hist 13 – Flashcard
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How did white Virginians respond to the violence of Nat Turner's rebellion?
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White Virginians blamed the revolt on outside agitators.
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In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that the major differences between the North and South revolved around
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the southern institution of slavery.
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After 1820, what caused slavery to become more profitable, which in turn increased the South's political power?
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Cotton production expanded to the West.
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By 1860, what percentage of the world's supply of cotton was produced in the southern United States?
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75 percent
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In 1790, there were fewer than 700,000 slaves in the South; by 1860 that number had increased to about
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4 million.
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What was the primary cause of the growth in the southern slave population between 1790 and 1869?
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Natural reproduction
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In 1860, blacks made up a majority of the population in
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South Carolina.
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According to South Carolina political leader John C. Calhoun, what happened in states where slavery was abolished?
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The condition of blacks got worse.
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How did the institution of slavery affect social relations in the South?
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Whites were unified around race rather than divided by social class
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Which statement characterizes white Southerners in the antebellum South?
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Most white Southerners did not own slaves.
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Which staple crop was grown almost exclusively along a narrow strip of coast stretching from the Carolinas into Georgia?
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Rice
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How important was agriculture to the economy of the North?
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It combined with commerce and manufacturing in a mixed economy.
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Prior to the Civil War, why did the South remain agriculturally based instead of diversifying its economy?
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Planters made good profits and feared economic change.
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What was a consequence of the South's lack of economic diversity?
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Newly arrived European immigrants tended to settle in the North.
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Why were there no statewide public school systems in the South as late as 1850?
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Planters saw no need to educate their workforce.
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How did larger planters have the time to concentrate on marketing and finance while still running a profitable plantation?
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They hired overseers to go to the fields with the slaves.
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What did plantation owners mean when they described the master-slave relationship in terms of "paternalism?"
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A slave's labor and obedience were exchanged for the master's care and guidance.
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As the price of slaves continued to rise, masters began to treat their slaves marginally better because
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masters became more fearful of slave uprisings with the passage of time.
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How did slaves manipulate planters' emphasis on paternalism?
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Slaves sometimes negotiated concessions like small garden plots.
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What did southern men need in order to achieve high social standing and success in the world of politics?
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An honorable reputation
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How did southern men's emphasis on chivalry affect southern law?
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Southern laws affirmed the paramount rights of husbands.
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Which statement describes the daily lives of southern women on the plantation?
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They worked long hours performing plantation duties.
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Most plantation mistresses kept their opinions on issues to themselves, but the diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut echoed most women in railing against
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miscegenation.
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By 1860, the slave system existed
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in almost every industry.
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What happened to slave men when they became elderly?
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They moved on to new jobs, like cleaning stables.
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What was an advantage of being a house servant in the Old South?
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House slaves enjoyed somewhat less physically demanding work.
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The rarest job on the plantation for slaves was that of driver, the person who
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made sure all slaves worked hard.
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What was the most frequent cause of the end of slave marriages?
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Death of a spouse
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Why did planters promote Christianity in the slave quarters?
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They believed Christianity would make slaves more obedient.
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African American Christianity, created by slaves themselves,
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emphasized justice.
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Which of the following was the most common way slaves reacted to their bondage?
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Small-scale resistance
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Most runaway slaves
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were caught and returned.
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Why were open slave revolts uncommon in the South?
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Heavily armed whites outnumbered blacks two to one by 1860.
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In 1860, the largest number of white Southerners
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were nonslaveholding yeoman farmers.
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How did yeomen in the plantation belt of the South feel about wealthy planters?
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They relied on planters to ship and sell their cotton for them.
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The typical plantation belt yeoman in the old South aspired to
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move up to the planter class.
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Most upcountry yeomen focused on cultivating
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food.
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The economy of the upcountry South depended on
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barter.
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What percentage of nonslaveholding rural white men were landless and very poor?
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25 percent
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Which statement characterizes the religion of southern plain folk?
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Southern plain folk enjoyed religious revivals.
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Which of the following restrictions were placed on the 260,000 free blacks in the South by 1860?
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They could not participate in politics.
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Most free blacks in the antebellum South
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lacked education.
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Which statement describes the life of free black elites in cities like Charleston and New Orleans?
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They had the right to vote.
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The goal of most free blacks in the South was to
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preserve their own freedom.
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The majority of poor white men in the South would agree on which statement?
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The South should promote agriculture.
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By the 1850s, the political system of the white South
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had extended suffrage for all adult white males.
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What did the leaders of the Whig and Democratic parties have in common?
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They declared allegiance to republican equality.
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How did the democratization of politics in the South change the shape of government?
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Democratization changed the voter rolls more than the officeholders.
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Elite Southerners maintained their power over the yeoman majority by
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convincing yeomen of their shared interests.
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How did powerful whites defend slavery from attacks by critics?
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They used intimidation tactics to silence critics.
