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

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   New England's ships and the Caribbean (cards A to C). Card A, the historian Lorenzo Johnston Greene, 1942, as the National Park Service prints it: "The effect of the slave trade was manifold. On the eve of the American Revolution it formed the very basis of economic life of New England; about it revolved, and depended, most of her industries. The vast sugar, molasses and rum trade, shipbuilding, the distilleries, a great many of the fisheries, the employment of artisans and seamen, even agriculture-are all dependent on the slave traffic." Card B, a summary in our words from the National Park Service on Salem, Massachusetts: New Englanders owned some West Indies sugar plantations, and many Salem merchants provisioned plantations with fish, livestock and lumber. Salem ships returned with sugar, molasses and coffee produced by enslaved people. A 1764 sales account for the schooner Pembroke, owned by Richard Derby Sr., lists the outgoing cargo as wood products, horses, rice and fish, and the cargo from Dominica as sugar, coffee and molasses. Slavery ended in Massachusetts in 1783, but in 1786 Joshua Ward's brig Favorite sailed to Africa to buy and sell people. Card C, a summary in our words from the National Park Service's National Parks of Boston on the merchant Peter Faneuil, who held one of the largest fortunes in Boston by 1743: by 1740 Boston had the largest harbor in North America. The Park Service reconstructed his business from ledgers, letters and customs and court records. He bought salt cod, timber and ships in New England and received sugar, molasses, rum, and enslaved Afro-creole people from the Caribbean. The Park Service says that, though he cannot be characterized as a major slave trader, his business shows his complicity in the system, and that he had a stake in a ship going to Africa to buy human beings.

2. 1.

   A student says: "New England had nothing to do with slavery after Massachusetts ended it in 1783." How strong is that claim, given card B, Pia asks?

   • Weak: card B says a Salem ship sailed to Africa in 1786 to buy and sell people
   • Cannot be judged, since shipping documents are not evidence of what a voyage did
   • Strong: card B says slavery ended in Massachusetts, so its merchants ended their ties
   • Weak: card B says slavery was still legal in Massachusetts until 1800
3. 2.

   Card A calls the slave trade "the very basis" of New England's economy. How does card B's Salem trade fit, Bo asks?

   • Card B proves card A is right for every port and every merchant in New England
   • Card B shows New England traded only with Europe, not with the Caribbean or with Africa
   • It cannot fit together, since one card is an opinion and one is a document
   • Card B is one example of the trade card A describes, though not proof of all of it
4. 3.

   Which chain from cards A to C best shows how colonial trade tied New England to enslaved labor, Milo asks?

   • New England sent fish and timber to plantations and brought back sugar made by enslaved workers
   • Caribbean planters shipped lumber, fish and horses to New England for its farms and towns
   • After 1783, Massachusetts families began shipping goods to the West Indies for the very first time
   • New England farmers paid for the plantations' machinery, which enslaved workers then ran
5. 4.

   Card A was written in 1942 about the eve of the Revolution (about 1775). About how many years separate the claim from the events, Zee asks?

   • About 167 years, so card A is worthless and should not be used as evidence
   • About 17 years, so card A is almost a source from the time of the events
   • About 167 years, so card A is an eyewitness account written in the 1770s
   • About 167 years, so card A is a later judgment, not a source from the time
6. 5.

   Card B says slavery ended in Massachusetts in 1783 and the Favorite sailed in 1786. How many years apart, and what does it show, Kira asks?

   • Three years apart, so each Massachusetts merchant joined the slave trade by 1786
   • Three years apart, so the voyage was made before slavery had ended in Massachusetts
   • Three years apart: merchants stayed in the slave trade soon after slavery ended at home
   • Thirteen years apart, so the Massachusetts trade had long since ended by 1786
7. 6.

   Card B draws on a 1764 sales account for the Pembroke. Who would have used such a record, and why, Ren asks?

   • Merchants and ship owners, who needed a record of cargo and sales
   • Mapmakers, who needed a list of Caribbean islands and their harbors
   • The Massachusetts legislature, which wrote the account for its tax records
   • Enslaved workers, who needed a record of their wages and their work
8. 7.

   Card C says Faneuil "cannot be characterized as a major slave trader" yet shows complicity. How do both statements fit, Esme asks?

   • The Park Service contradicts itself, so card C should be ignored as evidence on Faneuil
   • He was not a major trader, but his goods trade and a stake in one voyage tied him in
   • He had no connection to slavery whatsoever, whether through goods, ships or voyages
   • He was a major slave trader, and the Park Service hides it from its readers today
9. 8.

   A student says: "Only Boston merchants profited from this trade; Salem did not." How strong is that claim, given cards B and C, Noah asks?

   • Weak: card C says Faneuil lived in Salem and traded from there with the islands
   • Strong: card C is longer than card B, so it must show that Boston profited more
   • Strong: card B says Salem merchants stopped trading with the islands after the 1764 voyages
   • Weak: card B shows Salem merchants supplying plantations and importing sugar and molasses
10. 9.

    Which new evidence would best test Greene's claim that most New England industries depended on the slave trade, Ari asks?

    • Another historian's article that agrees with Greene about the trade's role in industry
    • A report on factories in the 1900s, long after the colonial trade had come to an end
    • Port records and account books showing how much cargo went to the islands and Africa
    • A list of the names of Boston's streets, with maps of the old town and its harbor
11. 10.

    Which statement do cards A to C best support, Tala asks?

    • Each New England industry depended on the slave trade, and card A settles it
    • New England port merchants earned money from trade tied to enslaved labor
    • The cards show what enslaved people thought of Atlantic trade and its profits
    • New England had no ties to the Caribbean economy or to enslaved labor