Deck 14: War, Recovery, and Regional Divergence

Question 1

The South's transportation problem was primarily due to

A) a shortage of mules and horses.
B) a limited rail network.
C) a shortage of inland shipping.
D) the lack of a merchant marine.

Answer 1

a shortage of mules and horses.

Question 2

The best description of US economic growth during the 1800s is:

A) The annual growth rate for the 20 years preceding the Civil War was about the same as the annual growth rate from 1870-1899 while the growth rate during the Civil War was higher than either period.
B) The annual growth rate for the 20 years preceding the Civil War was lower than the annual growth rate from 1870-1899.
C) The annual growth rate for the 20 years preceding the Civil War was greater than the annual growth rate from 1870-1899.

Answer 2

The annual growth rate for the 20 years preceding the Civil War was greater than the annual growth rate from 1870-1899.

Question 3

The Goldin and Lewis (1975) study of the costs of the Civil War

A) finds peaceful abolition of slavery would have been more costly than the War.
B) fails to include an estimate for the loss of human capital due to the War.
C) estimates the total cost of the War at more than double national income in 1860.
D) finds Northern property damage to be a major factor in the War's cost.

Answer 3

estimates the total cost of the War at more than double national income in 1860.

Question 4

At the start of the Civil War, the South adopted a trade policy that did not

A) discourage exports to England.
B) ban sales of cotton to the North.
C) eventually move England from neutrality in the Civil War.
D) weaken the southern war effort.

Question 5

In terms of manpower needed to fight the Civil War, the South was disadvantaged by

A) a smaller total population of military-aged males than the North.
B) limited support from free, white males in border states.
C) a population that included over 1 million military-aged slaves who could not be used for direct combat.
D) the fact that some of its manpower had to be used to repress the slave labor force.
E) All of the above.

Question 6

Disadvantages faced by the South in fighting the Civil War include

A) an inadequate supply of free, military-aged males.
B) limited industrial capacity.
C) shortages of horses and mules.
D) the lack of an effective administrative machinery for tax collection.
E) All of the above.

Question 7

In the North, the Civil War

A) led to increased output of boots and shoes.
B) led to increased output of iron for railroads.
C) increased to textile mill production to capacity.
D) was accompanied by a relatively low unemployment rate.
E) All of the above.

Question 8

Which statement best describes the South's economic experience from 1880-1900?

A) All regions of the South declined in per capita personal income, and LA, GA, AL, SC, and MS experienced the greatest declines in per capita personal income.
B) Every region in the South experienced growth, and LA, GA, AL, SC, and MS experienced the slowest growth rate of per capita personal income.
C) Every region in the South experienced growth, and LA, GA, AL, SC, and MS experienced the fastest growth rate of per capita personal income.
D) All regions of the South declined in per capita personal income, and LA, GA, AL, SC, and MS experienced the slowest declines in per capita personal income.

Question 9

After the Civil War, the Southern manufacturing sector

A) declined along with the agricultural sector.
B) did not reach pre-War levels until the 20^th century.
C) recovered much more quickly than the agricultural sector.
D) was slow to recover because of slow repairs to the South's transportation network.

Question 10

The Confederacy's primary mechanism for generating revenue during the Civil War was to:

A) Raise taxes.
B) Increase trade and gain more money from exports.
C) Borrow more money.
D) Print more money.

Question 11

Which of the following methods of generating federal government revenue was first introduced during the Civil War?

A) the personal income tax
B) inflationary finance
C) import tariffs
D) bond sales

Question 12

The cotton famine,

A) was a time of severe deprivation for Southern whites during the Civil War.
B) was the term used for the cotton shortage in India during the Civil War.
C) referred to the Confederate ban on cotton exports to the United States.
D) described the hardship the Confederate ban on cotton exports placed on British textile workers.

Question 13

At the outset of the Civil War, _______________ had a significant advantage in arms production; however, ____________ was able to increase production more rapidly.

A) the South; the North
B) the North; the South
C) neither the North nor the South; the North
D) the North; the North also

Question 14

During the Civil War years,

A) the slight stimulus to manufacturing was startling.
B) iron production for both small arms and railroads increased rapidly.
C) production of boots and shoes in Massachusetts nearly doubled.
D) Both b and c are correct.

Question 15

Compared to the 1850s, the annual rate of growth of commodity output during the Civil War

A) held constant from the previous decade.
B) increased by roughly 25 percent.
C) fell by more than 50 percent.
D) None of the above is correct.

Question 16

Printing of paper money by the Confederate government led to

A) an immediate hyperinflation that lasted for the entire period of the War.
B) a short-term hyperinflation that lasted for only the first year of the War.
C) hyperinflation in the final months of the War.
D) sporadic episodes of hyperinflation that emerged throughout the War.

Question 17

All of the following statements provide evidence in support of the Beard-Hacker Thesis except

A) The Civil War caused a transfer of political power from Southern agrarians to Northern industrial capitalists.
B) Following secession, Congress passed legislation to increase tariffs and grant land to railroads.
C) The Civil War created a demand stimulus for manufactured goods to support the war effort.
D) The growth rate in commodity output between 1860 and 1870 was 2.0 percent for the economy as a whole and 2.3 percent for the manufacturing sector.

Question 18

In terms of industrial capacity in 1860, value added in manufacturing was close to _____ in the North, and _____ in the South.

A) $500 million; $500 million
B) $750 million; $500 million
C) $1 billion; $400 million
D) $1.5 billion; $200 million

Question 19

The Beard-Hacker Thesis claims that postbellum economic growth in the United States

A) was slowed by rapid immigration.
B) was accelerated by rapid immigration from English speaking countries.
C) was slowed by the formation of industrial monopolies.
D) was accelerated by economic and financial changes generated by the Civil War.

