-176599 CHAPTER 10—TOWARD AN AMERICAN CULTURE Murrin, Johnson, McPherson, Fahs, Gerstle, Rosenberg & Rosenberg Copyright © 2008 Wadsworth Group Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, 5e 0704lep5e.bmp
Times Instructions: Identify the following term(s). The new, northern middle class of the early nineteenth century would best be described as country merchants, master craftsmen, and market-oriented farmers. mill workers, journeymen, and wage-laborers. tenant farmers, day laborers, and outworkers. factory workers and small farmers. plantation owners. A Average p. 309 Analytical 1 The large revivals in the northern United States most affected the values and beliefs of the working class. middle class. upper class. poverty stricken. African Americans. B Least Difficult p. 310 Factual 1 Which of the following would be an accurate description of a nineteenth-century revivalist's message to a northern religious revival? Men and women had no power over their own salvation. Most men and women were destined to everlasting eternal life. Most men and women were damned to eternal hell. The end of the world was nigh. Men and women were moral free agents. E Most Difficult p. 309-310 Analytical 1 By the 1830s, most of the responsibility for child-rearing in northern homes rested with fathers. mothers. the school. the church. the servants. B Least Difficult p. 310 Factual 1 During the early nineteenth century, the birthrate among northern middle-class mothers increased. decreased. remained the same. is impossible to determine because few accurate records survive. none of the above. B Average p. 311 Factual 1 The first mass-circulation magazine for women was Woman's Day. Good Housekeeping. Godey's Ladies Book. Family Circle. New Yorker. C Least Difficult p. 312 Factual 1 The most widely read novelist in the United States before the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin was Nathaniel Hawthorne. Herman Melville. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Susan Warner. Walt Whitman. D Average p. 312 Factual 1 The author of Uncle Tom's Cabin was Harriet Beecher Stowe. Lydia Maria Child. Catherine Beecher. Sarah Josepha Hale. Nathaniel Hawthorne. A Least Difficult p. 312 Factual 1 For the most part, the domesticity novels written by women during the mid-nineteenth century were frivolous fairy tales. subversive attacks on the power relations in society. sentimental pastimes of little import. political calls for revolution. stories that supported the power structure. B Average p. 312 Analytical 1 All of the following statements regarding newspapers are true except the federal government neither helped nor hindered newspaper sales they were the most widely distributed form of print in the country in New England, only ten percent of households subscribed to a newspaper there were far more newspapers per capita in the United States than in Britain it was common for newspapers to be read aloud in groups A Most Difficult p. 308 Analytical 1 The religious leader who believed that the Earth would be destroyed in 1844 was Brigham Young. Joseph Smith. William Miller. Mathias. John Noyes. C Average p. 316 Factual 1 The founder of Mormonism, born in upstate New York in the early nineteenth century, was Brigham Young. William Miller. Mathias. Joseph Smith. Sylvester Graham. D Least Difficult p. 317 Factual 1 Each of the following was popular among the northern working class in the mid-nineteenth century except cock fighting. prize fighting. dog fighting. opera. minstrel shows. D Least Difficult p. 318-320 Factual 1 The most popular form of theater among nineteenth-century Americans was Shakespearean dramas. Sir Walter Scott romances. minstrel shows. burlesque shows. opera. C Average p. 319 Factual 1 The spiritualism of the emerging "Bible Belt" developed primarily from what element of southern society? poor whites gentry slaves elderly planter class A Average p. 323 Analytical 1 The first full-blown camp meeting held in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1801 did not include Methodists. Baptists. Presbyterians. Lutherans. all of the above. D Average p. 323 Factual 1 White southerners justified the institution of slavery with each of the following religious arguments except Jesus never criticized slavery. slaves were the descendants of Ham and deserved enslavement. slavery had given African Americans Christianity. the Epistles of Paul urged slaves to obey their masters. slavery was a gift to God. E Most Difficult p. 326-327 Analytical 1 In regards to slavery, in the late eighteenth century evangelical preachers encouraged its expansion. called for the removal of slaves from the United States. called for the freeing of slaves. generally avoided the subject. justified it through Scripture. C Average p. 324 Analytical 1 After 1830, there was a concerted effort by whites towards slaves to disregard their spirituality. argue blacks had no souls. eliminate black churches. prevent them from hearing sermons about freedom. Christianize them. E Average p. 326 Analytical 1 The literacy rate among men in New England in 1790 was 35 percent. 