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Quiz for American Voices: Freedom

Question

1. What does Henry William Ravenel’s diary entry suggest about how he viewed the institution of slavery?

Ravenel saw it as a perfect system that benefitted both landowners and African Americans.

He believed it was a functional institution that had both legal and practical flaws.

Ravenel accepted the legal foundations of slavery, but recognized that it was cruel in practice.

He objected to slavery because it defined humans as property and discouraged hard work.

Correct. The answer is b. Ravenel wrote that he believed that slavery was “the best condition in which the two races could live together by mutual benefit,” but that “there were many defects to be corrected & many abuses to be remedied.”

Incorrect. The answer is b. Ravenel wrote that he believed that slavery was “the best condition in which the two races could live together by mutual benefit,” but that “there were many defects to be corrected & many abuses to be remedied.”

Question

2. According to Edward Barnell Heyward’s diary, what were his assumptions about the fundamental nature of African Americans?

African Americans had the same capabilities and values as whites and would become their social equals.

African Americans were both incapable of taking care of themselves and potentially dangerous.

African Americans were naturally inferior and would languish without the benevolent care of whites.

African Americans were suited only to forced manual labor and would be unable to adapt to a new way of life.

Correct. The answer is b. Heyward’s diary entry makes contradictory points, expressing both that the freed slaves were “left to themselves . . . roaming in a starvation condition . . . like lost sheep with no one to care for them,” and that efforts to treat them as equals would lead them to “rise against the whites, and in the end, be exterminated themselves.”

Incorrect. The answer is b. Heyward’s diary entry makes contradictory points, expressing both that the freed slaves were “left to themselves . . . roaming in a starvation condition . . . like lost sheep with no one to care for them,” and that efforts to treat them as equals would lead them to “rise against the whites, and in the end, be exterminated themselves.”

Question

3. What does Isabella Soustan’s letter to her master suggest about the conditions she faced during her first months of freedom after the end of the Civil War?

Although she and her family had found firm economic footing as free people, she was homesick.

Soustan and her family had been unable to find a way to sustain themselves and sought the secure life of a slave.

She was living and working in difficult circumstances and missing the familiarity of plantation life.

Unwilling to work for a living, Soustan sought to return to the plantation where she was assured of food and shelter.

Correct. The answer is c. Soustan’s letter indicates that she was living in difficult circumstances of some sort and that, although her family member John was “doing well,” they missed the familiarity of plantation relationships and life.

Incorrect. The answer is c. Soustan’s letter indicates that she was living in difficult circumstances of some sort and that, although her family member John was “doing well,” they missed the familiarity of plantation relationships and life.

Question

4. What does Jourdon Anderson’s letter to his former master reveal about his life as a freeman living in Ohio after the Civil War?

He had been influenced by free labor ideology and northern middle-class values.

His family’s economic well-being required his family members to work as hard as slaves.

He had a hard time establishing himself and was considering a return to the plantation.

Except for the ability to earn wages, his daily life was little different from that of a slave.

Correct. The answer is a. The letter, which extols his wages and ability to provide a comfortable home for his family, the respectful treatment of his wife and daughters, and the education of his children, reveals that Anderson’s thinking and experiences have been shaped by free labor ideology and northern middle-class values.

Incorrect. The answer is a. The letter, which extols his wages and ability to provide a comfortable home for his family, the respectful treatment of his wife and daughters, and the education of his children, reveals that Anderson’s thinking and experiences have been shaped by free labor ideology and northern middle-class values.

Question

5. Considered together, these sources support which of the following conclusions about the transition from slavery to freedom in the United States during Reconstruction?

Southern whites lamented the end of slavery, while African Americans universally celebrated it.

Former slave owners expressed concerns about the transition to freedom, but former slaves had none.

Reconstruction was a difficult transition for former slaves and former slave owners because neither group knew what to expect.

The experience of Reconstruction varied considerably among both former slaves and former slave owners.

Correct. The answer is d. This set of documents reveals that both former slave owners and former slaves had a variety of attitudes toward and experiences of Reconstruction. There was no single experience for former slave owners or for former slaves.

Incorrect. The answer is d. This set of documents reveals that both former slave owners and former slaves had a variety of attitudes toward and experiences of Reconstruction. There was no single experience for former slave owners or for former slaves.