Deck 11: Labor During the Early Industrial Period

Question 1

The Rhode Island System

A) employed whole families to work in textile mills.
B) employed young women in their late teens and early twenties.
C) banned the use of child workers in factories.
D) relied on a workforce mainly consisting of former slaves.

Answer 1

employed whole families to work in textile mills.

Question 2

What is the least accurate description of movements in real wages between 1800-1860?

A) U.S. wages grew relative to those of England.
B) The wages of females increased relative to those of males.
C) The wages of skilled laborers increased faster than those of unskilled laborers.
D) The U.S. became more unequal in terms of income.

Answer 2

U.S. wages grew relative to those of England.

Question 3

Between 1820 and 1860, in the U.S.

A) real wages rose.
B) unskilled workers' earnings fell relative to skilled workers' earnings.
C) fertility rates fell.
D) the number of self-employed workers fell.
E) All of the above.

Answer 3

All of the above.

Question 4

U.S. immigration rates were particularly high from

A) 1800 to 1815.
B) 1820 to 1825.
C) 1830 to 1840.
D) 1845 to 1860.

Question 5

The U.S. population of growth rate in the first half of the 19^th century was

A) about the same as that of most European countries.
B) lower than that of most European countries.
C) much higher than that of most European countries.
D) sporadic-sometimes high and sometimes low.

Question 6

Data on Northeastern manufacturing firms show that firm size (number of workers per firm) increased for _________________  between 1820 and 1860.

A) mechanized industries
B) nonmechanized industries
C) mechanized and nonmechanized industries
D) only the textile industry

Question 7

Which of the following statements presents accurate information about antebellum wages for males employed in manufacturing?

A) During the 1850s, real wages doubled.
B) Real wages were higher and grew more rapidly in New England than in the Middle Atlantic states.
C) Wage rates converged in the mid-1800s due to transportation improvements.
D) Wage rates in the 1820s were higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

Question 8

The Waltham System

A) employed whole families to work in textile mills.
B) employed young women in their late teens and early twenties.
C) employed young children, who often worked 10-12 hours per day.
D) was considered a disreputable form of employment for women.

Question 9

The population of the United States grew _____ during the first half of the 19th century.

A) slowly
B) erratically
C) about 3 percent per year
D) about 6 percent per year

Question 10

Between 1810 and 1860 the number of workers in manufacturing

A) doubled.
B) tripled.
C) increased fivefold.
D) increased tenfold.
E) increased twentyfold.

Question 11

For all workers together, real wages grew between _____ and _____ percent between 1820 to 1860.

A) 10; 20
B) 40; 60
C) 60; 90
D) 100; 150

Question 12

The high period of immigration in the first half of the 19th century was caused by

A) the Irish potato famine.
B) political unrest in Europe.
C) political unrest in China.
D) Only a and b are correct.
E) None of the above are correct.

Question 13

Which statement best describes the growth rate of adult male real wages between 1820-1860 in the U.S.?

A) The growth rate was about the same as it was in pre-Revolutionary U.S.
B) The growth rate was negative.
C) The growth rate was more than 5 percent per year.
D) The growth rate was 1.2-1.6 percent per year.

Question 14

According to studies by Goldin and Sokoloff (1982) and Craig and Field-Hendry (1993), the female-to-male wage ratio in the early 1800s

A) was higher in the North than in the South.
B) is comparable to the ratio in 1860.
C) encouraged the adoption and success of the Waltham system.
D) was greater than one.

Question 15

Before 1860, most of the U.S. population lived _____ and most workers were _____ .

A) in small to medium cities; were members of trade guilds.
B) in rural areas; self-employed
C) in large cities; self-employed
D) in large cities; employed in mills and factories.

Question 16

Yasukichi Yasuba's research suggests that the decline in the U.S. fertility rate in the antebellum period was due to

A) rising land prices.
B) people marrying later in life.
C) rising manufacturing wages.
D) a high percentage of young males and a low percentage of young females in the population.

Question 17

In the early antebellum period, New England women's wages were about 1\3 of men's wages. By 1860, New England women's wages were

A) about ¼ of men's wages.
B) about ½ of men's wages.
C) more than men's wages.
D) about equal to men's wages.

Question 18

Which of the following statements best describes antebellum immigration to the U.S.?

A) Immigration peaked in the 1820s and slowly decreased through the Civil War.
B) Immigration in the late 1840s and 1850s were primarily "pulled" to the US by the attractive opportunities available here.
C) Immigration from England was relatively constant over time compared to the immigration rate from other nations.
D) Large scale German immigration occurred primarily in the early part of this period.

Question 19

In the antebellum period, the largest source of employment was

A) the agricultural sector.
B) the manufacturing sector.
C) government (local, state and federal)
D) the service industry.

Question 20

From which country came the fewest immigrants during the large wave of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in the 1840s and 1850s?

A) England .
B) Germany .
C) Ireland .
D) Spain .

Question 21

As the U.S. became increasingly industrialized in the 19^th century,

A) the poor got poorer.
B) the rich got poorer.
C) the income of the poor grew more slowly than the income of the rich.
D) the income of the poor grew more rapidly than the income of the rich.

