Q&A Hero

Q: Which of the following statements about religious life among African-Americans in southern cities is true? a. Blacks usually worshipped in churches where they sat side by side with whites. b. Urban free blacks sometimes formed their own churches. c. African-Americans, free and slave, were banned from religious services. d. Free blacks could worship publicly, but slaves were not permitted to do so. e. The formation of the Afro-Catholic Church in 1844 was a major development in black Christianity.

Q: Slave families a. were rare because there were too few female slaves. b. were more common in the West Indies, where living conditions favored their formation and survival. c. were headed by women more frequently than were white families. d. usually were able to stay together because most slaveowners were paternalistic. e. avoided naming children for family members because children so often were sold, and it was better not to build strong kinship ties.

Q: Seeing themselves as a chosen people, blacks viewed which biblical story as playing a central role in their version of Christianity? a. Genesis b. Matthew and the whale c. Moses and the exodus from Egypt d. Noah and the ark e. Book of Revelation

Q: What was the biggest fear of a slave of any age? a. being whipped b. not being taught to read c. not being fed d. having to work in a cotton field e. a family member being sold

Q: The Brer Rabbit stories of slave folklore a. celebrated how the weak could outsmart the more powerful. b. borrowed heavily from English folktales but added some African elements. c. formed the basis of Uncle Toms Cabin. d. introduced the character Paul Bunyan to American culture. e. were largely unknown until the making of a series of animated films in the twentieth century.

Q: Which statement is true about slave families? a. Slave families were in constant danger of being broken apart by the slaveowners through the sale of family members. b. Slave families mirrored kinship patterns among whites. c. Slave families were more often headed by men than white families, due to slaveowners selling family members. d. The family was not central to slave culture. e. Slave families were more patriarchal than white families.

Q: Compared to slave revolts in Brazil and in the West Indies, slave revolts in the United States were a. larger in scale but less frequent. b. smaller in scale but more frequent. c. larger in scale and more frequent. d. smaller in scale and less frequent. e. bloodier and more successful.

Q: Gender roles under slavery a. were the same as those that existed in white society. b. differed from those of white society because men and women alike suffered a sense of powerlessness. c. greatly differed from those of whites when slaves were able to work on their own; the men took on more womens work and vice versa. d. meant that slave husbands refused to let their wives work in the fields. e. were unaffected by the ability of masters to take advantage of female slaves sexually.

Q: Which is true of slave communities in the American South? a. The slave church was the center of community on large plantations. b. Slave communities typically adopted the values of their masters. c. Womens and mens worlds were even more separate than among whites. d. As with white families, the family was the primary transmitter of culture and values. e. All traces of African culture had disappeared from slave culture by the middle of the nineteenth century.

Q: Which is typical of slave religion in the first half of the nineteenth century? a. It relied on a literal interpretation of the Bible. b. It rejected Christian teachings in favor of African religious beliefs. c. It centered on enslaved chaplains who were mouthpieces for the owners religious understanding. d. It included both African traditions and Christian beliefs. e. It focused on the idea that whites were Gods chosen people.

Q: A slave in which geographic area would be most likely to be working in cotton fields? a. northern Virginia b. western North Carolina c. western Alabama d. southern Florida e. eastern Tennessee

Q: Which statement is true about the labor that enslaved people did? a. The large majority of enslaved men worked in the fields, while enslaved women mainly did domestic work. b. The large majority of enslaved women and men worked in the fields. c. On rice plantations, enslaved people labored in gangs. d. Cotton and sugar plantation owners used the system of task labor. e. Enslaved children did not work until they were age sixteen.

Q: How did slave holders use the Bible to justify slavery? a. The responsibility of a slave to obey his or her master is implied by the commandment to Obey your mother and father. b. Slavery is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments, and expressly condemned in neither location. c. According to a lost book of the New Testament, Jesus himself owned slaves. d. Slave-owning tribes mentioned in the Bible, such as that of Abraham, were far more holy than those that did not own slaves. e. It was not mans place to free someone that God had willed should be born into slavery.

Q: One study showed that what percentage of slave men in the South did agricultural work? a. 50 percent b. 60 percent c. 70 percent d. 80 percent e. 90 percent

Q: What was the name of the vibrant community of former slaves freed by Virginian Richard Randolph? a. Sea Island b. Mount Vernon c. Israel Hill d. Shermans Land e. Promised Land

Q: Where did the task labor system originate from? a. It came from villages in West Africa. b. It had been used in rural areas of England. c. It started in the cotton belt areas of Mississippi and Alabama. d. It had been recommended by southern Native American tribes. e. It was a holdover from the colonial period.

