Inventions that changed how goods and people moved

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   The cotton gin and slavery, 1793 to 1860 (cards A to D). Card A, Eli Whitney in letters to his father (quoted by the National Archives; as printed): "One man and a horse will do more than fifty men with the old machines," and "Tis generally said by those who know anything about it, that I shall make a Fortune by it." Card B, a summary in our words of a National Archives lesson adapted from an article by a teacher: Whitney received a patent in 1794; his idea drew on earlier gins and on ideas from others, including Catherine Greene and enslaved laborers, whom some say were the rightful inventors. After the gin, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after 1800. The gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, but not the labor of growing and picking cotton; cotton became so profitable that planters wanted more land and more enslaved workers. In 1790 there were six slave states and in 1860 there were fifteen. From 1790 until Congress banned the slave trade from Africa in 1808, Southerners imported 80,000 Africans. By 1860 about one in three Southerners was enslaved. Card C, a summary in our words from the Census Bureau: the census counted the enslaved population as 697,897 in 1790 in one sentence of the Bureau's page, and 697,624 in 1790 in another; 1,538,022 in 1820; 3,204,313 in 1850; and 3,953,760 in 1860, when the census last counted them. Card D, a summary in our words from the SlaveVoyages database essay by historian David Eltis: by 1850 the United States produced most of the world's cotton, yet its cotton planters drew on Africa for almost none of their labor, relying on natural population growth.

2. 1.

   Card A is Whitney writing to his father. What is it best evidence for, Ari asks?

   • What Whitney hoped his machine would do and earn
   • How many people were enslaved in 1793
   • How the gin changed Southern farming by 1860
   • What enslaved workers thought of the gin and its inventor
3. 2.

   Cards B and C both cover 1790 to 1860. What do they support together, Tala asks?

   • Cotton output fell after 1800 while the enslaved population kept rising
   • Both rose together, which fits a link but does not prove one cause
   • Together they prove that the gin alone caused all of the growth in slavery
   • The enslaved population doubled every decade from 1790 to 1860
4. 3.

   Card C counts 1,538,022 enslaved people in 1820 and 3,204,313 in 1850. About how many times as many, over how long, Jun asks?

   • About twice as many, over 30 years
   • About 5 times as many, over 30 years
   • About twice as many, over 10 years
   • About 20 percent more, over 30 years
5. 4.

   A student says: "The gin ended the need for enslaved labor." How strong is that claim, given cards A and B, Pia asks?

   • Strong: card B says slavery ended in 1808, when Congress banned the slave trade
   • Weak: card B says seed removal got easier, but growing and picking still needed workers
   • Weak: card A says the gin needed more workers to clean seeds than the old machines
   • Strong: card A says one man and a horse do the work of fifty, so fewer workers were needed
6. 5.

   Card B says some argue others were the rightful inventors. What does that show about the usual story, Bo asks?

   • Whitney invented nothing himself and just copied others' work
   • Whitney's own letters settle that the idea was entirely his alone, not shared
   • Catherine Greene was an enslaved worker who helped build the gin
   • The usual story credits one man, but some say others also contributed
7. 6.

   Which chain from card B best explains how the gin increased slavery, Milo asks?

   • The 1808 ban on importing Africans led planters to build the gin
   • The gin picked the cotton as well as cleaning it, so far fewer workers were needed
   • Slavery grew first, and that demand for labor led to the invention of the gin
   • The gin made cotton profitable, so planters wanted more land and enslaved workers
8. 7.

   Card B says there were six slave states in 1790 and fifteen in 1860. How many more, and how many times as many, Zee asks?

   • 9 more, about two and a half times as many
   • 9 states in total, since 15 minus 6 is 9
   • 21 more, about 3.5 times as many
   • 9 more, about 250 percent more
9. 8.

   Card A is a letter to Whitney's father. How might that audience shape what he writes, Kira asks?

   • He can stress his hopes of profit, since he writes to family
   • He lists how many enslaved people lived in the South in 1793
   • He is writing to persuade Congress to grant him a patent on the gin
   • He hides his hope of profit, since his father would disapprove
10. 9.

    Which new evidence would best test whether the gin, rather than other causes, raised slavery's growth, Ren asks?

    • Accounts of the Civil War written in the 1860s by soldiers
    • A modern article that says the gin was the cause of slavery's growth
    • A drawing of Whitney's patent showing how the gin worked
    • County records of cotton acreage and enslaved counts, year by year
11. 10.

    Card C gives the 1790 count as 697,897 and as 697,624. What should Esme do with that difference?

    • Pick the larger number as the true count and ignore the smaller one
    • Note that they differ by under 300 and use "about 700,000"
    • Discard card C entirely, since it contradicts itself on the 1790 count
    • Add the two counts together to find the full 1790 total