The Unfinished Nation, Chapter 11, Review – Flashcards
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A runaway slave making a successful escape from the American South was
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highly unlikely.
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A typical white southerner
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A typical white southerner
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Approximately what percentage of white southerners lived in slaveholding households in the mid-1800s?
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25%
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Before revisions were made to state laws in the 1830s, slaves could be set free by
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the master's will after the master died.
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By 1860, the textile manufacturing sector of the American South
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had increased threefold in value over the precious twenty years.
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By fostering __________, or a sense of kindly protection and security for slaves, whites reduced resistance to slavery.
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paternalism
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By the 1830s, the center of __________ cultivation was moving westward into the Piedmont area, while the farmers of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina shifted to other crops.
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tobacco
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By the mid-nineteenth century, how common was slavery in the Western world?
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Apart from the American South, it existed only in Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.
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By the time of the Civil War, cotton constituted nearly _____ of the total export trade of the United States.
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two-thirds
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Childrearing was a particular burden for southern white women because
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the rate of infant mortality was significantly higher than elsewhere.
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Cotton represented about _____ of the total export trade of the United States by the time of the Civil War.
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two-thirds
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During the first half of the nineteenth century, the "cotton kingdom"
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was the dominant source of the income of the lower South.
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Even the poorest whites tended to support the plantation system because they were
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raised to feel racially superior to blacks.
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From the 1830s on, state laws governing slavery made it much more difficult for owners to set their slaves free, in part because
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Nat Turner's revolt had prompted fears of further revolts among white southerners.
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How did slaves cope with being separated from their families?
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They could be "adopted" by a slave family in the new community.
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How did the slave codes define a person's race?
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Individuals with a presumed trace of African ancestry were black.
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How did the slave labor system affect white southern women?
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-It helped spare them from hard labor. -It threatened their relationships with their husbands, who often had sexual relationships with female slaves.
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In 1839 a group of slaves in Cuba took over a ship, the __________, and attempted to sail it back to their homelands in Africa.
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Amistad
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In 1850, outside of the United States, slavery in the Western Hemisphere existed in
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Brazil.
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In general, slaves had more privacy and a social realm of their own
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on large plantations.
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In southern cities, slaves performed many of the menial jobs that in the North were performed by __________ immigrants.
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European
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In the American slave family,
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extended kinship networks were strong and important.
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In what ways did white southern society differ from the myths of a planter "aristocracy"?
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-Many planters were competitive businessmen. -Only a small minority of southern whites owned slaves. -Many of the great southern landowners were still first-generation settlers.
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More than half of the free African Americans in slaveholding states were living in _____ in 1860.
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Virginia and Maryland
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Most affluent white southern women engaged in all of the following EXCEPT
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public activities.
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Most enslaved blacks lived
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on medium- to large-size plantations.
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Most slaves received which of the following?
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-a simple but adequate diet. -cheap clothing and shoes.
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Most white women in the South lived _____, which afforded them little opportunity to look beyond their familial roles.
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on farms
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Most whites living in the Appalachians or the Ozarks
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practiced subsistence agriculture, growing most of their crops for their own use.
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Nonslaveholding whites who lived in backcountry areas like the Appalachians and Ozarks were known as
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hill people.
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Of the following, the most common form of resistance to slavery was
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subtle defiance.
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On large plantations, slaveowners would employ _____, or slaves who acted as foremen.
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head drivers
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One of the most powerful stereotypes of slaves was the "__________," a shuffling, dimwitted slave who was deferential to whites.
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Sambo
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One reason that nonslaveholding whites living amid the plantation system accepted slavery was that they
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were often closely related to the wealthier planters who did own slaves.
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Prior to 1860, southern women differed from northern women in that southern women
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were expected to be more subordinate to men.
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Prior to 1860, the center of economic power in the South
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shifted from the upper South to the lower South.
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Regarding religion, American Slaves
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often incorporated African features into their Christianity.
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Rice and sugar production in the antebellum South
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were concentrated in a relatively small geographic area.
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Sexual relationships between white southern men and female slaves was
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a common practice.
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Short-staple cotton
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helped to keep the South a predominantly agricultural region.
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Slave religion was primarily a form of
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Christianity.
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Slave women generally were responsible for which of the following tasks?
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-cooking meals. -child rearing. -providing medical attention.
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Southern whites who did not own slaves
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were largely dependent on the plantation economy.
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Southern women who lived on farms of modest size regularly engaged in which of the following activities?
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-spinning and weaving. -agricultural tasks. -overseeing slaves.
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The central ideology of slavery, and the vital instrument of white control, was
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paternalism.
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The common language developed by American slaves is known as
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pidgin.
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The historian who wrote "The South grew, but did not develop" prior to the Civil War meant
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the South had failed to move from an agrarian to an industrial economy.
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The lives of slaves in the city differed from the lives of their plantation counterparts in which of the following ways?
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-Urban slaves had more contact with free blacks and lower-class whites. -Urban slaves had more freedom to move about during the day.
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The majority of students attending the South's several hundred colleges and universities were
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sons of wealthy planters.
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The most widespread method slaves used to defy their masters was
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everyday forms of resistance, such as refusing to work hard.
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The only successful large-scale slave uprising was led by __________ __________, a slave preacher who led an armed band of slaves to murder 60 white men, women, and children in Virginia.
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Nat Turner
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The relationship of masters and slaves on medium and large plantations was
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not as intimate as on small farms.
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The shared language developed by slaves combined African languages and the __________ language.