Q: Free blacks in the United States a. had the same rights as whites in the North but faced far more restrictions in the South. b. tended to live in rural areas if they lived in the Lower South. c. sometimes became wealthy enough to own slaves. d. made up nearly one-third of the African-American population in the South. e. could testify in court and vote in most states but needed the local sheriffs approval to carry firearms.

Q: In which role was a slave most likely to experience the harshest conditions? a. doing fieldwork on a sugar plantation in southern Louisiana b. doing fieldwork on a rice plantation in South Carolina c. manning a riverboat on the Mississippi d. serving the master and his family in the house on a large plantation e. serving as overseer on a cotton plantation in Alabama.

Q: Which state had the fewest free blacks? a. Mississippi b. Louisiana c. South Carolina d. Virginia e. Maryland

Q: Urban slaves a. most often were servants, cooks, and other domestic servants. b. was a term coined by southerners to describe northern factory workers. c. had less autonomy than plantation slaves because there were more authorities to watch them. d. could work on their own and always kept the majority of their earnings. e. increasingly replaced skilled white laborers as the Civil War approached.

Q: The plantation masters had many means to maintain order among their slaves. According to the text, what was the most powerful weapon the plantation masters had? a. requiring slaves to attend church b. the threat of sale c. exploiting the divisions among slaves d. withholding food e. denying a marriage between two slaves

Q: Which is true of free blacks who owned slaves? a. In many cases, these slaves were family members they had purchased and could not legally free. b. They had a reputation for being particularly brutal owners. c. They were prohibited from selling their slaves at a profit. d. They were prohibited from owning more than ten slaves. e. In a few cases, the slaves they owned were impoverished whites.

Q: Which is true of the role of slaves in the southern economy? a. The renting of slaves became illegal in 1827. b. Slaves were prohibited from supervising white laborers. c. By 1860, a significant number worked in industrial settings. d. The federal government refused to use slave labor for constructing forts in the South. e. After several prominent cases of sabotage, Virginia banned slaves from working on bridges and roads.

Q: Who did the Virginian writer George Fitzhugh describe as the happiest and the freest people in the world? a. southern planters b. plantation mistresses c. slaves in the American South d. free blacks e. southern yeoman farmers

Q: In an 1840 letter written from Canada, fugitive slave Joseph Taper asked for divine blessings upon a. the writer Harriet Beecher Stowe. b. his former master. c. President Martin Van Buren. d. abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. e. Queen Victoria.

Q: What did Abraham Lincoln identify as the core of the proslavery argument? a. It relied on a literal interpretation of the Bible. b. It equated slaves with animals. c. It echoed arguments made by slave owners in the Roman Empire. d. It relied on the assumption that slaves would not choose freedom if given the option. e. It served the interests of those who benefited from slavery.

Q: In Joseph Tapers letter to Joseph Long, how does Taper analyze his experience of living in Canada? a. Living under a monarchy was difficult. b. The treatment of slaves in Canada was abysmal. c. Blacks did not receive educational opportunities. d. The winter weather was bitterly cold. e. The British system allowed for more pursuit of happiness.

Q: Which of the following statements about slavery and the law is true? a. Because slaves were property, a master could kill any of his slaves for any reason. b. Slaves were legally permitted to possess guns if guns were necessary for their work (tasks such as scaring birds away from rice fields, for example). c. Laws specifically provided for a slave to be taught to read and write if the master so chose. d. A slave could, with permission from his or her master, testify against a white person in court. e. Slaves accused of serious crimes were entitled to their day in court, although they faced all-white judges and juries.

Q: After 1830, the majority of white southerners came to believe a. that the planter class had too much power. b. that freedom for whites rested on the power to command the labor of blacks. c. that a wage labor system is more productive than a slave labor system. d. that slavery is immoral and should be abolished. e. that the South should industrialize.

Q: Celia was a. the pen name of Floride Calhoun, who secretly criticized her husband Johns views on slavery. b. a slave tried for killing her master while resisting a sexual assault. c. the name used to signify a southern plantation mistress in writings about the institution. d. a slave who became famous for helping other slaves escape via the Underground Railroad. e. a character in Uncle Toms Cabin.

