Quiz for Thinking Like a Historian:
Servitude and Slavery

Question

1. Considered as a pair, sources 1 and 2 provide evidence for which of the following conclusions?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Both advertisements specify that the laborers available for sale are healthy.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Both advertisements specify that the laborers available for sale are healthy.

Question

2. What does source 3 suggest about the relationship between indentured servants and slaves in Virginia in the 1670s?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. James Revel wrote that, “We and the Negroes both alike did fare, Of work and food we had an equal share,” suggesting that servants and slaves lived under similar conditions.
Incorrect. The answer is b. James Revel wrote that, “We and the Negroes both alike did fare, Of work and food we had an equal share,” suggesting that servants and slaves lived under similar conditions.

Question

3. Source 4 appeared in an abolitionist work published in New York in 1807. This information is important to a historian’s interpretation of the source for which of the following reasons?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. Abolitionists hoped to end slavery, and their political agenda often led them to emphasize the worst aspects of slavery. A historian examining source 4 could not assume, therefore, that slave owners used these mechanisms with any regularity.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Abolitionists hoped to end slavery, and their political agenda often led them to emphasize the worst aspects of slavery. A historian examining source 4 could not assume, therefore, that slave owners used these mechanisms with any regularity.

Question

4. In source 5, Joseph Mulders’s testimony is historically significant for which of the following reasons?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. This testimony, excerpted from a court deposition, indicates that indentured servants had access to legal recourse if they were mistreated by their masters or mistresses.
Incorrect. The answer is b. This testimony, excerpted from a court deposition, indicates that indentured servants had access to legal recourse if they were mistreated by their masters or mistresses.

Question

5. Source 6, an advertisement in which a master is seeking his runaway slave and servant, provides evidence for which of the following phenomena?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. The advertisement describes a runaway servant and slave and their master’s urgent desire to find them. It illustrates slaves’ and servants’ use of escape as a means of resistance against their masters and systems of forced labor.
Incorrect. The answer is a. The advertisement describes a runaway servant and slave and their master’s urgent desire to find them. It illustrates slaves’ and servants’ use of escape as a means of resistance against their masters and systems of forced labor.

Question

6. In source 6, Thomas Ringgold’s statement that, “It seems to be the interest at least of every gentleman that has slaves, to be active in the beginning of these attempts . . .” suggests which of the following?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. Ringgold’s statement suggests that the successful escape of any slave or servant undermined the entire system and that slaveowners needed to work together to keep forced laborers in their proper places.
Incorrect. The answer is d. Ringgold’s statement suggests that the successful escape of any slave or servant undermined the entire system and that slaveowners needed to work together to keep forced laborers in their proper places.