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.

   Card A comes from a census report sent to Congress in 1862. What is it best evidence for, Ari asks?

   • Exactly how many enslaved people grew each year's cotton crop
   • The reasons the Civil War began in 1861
   • How a federal office described and counted the cotton crop
   • What cotton growers thought about the Census Office's work
3. 2.

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

   • Report the size of the cotton crop to the Census Office
   • Ask Northern states to stop buying cotton from the South
   • Show that the South wanted to stop growing cotton altogether and for good
   • Persuade senators that the South's cotton gave the South real power
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 47 percent, since the old crop is that share of the new
   • About 112 percent, so the report's "more than 110 per cent" holds
   • About 212 percent, since the new crop is that share of the old
   • 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 82 percent, since most of the crop went to U.S. mills
   • About 67 percent, since New England used 611,738 of the 910,090
   • About 2 percent, since 910,090 is a small fraction of five million bales
   • About 18 percent, which leaves most of the crop accounted for elsewhere
6. 5.

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

   • 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
   • About 32 percent, nearly one person in three
   • About 48 percent, since 3.95 million out of the 8.3 million free people
7. 6.

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

   • That the Census counted no one as enslaved anywhere in the country
   • 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 cotton prices fell sharply after 1859, hurting growers
8. 7.

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

   • 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
   • Federal census takers; the counts show where people lived, not jobs
9. 8.

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

   • Card A was written in 1862 to answer his speech in the Senate
   • His claim is disproved by card A's numbers, which show a market limit
   • His claim is proved by card A's numbers alone, since they show growth
   • His confidence fit rising output, but that alone does not settle his claim
10. 9.

    What new evidence would best test whether "no nation could do without Southern cotton," Tala asks?

    • A list of the senators who heard the speech and how they voted
    • The size of the cotton crop of 1865, after the war ended
    • Records of Southern cotton bought each year by British and other mills
    • Another speech by Hammond repeating the same claim to the Senate
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?

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