Deck 6: Population and Labor Force

Question 1

Population growth in the early nineteenth century was slow due to the lack of immigration.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Which of the following was a key factor which pushed the nation close to civil war?

A) The Missouri Compromise of 1820
B) Dred Scott v. Sanford Supreme Court Case
C) The Tariff of Abominations of 1828
D) The Supreme Court practice of "judicial instrumentalism," which the South believed ?undermined the Constitution

Answer 2

Dred Scott v. Sanford Supreme Court Case

Question 3

By the 1830s,young women and children

A) were a very important portion of the industrial work force, about 40%.
B) were a minor portion of the industrial work force, about 10%.
C) were a moderate portion of the industrial work force, about 25%.
D) were not a part of the "industrial" work force because legislation forbade,it in order to protect young women and children.

Answer 3

were a very important portion of the industrial work force, about 40%.

Question 4

Immigration significantly contributed to economic growth in the U.S.throughout the entire period between Independence and the Civil War.

Question 5

At the start of the Civil War,the population in the U.S.was about half that of the United Kingdom.

Question 6

The "middle-class" ideal that developed in the early 19th century included which of the following elements?

A) Women were socially and legally equal to men and were encouraged to choose between working and staying in the home (avoiding wage-labor in the factories).
B) Men were to be the income earners providing for the family's material needs while women were to play a greater role regarding the family's spiritual needs.
C) Apprenticeships, rather than public schools, would better serve the need of preparing children for middle-class careers.
D) Poverty among the lower classes was due not to their moral failure but rather low wages, uncertain employment, and lack of economic opportunity.

Question 7

Immigrants were valued as a vital source of labor and,consequently,they were greeted with open arms after the 1830s.

Question 8

Rural families were larger in size,on average,than urban families during the antebellum period.Some argue that the relatively high rate of return on a child born on a farm partly explains why.Children born on farms could be considered investments goods-"goods" used to produce something else.

Question 9

In 1820,when the nation began its westward movement in earnest,the median American was

A) less than 17 years old.
B) about 20 years old.
C) about the same age as the median American today.
D) older than the median American today.

Question 10

The U.S.had a low fertility rate in the early nineteenth century.

Question 11

In the eighteenth century,the rise of manufacturing in New England helped the region attract more settlers than the other regions of the English colonies.

Question 12

What were the two main sources of population increases during the antebellum period?

A) a significant increase in the number of indentured servants and slaves
B) immigration and a natural increase in population
C) government policies providing incentive to procreate and advanced pre-natal care
D) longer life expectancies and high infant mortality rates

Question 13

In the case of Commonwealth v.Hunt (1842),the Massachusetts Court held that labor unions are not necessarily illegal.They may stop work and boycott products without committing unlawful acts.

Question 14

By the start of the Civil War,the value of woman's labor was,on average,equal to that of an adult male due to technological advancements.

Question 15

Children can be viewed as retirement insurance and thus provide individuals with incentive to create large families.

Question 16

There is no possible economic relationship between the birth rate and the availability of arable land.

Question 17

In order to explain the relative sizes of families in urban versus rural environments,some economists viewed children as investment or durable consumptions goods,respectively.

Question 18

Income and wealth were equally or evenly distributed by 1860 in the United States.

Question 19

The "Walker thesis," that falling birth rates among native-born Americans was due to immigration,?is reinforced by the view that immigrants were a direct capital transfer from Europe to America.

Question 20

The two main sources of U.S.population increase between Independence and the Civil War were natural increases in population and immigration.

Question 21

If children can be considered durable goods,then this would help explain

A) high birth rates among farm families.
B) small family size among farm families.
C) lower birth rates in towns than in the countryside.
D) lower birth rates in the countryside than in towns.

Question 22

Discuss the different theories that explain why American fertility was relatively high in rural compared to urban areas.

Question 23

The downturn in the immigration cycle beginning in the 1850s is attributable to which group?

A) Children
B) Grandparents
C) Women
D) Men

Question 24

On the farm,which of the following people had the highest labor value?

A) A woman
B) A man
C) A child
D) A grandparent

Question 25

Which of the following best describes white servitude?

A) It applied to hired labor.
B) It was more costly than slavery.
C) It bound vagrants and orphans into productive employment.
D) It was pervasive on tobacco, indigo and cotton plantations.

Question 26

Which statement is correct?

A) Slaves were owned by the majority of Southern whites.
B) The old Southern states held the majority of slaves even as the new cotton South expanded.
C) The increase in slave ownership was most dramatic in the relatively new cotton plantations.
D) Slavery vanished in the Middle colonies but not the North by the start of the Civil War.