Q: In 1855, an enslaved woman in Missouri named Celia killed her enslaver while resisting his sexual assault. State law deemed any woman in such circumstances to be acting in self-defense. The court a. sentenced Celia to death because she was property in the eyes of the law, and thus not legally a woman. b. found Celia innocent, because she had acted in self-defense. c. deported Celia to Ohio for her own protection. d. declared a mistrial, because the jury could not agree on a verdict. e. refused to hear the case, declaring that Celia was not a citizen.

Q: The end of slavery in most Latin American nations a. resulted from violent slave revolts that rocked Latin America from 1822 to 1855. b. involved gradual emancipation accompanied by recognition of owners legal rights to slave property. c. was inspired by the emancipation of slaves that occurred as a result of the American Civil War. d. followed a pattern very different from that established in the northern United States. e. did not happen until the United States made emancipation an aim of the Spanish-American War.

Q: In the Americas in 1850, significant slave systems remained only in a. the United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. b. the United States, the British Caribbean, and the French Caribbean. c. the United States and Mexico. d. the United States and Canada. e. the United States, Central America, and Chile.

Q: How did conditions for slaves in the United States compare to those in the Caribbean by the mid-nineteenth century? a. Life expectancy for slaves in the United States was nearly ten years less than for slaves in the Caribbean. b. Infant mortality rates were significantly higher for slaves in the United States. c. Slaves were typically better fed in the United States than they were in the Caribbean. d. Laws in the United States afforded slaves significantly stronger legal protection against ill treatment and cruel punishments. e. While slave owners in the United States could legally choose to free their slaves, freeing slaves was illegal in the Caribbean.

Q: Who said that the language in the Declaration of Independencethat all men were created equal and entitled to libertywas the most false and dangerous of all political errors? a. James Madison b. James G. Birney c. John C. Calhoun d. Denmark Vesey e. Solomon Northup

Q: Which right did free blacks in the South have in the decade before the Civil War? a. the right to marry b. the right to strike a white person in self-defense c. the right to carry a firearm d. the right to testify in court e. the right to vote

Q: Which were free blacks in the South legally prohibited from doing? a. marrying b. socializing with slaves c. owning property d. striking a white person in self-defense e. living in cities

Q: Planters wives, known as plantation mistresses, a. generally became abolitionists. b. were responsible for supervising domestic servants, and supervised the whole plantation when their husbands were away. c. generally advocated for the rights of enslaved women whom planters had sexually exploited. d. typically took part in a thriving female culture centered on voluntary reform and religious organizations. e. typically were feminists.

Q: What did the southern code of honor demand of men? a. that their slaves be well fed, healthy, and appear to be happy b. defense of the reputations of themselves and their families c. a wife who was able to demonstrate that she was an intellectual equal to her husband d. sexual fidelity to their wives e. public demonstration of their willingness and ability to work alongside their slaves

Q: According to the paternalistic ethos, which right did slaves have? a. right to not be separated from family members b. right to adequate food c. right to give their children their own last names d. right to a trial by a jury of their peers e. right to legally accuse a cruel master of abuse

Q: The proslavery argument that slavery made economic independence among whites possible a. was mainly advanced by promoters of industrialization. b. was widely accepted by southern whites. c. was mainly advanced by white northerners. d. was only accepted by the southern planter class. e. was only accepted by slaveholding southern farmers.

Q: Which of the following is true of the paternalist ethos in southern slavery? a. Slaves referred to their owners as mother and father. b. Most slave owners believed it their responsibility to teach slaves how to read. c. Slave owners who separated families were considered cruel by their peers. d. Slave owners felt responsible for their slaves and believed they could not take care of themselves. e. Slave owners who fathered children with slaves typically freed the children.

Q: Some people in America criticized the British emancipation of all slaves in the 1830s on what grounds? a. Many ex-slaves moved to West Africa, where they were re-enslaved. b. Violent revolutions occurred in many British colonies in the 1840s. c. Many freed slaves moved to the United States, flooding an already full labor market. d. The economy of the Caribbean was harmed as a result. e. Many ex-slaves could not find work and became homeless.