45 percent. 65 percent. 85 percent. 95 percent. D Least Difficult p. 308 Factual 1 The most successful sects in the early nineteenth century were the Episcopalians and Baptists. Baptists and Methodists. Lutherans and Episcopalians. Methodists and Episcopalians. Baptists and Lutherans. B Least Difficult p. 313 Factual 1 Which of the following were most likely to be postmillennialists? evangelicals Baptists Methodists Disciples of Christ Anglicans A Average p. 315 Analytical 1 The national culture that developed after the 1830s included all of the following elements except republicanism. capitalism. abolitionism. Protestantism. paternalism. C Least Difficult p. 307 Analytical 1 The 1845 sensationalist novel Quaker City was set in New York City. was banned by courts. idealized the lives of Quakers. portrayed the Christian elite as lustful hypocrites. was considered offensive and failed to sell well. D Average p. 322 Factual 1 After 1830, American national culture did not really exist. was predominantly elitist and Roman Catholic. was defined by expansion, slavery, and a market economy. was heavily influenced by immigration from eastern and southern Europe. included numerous regional, economic, and racial subcultures. C Most Difficult p. 307 Analytical 1 When it came to entertainment in the South reading books was the most popular activity. thoroughbred racing was concentrated in this region. the "blood sports" were mostly banned. only white people owned guns for hunting. leisure activities were looked down upon by most. B Average p. 327 Analytical 1 In the early nineteenth century, free blacks were only found in free states. were not allowed to own businesses. constituted roughly ten percent of the population of New York City. could only attend white-controlled churches. could not, by law, live in Virginia. C Average p. 328 Factual 1 The popular literature of the 1830s was primarily written by women for women. characterized women as weak, helpless, and fragile. first introduced the male dominated action-adventure story to the public. consisted of newspapers and magazines. was not widely circulated. A Average p. 312 Factual 1 The popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin was a result of its portrayal of the redemptive spiritual power of submissive Christians. indictment of all southern whites as evil, abusive slave drivers. uplifting, happy ending. attack on the dangerous, subversive power of a female-dominated society. attack on the corruption of American politics. A Most Difficult p. 312 Analytical 1 In post-revolutionary America the most important social and political distinction was based on heads of households and those who were their dependents. race. education. family heritage. gender. A Most Difficult p. 328-329 Analytical 1 Between 1790 and 1820, voting rights increasingly excluded most artisans and laborers. remained strongly tied to property ownership. increased in New England but declined in the South. was never limited to just free white men. became easier and greatly expanded for white men. E Most Difficult p. 331 Analytical 1 Protestant postmillennialists were mostly Southern Baptists and Methodists. believed that the world would be destroyed by fire. believed that there would be a thousand years of perfect social order followed by the return of Christ. predicted the destruction of the world in 1837. hoped to unite all Protestant faiths into one. C Average p. 315-316 Factual 1 Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons) believed that descendants of the ancient Hebrews had been living in the Americas for many generations before Columbus' 1492 voyage. merchants and lawyers were the best spiritual leaders for the church. the church leadership should be equally divided between women and men. angels were mythological pagan fantasies. all races were created equal. A Average p. 317 Factual 1 Which of