Question 27

Between Independence and the Civil War,American population growth was

A) steady and constant.
B) rapid but wildly unstable.
C) positive and rapid.
D) heavily concentrated in the settlement in Western lands.

Question 28

Naturally born members of the U.S.population resisted immigration in the antebellum period for ?all of the following reasons except

A) Immigrants were prisoners and outcasts from other countries.
B) Immigrants could gain political power and possess political influence.
C) Immigrants displaced U.S. born laborers.
D) Immigrants brought their own religions and spiritual beliefs.

Question 29

By 1860,the U.S.

A) had achieved an equal distribution of income and wealth.
B) had experienced growth in both agriculture and manufacturing, but growth in manufacturing had begun to outpace agriculture.
C) land had become the primary income-earning asset.
D) experienced a slowdown in urbanization and rapid expansion in agriculture at the expense of manufacturing.

Question 30

Discuss the economic benefits of immigration.In light of these benefits,explain the resistance to immigration in the late nineteenth century.Consider political and religious influences in addition?to economic factors.

Question 31

The practice of parents giving their children an amount of land similar to what they received from their parents is known as a

A) targeted bequest.
B) strategic bequest.
C) life cycle bequest.
D) investment bequest.

Question 32

The Dred Scott v.Sanford decision of the U.S.Supreme Court in 1857

A) made all persons born in the U.S. citizens.
B) provided U.S. citizenry to the children of U.S. born slaves.
C) permitted slaves to sue others in courts.
D) prevented slaves from being taken away from their owners without due process.

Question 33

All of the following trends and characteristics of American population growth occurred from Independence to the Civil War except

A) The size of the average family was increasing.
B) Populations living in urban places increased.
C) There was extensive settlement in rural areas.
D) Growth was very rapid.

Question 34

Discuss the economic history of immigration in the U.S.during the antebellum period.

Question 35

Which of the following is true for the period from Independence to 1860?

A) The system of indentured servitude died out because it was seen to be immoral and inconsistent with the Constitution.
B) The system of slavery flourished because the relative price of slaves fell consistently.
C) The system of wage labor flourished as immigrant labor poured into the newly opened western lands.
D) European immigrants typically shunned agricultural labor as their ticket to the good life.

Question 36

Identify the push and pull forces leading to mass U.S.immigration after 1840.

Question 37

Describe the main sources of population growth from 1789 to 1860.Identify the factors that contributed to the increase in the relative size of immigration and domestic population.

Question 38

Brinley Thomas (1954)argues that immigrants were attracted to the United States between 1815 and 1914 for all of the following reasons except

A) Harvest failures in the home countries of the immigrants
B) Organized labor opportunities, health benefits, safe working conditions and healthy work environments in the U.S.
C) European population increases, contributing to problems associated with more mouths to feed in a stagnant European economy
D) Increasing job opportunities in an expanding U.S. economy

Question 39

Why did high fertility of the early population occur,according to Hughes and Cain (2011)?

A) More than half of the population were at ages where fertility is high-in 1820, for example,the median American was less than 17 years old.
B) A nation composed mainly of farmers and people planning to farm had every reason to create large families.
C) Children can be considered investment goods and the rate of return on a child born to a farm family was relatively high.
D) High fertility occurred due to all of the above reasons.

Question 40

Which of the following best describes chattel slavery?

A) It provided protected property rights to the slaves.
B) It offered property rights to the slave owners.
C) It involved the establishment of a voluntary contract between slave and slave owner.
D) It created wealth for the slave and slave owner.

Question 41

Describe the links between enhanced labor productivity and personal hygiene,sanitation,public health and proper nutrition.Link enhanced labor productivity to economic growth.

Question 42

Describe the family economy of the Northeast.Identify the economic roles of men,women and children.Compare these roles to men,women and children of the plantation South.

Question 43

Describe the important labor activities before 1860.Discuss the importance of the outcome of the Massachusetts case Commonwealth v.Hunt (1842)in labor history.

Question 44

Discuss the role of the U.S.Supreme Court Case Dred Scott v.Sanford (1857)in fueling the Civil War.Compare the rights of the slave owners to the slaves from a property right perspective.

Question 45

Describe the economic importance of educating the labor force.

Question 46

Explain why the opportunity costs of pursuing an agricultural life for new U.S.immigrants were high in the late 1840s.

Question 47

Americans wanted growth.Explain at what expense growth came during the antebellum period.