Question 22

A closed shop is an agreement whereby

A) employers promise not to layoff workers during recessions.
B) employees are forbidden from joining a union.
C) employers pledge not to replace workers with machines.
D) employees must join a recognized union as a condition of employment.

Question 23

Improvements in transportation during the first half of the 19th century

A) enhanced labor mobility and made both product and labor markets more competitive.
B) helped local political entities create monopolies, making both product and labor markets less competitive.
C) were only profitably implemented in the Northern states, causing product shortages in the Southern states.
D) None of the above are correct.

Question 24

As a result of the relatively low female-to-male wage ratio in early-1800s New England,

A) the supply of women willing to work in factories increased.
B) the supply of women willing to work in farming declined.
C) the wages of female farm labor rose.
D) the North industrialized more quickly than the South.
E) All of the above

Question 25

The best explanation for the rapid rise in skilled wages relative to unskilled wages in antebellum U.S. is:

A) The demand for unskilled labor fell while the demand for skilled labor increased.
B) The supply for unskilled labor increased and the supply for skilled labor remained the same.
C) While both the supply and demand for skilled and unskilled labor grew during the period, the supply of unskilled labor grew relative to the supply of skilled labor.
D) The supply and demand for skilled labor increased while both decreased for unskilled labor.

Question 26

Which of the following statements best describes the union movement between 1800-1860?

A) Unions were composed primarily of craftsmen.
B) Unions were concentrated primarily in rural towns and villages.
C) Union membership grew consistently through the period and comprised a substantial portion of the working population.
D) Women were more likely to belong to unions than men.

Question 27

If the U.S. Gini coefficient measure of income inequality changed from 0.4 in 1970 to 0.6 in 1990, what would be most accurate?

A) Income inequality increased in the U.S.
B) Per capita income increased in the U.S.
C) Both income inequality and per capita income increased.
D) Income inequality decreased.
E) The growth rate of income increased.

Question 28

Which of the following best describes the antebellum U.S.?

A) Immigration peaked in the 1820s and slowly decreased through the Civil War.
B) Union membership grew consistently through the period and comprised a substantial portion of the working population by the Civil War.
C) English wages grew relative to those of the U.S.
D) Between 1800 and 1860, the U.S. population grew roughly sixfold.
E) The North had the most unequal income distribution because of its large increase in industry.

Question 29

Generally speaking, by 1860 which of the following groups could not vote in the U.S.?

A) white male citizens
B) black males in New York and New England
C) alien males in the agricultural Northwest
D) white women in the North

Question 30

If New England had a Gini coefficient measure of income inequality of 0.32 and the Middle Colonies had a Gini coefficient of 0.65, which of the following would be most accurate?

A) The Middle Colonies would have a higher per capita income.
B) The Middle Colonies would have a lower per capita income.
C) The Middle Colonies would have greater income inequality.
D) The Middle Colonies' income was growing faster.

Question 31

In the 1850s, the growth rate of real wages in U.S. manufacturing slowed to nearly zero because

A) the demand for manufacturing labor and the supply of manufacturing labor increased by approximately the same amount during this period.
B) the demand for manufacturing labor and the supply of manufacturing labor decreased by approximately the same amount during this period.
C) the demand for manufacturing labor increased more rapidly than the supply of manufacturing labor during this period.
D) the demand for manufacturing labor increased while the supply of manufacturing labor decreased during this period.

Question 32

Which of the following statements accurately characterizes pre-1820 wages?

A) Skilled workers in England received higher wages than U.S. skilled workers.
B) The wage premiums paid to skilled workers in the U.S. were typically greater than those paid in England.
C) Early immigration of primarily skilled workers tended to reduce the wages of skilled labor in the U.S..
D) The pull on unskilled labor to enter agricultural pursuits led to lower wages for unskilled workers in the manufacturing sector.

Question 33

Which of the following statements presents inaccurate information about the early U.S. labor movement?

A) Courts in the early 19^th century often found unions guilty of conspiracy.
B) Unskilled factory workers were the primary beneficiaries of early labor gains.
C) In the 1820s and 1830s, small craft societies began to coalesce to form larger unions.
D) Early unions experimented with collective bargaining, strikes and closed shops.

Question 34

By mid-century, American workers benefited by state regulations providing for

A) a minimum wage in manufacturing.
B) pensions for long-term employees.
C) a ten-hour upper limit on the work day.
D) periodic breaks for workers during the work day.
E) All of the above.

Question 35

According to Williamson and Lindert, during the antebellum period increasing wealth concentration occurred in the U.S.

A) within regions.
B) within age groups.
C) among the native born.
D) among the foreign born.
E) All of the above.

Question 36

In Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) the Supreme Court of Massachusetts

A) established a legal minimum wage in manufacturing.
B) ruled that union members have the right to strike and push for a closed shop.
C) found the Boston Bootmakers' Society guilty of unlawful conspiracy.
D) established the 10-hour day as the legal maximum in manufacturing.
E) All of the above.