Teacher's Guide for Cobblestone: Salem-East Indies Trade

THE VIEW FROM THE CROW'S NEST (page 4)

1. What was John Adams's advice after the Revolutionary War?
2. Why did Salem become important?
3. What products were traded in the East Indies?
4. What was one of the most exotic ports of call?

1. What was the lure of the Far East?
2. What country opened trade with China in 1557?
3. Why couldn't American sea towns like Salem trade in the East Indies before the American Revolution?
4. What was privateering?
5. What caused the depression after the Revolution?
6. How long would a typical voyage last?
7. What important trade did Salem merchants dominate?
8. What was the purpose of the embargo of 1807?
9. What was its effect on Salem?
10. What country did the United States declare war on in 1812?
11. What was this war's effect on Salem?

1. Where did the first American ship, the Empress of China, land in 1784?
2. What are sampans and junks?
3. What were hongs?
4. What was the American hong known as?
5. Why wouldn't the Chinese allow Europeans and Americans to go beyond the hongs?
6. What did the Chinese do to guarantee the separation of their people from foreigners?
7. What organization did the hong merchants organize in 1720?
8. What functions did the hong merchants perform both in foreign trade and in the interior of China?
9. Who was the hoppo, and what was his function?
10. What was China's chief source of income during the first half of the nineteenth century?
11. What happened in 1839?

1. How long had the Grand Turk been at sea?
2. With what cargo did the ship return?
3. By the 1790s, how large was Salem?
4. What ethnic groups might have been seen on the waterfront?
5. Why were stock companies developed?
6. What architectural style did Samuel McIntire establish?
7. What support industries grew as a result of the shipping industry?
8. What were the class distinctions in Salem?
9. Why wasn't the social structure of Salem at this time as rigid as it was in Colonial America?

1. Who was America's first millionaire?
2. How did he make his fortune?
3. How did he learn his business?
4. How old was he when he became active manager of the family business?
5. How did he treat his employees in business dealings?
6. What did the business turn to during the Revolutionary War?
7. Where did he send the Grand Turk after the war?
8. What was the source of the feud between the Derby and Crowninshield families?
9. How large was the Grand Turk?
10. How many crew members did the ship need?
11. How old was most of the crew?
12. How long could a voyage last?
13. How would the crew occupy their time?
14. What was the function of the supercargo?

1. During the time of the East Indies trade, what was the population of China?
2. What was the population of the United States?
3. Who were the Manchus?
4. When and how did they come to power?
5. How long did their dynasty last?
6. What did Eli Whitney invent?
7. How did it affect cotton production in the South?
8. What was the effect on slavery?
9. When did Thomas Edison invent the electric light?
10. What one type of bird accounted for one-third of all birds in America?
11. When did this bird become extinct? How?

1. Whom was Carpenter told to contact?
2. What would he be asked to leave as security?
3. How was he cautioned to treat people?
4. What percentage of the value of his cargo would he have to pay in duty?

1. Jacob Crowninshield returned with the first elephant in 1796. How much did he have to pay for it? How much did he eventually sell it for?
2. How many ships were in Salem's fleet at its peak?
3. What man was considered the driving force behind the East Indies trade?
4. What were some of the innovations instituted by Elias Hasket Derby?
5. Read the fictional trip of the Dianne Marie and answer the following questions:
a. How was the ship owned?
b. How was the captain paid?
c. What is a speculative venture?
d. How many months might it take for the ship to be filled?
e. What goods would it carry?
f. What would be the minimum amount of time the crew would be at sea?
g. Why was it so important to buy cloves at any cost?
h. What two items were considered delicacies in China?
i. How did Salem become the center of the U.S. pepper trade?

What was the function of the auction?

1. Why was the East India Marine Society founded?
2. What did it eventually become?
3. What collections are found in the museum?
4. Who was Nathaniel Bowditch?
5. What is the study of ethnology?
6. What does the museum's Asian Export Art wing show us about U.S. trade with Asia?

The People of Williamsburg (February 1990),
Colonial Craftsmen (June 1990),
Chinese Americans (March 1991),
America's Folk Art (August 1991).

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Updated: 7/4/09 06:02 am
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