CHAPTER 11: SLAVERY AND THE OLD SOUTH, 1800–1860
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following was a part of the Lower South?
A) Georgia
B) North Carolina
C) Virginia
D) Maryland
2. Before 1800, slavery was associated with which of the following cash crops?
A) rice
B) corn
C) short-staple cotton
D) soybeans
3. The plantation system spread to the __________ after the War of 1812.
A) north
B) west
C) east
D) south
4. What percentage of the white southern population belonged to the plantation-owning class?
A) 5 percent
B) 12 percent
C) 20 percent
D) 32 percent
5. The __________ system involved a division of labor in which teams of field hands worked at a
regimented pace.
A) plantation
B) group
C) gang
D) planter
6. Why was long-staple cotton production limited to South Carolina and Georgia?
A) Only the planters in these states had sufficient wealth to purchase the equipment required to harvest
long-staple cotton.
B) These were the only states with the proper climate for growing long-staple cotton.
C) These were the only states with enough slave labor to tend and harvest long-staple cotton.
D) Only the plantations in these states had implemented the gang system required to harvest long-staple
cotton.
7. What was the leading economic institution in the Lower South?
A) family farms
B) plantations
C) factories
D) yeoman farmers
8. Why was slavery more profitable in the Lower South than the Upper South?
A) The dominant religious groups in the Lower South supported slavery, while the dominant religious
groups in the Upper South attacked slavery.
B) The cash crops grown in the Lower South required year-round labor, while the crops grown in the
Upper South generally did not require year-round labor.
C) Plantations in the Lower South had access to the cheaper international slave trade, while plantations in
the Upper South were forced to rely on the more expensive internal slave trade.
D) Slaves in the Lower South were mostly skilled artisans who could produce valuable goods, while
slaves in the Upper South were mostly unskilled laborers.
9. What was the average rate of return on capital invested in a slave?
A) 5 percent
B) 10 percent
C) 25 percent
D) 50 percent
10. In the slave market of 1815 – 1850, which of the following was most valuable as a slave?
A) Older males who had years of experience working in cotton fields of the Lower South.
B) Males who possessed the skills of an artisan, such as carpentry and engraving.
C) Older females who acted as matriarchs within slave communities.
D) Females of childbearing age used as a means of increasing the slave population.
11. Which of the following explains a particularly cruel aspect of the internal slave trade?
A) It required minimum sale prices.
B) It resulted in the passage of slave codes.
C) It separated slaves from their families.
D) It encouraged slaveholders to use more harsh punishments on runaway slaves.
12. Southern planters believed that the system of slavery would be weakened by __________.
A) urbanization and industrialization
B) an increase in the internal slave trade
C) the use of short-staple cotton
D) government subsidies
13. In 1860, __________ of white southerners lived in the Upper South.
A) one-third
B) three-fifths
C) two-thirds
D) three-fourths
14. In the antebellum period, increasing reliance on __________ improved the economy of the Upper
South.
A) slave labor
B) cotton production
C) free labor
D) rice production
15. Which of the following crops caused severe soil depletion in the Upper South?
A) tobacco
B) cotton
C) corn
D) rice
16. Which of the following people was a leader in the push for agricultural diversification in the Upper
South?
A) Edmund Ruffin
B) James Hammond
C) Albert Tidewater
D) George Mason
17. In the period 1800–1840, the Upper South experienced which of the following trends?
A) large-scale migration from urban centers to rural areas
B) soil exhaustion and wasteful farming techniques
C) significant decrease in emigration to the western regions of the Lower South
D) complete adaptation of the land to the wide-scale growth of cotton
18. Why was marl used in the Upper South?
A) to build an industrial base in the South
B) to pay off debts owed on farm mortgages
C) to resume an economy based on long-staple cotton
D) to replenish the soil in the Upper South
19. Which of the following slowed the development of manufacturing in the Upper South?
A) Most southerners were involved in the profitable plantation culture.
B) Production of cotton was highly profitable in the Upper South.
C) Most southerners lacked the cash income to create sufficient demand for consumer goods.
D) Federal subsidies to wealthy planters discouraged involvement in manufacturing.
20. Which of the following crops replaced tobacco in many parts of the Upper South?
A) wheat
B) rice
C) sugar
D) potatoes
21. __________ displaced slaves in most of the Border South.
A) Free blacks
B) Indentured servants
C) Immigrant workers
D) Former slaves
22. Which of the following states experienced growth in the use of slaves during the 1850s?
A) Delaware
B) Virginia
C) Arkansas
D) Maryland
23. Which of the following hastened the decline of slavery in the Upper South?
A) increased internal slave trade
B) increased international slave trade
C) decreased manufacturing base
D) decreased emigration from Europe
24. By 1860, nearly __________ million slaves lived in the South.
A) two
B) four
C) five
D) ten
25. Which of the following contributed to a fivefold increase in the slave population between 1790 and
1860?
A) significant increase in the number of slaves imported from Africa
B) an excess of slave births over slave deaths
C) slave codes that forbid the murder of slaves by slaveholders
D) improved living conditions drastically reduced death by disease
26. Poor living conditions and insufficient diets caused frequent outbreaks of __________ among slaves.
A) dysentery
B) malaria
C) small pox
D) scurvy
27. What was the average life expectancy of a slave at birth?
A) 21 years
B) 30 years
C) 44 years
D) 55 years
28. Which of the following was prohibited under the slave codes?
A) murder of a slave by a master
B) harboring a fugitive slave in a non-slave state
C) physical discipline of a slave
D) sale of a sick slave
29. What was one of the biggest differences between the life conditions of slaves and poor whites?
A) Poor whites ate a diet more like that of the planter class.