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English
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The slave codes of the American South
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defined anyone with a trace of African ancestry as black.
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Tobacco cultivation in the antebellum South
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was gradually moving westward.
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Through the musical tradition of the __________, Africans in America expressed both their religious faith and their hopes for freedom in song.
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spiritual
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Typical white southerners often engaged in which of the following?
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-subsistence farming. -small amounts of crop production for the market.
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Typical white southerners were yeoman farmers who owned few or no slaves and were known as "_____."
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plain folk
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Ways in which slaves expressed elements of their African heritage included
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singing songs and playing musical instruments such as the banjo.
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What is one reason slave women often held additional authority in the plantation system?
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They acted as single parents when their husbands were sold to other plantations.
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What social effects did slavery have on southerners?
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-It isolated blacks from whites. -It created a unique bond of mutual reliance between masters and slaves. -Southern blacks developed a culture different from that of southern whites.
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What technological development made the large-scale cultivation of short-staple cotton possible?
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cotton gin
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Which of the following advantages did house slaves often have over field slaves?
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-access to leftovers from the master's table. -less physical-backbreaking labor.
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Which of the following are accurate statements about the foreign slave trade?
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-Despite a federal law prohibiting the importation of slaves, smuggling continued as late as the 1850s. -At a southern convention in 1858, delegates voted to repeal all laws against slave imports.
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Which of the following are accurate statements regarding the domestic slave trade?
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-Some slaves moved from one part of the South to another with their owners. -Most slaves were moved by professional slave traders.
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Which of the following are true about free blacks in the South before the Civil War?
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-Some owned slaves. -Free black communities flourished in New Orleans and Charleston. -Most lived in poverty.
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Which of the following are true regarding the Amistad?
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-The slaves of the Amistad had no experience with sailing and tried to compel the crew to steer them to their destination. -John Quincy Adams argued before the Supreme Court that the slaves of the Amistad should be freed.
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Which of the following best describe how slaves' practice of religion differed from that of whites?
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-Slaves' prayer meeting often included vocal exclamations and fervent chanting. -Slave religion often blended elements of African religious traditions and Christianity.
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Which of the following best describes an aspect of the domestic slave trade?
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Slave families were often separated, including the separation of children from parents.
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Which of the following best describes elementary and secondary schools in the South before the Civil War?
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They were inferior to those in the Northeast and the Northwest frontier.
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Which of the following best describes how members of the white southern upper class viewed themselves?
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as true aristocrats, much like those in the Old World
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Which of the following best describes most members of the southern planter class?
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They were newly wealthy and among the first in their families to succeed at farming.
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Which of the following best describes slaves' practice of religion?
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It was monitored by whites because autonomous black churches were illegal.
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Which of the following best describes the economic relationship between the North and South during the antebellum period?
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The South was like a colony, shipping raw goods to the North to be turned into salable goods.
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Which of the following best describes the frequency of slave revolts in the South?
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Slave uprisings were rare, but the possibility kept white southerners on alert.
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Which of the following best describes the prevalence of slaveholding in the South?
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Only a very small minority of southern whites owned slaves.
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Which of the following best describes the relationship between agriculture and business in the South?
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Most successful businesses were related to the needs of plantation owners.
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Which of the following best describes why wealthy southerners invested little capital in manufacturing?
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Wealthy southerners had much of their capital tied up in their land.
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Which of the following best explains why rice did not become a staple of the southern economy?
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Rice fields require extensive irrigation.
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Which of the following contributed to how the South remained so different from the North?
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-While the agricultural economy of the Northeast had declined, that of the South was booming. -White southerners argued that grace and refinement were more important than rapid growth and development.
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Which of the following contributed to the slow development of industry in the South?
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-inadequate transportation. -booming agricultural expansion.
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Which of the following effects did the cult of honor have on the lives of southern white women?
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-White southern men felt obligated to protect white women. -Men expected women to be subordinate in exchange for defending women's honor.
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Which of the following identifies traditional values that motivated southerners to avoid such "coarse" occupations as trade and commerce?
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chivalry
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Which of the following roles was NOT among those assigned to house slaves?
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planter
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Which of the following statements about the poorest class of white southerners is FALSE?
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They often felt affinity with slaves as members of another oppressed class.
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Which of the following statements about the southern aristocratic ideal is FALSE?
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Wealthy southern whites prided themselves on their egalitarianism.
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Which of the following statements regarding slave life is true?
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Slave mothers had large families, but death rates among black children were high.
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Which of the following was the most likely way that slaves could earn money to buy their freedom?
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marketing a skill to make additional money
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Which of the following was part of the slave codes?
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Whites could not teach slaves to read or write.
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Which of the following were among the activities slaves were forbidden from doing under the slave codes of southern states?
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-hold property. -strike a white person, even in self-defense. -carry firearms.
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Which of the following were the case with the poorest white southerners, referred to by some as "poor white trash"?
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-They often suffered from dietary deficiencies and diseases such as pellagra, hookworm, and malaria. -Wealthier whites sometimes called them "clay eaters."
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Which of the following were the most common hazards for slaves who tried to escape their masters by running away?
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-long distance to safety. -"slave patrols" looking for escaped blacks. -ignorance about geography.
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Which of these forms of transportation were either nonexistent or inadequately developed in the South prior to the Civil War?
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-canals. -railroads. -finished roads.
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Why did tobacco cultivation move westward in the 1830s?
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Tobacco farming had exhausted the land, so farmers had to switch to other crops.