Q: Which belief would be typical of a paternalistic slave owner in the nineteenth century? a. Slaves should be formally married in a church. b. Slaves would be lost without the care and guidance of their owners. c. Slave women should be excused from work while they were pregnant or had small children. d. Slaves should be taught to read the Bible. e. Slave children should attend planation schools until the age of ten.

Q: On what grounds did southerners claim that slavery was modern? a. It was strongest in the United States, one of the most modern nations in the world. b. It was made possible by the transportation revolution of the past two centuries. c. It represented an innovation in securing human labor. d. It was the foundation of the cotton economy, whose products were essential to modern life. e. It offered to slaves the opportunity to learn to read and write.

Q: Which event is credited with helping to ingrain the paternalist ethos more deeply into the lives of southern slaveholders? a. Nat Turners Rebellion b. the nullification crisis c. the development of domestic ideology d. the closing of the African slave trade e. the secession crisis

Q: John C. Calhoun and George Fitzhugh a. agreed that slavery was not a necessary evil but something actually positive and good. b. fought a famous duel that demonstrated the southern commitment to the idea of defending ones honor. c. competed for power in Andrew Jacksons administration. d. were known as two of the most vicious slaveholders, who regularly whipped their slaves. e. agreed on the need for slavery but disagreed as to whether it actually was beneficial to society.

Q: In the South, the paternalist ethos a. reflected the hierarchical society in which the planter took responsibility for the lives of those around him. b. declined after the War of 1812 as southern society became more centered on market relations rather than on personal relations. c. suffered because southern slaveholders lived among their slaves, so that the groups constant exposure to each other made southern slavery more openly violent than elsewhere. d. brought southern society closer to northern ideals. e. encouraged southern women to become more active and better educated so that they could help their husbands in their paternal roles.

Q: What resulted from the sexual exploitation of slave women? a. Church ministers criticized the activity as a sin. b. Most slave men were unaware of the exploitation of their wives and relatives. c. Some wives of plantation owners resented when this happened and then punished slaves. d. Many of the babies that resulted from the exploitation were sent to Africa. e. Slaveowners often publicly discussed their exploitations.

Q: What did the Reverend Charles C. Jones of Georgia do that made him different from most other slaveowners? a. He improved slave housing and medical care. b. He executed slaves who performed poorly. c. He refused to allow slaves to learn about Christianity. d. He taught his slaves to read and write. e. He pushed for an end to slavery

Q: From 1840 to 1860, the price of a prime field hand a. rose about 80 percent, which made it harder for southern whites to enter the slaveholding class. b. rose less than 10 percent, which kept the size of the planter class about the same. c. declined about 15 percent as the supply of slaves in the internal slave trade increased. d. became so inexpensive that the slaveholding class grew to include nearly two-thirds of southern whites. e. declined because labor-intensive agricultural work became less popular in the South.

Q: Which value was particularly strong in the South in the early nineteenth century? a. philanthropy b. egalitarianism c. personal honor d. competitiveness e. social mobility

Q: Thinking back to previous chapters, analyze Americas policies toward Indians from the Washington administration through the removal of Indians from the southeastern states in the 1830s and early 1840s. What ideas and policies about Indians remained the same? Which changed? Why?

Q: The relationship between rich southern planters and poor southern farmers a. led to numerous violent uprisings in the southern hill country. b. was complicated by the strong antislavery movement among poor farmers in the 1850s. c. was strained by planters insistence that farmers participate in the slave patrols. d. showed itself in politics, with the poor becoming Whigs and planters becoming Democrats. e. benefited in part from a sense of unity bred by criticism from outsiders.

Q: Compare the economic policies of the American System with those of Alexander Hamilton. What was similar? What was different? How do you think Hamilton would have rated presidents such as John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson?

Q: Andrew Johnson of Tennessee and Joseph Brown of Georgia rose to political power a. because of their membership in and identification with the planter class. b. in the 1850s, as members of the small but influential southern Republican Party. c. as self-proclaimed spokesmen of the common man against the great planters. d. as proponents of gradual emancipation plans in order to destroy the slavocracy. e. after gaining popularity for creating public education systems in their states.

Q: Which of the following is a true statement relative to the Upper South and the Lower South? a. Committed to slavery, all states in both the Upper South and Lower South seceded from the Union. b. The Upper South was less economically diversified than the Lower South. c. The Upper South did not initially join the Lower South in seceding from the Union. d. Neither the Upper South nor the Lower South had major industrial centers. e. Richmond, Virginia, is considered to be the heart of the Lower South.

