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NAME    DATE    CLASS 

North and South

Primary Source Activity

Lesson 4 People of the South

A Life in SlaveryThe lives of most enslaved people were miserable and inhuman. They worked hard for long hours, did not earn any money, and had no hope of freedom. Many people believed that slavery was wrong and they fought to end it. They were called abolitionists. The following excerpts are primary source descriptions of the conditions of enslaved people. 

A multitude of facts, illustrating the position that slaveholders treat their slaves worse than they do their cattle, will occur to all who are familiar with slavery. When cattle break through their owners' enclosures and escape, if found, they are driven back and fastened in again . . . but when slaves that have escaped are caught, they are flogged [beaten] with the most terrible severity. When herds of cattle are driven to market, they are suffered to go in the easiest way, each by himself; but when slaves are driven to market, they are fastened together with handcuffs, galled by iron collars and chains, and thus forced to travel on foot hundreds of miles, sleeping at night in their chains. Sheep, and sometimes horned cattle, are marked with their owners' initials–but this is generally done with paint, and of course produces no pain. Slaves, too, are often marked with their owners' initials, but the letters are stamped into their flesh with a hot iron. Cattle are suffered to graze their pastures without stint [limitation]; but the slaves are restrained in their food to a fixed allowance. The slaveholders' horses are far better fed, more moderately worked, have fewer hours of labor, and longer intervals of rest, than their slaves; and their valuable horses are far more comfortably housed and lodged, and their stables more effectually defended from the weather than the slaves' huts.

from "Slavery, a System of Inherent Cruelty"  by Theodore D. Weld, a well-known abolitionist and educator.  He helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833.

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NAME    DATE    CLASS 

North and South

Primary Source Activity Cont.

Now, how is it with the slave? He gets a peck of corn (occasionally a little more) each week, but rarely meat or fish. He must anticipate the sun in rising, or be whipped severely for his somnolency. Rain or shine, he must toil early and late for the benefit of another. If he be weary, he cannot rest—for the lash [whip] of the driver is flourished over his drooping head, or applied to his naked frame; if sick, he is suspected of laziness, and treated accordingly. . . .Has he a wife and children, he sees them as cruelly treated as himself. He may be torn from them, or they from him, at any moment, never again to meet on earth. Friends do not visit and console him: he has no friends. He knows not what is going on beyond his own narrow boundaries. He can neither read nor write. . . . Nor has his wretched condition been imposed upon him for any criminal offence. He has not been tried by the laws of his country. No one has stepped forth to vindicate his rights. He is made an abject slave, simply because God has given him a skin not colored like his master's; and Death, the great Liberator, alone can break his fetters!

from a letter by William Lloyd Garrison, 1830, a white abolitionist  from Boston. He started an antislavery newspaper, The Liberator, in 1831.

Reader’s Dictionarygalled irritatedvindicate defendpeck about 8 quartsabject miserablesomnolency sleepiness

Directions: Answer the following questions.

Analyzing Primary Sources1. Identifying Give two examples from Weld's writing of how cattle were treated better than enslaved people.

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NAME    DATE    CLASS 

North and South

Primary Source Activity Cont.

2. Describing How is an enslaved person treated when he is sick or tired according to Garrison?

3. Interpreting Do you think an owner values his cattle or his slaves more? Why?

4. Explaining For what reason is someone made a slave according to Garrison? 

Critical Thinking5. Comparing Both of these excerpts describe the lives of enslaved people. Name two things that they have in common.

6. Evaluating Do you think writings like these would be effective in changing people's opinions about slavery and the treatment of enslaved people? 

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NAME    DATE    CLASS 

North and South

Vocabulary Builder Activity

A. Content Vocabulary

Directions Select a vocabulary term from the box that best answers each question below. Write the term in the blank. Not all terms will be used.

trade unionclipper shipfamineslave codesUnderground Railroaddomestic slave trade

telegraphyeomanprejudiceoverseerproductivitystrike

spiritualMorse codediscriminationnativistliteracy

1. Which of these would

a.  cause unfair treatment of a group? 

b.  help escaped slaves? 

c.  help people communicate? 

d.  organize workers? 

e.  state rules for enslaved people? 

