Quiz for Sources for America’s History, Chapter 12

Question

1. Ethan Andrews’s Slavery and the Domestic Slave-Trade (Document 12-1) was commissioned by the American Union for the Relief and Improvement of the Colored Race. As a document created for this purpose, it provides evidence about the impact of the domestic slave trade on African Americans, but it also serves to reveal information about which of the following?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is a. In addition to providing evidence about the impact of the domestic slave trade on African Americans, this document provides evidence of the cultural and moral values that lay at the foundation of Andrews’s discomfort with the institution of slavery. In particular, he emphasized the importance of religion and domestic ties and the ways that the slave trade interfered with the institutions of the family and the church.
Incorrect. The answer is a. In addition to providing evidence about the impact of the domestic slave trade on African Americans, this document provides evidence of the cultural and moral values that lay at the foundation of Andrews’s discomfort with the institution of slavery. In particular, he emphasized the importance of religion and domestic ties and the ways that the slave trade interfered with the institutions of the family and the church.

Question

2. Levi Coffin’s “Reminiscences” (Document 12-2) provides evidence that supports which of the following conclusions?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is c. Levi Coffin’s story provides evidence to support the conclusion that enslaved African Americans sometimes went to great lengths in their efforts to preserve the integrity of their families. Despite their subjugated status, slaves resorted to a variety of tactics to resist their subordination.
Incorrect. The answer is c. Levi Coffin’s story provides evidence to support the conclusion that enslaved African Americans sometimes went to great lengths in their efforts to preserve the integrity of their families. Despite their subjugated status, slaves resorted to a variety of tactics to resist their subordination.

Question

3. The lengthy defense of the morality of the slave trade issued by the city council of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1856 (Document 12-3) suggests which of the following?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is b. The fact that the Charleston City Council would issue a lengthy defense of the morality of the slave trade suggests that the widespread critique of the slave trade in the 1850s was putting pressure on the institutions of the South. In the absence of questions about the morality of the slave trade, the city council would not have felt obligated to issue such a defense.
Incorrect. The answer is b. The fact that the Charleston City Council would issue a lengthy defense of the morality of the slave trade suggests that the widespread critique of the slave trade in the 1850s was putting pressure on the institutions of the South. In the absence of questions about the morality of the slave trade, the city council would not have felt obligated to issue such a defense.

Question

4. The existence of spirituals, such as the one in Document 12-4, among the African American population of the American South in the mid-nineteenth century provides evidence for which of the following conclusions?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is c. The existence of spirituals like the one in Document 12-4 shows that enslaved African Americans converted to Christianity and adapted it to their own purposes, embracing its message of universal salvation and using its stories and language to articulate their resistance to the institution of slavery.
Incorrect. The answer is c. The existence of spirituals like the one in Document 12-4 shows that enslaved African Americans converted to Christianity and adapted it to their own purposes, embracing its message of universal salvation and using its stories and language to articulate their resistance to the institution of slavery.

Question

5. Susan Dabney Smedes’s reminiscences of her father, Thomas Dabney, in Memorials of a Southern Planter (Document 12-5) emphasized his role as an aristocratic plantation master known for the lavish gatherings at which he entertained many locals including “his former overseer and other plain neighbors.” Wealthy southern planters like Dabney conducted these social events in order to

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is b. Wealthy southern planters like Thomas Dabney conducted lavish social gatherings to which they invited common folk in order to display their privilege and their social preeminence.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Wealthy southern planters like Thomas Dabney conducted lavish social gatherings to which they invited common folk in order to display their privilege and their social preeminence.

Question

6. Susan Dabney Smedes’s description of her father and his administration of his Missouri plantation in the 1850s (Document 12-5) suggests that the institution of slavery was which of the following?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is a. Smedes’s description of her father and his management of his Missouri plantation depicts him as a benevolent master—a paternalistic figure—who ruled over his slaves as if they were part of a large family and he was the head.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Smedes’s description of her father and his management of his Missouri plantation depicts him as a benevolent master—a paternalistic figure—who ruled over his slaves as if they were part of a large family and he was the head.

Question

7. The resolutions adopted by the Colored National Convention in 1848 (Document 12-6) suggest that this organization and its members sought to improve the status of African Americans in the United States through which of the following means?

A.
B.
C.
D.

Correct. The answer is d. The participants in the Colored National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1848 formed a list of resolutions that demanded the immediate abolition of slavery and an end to the plethora of racist practices and attitudes that were practiced and perpetuated in American institutions in the mid-nineteenth century. The resolutions encouraged African Americans to engage in collective action to achieve these ends.
Incorrect. The answer is d. The participants in the Colored National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1848 formed a list of resolutions that demanded the immediate abolition of slavery and an end to the plethora of racist practices and attitudes that were practiced and perpetuated in American institutions in the mid-nineteenth century. The resolutions encouraged African Americans to engage in collective action to achieve these ends.