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.

   Card A is a historian's 1942 judgment about colonial New England. What is it best evidence for, Jun asks?

   • What the merchants themselves recorded in their ledgers and in their private letters
   • Exact trade totals for the year 1775, listed port by port and ship by ship
   • A historian's 1942 judgment of how much New England depended on the slave trade
   • What enslaved people in New England thought of its economy and the trade
3. 2.

   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 slavery was still legal in Massachusetts until 1800
   • Weak: card B says a Salem ship sailed to Africa in 1786 to buy and sell people
   • Strong: card B says slavery ended in Massachusetts, so its merchants ended their ties
   • Cannot be judged, since shipping documents are not evidence of what a voyage did
4. 3.

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

   • After 1783, Massachusetts families began shipping goods to the West Indies for the very first time
   • Caribbean planters shipped lumber, fish and horses to New England for its farms and towns
   • New England farmers paid for the plantations' machinery, which enslaved workers then ran
   • New England sent fish and timber to plantations and brought back sugar made by enslaved workers
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 167 years, so card A is an eyewitness account written in the 1770s
   • About 17 years, so card A is almost a source from the time of the events
   • About 167 years, so card A is a later judgment, not a source from the time
6. 5.

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

   • The Massachusetts legislature, which wrote the account for its tax records
   • Merchants and ship owners, who needed a record of cargo and sales
   • Mapmakers, who needed a list of Caribbean islands and their harbors
   • Enslaved workers, who needed a record of their wages and their work
7. 6.

   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 a major slave trader, and the Park Service hides it from its readers today
   • He had no connection to slavery whatsoever, whether through goods, ships or voyages
   • He was not a major trader, but his goods trade and a stake in one voyage tied him in
8. 7.

   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
   • Weak: card B shows Salem merchants supplying plantations and importing sugar and molasses
   • Strong: card B says Salem merchants stopped trading with the islands after the 1764 voyages
   • Strong: card C is longer than card B, so it must show that Boston profited more
9. 8.

   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
   • 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
   • A report on factories in the 1900s, long after the colonial trade had come to an end
10. 9.

    Cards B and C reach from before 1743 to 1786. What stayed the same and what changed, Luz asks?

    • By 1743 Massachusetts had already ended slavery, so no merchant could have been tied to it
    • Trade grew after 1783 because slavery had ended at home, freeing capital for trade
    • Merchants in Boston and Salem kept trade tied to enslaved labor after slavery ended there
    • Faneuil's business lasted until 1786, the year the Favorite sailed from Salem
11. 10.

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

    • 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
    • Each New England industry depended on the slave trade, and card A settles it