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

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cotton, labor and power, 1849 to 1862 (cards A to D). Card A, from the Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census, a report to Congress sent by the Secretary of the Interior (May 1862; cuts marked): "The rapidity with which the cultivation of cotton has increased in the United States is truly wonderful." "… in 1849 the quantity grown had reached 2,445,793 bales of ginned cotton of 400 pounds each; in 1859 it had further increased to 5,196,944 bales, or more than 110 per cent, in ten years." "The whole crop is the product of thirteen States, but is chiefly obtained from eight of them." "Immense as is the quantity of cotton produced, the demand is equal to the supply." Card B, a summary in our words of the 1860 counts in the same report, added up by us from its state tables: the North (New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) had 10.6 million people, of whom 18 were enslaved; the South (the 15 slave states, Delaware to Texas) had 12.2 million, of whom 3,950,511 were enslaved; the West (Ohio to Kansas) had 7.9 million, of whom 2 were enslaved. California, Oregon, Washington, the District of Columbia and the territories are left out, and millions are rounded. Card C, a summary in our words: on March 4, 1858, Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina, a planter, told the U.S. Senate during a debate on admitting Kansas as a state that no nation could safely make war on the South's cotton. He said: "Cotton is king." Card D, from the same report, for the year ending June 1, 1860: the nation's mills used 910,090 bales of 400 pounds to make cotton goods, and the report says: "Of this amount the New England States consumed 611,738 bales".

2. 1.

   Hammond spoke to the Senate in 1858. What was he trying to do with "Cotton is king," Bo asks?

   • Persuade senators that the South's cotton gave the South real power
   • Ask Northern states to stop buying cotton from the South
   • Report the size of the cotton crop to the Census Office
   • Show that the South wanted to stop growing cotton altogether and for good
3. 2.

   A student writes: "The cards prove that enslaved people grew most of the cotton." How strong is that claim, Esme asks?

   • Partly: card B counts enslaved people, but no card counts cotton workers
   • Weak: card B shows the South had almost no enslaved people
   • Strong: card A says the crop more than doubled, which took many workers
   • Strong: card C says Hammond owned a large plantation
4. 3.

   Card A says cotton grew "more than 110 per cent" from 1849 to 1859, 2,445,793 bales to 5,196,944. About what percent is the real increase, Jun asks?

   • About 212 percent, since the new crop is that share of the old
   • About 112 percent, so the report's "more than 110 per cent" holds
   • About 47 percent, since the old crop is that share of the new
   • About 53 percent, since the increase divided by the new crop
5. 4.

   The 1859 crop was 5,196,944 bales, and card D says mills used 910,090. About what share of the crop did U.S. mills use, Kira asks?

   • About 67 percent, since New England used 611,738 of the 910,090
   • About 82 percent, since most of the crop went to U.S. mills
   • About 18 percent, which leaves most of the crop accounted for elsewhere
   • About 2 percent, since 910,090 is a small fraction of five million bales
6. 5.

   Using card B, about what share of the South's 12.2 million people were enslaved, Luz asks?

   • About 32 percent, nearly one person in three
   • About 48 percent, since 3.95 million out of the 8.3 million free people
   • About 68 percent, since that was the free share of the South
   • About 3 percent, since 3.95 million is small next to 12.2 million
7. 6.

   Card A says "the demand is equal to the supply." Card D shows U.S. mills used 910,090 of 5,196,944 bales. What do they suggest together, Milo asks?

   • Demand for cotton was falling, so growers were producing too much
   • The report contradicts itself, so neither figure can be trusted
   • Most of the demand did not come from U.S. mills, which used about 18 percent
   • Northern mills used most of the cotton, so growers depended on them for sales
8. 7.

   Card A calls the rise in cotton "truly wonderful." What does the card leave out that card B counts, Noah asks?

   • The nearly four million enslaved people card B counts in the South
   • That the North held more enslaved people than the South did in 1860
   • That the Census counted no one as enslaved anywhere in the country
   • That cotton prices fell sharply after 1859, hurting growers
9. 8.

   Card B gives counts from the 1860 census. Who made these counts, and what is a limit, Pia asks?

   • Federal census takers; the counts show where people lived, not jobs
   • A newspaper that copied the figures from the census into its pages
   • Unknown, since census counts are mere guesses and cannot be relied on
   • Planters, who each reported just their own workers to the census
10. 9.

    Card C (1858) fits card A's numbers (1849 to 1859). What does that show about Hammond's claim, Ren asks?

    • His claim is proved by card A's numbers alone, since they show growth
    • Card A was written in 1862 to answer his speech in the Senate
    • His confidence fit rising output, but that alone does not settle his claim
    • His claim is disproved by card A's numbers, which show a market limit
11. 10.

    A student writes: "Cotton made the South richer than the North in 1860." How strong is that claim, given cards A to D, Zee asks?

    • Weak: card D shows the South was poorer than the North
    • Unproven: the cards give crop size, mill use and population, not wealth
    • Strong: card A says the cotton crop was "truly wonderful"
    • Strong: card B shows the South had more people than the North, so more wealth