Tennessee History Final Exam
Questions & Answers
Tennessee Urbanization - ANSWERS-1820s the small towns had a population of less than 2500
-1860s there were 5 towns: Knoxville, Chattanooga, Columbia, Murfreesboro, Clarksville
-1860s there were 2 cities: Memphis and Nashville
-however, most of TN was rural and retained a key element of southerness
Antebellum Agriculture - ANSWERS-farms and farmlands are the heart and soul of the
antebellum economy
-main products were: corn, wheat, cotton, and tobacco
-TN benefitted from the use of fertilizers, crop rotations, crop diversification, and stock breeding
-local farmers formed their own clubs
-started their own journal TENNESSEE FARMER
-1854 established the State Agriculture Bureau
-most unique aspects of antebellum TN was DIVERSIFICATION
-East TN: small farms relied on the barter system
-West TN: slave plantations and cotton cash crop
-Middle TN: small planters and big plantations
Antebellum Transportation - ANSWERS-water to road to railroad
-3 rivers: Mississippi, Cumberland, and lower TN rivers
-River: utilized flatboats and keelboats -> steamboats
-West & Middle: first steamboat was General Jackson in March 1819
,-East: no access to rivers so they used roads: turnpikes graded, gravel, macadam roads and toll
roads were built. (1830s)
-tolls were charger per person, per wagon, and per cattle.
-railroad: popular in East TN, newspaper RAIL ROAD ADVOCATE (1830s)
Antebellum Industry - ANSWERS-included small and large scale industries
-small scale industries: blacksmith, tanneries, lumber mills
-large scale industries: tobacco, coal, copper mining, machinery, railroad manufacturing
-Iron making: large industry in Upper East TN, Cumberland Iron Works of Stewart County
(largest iron company - employed nearly 100 workers)
-antebellum TN was a small fraction of TN economy and tin portion of workforce b/c of capital
shortage and poor transportation
Antebellum Gender Relations - ANSWERS-theory of separate spheres (men and women had
distinct and mutually supportive roles) (men= father, provider, and public life; women= mother,
wife, nurturers guardian of domestic tranquility)
-women deferred to the husbands, no property rights, no vote, no political office, not allowed
to serve on juries.
-especially single women, poor white and slave women (had it hard)
-rural settings, white women performed spinning, weaving, poultry, vegetable gardening
-white social class categories: aristocrats, yeoman, and poor whites
Antebellum Racial Divisions - ANSWERS-white community always stood together; especially
after the Nat Turner's Rebellion
-anti slavery was not popular in TN (b/c it was a slave state and it was the backbone of the
economy; 25% were slaves in West TN)
-Fayette and Haywood counties slave outnumbered whites
-white population tightened screws on the slave population
, -whites organized citizen patrols the monitored suspicious activities and made it a felony for
distributing abolitionist literature
-Amos Dresser lashed 2o times for distributing abolitionist literature
-lynching was also a common way that white established their dominance
Antebellum Victorian Culture - ANSWERS-antebellum victorian tennesseans simulated life of the
english descendants of the New England states.