Q: Which statement is true about the attitudes of most poor southern white farmers toward the southern elite planter class? a. Most poor southern whites identified with planters based on their shared whiteness and rights to political participation. b. Most poor southern whites resented planters because the planters alone could vote. c. Most poor southern whites identified with the planter class because most southern whites owned slaves. d. Most poor southern whites agreed with northern criticisms of slavery. e. Most poor southern whites agreed with Andrew Johnsons criticism of the planter slavocracy.

Q: Which is true of the South in the first half of the nineteenth century? a. It was increasingly urban, with half of the nations ten largest cities. b. It produced about half of the nations manufactured goods. c. It had far fewer European immigrants than the North did. d. It benefited from a boom in railroad development, which eventually connected even small towns with one another. e. Its banks, most with home offices in the North, refused to lend money to plantation owners.

Q: What was the significance of the planter class in antebellum Southern society? a. They constituted a majority of the population. b. They were often Europeans who operated their plantations from abroad. c. They invested their profits in industrial endeavors and began to transform the southern economy. d. They were the only social group in the South to openly discuss abolition as a potential good. e. Their values and goals dominated Southern life.

Q: Which was the only significantly large city in the Cotton Kingdom in 1860? a. New Orleans b. Natchez c. Memphis d. Dallas e. Charleston

Q: In 1850, a majority of southern slaveholders owned how many slaves? a. 1 to 5 b. 6 to 10 c. 15 to 20 d. 25 to 30 e. at least 35

Q: In 1860, what percentage of southern white families were in the slave-owning class? a. 10 percent b. 25 percent c. 40 percent d. 55 percent e. 75 percent

Q: To qualify as a member of the planter class, a person had to be engaged in southern agriculture and a. own at least ten slaves. b. grow specifically cotton or sugarcane. c. own at least twenty slaves. d. live in a large mansion. e. own at least fifty slaves.

Q: Southern farmers in the backcountry a. generally worked the land using family labor. b. were all directly involved in the market economy from the start of the nineteenth century. c. owned a substantial number of slaves. d. were highly self-sufficient but still bought most of their supplies from stores. e. were fortunate that their land was far better for farming than that owned by planters.

Q: Analyze the arguments that were presented during the nullification crisis. Be sure to comment on how Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun interpreted the Constitution differently and how each defined the rights of states. Finally, speak to how the crisis illustrated the growing sectional differences in America.

Q: Most white southern farmers were a. wealthy. b. slaveholders. c. literate. d. self-sufficient. e. dependent on manufactured goods.

Q: The Independent Treasury completely separated the federal government from the nations banking system.

Q: John Tylers presidency proved very popular with Whigs.

Q: The party battles of the Jacksonian era reflected the clash between public and private definitions of American freedom and their relationship to government power.

Q: A delegate to the 1837 Pennsylvania constitutional convention remarked that the political community was based on white persons. In this age of expanding political participation, analyze how and why some segments of the population were able to achieve greater liberties while others were excluded. What arguments did each group make for a greater political voice?

Q: Describe John Quincy Adamss dream for the United States when he was secretary of state and when he was president. What role did he want the federal government to play? How did his vision for America expand liberties or freedom? How did it restrict liberties or freedom?

Q: Whigs believed that the federal government was responsible for promoting the welfare of the people and securing liberty.

Q: The admittance of Missouri to the Union sparked a national crisis. Describe the debates that led up to the final compromise. How does the Missouri Compromise illustrate that sectional issues would surely arise again?

Q: Supporters of nullification claimed that the federal government was overstepping its rights and infringing on states rights.

Q: Andrew Jackson, one historian has written, was the symbol for an age. How might Jackson be considered symbolic of certain ideas and trends in the early nineteenth century? Can you think of other appropriate symbolic figures for that period?

Q: Daniel Webster insisted that the national government had been created by an agreement between sovereign states, each of which retained the right to prevent the enforcement within its borders of acts of Congress that exceeded the powers specifically spelled out in the document.

Q: Explain how Democrats and Whigs viewed liberty and the role of government in securing liberty.

Q: The Trail of Tears refers specifically to the removal of the Seminole Indians from Florida to present-day Oklahoma.

Q: The Panic of 1837 led to a depression that lasted until 1843.