Practice Quiz

CLEP US History II

Category - Economic Development

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Which of the following is not a reason why the South was the poorest region in the country following the Civil War?
  1. Most plantations were abandoned when slavery was abolished, eliminating the most substantial streams of revenue into the region.
  2. They issued currency during the war that was ultimately useless once the Confederacy ceased to exist.
  3. They had very little industrial diversity.
  4. Former slaves and poor white Southerners lacked education and political advocacy, and consequently lacked economic mobility.
  5. There was a severe internal social war between white supremacists and former slaves (plus the white citizens who supported their cause), and the fixation on social issues like segregation took time and resources away from improving the region’s economy.
Explanation
Answer: A - Following the Civil War, most plantations that previously relied on slave labor converted to sharecropping labor, which contributed to the region’s impoverishment. The plantations were not abandoned. Sharecropping was extremely disadvantageous to the region because it paid workers meager wages, giving them little money with which they could contribute to the local economy.
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