Question

read the passage from sugar changed the world. in every single american slave state, the population of enslaved people kept rising even after the slave trade was abolished. that was because enough enslaved children were born, lived, and grew to become adults. there was just one exception to this rule: louisiana, where the native - born enslaved population kept dropping. sugar was a killer. unlike the caribbean, louisiana has cold snaps. that put an additional pressure on the sugar harvest. not only did the slaves need to harvest the cane in perfect rhythm with the grinding mills, but the entire crop had to be cut down between mid - october and december. this pace only increased when growers installed improved, steam - powered mills. people needed to work faster than the weather and to keep pace with machines. which line from the passage best provides evidence to support the claim that sugar was more of a killer in louisiana than in the caribbean?

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the passage:

1. The claim is that sugar was more of a "killer" in Louisiana than in the Caribbean. We need to find a line that shows a difference in conditions between Louisiana and the Caribbean that made sugar production more deadly in Louisiana.
2. The line "Unlike the Caribbean, Louisiana has cold snaps" introduces a difference in climate. Cold snaps put additional pressure on the sugar harvest (as explained later: needing to work faster to harvest in a short time, keep up with machines, etc.), which would make the work more dangerous and likely lead to more deaths (supporting "sugar was a killer" more in Louisiana). Other lines either talk about the general slave population trend (not specific to the Caribbean comparison) or the work pace in Louisiana (but the key difference - cold snaps - is introduced by the line comparing to the Caribbean).

So the line "Unlike the Caribbean, Louisiana has cold snaps" best provides the evidence as it highlights a factor (cold snaps) that added to the harshness of sugar production in Louisiana compared to the Caribbean, making sugar more of a "killer" there.

The claim is about sugar being more deadly in Louisiana than the Caribbean. The line "Unlike the Caribbean, Louisiana has cold snaps" introduces a climatic difference (cold snaps) that added pressure to sugar harvest in Louisiana (e.g., needing to work faster, meet machine pace), making sugar production more lethal there compared to the Caribbean (where no cold snaps exist, so less pressure). Other lines don't highlight the Louisiana - Caribbean comparison for the "killer" aspect as directly.

Answer:

"Unlike the Caribbean, Louisiana has cold snaps."