Q&A Hero

Q: Why is 1831 considered a turning point for slavery in the American South? a. The slave population outnumbered the white population for the first time. b. Virginia became the first southern state to abolish slavery. c. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of the slaves aboard the Amistad. d. William Lloyd Garrisons abolitionist journal, The Liberator, ceased publication. e. The proslavery argument became more strident as forces seemed to be aligning against slavery.

Q: Slave trading, while legal and profitable, was considered disreputable and slave traders were looked down up by their fellow southerners.

Q: Which statement about Nat Turners Rebellion is true? a. Turner and his followers assaulted mostly men. b. Fewer than twenty whites were killed during the rebellion. c. Turner escaped capture. d. Many southern whites were in a panic after the rebellion. e. It occurred in Georgia.

Q: The internal slave trade was a key component in supporting the Cotton Kingdom.

Q: Nat Turners Rebellion demonstrated a. that slaves would be at a fatal disadvantage if they were outnumbered by armed whites. b. that most slave rebellions occurred in the Lower South. c. that many southern whites would fight with enslaved people to end slavery. d. that most white Virginians were inclined to end slavery. e. that resistance to slavery among enslaved people was waning.

Q: After an 1831 slave rebellion, which states legislature debated, but did not approve, a plan for gradual emancipation of slaves in that state? a. Virginia b. South Carolina c. Maryland d. North Carolina e. Louisiana

Q: The slave rebellion aboard the Amistad a. nearly captured a fort in Charleston, South Carolina. b. led to a Supreme Court decision freeing the slaves. c. inspired the gag rule. d. took place off the coast of Virginia. e. helped establish the Republic of Haiti.

Q: As the sectional conflict over slavery intensified, southern states a. scheduled open debates on the topic of slavery. b. encouraged membership in abolitionist societies. c. suppressed the expression of proslavery views. d. suppressed the expression of antislavery views. e. promised to abolish slavery within twenty years.

Q: Which is true of Northerners who assisted escaped slaves? a. If caught, they were sent to the South for trial. b. Many were part of a movement that urged the North to secede from the union. c. They were breaking federal law. d. They were typically Canadian citizens. e. Many traveled into the South to liberate slaves from plantations.

Q: Harriet Tubman a. was a mythical character about whom runaway slaves told many stories. b. led a slave rebellion in Maryland in 1849 that resulted in two dozen deaths. c. was born free in New York but was kidnapped and made a slave in Louisiana. d. cleverly escaped from slavery by pretending to be a sickly male slaveowner. e. was a fugitive slave who risked her life many times to bring others out of slavery.

Q: Which of the following would be an example of silent sabotage? a. With other slaves, Denmark Vesey planned a rebellion. b. Joseph Taper escaped to Canada and then wrote a letter about his new home. c. Nat Turner killed a white person during his rebellion. d. A slave on a large plantation slowed the work pace. e. Harriet Tubman helped lead slaves to freedom.

Q: After escaping slavery in the South, what was the primary reason why Henry Box Brown moved to England? a. He wanted to do lectures in Europe. b. He had family there. c. He wanted to speak to Queen Victoria about his bondage. d. He feared being recaptured. e. He hoped to locate his wife, who was also an ex-slave.

Q: From which of the following states did the greatest number of slaves successfully escape to freedom? a. Alabama b. Mississippi c. Louisiana d. South Carolina e. Maryland

Q: On what grounds did the Supreme Court decide in favor of the slaves on the Amistad? a. They had reached British soil and were therefore emancipated. b. They were free according to the provisions of New York State law. c. They had been brought from Africa in violation of the international ban on the slave trade. d. As they had not yet been purchased by any white owner, they were still free men. e. They shared the same constitutional rights as any American.

Q: Which is true of the Underground Railroad? a. It was created by Harriet Tubman following her escape from slavery. b. Three of its conductors were jailed for treason and held until the beginning of the Civil War. c. It began in New Orleans and reached south to Mexico City. d. It focused on helping escaped slaves reach either free states or Canada. e. By the time of the Civil War, it is believed to have helped 100,000 slaves to reach freedom.

Q: Which statement is true about Harriet Tubman? a. Tubman rescued about seventy-five people from slavery. b. Tubman was born free in Philadelphia in 1800. c. After escaping slavery in 1849, Tubman never returned to the South. d. Frederick Douglass criticized Tubmans work. e. William Lloyd Garrison criticized Tubmans work.

Q: Fugitive slaves a. generally understood that the North Star led to freedom. b. were more likely to be women than men, because they were trying to escape sexual assault. c. succeeded in escaping more frequently from the Lower South because they had access to ships leaving ports like New Orleans and Charleston. d. benefited from the refusal of nonslave owners to participate in patrols that looked for fugitives. e. who escaped to Canada were routinely returned to slavery by the British authorities.

Q: The Underground Railroad a. was a single, centralized system with clearly defined routes designed to transport enslaved people to freedom. b. enabled approximately 30,000 fugitives to escape from the South. c. was the system used to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. d. was the system slave traders used in the South to avoid public scrutiny of family separation. e. managed to help only a few dozen people escape slavery.

Q: A slave from which state had the best chance of escaping to freedom permanently? a. Alabama b. Maryland c. South Carolina d. Florida e. Mississippi

Q: Enslaved peoples efforts to escape from slavery a. always succeeded. b. always failed. c. undermined proslavery propaganda about contented slaves. d. were undermined by Canada, which returned all fugitive slaves to the United States. e. were undermined by Mexico, which returned all fugitive slaves to the United States.

Q: Approximately how many slaves are thought to have successfully escaped in the thirty years before the Civil War? a. 1,000 b. 3,000 c. 30,000 d. 300,000 e. 500,000

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: Slave cultures a. were semi-independent and centered on family and church. b. were based on the same fundamental ideas and culture as their masters culture. c. were entirely African and did not embrace any American elements. d. were entirely American and retained no African cultural elements. e. are lost to history, as no evidence of them has survived.

Q: Which is true regarding Christianity in slave culture? a. Few slaves were able to really grasp the meaning of biblical teachings and stories. b. Most slaveholders forbade their slaves from learning about Christianity. c. Slaveholders focused on biblical teachings about obedience when presenting Christianity to slaves. d. Slaves rejected the Old Testament, believing it outdated and untrue. e. Slaves who converted to Christianity were often scorned for having betrayed their original culture.

Q: In what way did slave families differ from those of their white masters? a. Slaves did not view marriage as a lifelong commitment. b. Slaves did not think it appropriate to marry first cousins. c. Slaves viewed the mother as the head of the family. d. Slaves did not practice any type of marriage ceremony. e. Slaves did not name their children until they were five years old.

Q: Which describes a typical black preacher on slave plantations? a. a free black, often from the North, who ministered to the slaves voluntarily b. a house slave taught to read by his master and instructed on the sermons to deliver to the field slaves c. a female healer with knowledge of traditional African spiritual practices d. a self-educated slave who established a reputation for public speaking and biblical knowledge e. a mystic, often a very elderly man or woman, who communicated directly with God on behalf of others

Q: Jumping over a broomstick was a ceremony celebrating a. a fugitive slave arriving in a free state. b. a slave marriage. c. the birth of a slave baby. d. surviving the Middle Passage. e. a slaves promotion from field hand to domestic servant.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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 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: 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 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.