AMERICAN HISTORY CONNECTING WITH
THE PAST CERTIFICATION EVALUATION
VERIFIED QUESTIONS WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS
●● What were the cons of Tobacco cultivation?
Answer: Unstable prices, rapidly exhausted the land
●● What new product emerged in the nineteenth century South that was
more lucrative than any other? Explain
Answer: Short-Staple Cotton; It grew in a variety of climates and even
though processing was harder, the invention of cotton gin (1793) had
solved that problem
●● What made short-staple cotton such a lucrative business in 1820-
1850s?
Answer: A new demand for textile emerged in England and later in the
Northeast
●● What was the myth and what was the reality of white society in the
South? Why was the myth so pervasive and widely believed?
Answer: Myth: the South was dominated by a long standing class of
aristocratic and wealthy planters.
, Reality: Planting was as risky business as any and most planters were
lived quite modestly.
The myth was believed b/c the substantial planters far in number, but
people wanted to believe that such lifestyle was attainable.
●● How did slavery shape the southern economy and society, and how
did it make the South different from the North?
Answer: Slavery allowed for great profit from agriculture and left little
incentive for industrial growth. A weak industrial sector in the South
made it dependent on the North
●● How did slaves resist their enslavement? How successful were their
efforts? What was the response of the whites?
Answer:
●● Describe the patterns of growth cotton experienced in the mid 19th
century
Answer: 1820 - .5 million bales
1850 - 3 million
1860 - 5 million
There were periodic busts due to overproduction, but it continued to
grow. By Civil War, it produced 2/3 of US export and $200 million
THE PAST CERTIFICATION EVALUATION
VERIFIED QUESTIONS WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS
●● What were the cons of Tobacco cultivation?
Answer: Unstable prices, rapidly exhausted the land
●● What new product emerged in the nineteenth century South that was
more lucrative than any other? Explain
Answer: Short-Staple Cotton; It grew in a variety of climates and even
though processing was harder, the invention of cotton gin (1793) had
solved that problem
●● What made short-staple cotton such a lucrative business in 1820-
1850s?
Answer: A new demand for textile emerged in England and later in the
Northeast
●● What was the myth and what was the reality of white society in the
South? Why was the myth so pervasive and widely believed?
Answer: Myth: the South was dominated by a long standing class of
aristocratic and wealthy planters.
, Reality: Planting was as risky business as any and most planters were
lived quite modestly.
The myth was believed b/c the substantial planters far in number, but
people wanted to believe that such lifestyle was attainable.
●● How did slavery shape the southern economy and society, and how
did it make the South different from the North?
Answer: Slavery allowed for great profit from agriculture and left little
incentive for industrial growth. A weak industrial sector in the South
made it dependent on the North
●● How did slaves resist their enslavement? How successful were their
efforts? What was the response of the whites?
Answer:
●● Describe the patterns of growth cotton experienced in the mid 19th
century
Answer: 1820 - .5 million bales
1850 - 3 million
1860 - 5 million
There were periodic busts due to overproduction, but it continued to
grow. By Civil War, it produced 2/3 of US export and $200 million
