REVIEW GUIDE SLAVERY and THE EVENTS LEADING TO
THE CIVIL WAR (2010-11)
The test will consist of approximately 35 multiple choice questions, a matching
section and an essay.
Reading 1: The Constitution and Slavery:
What specific provisions dealing with slavery were written into the Constitution?
What were the arguments at the Constitutional Convention by George Mason of Virginia
about why slavery was bad?
Reading 2: Slavery in the American South
Who invented the cotton gin and what was its impact on slavery?
The high mortality rate of slaves.
What was a “typical” day for a slave?
The misconceptions of slave labor in the south and the different types of labor slaves
did.*
What types of jobs did slaves do besides farming?
Did the slaves only work on plantations or in the towns as well?
The Distinctive Systems of Labor in the South: What are Task, Gang and Trash Gangs?
How did slave owners control their slaves (harsh penalties; positive incentives) and how
did slaves resist their owners?*
What was Nat Turner’s Rebellion and how did slave owners all over the south
respond to it?
Describe different aspects of “slave culture”(Folklore, food, music, religion, etc.)
What was the significance of slave culture?
The economics of slavery: What was the difference between the North and the South in
terms of development of transportation, communication, education etc.
Reading 3: The Culture and the Economy of the South:
*What is true of the American South? (Think of the Northern Profits from Slavery
homework and the “New Perspectives” groupwork with all of the charts and what surprised you
about slavery.) In addition, think of the following from Reading 3:
The “Plantation Legend”
Not only did the South have plantations for exporting large crops but many
Southerners farmed and raised livestock for their own use.
Large slave holders were rare and the minority.
Only about 1/3 of southern white families owned slaves and most slave holders
only had about 5 slaves.
Economics of slavery/cotton: Slavery was neither dying nor unprofitable by 1860. South
generated enormous wealth. Before the Civil War the South grew 60% of the world’s cotton. It
accounted for greater than half of U.S. exports.
Slavery was highly profitable but in what ways did it impede the South from developing?
(finance, industry, cities, education, technology, infrastructure, etc. – think of differences north
vs. south. Also, soil exhaustion).
Reading 4: Nullification and States Rights
What is a tariff?
What was the North and South’s positions on tariffs? Be able to describe in detail.*
Theory of Nullification
Calhoun v Webster: what did each say about this issue?
Reading 5: Abolitionism
The Second Great Awakening
Abolition: Two positions of abolitionists as to issue of slavery- freedom; colonization;
William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass
What issue(s) split abolition movement
Slavery vs. Anti-slavery Arguments*
Reading on the Mudsill Theory (Hammond) and Slavery's Opponents and
Defenders (Lincoln)
What was the mudsill theory? According to Sen. Hammond southern slaves have a better
life than northern laborers, why?
Review Lincoln’s arguments re: fixed/permanent condition of labor and the advantage to
society of a “free” labor system.
The Economy 1800-1850: The Market Revolution
What was the Market Revolution?
What is free enterprise? How is the government involved in it?
How did it affect the North, South and West?*
Power Point and Text Reading: The Divisive Politics of Slavery:
What was the major issue that divided American politics in the 1st half of the 19th c. (18201860)?
Wilmot Proviso
Missouri Compromise
The Compromise of 1850: elements of the act
Fugitive Slave Law: what is it; how did Northerners/abolitionists feel about it?
The Underground Railroad
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: who wrote it; what it stressed; significance – reaction of North and South?
Kansas Nebraska Act: elements
Bleeding Kansas: How did Kansas get this name?
Dred Scott decision: know facts; what Supreme Court held; significance; what did the South say
about this decision?
Lincoln-Douglas debates: know arguments of the candidates
Harper’s Ferry
Know the following people including what they said or did that was significant
in history.
George Mason (Constitution/slavery arguments – reading #1)
William Lloyd Garrison
Frederick Douglass
Nat Turner
John Calhoun
Daniel Webster
Henry Clay
Harriet Tubman
John Brown
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Stephen Douglas
Abraham Lincoln
David Wilmot
Dred Scott
*Possible essay type question