rap2016_ch13

Quiz for Document 13–5: James Henry Hammond, Letter to an English Abolitionist, 1845

Choose the best answer to each question.

1. Which of the following claims did Hammond make in his letter to an English abolitionist?

Slave masters could ill afford to heed Christian dogma and liberate their slaves.

Free labor available to northern businesses was much more expensive than slave labor.

Thomas Jefferson had been right in his advocacy for slave owners in the Declaration of Independence.

It was the fault of abolitionists that slavery had gotten more severe in recent years.

2. What did Hammond think the Bible had to say on the subject of slavery?

The Bible prohibited enslaving white men but not Africans.

God authorized slavery in the Bible.

Its views on slavery were outdated and could not be trusted.

It said that slavery was a firm foundation for society.

3. Why did Hammond think the nonslaveholding states were nearing a republican crisis?

Their economies were very weak since they did not support slavery and were nearing collapse.

They were abandoning biblical principles.

They allowed poor and ignorant citizens too much power and influence in politics.

They allowed freed slaves to vote.

4. Why did Hammond argue it was hypocritical for an Englishman to criticize American slavery?

The British criticized slavery yet their poorest citizens suffered with worse living and working conditions than American slaves.

The British had been the ones who had introduced slavery in the American colonies.

The British had abolished slavery in Great Britain but still allowed it in their overseas colonies.

The British criticized slavery but depended on cotton picked by American slaves to use in their factories.