2. Which of these is 

a.  a refusal to work? 

b.  extreme hunger ? 

c.  an African American song? 

d.  a plantation manager? 

e.  the ability to read and write? 

3. Which of these is

a.  a series of dots and dashes? 

b.  a farmer with no enslaved workers? 

c.  a means of transporting goods? 

d.  a person opposed to immigration? 

e.  an unfair opinion or attitude? 

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NAME    DATE    CLASS 

North and South

Vocabulary Builder Cont.

B. Academic Vocabulary

Directions Write the number of each word next to its definition. You may use a dictionary to help you.

1. innovation   a.  permission granted by an authority

2. transform   b. allowed by law 

3. community   c. to change

4. license   d. the result of an action

5. consequence   e. new ideas or methods 

6. legal    f. a group of people living in a particular area

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NAME    DATE    CLASS 

North and South

C. Combined Vocabulary Reinforcement

Directions Complete the following sentences by selecting the content or academic vocabulary term that best fits. You may need to change the form of the word to fit the sentence. Not all terms will be used.

trade unionconsequenceclipper shiptransformfamineslave codeslicenseUnderground Railroaddomestic slave trade

telegraphyeomaninnovationprejudiceoverseerprocessproductivitybrief

strikespiritualMorse codediscriminationnativistcommunityliteracylegal

1. One result of the invention of the   was the increased speed of communication from one area to another far away. 

2. The labor of enslaved people was extremely important to the  of Southern plantations.

3. One new method of transportation was the  . 

4. By the 1830s, skilled workers started to organize   to improve working conditions.

5. A major cause of immigration from Ireland between 1840 and 1860 was  . 

6. People opposed to immigration were known as  . 

7.  made up the largest group of whites in the South.

Vocabulary Builder Cont. netw rks

NAME ___________________ DATE ________ CLASS ____ _

Chapter 14 Test, Traditional cont. netw@rks

North and South

___ 13. Enslaved people expressed their beliefs in religious folk songs called

A. hymns. C. slave codes.

B. psalms. D. spirituals.

___ 14. What was one of the consequences of the cotton gin?

A. Deep South farmers grew more wheat.

B. Domestic slave trade increased.

C. Plantations hired more tenant farmers.

D. Southern factories quickly developed.

RAILROADS IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH

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1840 1850 YEAR

1860

___ 15. Based on the graph, which of the following statements is correct?

A. In 1840 there were more miles of railroad track in the South than inthe North.

B. In 1850 the South more than tripled the miles of tracks it had in 1840.

C. In 1860 the amount of tracks in both the North and the South hadnot increased.

D. In all three decades, the North had more miles of tracks than the South.

___ 16. Based on the graph, how many miles of railroad tracks did the North have in 1850?

134

A. 200

8. 700

C. 2,000

D. 7,000

Discovering Our Past: A History of the United States

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NAME __________________ DATE ________ CLASS ____ _

Chapter 14 Test, Traditional cont. netw@rks

North and South

___ 17. By 1840 what was the average workday for factory workers?

A. 6.7 hours

B. 8.0 hours

C. 11.4 hours

D. 16.2 hours

URBAN AND RURAL POPULATION, 1830-1860

1830

1840

f' Rural

-Urban 1850

1860

___ 18. According to the circle graphs, how much did the percentage of people living in urban areas increase from 1830 to 1860?

A. 9 percent

B. 11 percent

C. 15 percent

D. 20 percent

___ 19. According to the circle graphs, what percentage of the population lived in urban areas in the year 1850?

A. 9 percent C. 15 percent

B. 11 percent D. 85 percent

Discovering Our Past: A History of the United States 135

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