Chapter 13
The Entrenchment of Slavery and
Regional Conflict
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. Which region in the New World received the largest share of slaves brought
to the New World?
a. Brazil
b. Colonial America
c. Cuba
d. Canada
2. Approximately how many slaves were brought to the colonial United States
from Africa during the operation of the transatlantic slave trade?
a. 50,000
b. 700,000
c. 5 million
d. 10 million
3. Approximately how many slaves were brought from Africa to the New
World during the operation of the transatlantic slave trade?
a. 50,000
b. 700,000
c. 5 million
d. 10 million
4. The colonial United States accounted for approximately what share of the
transatlantic slave trade?
a. 5 percent
b. 25 percent
c. 50 percent
d. 75 percent
e. 95 percent
5. The majority of slaves that were brought to the New World during the
colonial period were used in the production of
a. cotton.
b. sugar.
c. tobacco.
d. rice.
6. By 1825, what area in the New World had the greatest portion of slaves?
a. Spanish colonies
b. the West Indies
c. the United States
d. Brazil
7. With the adoption of the US Constitution in 1787, importation of slaves
a. was made illegal.
b. was allowed, but only for the next 20 years.
c. from the Caribbean was prohibited, but importation of African slaves was
allowed.
d. was allowed only on federally-approved vessels that met minimum crew
sizes.
8. New Jersey adopted a policy of gradual emancipation that freed male slaves
when they reached age 25. This policy meant that slave owners earned a rate
of return
a. of zero, because profits during the slave's working years about equaled
the costs of rearing a slave.
b. that was about equal to the normal return, because the profits earned up
to age 25 exceeded rearing costs by a substantial margin.
c. a very high rate of return because slaves were generally unproductive
after their peak years.
d. that cannot be calculated because of a lack of data.
9. Legally speaking, the geographic concentration of slavery in the southern
part of the United States is explained by all of the following except
a. provisions in the Northwest Land Ordinance of 1787.
b. provisions in the constitutions of some northern states.
c. laws allowing for gradual emancipation in some northern states.
d. an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that allowed importation of slaves
only through the port of Charleston after 1800.
10. What is not correct about the northern U.S. abolitionist movement?
a. Northern slaveholders could sell their slaves to the south.
b. Slave owners in the North suffered significant economic loss because
slaves were given their freedom much sooner than in the South.
c. Most Northern states freed slaves after they had reached a minimum age.
d. In most northern states, freedom was granted over a gradual period of
time.
11. By 1850, the single largest U.S. commodity export (in terms of value) was
a. iron railroad tracks.
b. wheat.
c. cotton.
d. slaves.
12. Current research on the productivity of Southern cotton plantations shows
that
a. output per unit of input was greater on large slave plantations than on
small free-family farms.
b. the majority of the South’s cotton crop was grown on farm units of less
than 100 acres.
c. output per slave declined during the antebellum period.
d. plantation-style agriculture was inefficient.
e. all of the above
13. Productivity gains on southern cotton plantations were primarily due to the
a. fact that slaves worked longer hours than free workers.
b. fact that slaves tended to work 7 days per week while free workers tended
to work 5 or 6 days.
c. use of the gang system.
d. increased use of capital (farm machinery) on plantations.
e. all of the above
14. According to Walton and Rockoff, large slave plantations were _____ efficient
than farms without slaves because (among several reasons) _______.
a. more; the great intensity per hour with which slaves were forced to
worked.
b. more; large plantation owners used political power to control the best
land
c. less; free men work harder than slaves
d. less; slaves frequently sabotaged production
15. According to estimates by Richard Vedder, rates of exploitation for slaves
a. are similar to those of antebellum manufacturing workers.
b. indicate that slaves received nearly the full value marginal product of
their labor.
c. equaled 50 to 65 percent of their value marginal product.
d. cannot be determined due to inadequate data on maintenance costs of
adult slaves.
16. Most current economic historians believe that
a. slavery was profitable and viable.
b. slavery would have eventually ended due to its inherent unprofitability.
c. slavery was economically inefficient.
d. free labor was more productive than slave labor.
17. In the 20 years before the Civil War, real per capita incomes were ___ in the
South than in the North, and the growth rate was ___ in the South than in the
North.
a. higher; higher
b. lower; higher
c. higher; lower
d. lower; lower
18. Which statement is most accurate about the United States between 1840-1860?
a. The per capita income of free people in the Southwest was about twice the
national average.
b. The per capita income of free people in the entire United States decreased.
c. The per capita income of free people in the entire United States increased,
but increased more slowly than it did before the Revolution.
d. The Northwest was the poorest part of the nation, as measured by per
capita income of free people.
19. In examining incomes of free Southerners prior to the Civil War, Walton and
Rockoff conclude that compared with northerners free Southerners were
a. generally far poorer than northerners and falling further behind.
b. generally far poorer than northerners, except in the old South.
c. generally doing fairly well, even in the old South.
d. far richer than northerners but a downward trend was noticeable.
20. In 1860, the total value of U.S. slaves was
a. greater than GNP.
b. about $3 billion.
c. greater than $10 billion.
d. about $1 billion.
21. In the Dred Scott decision (1857), the Supreme Court declared that
a. Congress could not admit a free state without simultaneously admitting a
slave state.
b. slavery was not legal in the western territories.
c. fugitive slaves were not legally protected from bounty hunters.
d. Congress could not prohibit slavery in the western territories.
22. Which statement is most accurate about the United States between 1800-1860?
a. New states were always permitted to choose whether they wanted to be
free or slave states.
b. Slaves were prohibited from the western territories and new states.
c. The threat of having their jobs replaced by slaves led many southerners to
unionize.
d. The total value of slaves in the United States increased substantially after
the slave trade was stopped in the early 1800s.
23. Which of the following statements about the slave family in the United States
is most accurate?
a. Slave owners preferred slaves who lived in intact families.
b. In most two-parent slave families, the parents lived on different
plantations.
c. The father was white in about 75 percent of the households headed by
single slave mothers.
d. About half of children under 15 years of age were sold away from their
families.
ECONOMIC INSIGHTS
1. Between 1850 and 1860, the prices of slaves ____ and the price of cotton ___.
a. rose; rose
b. rose; fell
c. fell; rose
d. fell; fell
2. Ulrich B. Phillips's proxy for the profitability of slavery was the ratio of
a. cotton prices to slave prices.
b. cotton prices to maintenance costs of slaves.
c. rental cost of slaves to slave prices.
d. price of agricultural goods to price of manufacturing goods.
e. the interest rate to maintenance cost of slaves.
3. Which of the following was a major omission from Ulrich B. Phillip’s proxy
for the rate of return in slavery?
a. the price of cotton
b. the price of slaves
c. the rate of interest
d. the productivity of slaves
e. the maintenance cost of slaves
4. The text compares two studies on the profitability of slavery, one by Phillips
and the other by Conrad and Meyer. The main reason for the difference in
their results is
a. Phillips failed to account for the effect of rising marginal product on
profitability.
b. Conrad and Meyer had better data on slave prices.
c. Conrad and Meyer used data from both northern and southern farms.
d. Phillips assumed that cotton prices were falling during the antebellum
period.
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