What Ideas Underpinned the Usage of the Term "Peculiar Institution

question 16

Multiple Choice

What ideas underpinned the usage of the term "peculiar institution"?

• A) Northerners coined the term to emphasize the violence and discrimination inherent in slavery and lament its having become a formal institution.
• B) Southerners used the term to refer to capitalism and to portray it as a bizarre system unique to the North and in which they themselves played no part.
• C) Women activists of the time used the term to refer to the system of marriage and to convey that although it was a fundamental social structure, it was curious in its treatment of women.
• D) The word "peculiar" implied that race-based slavery was unique to the South-a more positive sentiment that appealed to southern identity-and helped avoid the charged word "slavery."
• E) Northerners used the term to paint urban slavery in a negative light because they believed it was odd that urban slaves faced worse conditions than slaves on farms.

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