American History Connecting With The Past 15th Edition By Alan Brinkley – Test Bank

Chapter 11
Cotton, Slavery, and the Old South

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. The historian who wrote “The South [prior to the Civil War] grew, but did not develop” meant that
A. the southern population increased, but new technology had bypassed the region.
B. agriculture remained the leading industry of the South, but the plantation system was declining.
C. the South had failed to move from an agrarian to an industrial economy.
D. the South had expanded as a geographic region but had developed little prosperity.
E. the South had created a prosperous plantation system but had not expanded its borders.
Answer: C
Page: 294
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

2. Prior to 1860, the center of economic power in the South
A. was in Charleston, S.C.
B. remained, as it had been, primarily within the upper South.
C. remained, as it had been, primarily within the lower South.
D. shifted from the lower South to the upper South.
E. shifted from the upper South to the lower South.
Answer: E
Page: 294
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

3. Tobacco cultivation in the antebellum South
A. was easy on the soil.
B. was gradually moving westward.
C. enjoyed a stable market.
D. was centered in the lower South.
E. never made a profit.
Answer: B
Page: 294
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

4. Rice and sugar production in the antebellum South
A. had short growing seasons.
B. were concentrated in a relatively small geographic area.
C. had difficulty sustaining profits for growers.
D. was in considerable decline by the 1850s.
E. threatened to overwhelm cotton production in the lower South.
Answer: B
Page: 294
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

5. Short-staple cotton
A. helped to keep the South a predominantly agricultural region.
B. was less coarse than long-staple cotton.
C. was easier to process than long-staple cotton.
D. was more susceptible to disease than long-staple cotton.
E. was only grown in the coastal regions of the upper South.
Answer: A
Page: 294
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

6. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the “cotton kingdom”
A. was already losing ground to other staples, such as rice and tobacco.
B. saw wealthy planters outnumber small planters.
C. did not rely on large numbers of slaves imported directly from Africa.
D. was the dominant source of the income of the lower South.
E. still had not adopted the cotton gin, despite the time and resources that could be saved.
Answer: D
Page: 295
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

7. Between 1840 and 1860, the American South’s slave population
A. could not meet the South’s labor needs.
B. changed little.
C. dramatically shifted into the Southwest.
D. declined in overall numbers.
E. became concentrated in the upper South.
Answer: C
Page: 295
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

8. By the time of the Civil War, cotton constituted nearly ________ of the total export trade of the United States.
A. one-fourth
B. one-tenth
C. one-third
D. half
E. two-thirds
Answer: E
Page: 295
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

9. By 1860, the textile manufacturing sector of the American South
A. was nonexistent.
B. had increased threefold in value over the previous twenty years.
C. had declined in value throughout the 1840s and 1850s.
D. was equal to one-third of the value of cotton exported that year.
E. had come to dominate the South’s economy.
Answer: B
Page: 295-296
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

10. The New Orleans magazine publisher, James B. D. De Bow, championed
A. southern economic independence from the North.
B. southern commercial and agricultural growth.
C. closer economic ties with the North.
D. southern economic independence from the North, and southern commercial and agricultural growth.
E. closer economic ties with the North, and southern commercial and agricultural growth.
Answer: A
Page: 297-298
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South

11. The South may have failed to develop a large industrial economy due to all the following factors EXCEPT
A. the humid climate.
B. little access to liquid capital.
C. the profitability of cotton.
D. cultural values.
E. a shortage of labor.
Answer: E
Page: 298
Topic: Cotton Dominates the South