B) Slaves lived in larger living quarters than most poor whites.
C) Slaves worked much longer hours under much harsher conditions.
D) Poor whites lived in dwellings that were usually four times bigger than slave cabins.
30. Slave owners commonly used which of the following incentives to motivate hard work?
A) the promise of eventual freedom
B) the promise of transfer from field slave to house slave
C) the promise to keep a family unit intact
D) the promise of payment of wages for skilled work
31. Which of the following made slave life on large plantations more tolerable than that on a small farm?
A) Large planters were less economically vulnerable and therefore less likely to have to sell slaves and
break up families.
B) On large plantations, there were more laborers, which decreased the workload for each individual
slave.
C) On large plantations, slaves were often taught to read and write.
D) Small planters generally used more harsh physical punishment than large planters.
32. Which of the following states legally recognized slave marriages?
A) Tennessee
B) Virginia
C) Louisiana
D) South Carolina
33. Slaves followed West African customs in which of the following ways?
A) keeping alive a rich folklore and oral tradition
B) ignoring extended kinship ties
C) encouraging marriages between cousins
D) maintaining animal sacrifice as a primary form of religious expression
34. The first large-scale slave rebellion was led by __________.
A) Thomas Day
B) Nat Turner
C) Gabriel Prosser
D) Denmark Vesey
35. Which religious group was largely involved in beginning the Underground Railroad?
A) southern Presbyterians
B) Baptists
C) Quakers
D) Irish Catholics
36. Which of the following statements about Nat Turner is true?
A) He was caught and executed within two days by authorities in Virginia.
B) He used his rebellion to cover up the murder of his master.
C) He was a literate field hand who had read the Bible.
D) He believed that he was chosen by God to lead his people back to Africa.
37. Approximately __________ percent of southern black families were free in 1860.
A) 3
B) 10
C) 17
D) 28
38. Which statement about the wives of southern planters is true?
A) They generally had very little work to do on the plantation.
B) They were never allowed to be familiar with the financial accounts of the plantation.
C) They often assisted in the religious instruction of slaves.
D) They commonly ignored their husbands’ affairs with female slaves.
39. What percentage of southern white families owned slaves in 1860?
A) 15 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 75 percent
40. Yeoman farmers of the Lower South __________.
A) wanted to limit the authority of government
B) never allowed their wives or daughters to work in the fields
C) bolstered the northern economy by buying many factory-made goods
D) acted with great deference toward planters
41. Which statement about southern whites without property or slaves is true?
A) They had good relationships with the planter class.
B) They lacked self-reliance and depended on government welfare.
C) Northerners believed their existence showed another bad aspect of southern society.
D) They often worked side-by-side with slaves on the plantations.
42. What was the greatest source of conflict between planters and white urban workers in the South?
A) White urban workers wished to replace slaves on rural plantations.
B) White urban workers favored unionization of both manufacturing and agricultural workers, including
slaves.
C) White urban workers demanded that the planters pay taxes to help support the development of urban
centers.
D) White urban workers were the most likely nonslaveholders to support abolition because they wanted to
eliminate slave competition.
43. Most free blacks in the South lived in __________.
A) the Lower South
B) South Carolina
C) Texas
D) the Upper South
44. In the late 1850s, several southern states sought to __________.
A) free all slaves
B) re-enslave free blacks
C) force all free blacks to live in cities
D) send free blacks back to Africa
45. How did most free blacks earn a living?
A) as tenant farmers
B) as small planters
C) as skilled tradesmen
D) as factory laborers
46. Which of the following statements about the black codes is accurate?
A) They only existed in the South.
B) They applied only to slaves and not free blacks.
C) They afforded free blacks, but not slaves, the right to vote.
D) They prohibited slaves from testifying against whites in court.
47. What prompted white Southerners to create a defense of slavery in the mid-nineteenth century?
A) Congress was considering complete emancipation of all slaves.
B) Abolitionists began an open crusade against slavery.
C) Slaves began to openly demand their freedom.
D) European criticism of American slavery had intensified.
48. Which of the following groups argued that slavery was a social good?
A) northern evangelicals
B) southern evangelicals
C) northern Catholics
D) southern Catholics
49. Which of the following groups split along sectional lines due to disagreements over slavery?
A) Presbyterians
B) Anglicans
C) Roman Catholics
D) Quakers
50. By the 1850s, which of the following was threatening the continued existence of slavery in the Lower
South?
A) heavy taxes on planters who utilized slave labor
B) an increase in slavery in the Upper South
C) the belief of most northerners in the complete equality of whites and blacks
D) the rapid spread of free labor in the Border South
Essay Questions
51. What conditions typified the lifestyle of a plantation slave?
52. In what ways did slaves nurture the survival of West African culture as part of their African-American
culture?
53. How did southern whites attempt to defend slavery and reconcile it with their Christian beliefs? Why
did they feel compelled to express these defenses?
54. What changes occurred in the southern economy in the first half of the nineteenth century? What
factors accounted for these changes?
55. What profound changes in slavery occurred in the period 1815–1860? What were the causes and
consequences of this significant shift?