SAQs for APUSH Topic 4.13 — The Society of the South in the Early Republic

Thirty questions designed to help students review for the annual exam and that relate to the culture, practices, traditions, customs, and beliefs of those who dominated a region of the country, in the years leading up to and following the Louisiana Purchase, where the economy was primarily based on agriculture and slavery.

1. When approximately were slaves first introduced into the region of our country where the economy, in the years of the Early Republic, was primarily based on agriculture and slavery?
2. In the years of the Early Republic, defenders of slavery based their arguments on racial doctrines, the view that slavery was a positive social good, and the belief that slavery and states’ rights were protected by the Constitution. How did proponents of the “positive good” (defense of slavery) argument justify their claim?
3. What percentage of the white population of the South did not own any enslaved people in the years of the Early Republic?
4. In the years of the Early Republic, the Great Planters of the South (aka the Planter Aristocracy) dominated southern society and politics, even though they were few in number. What number of slaves did Great Planters need to own to qualify as a Great Planter?
5. In the years of the Early Republic, the vast majority of slaveholders owned fewer than how many people?
6. Name a famous Early Republic slave who, after receiving his freedom described the plantation as “a little nation by itself, having its own language, its own rules, regulations, and customs?” Clue: In 1845, this former slave wrote a memoir and treatise on abolition, with the text of this work considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century.
7. In the years of the Early Republic, what crop was primarily grown in the region of our country that was primarily based on agriculture and slavery.
8. In the years of the Early Republic, poor white farmers identified more closely with slaveowners than with enslaved African Americans. Provide one reason for this.
9. In the years of the Early Republic, the typical “master” of a plantation, believed in “the notion of paternalism” and adherence to a “code of honor.” What’s “the notion of paternalism?” Briefly describe the “code of honor” that plantation masters adhered to?
10. In the years of the Early Republic, the typical “mistress” of a plantation strove to embody an ideal of femininity and confined herself to a narrow domestic sphere. What is meant by the term “ideal of femininity?” What is meant by “domestic sphere?”
11. In the years of the Early Republic, the institution of slavery spread as cotton plantations moved west into the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. Briefly describe a historical event, development, or process that occurred before the Louisiana Purchase.
12. Following the Louisiana Purchase, the United States government sought to gain influence and control over North America and the Western Hemisphere through exploration. Name and briefly describe one specific piece of evidence in support of this claim.
13. Following the Louisiana Purchase, the United States government sought to gain influence and control over North America and the Western Hemisphere through military actions. Name and briefly describe one piece of evidence in support of this claim.
14. Following the Louisiana Purchase, the United States government sought to gain influence and control over North America and the Western Hemisphere through American Indian removal. Name and briefly describe one specific piece of evidence in support of this claim.
15. Following the Louisiana Purchase, the United States government sought to gain influence and control over North America and the Western Hemisphere through diplomatic efforts. Name and briefly describe one piece of evidence in support of this claim.
16. In geographical terms, how would you describe the territory acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase? What essentially was the eastern border of the territory? The western border? How far north and south did the territory stretch? Any major rivers associated with this territory? Mountain ranges?
17. Part or all of how many states were eventually created from this land deal?
18. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, the United States began to develop a modern democracy. Name and briefly describe one specific piece of evidence in support of this claim.
19. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase and in the years thereafter, the United States celebrated a new national culture. Name and briefly describe one specific piece of evidence in support of this claim.
20. Shortly after the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, entrepreneurs helped to create a market revolution in production and commerce, in which market relationships between producers and consumers came to prevail as the manufacture of goods became more organized. What was the market revolution?
21. In 1803, the National Intelligencer newspaper reported that the Louisiana Purchase was “an event which history will record among the most splendid.” Name a group of people living in North America who would not agree with that assessment.
22. The United States’ purchase of the Louisiana Territory gave rise to contests over the extension of slavery into new territories. Name and briefly describe one specific 1820s piece of evidence in support of this claim.
23. The United States’ purchase of the Louisiana Territory gave rise to contests over the extension of slavery into new territories. Name and briefly describe one specific 1840s piece of evidence in support of this claim.
24. The United States’ purchase of the Louisiana Territory gave rise to contests over the extension of slavery into new territories. Name and briefly describe one specific 1850s piece of evidence in support of this claim.
25. The United States’ purchase of the Louisiana Territory gave rise to contests over the extension of slavery into new territories. Name and briefly describe one specific 1860s piece of evidence in support of this claim.
26. As over-cultivation depleted arable land in the Southeast prior to the time of the Lousiana Purchase, slaveholders sought to relocate their plantations to more fertile lands west of the Appalachians. In the years following the Louisiana purchase, what did these plantation owners, more than anything, grow in this newly acquired territory?
27. Name and briefly describe an innovation and/or technology that was developed in the years leading up to the purchase of the Louisiana Territory and that dramatically expanded agricultural production in the territory.
28. Name and briefly describe an innovation and/or technology that was developed in the years leading up to the purchase of the Louisiana Territory and that dramatically expanded the ability to travel throughout the territory.
29. Place the following in order of their occurrence: The acquisition of territory as a result of the Mexican-American War, the Spanish America War, the American Revolutionary War, the purchase of Alaska, the annexation of Hawaii, the Florida Cession, and the Treaty of Oregon.
30. Briefly describe, in terms of how it affected the society of the south, one major similarity and one major difference between the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican Cession.

The Louisiana Purchase (1803)

The Missouri Compromise (1820)

The Mexican Cession (1848)

The Compromise of 1850

The Civil War (1861–1865)

The Life of Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglas — A True National Hero

The Whitney Plantation Museum

The Louisiana Purchase

The Cotton Gin

King Cotton

The Cotton Gin

The Mississippi River Steamboat