the following is true of early boxing matches? Most of the fighters were native-born Americans of German descent. The bare-knuckled fights were so brutal that the participants were sometimes severely injured or killed. There were no rules and "no holds barred" in the contests. The audiences were usually from the middle and upper classes. No one was ever actually hurt. B Average p. 318-319 Factual 1 The American theater in the mid-nineteenth century produced plays and musicals written and performed by American citizens, not by Europeans. was considered a low-class, vulgar form of entertainment. inspired heated class loyalties and debates that sometimes led to violence. was so expensive that only the wealthy could afford to buy tickets. none of the above. C Average p. 319 Factual 1 Nineteenth-century minstrel shows were traveling productions in which white men in "black face" imitated African-American songs and dances. were most popular with female audiences. were the first theatrical entertainments to include black performers as regular troupe members. were popular only in the large seaport cities of the Northeast. were popular only in the South. A Average p. 319-321 Factual 1 The "yellow backed" fiction and penny press publications portrayed a benign world in which good always triumphed over evil. were popular with women readers because of the strong, morally superior female characters in the stories. used graphic violence and sexual perversion to attract customers. were designed to appeal to well-educated, sophisticated, upper-class readers. appealed only to immigrants. C Most Difficult p. 321-322 Factual 1 During the early nineteenth century, the social distinctions based on gender increased. decreased. stayed the same. show significant change only in New England. show significant change only in the deep South. A Least Difficult p. 310 Factual 1 Southern evangelicalism rested on all of the following beliefs except the desire to change the world. the belief God killed people. that sinful behavior should be punished. the imperfection of humans. the sovereignty of God. A Most Difficult p. 325 Analytical 1 Evangelicals such as Charles Colcock Jones believed that slaves should not be a part of organized faiths. should be encouraged to rebel. could have significant spiritual worth. needed to be freed in order to be saved. could not be saved. C Average p. 326 Analytical 1 In the early nineteenth century, sentimental novels outsold Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlett Letter. all of the above. E Least Difficult p. 312 Factual 1 All of the following were significant components of the Millerite movement except Congregationalists. Methodists. Baptists. Disciples of Christ. poor people from New York, Ohio and Michigan. A Average p. 315-316 Factual 1 The "plain people" of the North all shared similar characteristics. were culturally conservative. included urban wage laborers. embraced reformist religion. rejected the father-centered family. B Average p. 312-313 Factual 1 With the rise of middle class culture, child rearing practices changed in that servants assumed the primary responsibilities for teaching morals and faith. children were strictly raised with fear and punishment. children received more attention from their mothers. older children were expected to be the primary caregivers of younger children. fathers played a greater role than previous generations in the raising of children. C Average p. 310-311 Analytical 1 As he grew up, the religious faith of Joseph Smith's family was Catholics. Unitarians. Baptists. Methodists. Lutherans. C Least Difficult p. 317 Factual 1 Most Protestant denominations in America emphasized the importance of a hierarchy of authority in the church. favored local control in their churches. rejected evangelicalism believed that human society was perfectible. taught racial equality. B Most Difficult p. 315 Analytical 1 When working class American audiences found theater productions too sophisticated for their tastes, they walked out of the theater. they began producing their own plays. they resorted to mob violence. they refused to attend the productions. the theatres were closed. C Average p. 319 Analytical 1 Minstrel shows included political satire. sexual jokes. ridicule of the elite. racial humor. all of the above. D Most Difficult p. 319-321 Factual 1 In the south, evangelicals challenged the social hierarchy. held that social roles were made by God. criticized the patriarchal family. claimed the