called a “planter,” one had to:
    1. own at least twenty slaves                      d. own thousands of slaves
    2. work alongside slaves                             e.   avoid involvement in politics
    3. be engaged in the slave trade

22. Most slaves in the Lower South:
    1. served as household help
    2. supported the institution of slavery
    3. escaped from their masters at one point
    4. were white
    5. labored on large plantations

23. The plantation mistress:
    1. usually led a life of idle leisure
    2. often criticized the prevailing social order and racist climate
    3. generally confronted a double standard in terms of moral and sexual behavior
    4. was sometimes known as the slave driver
    5. represented the typical southern white woman

24. Plantation mistresses:
    1. tended to oppose slavery
    2. very seldom toiled
    3. were usually college educated
    4. supervised the domestic household
    5. could count on their husbands being faithful

25. On a plantation, the position responsible for managing the agricultural production in every way was the:
    1. driver                                                      d. overseer
    2. slave                                                        e.   master
    3. field hand

26. The most numerous white southerners were the:
    1. planters                                                   d. manufacturers
    2. yeoman farmers                                     e.   overseers
    3. “poor whites”

27. Middling farmers in the South:
    1. usually owned slaves
    2. generally supported white supremacy
    3. lived on the verge of starvation
    4. were the lower class of the region
    5. were outnumbered by the planters

28. Why were theories of racial superiority significant in the South?
    1. They created a sense of unity that bridged class divisions among most southern whites.
    2. They were primarily adhered to by the planter elite that owned slaves.
    3. They played no role in encouraging white support of slavery.
    4. They were created by slaves to justify their enslavement.
    5. They fostered slave rebellions among slaves who believed in the inferiority of the planter class.

29. Poor whites were often employed as:
    1. day laborers
    2. blacksmiths and other skilled labor positions
    3. slave drivers
    4. teachers

1. 5. indentured servants

30. Approximately how many slaves lived in the South in 1860?
    1. 30,000 d.   4 million
    2. 100,000                                                   e.   10 million
    3. 1 million

31. The rules that governed virtually every aspect of slave life were known as:
    1. paternalism                                             d.   slaveocracy
    2. a slave code                                            e.   total control
    3. civil law

                                                                 MSC: Remembering

32. Free blacks in the South:
    1. sometimes owned slaves                        d. outnumbered slaves
    2. were always of mixed race                    e.   mostly emigrated to Africa
    3. enjoyed full legal equality

33. Some free blacks were:
    1. eligible to vote
    2. immigrants from the Caribbean
    3. local political leaders
    4. people of mixed ancestry called mulattoes
    5. considered equal to whites

34. All of the following statements about southern free blacks are true EXCEPT:
    1. most were very poor
    2. some were slave owners themselves
    3. there were no women were among them

1. 4. some owned and operated businesses that served a white clientele
   5. they were still subject to racist legal restrictions not imposed upon whites

35. Slave owners in the antebellum South acquired additional slaves from:
    1. Africa                                                      d. the West Indies
    2. Brazil                                                       e.   Asia
    3. the domestic slave trade

36. Which of the following statements was generally true of slave life?
    1. Their lives were very similar from place to place and master to master.
    2. Masters saw the wisdom in feeding their slaves well.
    3. Field hands were organized into work gangs.
    4. Slave mothers saw the overwhelming majority of their children reach adulthood.
    5. Punishments were only meted out when a serious crime warranted them.

37. Which of the following was NOT a major motivation for whipping a slave?
    1. illustrating absolute physical control
    2. showing other slaves the penalty for bad behavior and poor habits
    3. as a punishment for a crime
    4. for failing to recognize the moral superiority of the overseer and driver
    5. for failing to meet labor expectations

38. Slaves living in southern cities had a much different experience from those on farms because:
    1. they were able to interact with an extended interracial community
    2. they held political power
    3. they almost always received a formal education
    4. there were no women slaves in urban areas
    5. only free blacks could own slaves in the city

39. Why were slave women valued by slave owners?
    1. They exclusively did the household labor.
    2. They had low birth rates due to their oppression.
    3. Their ability to reproduce increased the number of slaves owned.
    4. They were allowed to marry white men.
    5. They were solely responsible for harvesting the fields.

40. When in 1855 a slave named Celia killed her sexually abusive master, she was:
    1. acquitted                                                 d. sentenced to life in prison
    2. applauded                                               e.   hanged
    3. freed

41. What was NOT a common way that slaves established their private communities?
    1. openly attempted to organize religious services
    2. told stories about figures like Brer Rabbit who used his wits to survive against overwhelming odds
    3. gathered in secret night meetings where singing and dancing gave them a much needed

emotional release

1. 4. sang religious spirituals that possessed double meanings
   5. embraced religion as a way to spiritually free themselves from their captivity

42. The legal prohibition that denied slaves the right to marry:
    1. prevented slaves from forming families
    2. led to a devaluing of love in the slave community
    3. did not stop slaves from choosing partners and forging a family life
    4. reduced the significance of religion in slave life
    5. did not apply to white mistresses who chose to marry a slave

43. By the 1830s, most Baptists and Methodists in the South:
    1. condemned slavery                                 d. were active in reform movements
    2. owned slaves                                           e.   defended slavery
    3. were wealthy planters

44. Slave religion:
    1. mixed African and Christian elements
    2. caused slaves to accept their condition
    3. required reading of the Bible
    4. was stamped out by white masters
    5. was best observed during racially integrated church services

45. Approximately how many slaves joined Christian denominations by 1860?
    1. none                                                        d. 20 percent
    2. 100 percent                                             e.   less than 1 percent
    3. More than half

46. How would southern whites attempt to prevent slave rebellions?
    1. They met any sign of resistance or rebellion with a brutal response.
    2. They tried to ensure slave loyalty through kind treatment and monetary compensation.
    3. They had dark-skinned whites infiltrate and spy on slave communities.
    4. They offered freedom and passage out of the South to the most troublesome slaves.
    5. They taught slaves the value of hard work.

47. Why was organized resistance to slavery by slaves risky?
    1. Most slaves supported slavery.
    2. Southern whites possessed overwhelming authority and firepower.
    3. Slaves were pacifists.
    4. Slaves did not possess an alternative vision of what should replace slavery.
    5. Slaves believed that disorganized resistance was far more effective.

48. During the nineteenth century, major slave rebellions:

1. 1. occurred frequently
   2. were rare
   3. were sometimes joined by poor whites
   4. had about even odds of success
   5. happened most often in the Lower South

49. The slave revolt led by Nat Turner:
    1. resulted in his escape to Canada
    2. was one of hundreds in American history
    3. proved the influence of abolitionists in the South
    4. was betrayed before it even got started
    5. killed more than 50 whites before its suppression

50. A typical form of resistance pursued by slaves entailed:
    1. outright rebellion
    2. running away
    3. suicide
    4. malingering, feigning illness, and sabotage
    5. arson

MATCHING

51 Match each description with the item below.

1. 1. plotted a slave revolt near Richmond in 1800
   2. was hanged for killing her master when defending herself against a sexual assault
   3. ran away from slavery in Maryland and became an outspoken critic of the institution
   4. plantation mistress who was a critic of the plantation system
   5. led a successful slave revolt on Saint-Domingue
   6. allegedly plotted slave rebellion in South Carolina
   7. free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South