-emulated sophisticated north easterners
-victorians imported elite and high culture to TN
-established clubs and lyceums in towns and cities
-established book stores, libraries, and theaters, high schools, colleges (for ministry, law and
medicine)
-elite culture only touched a small minority
-only inclusive place was the Church, camp meetings, and revivals (methodists, baptists,
presbyterians, disciples of christ)
-even cherokee indians were allowed (followed the "white mans road")
anti-slavery movement - ANSWERS-this movement was weak and more moderate
-did not have much support and for that they were modest in their objective
-objective was gradual emancipation
-Tennessee Manumission Society was the most important organization that met in Greene
County
Governor William Carroll - ANSWERS-William Carroll was a reformed governor of TN who
eliminated the death penalty in 1829 (except for first degree murder)
-eliminated imprisonment for debt
-worked with Dorothea Dix to establish mental asylums (with the intention to cure the
aliment/disease rather than casting out the mentally ill from the main stream society)
Questions & Answers
Tennessee Urbanization - ANSWERS-1820s the small towns had a population of less than 2500
-1860s there were 5 towns: Knoxville, Chattanooga, Columbia, Murfreesboro, Clarksville
-1860s there were 2 cities: Memphis and Nashville
-however, most of TN was rural and retained a key element of southerness
Antebellum Agriculture - ANSWERS-farms and farmlands are the heart and soul of the
antebellum economy
-main products were: corn, wheat, cotton, and tobacco
-TN benefitted from the use of fertilizers, crop rotations, crop diversification, and stock breeding
-local farmers formed their own clubs
-started their own journal TENNESSEE FARMER
-1854 established the State Agriculture Bureau
-most unique aspects of antebellum TN was DIVERSIFICATION
-East TN: small farms relied on the barter system
-West TN: slave plantations and cotton cash crop
-Middle TN: small planters and big plantations
Antebellum Transportation - ANSWERS-water to road to railroad
-3 rivers: Mississippi, Cumberland, and lower TN rivers
-River: utilized flatboats and keelboats -> steamboats
-West & Middle: first steamboat was General Jackson in March 1819
,-East: no access to rivers so they used roads: turnpikes graded, gravel, macadam roads and toll
roads were built. (1830s)
-tolls were charger per person, per wagon, and per cattle.
-railroad: popular in East TN, newspaper RAIL ROAD ADVOCATE (1830s)
Antebellum Industry - ANSWERS-included small and large scale industries
-small scale industries: blacksmith, tanneries, lumber mills
-large scale industries: tobacco, coal, copper mining, machinery, railroad manufacturing
-Iron making: large industry in Upper East TN, Cumberland Iron Works of Stewart County
(largest iron company - employed nearly 100 workers)
-antebellum TN was a small fraction of TN economy and tin portion of workforce b/c of capital
shortage and poor transportation
Antebellum Gender Relations - ANSWERS-theory of separate spheres (men and women had
distinct and mutually supportive roles) (men= father, provider, and public life; women= mother,
wife, nurturers guardian of domestic tranquility)
-women deferred to the husbands, no property rights, no vote, no political office, not allowed
to serve on juries.
-especially single women, poor white and slave women (had it hard)
-rural settings, white women performed spinning, weaving, poultry, vegetable gardening
-white social class categories: aristocrats, yeoman, and poor whites
Antebellum Racial Divisions - ANSWERS-white community always stood together; especially
after the Nat Turner's Rebellion
-anti slavery was not popular in TN (b/c it was a slave state and it was the backbone of the
economy; 25% were slaves in West TN)
-Fayette and Haywood counties slave outnumbered whites
-white population tightened screws on the slave population
, -whites organized citizen patrols the monitored suspicious activities and made it a felony for
distributing abolitionist literature
-Amos Dresser lashed 2o times for distributing abolitionist literature
-lynching was also a common way that white established their dominance
Antebellum Victorian Culture - ANSWERS-antebellum victorian tennesseans simulated life of the
english descendants of the New England states.
-emulated sophisticated north easterners
-victorians imported elite and high culture to TN
-established clubs and lyceums in towns and cities
-established book stores, libraries, and theaters, high schools, colleges (for ministry, law and
medicine)
-elite culture only touched a small minority
-only inclusive place was the Church, camp meetings, and revivals (methodists, baptists,
presbyterians, disciples of christ)
-even cherokee indians were allowed (followed the "white mans road")
anti-slavery movement - ANSWERS-this movement was weak and more moderate
-did not have much support and for that they were modest in their objective
-objective was gradual emancipation
-Tennessee Manumission Society was the most important organization that met in Greene
County
Governor William Carroll - ANSWERS-William Carroll was a reformed governor of TN who
eliminated the death penalty in 1829 (except for first degree murder)
-eliminated imprisonment for debt
-worked with Dorothea Dix to establish mental asylums (with the intention to cure the
aliment/disease rather than casting out the mentally ill from the main stream society)
