Chapter 11: The South and Slavery, 1800–1860
CORE OBJECTIVES
1. Explain the various factors that made the South distinct from the rest of the United States
TRUE/FALSE
1. Agricultural diversity in the Old South was practically nonexistent.
2. Economically the South was dependent on northern industry and commerce.
3. The percentage of the native-born population in the South was high compared with other
parts of the country
4. When defending their way of life, southerners often claimed that the region was more moral
than the North.
5. In addition to cash crops such as cotton and rice, the South also led the nation in the
production of hogs and cattle.
6. By 1860, two thirds of the richest Americans lived in the South.
7. Plantation owners were unable to exert any significant political or economic influence over
southern society.
8. The slave-holding planter class made up a small portion of the overall southern society.
9. A black “overseer” on a plantation was known as a “driver.”
10. The slave population in the South showed no significant growth between 1790 and 1830.
11. Free blacks were usually wealthy and highly educated.
12. In the South of the mid–nineteenth century there were virtually no people of mixed race.
13. The operation of the domestic slave trade often meant separating families from each other.
14. Slaves were overwhelmingly resistant to adopting Christianity.
15. The Denmark Vesey plot was a slave insurrection in Charleston, South Carolina.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. In which of the following ways was the South different from the rest of the nation?
a. It had more large cities.
b. It had more factories.
c. Its economy was based less on agriculture.
d. It relied more on slave labor.
e. It had a lower proportion of native-born Americans.
2. Because slavery was so central to southern culture, it was referred to as
a. racial unity.
b. the peculiar institution.
c. the white regime.
d. the peculiar bond.
e. southern equality.
3. In the Old South’s mythic view of itself, slavery
a. benefited both slaves and owners.
b. was not necessary.
c. was demeaning.
d. was brutal.
e. was a moral evil.
4. Abolitionists might portray southern planters as men who
a. raped and brutalized their slaves.
b. treated their slaves with dignity.
c. treated their slaves better than northern factory owners treated their employees.
d. rarely used violence to get slaves to obey.
e. actually desired slavery be phased out.
5. Which state was part of the sub-region of the Old South called the Lower South?
a. North Carolina
b. Tennessee
c. Georgia
d. Virginia
e. New Mexico
6. In the Border South, slavery was slowly disappearing because
a. there were so many slave rebellions.
b. cotton did not thrive there.
c. slaves were becoming too expensive.
d. the states in that region were encouraging emancipation.
e. slaves were being granted certain constitutional rights.
7. In the first half of the nineteenth century, __________ became the most profitable cash crop
in the South.
a. tobacco
b. cotton
c. rice
d. sugar
e. wheat
8. __________ were more expensive cash crops to produce than cotton in the early nineteenth
century.
a. Cotton and sugar
b. Rice and cotton
c. Rice and sugar
d. Rice and wheat
e. Cotton and wheat
9. The success of the southern “cotton kingdom” was the result of
a. the government’s use of high tariffs.
b. the widespread existence of banks in the South.
c. the end of the Second National Bank.
d. textile mills and the cotton gin.
e. the low price of cotton.
10. As the oldest southern states became less fertile, farmers moved to the
a. Border South.
b. Lower South.
c. Old Southwest.
d. Border South.
e. Upper South.
11. By 1860, annual cotton production had risen to
a. 250,000 bales.
b. 500,000 bales.
c. 1 million bales.
d. 2 million bales.
e. 4 million bales.
12. Which of the following was part of the Old Southwest?
a. Alabama
b. Nevada
c. California
d. Tennessee
e. Arizona
13. The cotton-producing region of Alabama and Mississippi was known as the __________
because of the color of the fertile soil.
a. Red River region
b. “Colorado”
c. black belt
d. green belt
e. brown belt
14. According to the textbook, by 1860 more than __________ of the slaves in the South
worked in cotton production.
a. 10 percent
b. 25 percent
c. 50 percent
d. 75 percent
e. 90 percent
15. The southern economy by 1860 could be fragile because it was so dependent on
a. northern textile mill markets.
b. the stock market.
c. Yankees in New York, who usually set the price of cotton.
d. the European demand for cotton.
e. the production of cheaper cotton than in Mexico.
16. Massive southern plantations were __________ and their owners wielded __________ in
economic, political, and social life.
a. common; little influence
b. common; great influence
c. rare; little influence
d. rare; great influence
e. rare; disproportionate influence
17. The difference between a plantation and a farm was the
a. types of crops grown.
b. size, diversity of crops, and the use of slaves.
c. use of drivers rather than overseers.
d. size, number of slaves, and use of overseers.
e. use of technology.
18. The textbook defines a southern planter as an individual who owned at least __________
slaves.
a. 20
b. 15
c. 10
d. 5
e. 2
19. __________ was a plantation mistress in South Carolina who complained that plantation
wives were treated no better than slaves.
a. Abigail Adams
b. Priscilla Greene
c. Sarah Grimke
d. Dolley Madison
e. Mary Boykin Chesnut