Everyday life, work and trade in New England, the Middle Colonies and the South

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   How big was the Atlantic slave system? (cards A to E). Card A, from an essay by the historian David Eltis in the SlaveVoyages project, based on its database of voyages (as printed): "over the whole period of the trade, some 12.5 million slaves had been shipped from Africa, and 10.7 million had arrived in the Americas". Card B, the same essay (as printed): "as late as 1820, nearly four Africans had crossed the Atlantic for every European"; sugar plantations were "absorbing well over two thirds of slaves carried across the Atlantic by the major European and Euro-American powers"; and the slave traffic to Brazil was "eventually accounting for about forty percent of the trade". Card C, the economist Barbara Solow, 1991, as the National Park Service prints it: "Europeans brought 8 million black men and women out of Africa to the New World between the 16th and 19th centuries". Card D, the same essay by Eltis (as printed): "Free European migrants and indentured servants never traveled across the Atlantic in sufficient numbers to meet the labor needs of expanding plantations." And: "Slavery or some form of coerced labor was the only possible option if European consumers were to gain access to more tropical produce and precious metals." Card E, a summary in our words from the Census Bureau: the census counted the enslaved population as 697,624 in 1790 (the page also prints 697,897) and as 3,953,760 in 1860, the last census to count them. The Eltis essay was first published in 2007.

2. 1.

   Card A says 12.5 million were shipped and 10.7 million arrived. What does the gap show, and what does it leave out, Noah asks?

   • 1.8 million fewer arrived, and each one of them was lost at sea on the way across
   • 1.8 million fewer arrived, about 14 percent of those shipped, and the card does not say why
   • 0.18 million fewer arrived, a small gap, and the card does not say why
   • 1.8 million fewer arrived, about 1.4 percent of those shipped, and the card does not say why
3. 2.

   Card C says 8 million were brought; card A says 12.5 million were shipped. How should Ari treat the gap?

   • Both are exactly right, because they count the trade across different oceans and years
   • Throw out both estimates completely, since they differ by several million people
   • Trust card C more, since its 1991 date is newer than card A's 2007 date, so it is better informed
   • Treat both as estimates; card A uses later voyage records, so it is likely better informed
4. 3.

   A student writes: "Most Africans carried across the Atlantic went to the future United States." How strong is that claim, given card B, Luz asks?

   • Strong: card B names the United States as the main destination for those carried across
   • Weak: card B says sugar plantations took well over two thirds, Brazil forty percent
   • Strong: card B says Africans outnumbered Europeans crossing, so most came to the United States
   • Weak: card B says no one went to Brazil or to the sugar islands, just to the colonies
5. 4.

   Card B says Brazil took about forty percent of the trade. Using card A's totals, about how many people is that, Tala asks?

   • Exactly 4 million, since forty percent is a clean fraction of ten million
   • About 40 million, since forty percent of the trade means forty million people
   • About 0.4 million, since forty percent is written as 0.4 of a million people
   • About 4.3 to 5 million, depending on which total card A's numbers are used
6. 5.

   A student says: "Card E shows the United States received few Africans, since 697,624 is far below 10.7 million." How strong is that claim, Jun asks?

   • Weak: card E counts people living in 1790, not arrivals, so it cannot show arrivals
   • Weak: census numbers cannot be used together with numbers from other sources
   • Strong: card E says the United States received no arrivals from Africa in that time
   • Strong: 697,624 is much smaller than 10.7 million, so the United States received few
7. 6.

   Card A comes from an essay based on a database of voyages. What is it best evidence for, Pia asks?

   • An exact head count of each person carried, with no estimated numbers in it
   • A scholars' estimate built from voyage records, with some estimated numbers
   • What the ships' captains wrote, word for word, in their own logs and letters
   • The price of a sugar crop in 1650, as the plantation owners recorded it
8. 7.

   Card D says coerced labor was the only option "if European consumers were to gain access" to tropical goods. What does the "if" show, Bo asks?

   • That slavery was unavoidable, since Europeans had no other way to get tropical goods
   • The claim is conditional: it describes how demand was met, not that it was right
   • That consumers refused tropical goods from the Americas, so planters had no market
   • That Europeans had no choice about trading with Africa and the Americas in that era
9. 8.

   A student says: "Card B proves slavery in the Americas was only about sugar." How strong is that claim, Zee asks?

   • Strong: card B names sugar plantations as the main destination for those carried
   • Weak: card B says sugar was unimportant to the trade, and other crops mattered more
   • Weak: card B says well over two thirds, which leaves room for other crops and mining
   • Strong: card B says each person carried across the Atlantic went to a sugar plantation
10. 9.

    Card B says that as late as 1820 nearly four Africans crossed the Atlantic for every European. What does that suggest, Kira asks?

    • Four Africans lived in each European household in the colonies and the islands of 1820
    • Africans outnumbered Europeans among those crossing, so a settler-only picture is incomplete
    • Europeans outnumbered Africans among those crossing, so a picture of only settlers is complete
    • Every person who crossed in 1820 was African, and no Europeans crossed in that year
11. 10.

    Which new evidence would best test the estimate that 10.7 million arrived, Ren asks?

    • A report on the abolition movement of the 1830s, written by its later leaders
    • A population count of 1790 for the whole United States and each of its states
    • Another essay that repeats the estimate of 10.7 million arrivals in its own words
    • More ship logs, port records and insurance papers matched to individual voyages