social hierarchy was in need of constant change. all of the above. B Average p. 325 Analytical 1 By 1830, southern clergymen condemned material improvements as being worldly. preached that all moral truth came from the Bible. called for universal Christian love. could rightly be called adherents of Thomas Jefferson. lashed out at human relations based on dominance and submission. B Most Difficult p. 326 Analytical 1 By 1830, American society was essentially republican, capitalist, and Protestant. T Average p. 307 Factual 1 For the most part, religion and the position of pro-slavery advocates were compatible in the South. T Average p. 326 Analytical 1 Most southern clergy endorsed relationships based on dominance and submission. T Average p. 326 Factual 1 The literacy rate in preindustrial America was among the highest ever recorded. T Least Difficult p. 308 Factual 1 Millerites were a religious group that believed the world would end in the year following March 1843. T Least Difficult p. 316 Factual 1 The novel Quaker City imagined an idealized America built on Quaker beliefs. F Least Difficult p. 322 Factual 1 The best-selling author of the antebellum period (before Harriet Beecher Stowe) was Susan Warner. T Average p. 312 Factual 1 The Presbyterian minister, Charles Colcock Jones, taught that slaves must stand up to immoral masters. F Average p. 326 Factual 1 The spread of newspapers was financially assisted by the federal government. T Average p. 308 Analytical 1 In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Uncle Tom was a proud and assertive slave.. F Least Difficult p. 312 Factual 1 Southern evangelicals moved from calling for an end to slavery to strongly supporting it. T Most Difficult p. 324 Analytical 1 Northern plain folk rejected middle-class optimism and reformism. T Average p. 315 Factual 1 In 1835, most Americans had access to newspapers. T Most Difficult p. 308 Analytical 1 An 1849 dispute over the acting styles of two Shakespearians led to a riot in which twenty people were killed. T Average p. 319 Factual 1 Prior to the 1860s, it would be unthinkable for an American novelist to write about explicit sexuality. F Least Difficult p. 322 Factual 1 Entertainment in the South was less commercial than in the North. T Most Difficult p. 327 Analytical 1 Modern notions of racism emerged in the early nineteenth century. T Least Difficult p. 327 Analytical 1 After 1822, free blacks were legally required to leave slave states. F Average p. 328 Analytical 1 Before 1845, it was rare for a woman to author a book of any significant commercial success. F Least Difficult p. 311 Factual 1 Baptists and Methodists both relied on an appeal to localism for their successful growth. F Most Difficult p. 313 Factual 1 The Baptist millenarian William Miller condemned greed and the city of New York. T Least Difficult p. 316 Factual 1 Joseph Smith set himself up as the first patriarch of the Mormon Church. F Least Difficult p. 317 Factual 1 Early prizefights had a sixty minute time limit. F Average p. 319 Factual 1 Audience participation was discouraged at minstrel shows. F Least Difficult p. 319 Factual 1 The first full-blown camp meeting took place in Georgia in 1808. F Least Difficult p. 323 Factual 1 Southern camp meetings were usually limited to a single denomination. F Least Difficult p. 323 Factual 1 Middle-class evangelicalism encouraged a division of labor by gender. T Average p. 310 Factual 1 Southern laws restricting slaves' possessions were rigidly enforced. F Average p. 327 Analytical 1 By 1820, roughly one in ten white women were literate. F Least Difficult p. 308 Factual 1 Newspapers encouraged both democracy and individualism. T Most Difficult p. 309 Analytical 1 Child rearing became an increasingly female task in the antebellum period. T Least Difficult p. 310 Analytical 1 In the 1830s, the birthrate in the United States declined by 1.5 over a ten year period. T Most Difficult p. 311 Analytical 1 Uncle Tom's Cabin portrayed slavery as incompatible with Christianity. T Least Difficult p. 312 Factual 1 The most successful sentimental novel in the antebellum period was The Wide, Wide World. F Least Difficult p. 312 Factual 1 Minstrel shows broadened the content of American culture. T Most Difficult p. 321 Analytical 1 The plain folk of the North were culturally conservative. T Least Difficult p. 313 Factual 1 Northern plain folk believed that all events were willed or allowed by God. T Average p. 315 Analytical 1 Northern parents