Compare the economies of the North and the South before the Civil War

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Population, labor and railroads, 1850 to 1860 (cards A to D). Card A, from the Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census, sent to Congress in May 1862 (cuts marked): "… the fifteen slaveholding States contain 12,240,000 inhabitants, of whom 8,039,000 are whites, 251,000 free colored persons, and 3,950,000 are slaves. The actual gain of the whole population in those States from 1850 to 1860, was 2,627,000, equal to 27.33 per cent. The slaves advanced in numbers 749,931, or 23.44 per cent." The report adds that this leaves out the District of Columbia, whose enslaved population fell by 502 in ten years. For the free states, territories and the District it gives 19,201,546 persons in 1860: "The increase of both classes was 5,598,603, or 41.24 per cent." Card B, the sentence a few lines later in the same report: "It is due to candor to state that the marked disproportion between the rate of gain in the north and south respectively, is manifestly to some extent caused by the larger number of immigrants who settle in the former section, on account of congeniality of climate, the variety of occupation, the dignity wherewith respectable employment is invested, and the freedom of labor." Card C, from the report's railroad section, in our words except the figures: one passage gives the cost of the nation's railroads as $296,260,128 in 1850 and $1,134,452,909 in 1860, with about 8,600 miles in operation in 1850 and about 30,600 in 1860. Another passage says the capital involved increased from $296,640,148 in 1850 to $1,151,560,829 in 1860. Card D, from the same report: "The energies thus called into action have, in a few years, made the States of the northwest the granary of Europe."

2. 1.

   A student writes: "By 1860 slavery in the South was shrinking." How strong is that claim, given card A, Bo asks?

   • Weak: card A shows the enslaved population grew by 749,931 in ten years
   • Strong: card A says the District of Columbia's enslaved population fell
   • Weak: card A gives no figures for the enslaved population
   • Strong: card A shows the enslaved grew more slowly than the whole population of those states
3. 2.

   Card A: 19,201,546 persons in 1860 in the free states, after an increase of 5,598,603. About what percent was the increase, Jun asks?

   • About 29 percent, since 5.6 million divided by the 1860 total
   • About 141 percent, since the 1860 total is that percent of 1850
   • About 71 percent, since 13.6 million is that share of the 1860 total
   • About 41 percent, since the 1850 total was about 13.6 million
4. 3.

   A student writes: "The report proves free labor caused the North to grow faster." How strong is that claim, given card B, Kira asks?

   • Weak: card B names no cause for the faster northern growth
   • Weak: card B offers immigration and free labor "to some extent" and measures none
   • Strong: the North's later victory in the war shows free labor was the cause
   • Strong: card B uses the word "manifestly" for the cause
5. 4.

   Card B gives "the freedom of labor" as a reason immigrants chose the North. Which source would add the missing view of enslaved Southerners, Luz asks?

   • The 1860 population table for the fifteen slaveholding states
   • Another federal report from the same Census Office
   • A Northern newspaper praising the immigrants who came
   • Accounts by formerly enslaved people about work in the South
6. 5.

   Card C gives 1860 railroad cost two ways, $1,134,452,909 and $1,151,560,829, about $17 million apart. What should a careful reader do, Milo asks?

   • Reject the whole report, since two figures cannot both be right
   • Average the two and call the result the exact cost of the railroads
   • Use the larger figure, since it must be the more complete one
   • Note the gap and treat the cost as an estimate
7. 6.

   Card C: $1,134,452,909 for about 30,600 miles in 1860. About what was the cost per mile, Noah asks?

   • About $9,700 per mile, since 1850's cost is divided by 1860's miles
   • About $97,500 per mile, since the cost increase is divided by 1850's miles
   • About $37,000 per mile
   • About $3,700 per mile, since the answer is under ten thousand
8. 7.

   A student writes: "Railroads cost far more per mile in 1860 than in 1850." How strong is that claim, given card C, Pia asks?

   • Weak: cost per mile fell between 1850 and 1860
   • Strong: the number of miles rose by about 22,000
   • Strong: total cost rose by $838,192,781 between 1850 and 1860, a huge jump
   • Weak: per mile it rose from about $34,400 to about $37,100, under 10 percent
9. 8.

   Card D calls the Northwest "the granary of Europe," and card C shows rail miles rising. Which chain do the cards best support, Ren asks?

   • The Northwest's grain caused the rise in the cotton crop
   • Railroad mileage grew only in the South in the 1850s
   • Farm growth and railroad building rose together, but the cards do not prove a cause
   • Railroads caused the Northwest's farms to exist in the first place, not the reverse
10. 9.

    What new evidence would best test card B's explanation that immigrants and free labor drove the North's faster growth, Tala asks?

    • Counts of immigrants by section, against each section's total gain
    • More speeches praising free labor in the North and the West
    • The size of the 1859 cotton crop and its price per bale
    • A later history of the causes of the war by a Northern writer
11. 10.

    Card D says the Northwest is "the granary of Europe." What is that phrase best evidence for, Zee asks?

    • An account of the Northwest by a later historian
    • A measured count of Europe's grain imports from the Northwest
    • The writer's view of the Northwest, a claim needing numbers
    • The Northwest's exact share of U.S. grain and wheat in 1860