Deck 13: The Old South

Question 1

The chapter introduction tells the stories of several southerners-Colonel Daniel Jordan; a nameless
Texan; Sam Williams and his wife Nancy; Octave Johnson; and Ferdinand Steel-to make the point that

A) the antebellum South was marked by great diversity, but at its core it was unified by its slave-based agricultural economy.
B)the antebellum South had the reputation for being unified in its views of slavery, but actually only a few
In the South actively supported the slave-based agricultural economy.
C) the South was unique among the sections of the U.S. because of racist attitudes and the speculative
Approach to farming that characterized all classes of its citizens.
D)the South was not much different from other sections, except that the income of the majority of
Southerners came from slave-grown cotton, while elsewhere the majority of Americans grew corn or wheat with their own labor.

Answer 1

the antebellum South was marked by great diversity, but at its core it was unified by its slave-based agricultural economy.

Question 2

When cotton farmers were opening up new land for cotton cultivation, they typically planted ________
The first year after clearing the new fields.

A) cotton
B) corn
C) wheat
D) soybeans

Answer 2

corn

Question 3

In which of the following states did slaves outnumber white southerners by the 1850s?

A) Alabama
B) Georgia
C) South Carolina
D) North Carolina

Answer 3

South Carolina

Question 4

Which of the following was NOT true about slavery as a labor system?

A) Slavery was worth more in terms of investment than all the land in the South.
B) As slavery spread into the Deep South, wealth and power became more equally shared among the
various classes of white southerners.
C) It was slavery that made possible the South's "mass production" of agriculture products for export.
D) Only a minority of southerners owned slaves.

Question 5

Which statement best summarizes the effects of slavery on the southern economy?

A) It was a highly efficient mode of production.
B) It helped diversify the southern economy, but was not highly profitable.
C) It released capital for investment that would otherwise have been tied up in wages.
D) It retarded southern development and led to economic dependency on the North.

Question 6

In spite of poor diet, lack of medical care, and a high infant mortality rate, the United States was the only slave society in the Americas where the

A) white population grew significantly faster than the slave population.
B) slave population increased naturally.
C) slave population's life expectancy was greater than that of white Americans.
D) slave population grew at a faster rate than the white population.

Question 7

In the 1830s, reacting to Nat Turner's rebellion and the growing abolitionist movement, southern slaveholders developed the argument that slavery was a positive good. Which of the following assertions was NOT part of their proslavery argument?

A) Slavery was a beneficial status for blacks, as they required white guardianship.
B) Slavery was sanctioned by the Bible and history.
C) Slavery was more consistent with the humanitarian spirit of the age than the northern wage labor system.
D) Slavery's opponents could build no persuasive argument against it.

Question 8

The ________ system of social stratification separated individuals by various distinctions, among them heredity, rank, profession, wealth, and race.

Question 9

Within the slave community, ________ slaves sometimes deemed their color a badge of superiority.

Question 10

Most often slave folktales used ________ as symbolic models for the predicaments in which slaves found themselves.

Question 11

Some defenders of slavery used the paternalistic ideal, where a master cared for his slaves as if they were his ________.

Question 12

Identify three major differences between society and life on the cotton frontier and in the Tidewater region. What was the significance of these differences?

Question 13

Describe the class structure of the Old South. What was the relationship of slavery to this class structure?

Question 14

What pressures did slavery place on plantation mistresses?

Question 15

What united slaves in the Old South? Were there significant divisions among slaves?

Question 16

What role did religion play in the lives of slaves? How did that role differ from the role of religion encouraged by many white masters?

Question 17

Describe the change in attitudes toward slavery in the South before and after the early 1830s. What events contributed to that change?

Question 18

What arguments did southerners use to defend slavery?

Question 19

Compare and contrast slave revolts in North America and Latin America.

Question 20

The chapter introduction profiles several southerners: Colonel Daniel Jordan, a plantation master in South Carolina; a planter from the Red River country of Texas; Sam Williams, a skilled ironworker slave from Virginia, and his wife Nancy; Octave Johnson, a slave in Louisiana; and Ferdinand Steel, a farmer in Mississippi. Using what you have learned from the text about the class structure of the Old South, to which class does each of these people belong? Explain how each class differs from the others.

Question 21

What were the major geographical regions of the Old South? Explain how the geography of the South was a force of both unity and division.

Question 22

How did the conditions of slavery make it especially difficult for slaves to establish their own culture? How did slave communities work to overcome this?

Question 23

"Some [southern plantation] women drew a parallel between their situation and that of the slaves,"
the text reports. What parallels could plantation mistresses draw? Where do the parallels break down? Do you agree with the mistresses' observations?

Question 24

Do you believe slavery was the most important factor in shaping southern society? If so, explain why, especially since only one-third of southerners were African American and only one-quarter of southern whites owned slaves or were members of slaveowning families. If you do not believe slavery was the most important factor shaping southern society, what factor was (or factors were) more important?

Question 25

Give three major differences between the North and the South in this period. What was the significance of each of these differences? Which one do you think was the most important, and why?

Question 26

Explain why the South's dependence on exports made it difficult for an internally diversified economy to develop. How did this dependence retard southern economic development?
ch13 Key