Chapter+16+Reading+Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Describe the economic strengths and weaknesses of the Cotton Kingdom and its central role in the prosperity of Britain as well as the United States. 2. Outline the hierarchical social structure of the South, from the planter aristocracy to African American slaves. (pg. 373-5) 3. Describe the non-slaveholding white majority of the South, and explain why most poorer whites supported slavery even though they owned no slaves. (pg. 378-8) 4. Describe the workings of the peculiar institution of slavery, including the role of the domestic slave trade after the outlawing of international slave trade. (pg. 378-81) 5. Describe African American life under slavery, including the role of the family and religion. (pg. 381-4) 6. Describe the rise of abolitionism in both the United States and Britain, and explain why it was initially so unpopular in the North. (pg. 384-90) 7. Describe the fierce southern resistance to abolitionism, and explain why southerners increasingly portrayed slavery as a positive good. (pg. 391-3)