Question 20

What best describes changes in per capita output between 1860-1880?

A) The South experienced both an absolute reduction and a reduction relative to the North.
B) Both the North and South grew, but the North grew faster than the South.
C) The North and South both suffered absolute decreases.
D) The South and the North grew and the South grew faster than the North.

Question 21

During the Civil War, __________ fell in the North.

A) nominal wages
B) real wages
C) prices
D) All of the above.

Question 22

For the tenant in the post-bellum South, the advantage of sharecropping compared with renting for cash was that _____.

A) the sharecropper's output was less dependent on weather.
B) the sharecropper realized all of the gains from extra effort.
C) sharecropping required more capital than renting.
D) under sharecropping the landlord absorbed part of the risk of a bad harvest.

Question 23

After the Civil War, many Southern farmers fell into a long-run spiral of debt caused by

A) the monopoly power of country stores.
B) the monopoly power of railroads.
C) excessive interest rates charged by banks.
D) carpetbaggers.

Question 24

Crop lien laws that existed in the South in the late 19^th century

A) allowed country stores to require debtors to repay their debts in cotton.
B) led to the under-production of cotton.
C) protected sharecroppers from exploitation by banks and other lending institutions.
D) redistributed property by providing small farms for freed slaves.
E) All of the above.

Question 25

In the decade immediately following emancipation, former slaves

A) were willing to work under the gang system in return for wages and benefits.
B) decreased their labor supply.
C) obtained ownership of roughly 40 percent of southern farms.
D) moved to northern states in large numbers.

Question 26

Sharecropping

A) allowed tenant farmers and land owners to share the risks and benefits of farming.
B) gave freed slaves more control over their workday.
C) relied on contracts that were usually renegotiated annually.
D) created little incentive for long-term investments in improvement of farm land.
E) All of the above.

Question 27

After the Civil War the southern sharecropper was often tied to the land by an economic system similar to although less onerous than slavery, and known as ______.

A) debt peonage.
B) the labor redundancy system.
C) immiserating growth.
D) the Sea Islands system.

Question 28

What was not one of the causes of hardship for Southern agricultural products in the immediate post-Civil War period (1870-1890)?

A) Increased infestation by boll weevils and other insects.
B) Significant withdrawal of women and children from the fields.
C) Increased competition from new cotton producers in other areas of the world.
D) The loss of the plantation system.

Question 29

What Supreme Court case ruled separate education for blacks and whites was constitutional provided that it was equal?

A) Plessy vs. Ferguson
B) Munn vs. Illinois
C) The Dred Scott Case
D) Brown vs. Board of Education

Question 30

In the South after the Civil War,

A) agriculture was the first to recover to prewar levels.
B) the transportation network took nearly 20 years to recover.
C) manufacturing recovered before agriculture.
D) large public spending was needed to repair extensive damage to the rail network.

Question 31

What was not a reason for the decline of the Deep South between the Civil War and 1890?

A) Elimination of economies of scale in the production process.
B) An extended period of droughts and bad weather.
C) Significant withdrawal of labor from the fields, especially by women and children.
D) Increased competition from cotton suppliers in other nations.

Question 32

The most important factor in the demise of the debt peonage in the post-Civil War South was

A) the impact of the boll weevil.
B) improved roads.
C) the automobile.
D) increased urbanization and industrialization.

Question 33

Which Amendment freed slaves?

A) Thirteenth.
B) Fourteenth.
C) Sixteenth.
D) Eighteenth.

Question 34

In 1870, the wealthiest fifth of the Southern population

A) owned about 25 percent of the land.
B) had lost most of their land through post-War land reforms.
C) owned about the same portion of the land as they had owned before the War.
D) generally chose to reduce their investments in land and increase their investments in other assets.

Question 35

Part of the decrease in real wages during the Civil War was due to deteriorating productivity because of ___.

A) the inability of firms to replace machinery.
B) the need to use inexperienced workers.
C) the decline in coal production.
D) excessive days lost due to strikes.

Question 36

In the 1870s,

A) cotton prices were declining.
B) the Deep South became a food importing region.
C) an increasing percentage of small farms specialized in cotton.
D) black farmers devoted more of their land to cotton than white farmers.
E) All of the above.

Question 37

The demise of debt peonage in the post-Civil War South was partly due to all of the following except

A) the arrival of the boll weevil.
B) improved transportation and the growth of mail-order houses.
C) increased urbanization and industrialization.
D) federal land reform legislation that redistributed the ownership of southern land.

Question 38

Which statement best describes the immediate post-slavery experience for ex-slaves?

A) They were able to engage fully in the economic, social and political activities in their towns.
B) Freedmen took advantage of the educational opportunities available to them and had education rates equal to those of whites.
C) Most freedmen immediately moved north.
D) Their life expectancies increased dramatically.
E) Their income increased relative to the income of whites.

Question 39

In the years following the Civil War, the world supply of cotton ____________ and the growth of world demand for cotton _____________.

A) increased; also accelerated
B) decreased; also slowed
C) increased; slowed
D) decreased; accelerated

Question 40

What caused the dramatic reversal in relative economic positions of the North and South after the Civil War?

A) economic advances in the north and midwest
B) technological advances in New England industries
C) increases in Northern exports to Europe
D) decline in southern output

Question 41

Economic Insights What is the best description of Northern wages from 1860-1864?

A) A relatively large decrease in demand relative to the decrease in supply led to lower wages and fewer people working.
B) An increase in the demand for labor and decrease in the supply of labor led to
C) Increases in both the demand and supply for labor led to more people employed who were working for about the same wages.
D) A decrease in the demand for labor coupled with an increase in the supply led to many fewer people working, but those who were employed worked for higher wages.