“The grave [in the South] was

Question

dug through solid marble, but
the marble headstone came
from Vermont. It was in a pine
wilderness but the pine coffin
came from Cincinnati. An iron
mountain overshadowed it but
the coffin nails and the screws
and the shovel came from
Pittsburgh. . . . A hickory grove
grew nearby, but the pick and
shovel handles came from
New York. . . . That country, so
rich in underdeveloped
resources, furnished nothing
for the funeral except the
corpse and the hole in the
ground.”
– Henry Grady, Speech to the
Bay Street Club, Boston, 1889
Use the passage to answer the
question.
What is the main idea of this
excerpt?
(1 point)
By not purchasing products
from its own manufacturers,
the South helped enrich the
North.
Even though the South had
resources it could tap, it
relied heavily on the North.
All the materials for a
Southern burial could only
be gotten from the North.
Because agriculture was so
profitable, the South chose
not to make use of its other
natural resources.

Answer 1

The main idea of the excerpt is: Even though the South had resources it could tap, it relied heavily on the North. This is evident in how the author highlights the South’s dependence on Northern products for various aspects of a funeral, despite having rich resources in their own region.