Plantation slavery, law and resistance

History · World History · ages 16-18

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Under the hereditary rule used in many American colonies, how was a child's enslaved or free status decided at birth?
- A child's status depended only on the father's occupation
- A child's status followed the status of the mother
- A child's status changed whenever a plantation changed owners
Why did slaveholders impose forced labour on plantations producing crops for sale?
- To secure lifelong control and profit from crop sales
- To guarantee paid wages and let workers leave at harvest time
- To replace overseas crop sales with food for local markets
Hereditary slavery could continue through births even after overseas slave trading stopped.
Circle one: True False
Which set includes three ways enslaved people resisted slaveholders' control?
- Working extra hours, obeying orders, and raising the crop yield
- Slowing work, escaping, and organising an armed revolt
- Buying new tools, hiring overseers, and extending the harvest
Two colonies grow the same crop but use different labour systems. What does this show about explaining plantation slavery?
- The crop alone determined whether all workers were enslaved
- Differences in law prove that crop demand never affected labour
- Crop demand mattered alongside colonial law and coercion
A European bank lends money to a sugar merchant and earns interest. What does this show about the plantation economy?
- All income from plantation trade stayed with plantation owners
- European banks earned income only by directly growing sugar
- Businesses beyond plantations could profit from slavery
Which simplified chain correctly connects demand, captive transport and plantation production in the Atlantic sugar economy?
- American sugar buyers, European captives, plantations in West Africa
- African sugar buyers, American captives, plantations across Europe
- European sugar buyers, African captives, plantations in the Americas
Imagine that slaveholders in another colony restrict meetings and travel after hearing of Haiti's independence in 1804. Which explanation best fits?
- They believe Haiti now has legal authority over their colony
- They fear similar uprisings against their own control
- They believe independence has ended plantation slavery everywhere

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Plantation slavery, law and resistance W1-mt_yPFkuKzale-s1

A child's status followed the status of the mother · Under this rule, children inherited their mother's enslaved or free status. A child born to an enslaved mother was born enslaved.
To secure lifelong control and profit from crop sales · Slaveholders sought profit and lifelong control. Demanding crop work did not make slavery necessary; people imposed it through law and violence.
True · Stopping overseas trading alone did not abolish slavery or its birth-status rules. Children could still be born enslaved.
Slowing work, escaping, and organising an armed revolt · Slowing work challenged production demands, escape challenged captivity, and revolt openly challenged slaveholders' rule.
Crop demand mattered alongside colonial law and coercion · Crop requirements help explain demand for workers. They do not decide whether workers are free or enslaved; laws and coercion also shaped labour systems.
Businesses beyond plantations could profit from slavery · Interest gave the bank income from financing plantation trade. Businesses could benefit from enslaved labour without owning plantations themselves.
European sugar buyers, African captives, plantations in the Americas · European sugar demand encouraged plantation expansion in the Americas and the forced transport of Africans. This connection does not describe every ship's route.
They fear similar uprisings against their own control · Haiti's revolution ended slavery and French rule there. Many slaveholders feared that enslaved people elsewhere could achieve a similar result.