AP US History: Work, Exchange & Technology 3

Question 1

Eli Whitney's cotton gin (1793) had which major economic effect on the antebellum South?

Accepted Answer

It expanded short-staple cotton cultivation and entrenched slavery

Answer

By speeding seed removal, the gin made cotton hugely profitable and deepened reliance on slavery.

Question 2

The Lowell system of early New England textile mills is notable for primarily employing:

Accepted Answer

Young unmarried women

Answer

Lowell mills recruited young farm women who lived in supervised boardinghouses.

Question 3

The Market Revolution of the early 1800s was driven most directly by improvements in:

Accepted Answer

Transportation such as canals, roads, and railroads

Answer

Canals like the Erie and new railroads linked regional markets and spurred commercial growth.

Question 4

The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, most directly benefited which city by linking it to the interior?

Accepted Answer

New York City

Answer

The canal connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River, making New York the nation's leading port.

Question 5

Samuel Slater is best known for which contribution to American industrialization?

Accepted Answer

Bringing British textile factory technology to the US

Answer

Slater memorized British spinning machine designs and built America's first water-powered textile mill.

AP Practice Test