displayed tremendous grief at the death of a child. F Average p. 315 Analytical 1 Plain folk in the North built elaborate local cemeteries. F Average p. 315 Analytical 1 The plain Protestants of the North talked often of the millennium. F Average p. 316 Analytical 1 The religious evangelical who led a middle-class revival in Rochester, New York, was ____________________. Charles Finney Most Difficult p. 309 Factual 1 0 Voting rights increased as ____________________ requirements were eliminated. property Least Difficult p. 331 Factual 1 0 The author of Uncle Tom's Cabin was ____________________. Harriet B. Stowe Least Difficult p. 312 Factual 1 0 The first mass-circulation magazine for women was ____________________. Godey's Ladies Book Average p. 312 Factual 1 0 Cheap "story papers," "yellow-back" fiction, and dime novels found their first and largest audience among ____________________. city workers Average p. 321 Factual 1 0 The Southern Presbyterian minister who wrote "how to preach to slaves" manuals and encouraged slaves to be obedient was ____________________. Charles Colcock Jones Average p. 326 Factual 1 0 By 1840, only ____________________ maintained a propertied electorate. Rhode Island Average p. 331 Factual 1 0 After the 1830s, Baptists and Methodists came to contain ____________________ of the nation's professing Protestants, North and South. two-thirds Least Difficult p. 313 Factual 1 0 The Mormon Church was organized along ____________________ lines. patriarchal Least Difficult p. 317 Factual 1 0 Some of the best early American prizefighters were ____________________ from New York City. butchers Average p. 318 Factual 1 0 The most popular author among wealthy southerners was ____________________. Shakespeare Least Difficult p. 319 Factual 1 0 The horse racing capital of the United States during the decades before the Civil War was ____________________. New Orleans Least Difficult p. 327 Factual 1 0 In the 1830s, the largest organization that dealt with the problems of slavery was the American ____________________ Society. Colonization Least Difficult p. 346 Factual 1 0 The most likely converts at evangelical gatherings were seated on the ____________________. anxious bench Average p. 310 Factual 1 0 The principal architect of American Methodism was ____________________. John Wesley Average p. 324 Factual 1 0 In 1835, there were ____________________ times as many newspapers in America than in Britain. two to three 2 to 3 Average p. 308 Factual 1 0 ____________________ ran New York City's Sportsman Hall, a saloon that became a frequent venue for blood sports. Kit Burns Most Difficult p. 318 Factual 1 0 Prize fighting was imported into the United States from ____________________. Britain Average p. 318 Factual 1 0 In 1842, Christopher Lilly killed ____________________ in a boxing match. Thomas McCoy Average p. 319 Factual 1 0 In New England ____________________ served the purpose of developing children's moral sensibilities without harsh discipline. Sunday schools Most Difficult p. 311 Analytical 1 0 The best selling novel printed in the years before the Civil War was ____________________. Uncle Tom's Cabin Average p. 312 Factual 1 0 ____________________ wore blackface in the first minstrel show in 1831. Thomas Rice Average p. 319 Factual 1 0 The growth of evangelicalism was greatest when the south committed to ____________________. plantation slavery Most Difficult p. 324 Factual 1 0 Followers of the William Miller, a New York Baptist who predicted that God would destroy the world in 1843, founded the ____________________ church. Seventh-Day Adventist Most Difficult p. 316 Factual 1 0 Joseph Smith labeled the centuries of greed and error of the Christian churches the ____________________. Apostasy Most Difficult p. 317 Factual 1 0 ____________________ was a Shakespearean actor targeted by a mob because of his refined and restrained style. William Charles Macready Average p. 319 Factual 1 0 The Shakespeare play that was a favorite of working-class audiences was ____________________. Richard III Average p. 319 Factual 1 0 African American song and dance was introduced to American audiences in the ____________________ shows. minstrel Least Difficult p. 321 Factual 1 0 The author of Quaker City, a novel attacking the hypocrisy of the Christian elite, was ____________________. George Lippard Average p. 322 Factual 1 0 In 1834, fierce race rioting occurred in the city of ____________________. Philadelphia Average p. 329 Factual 1 0 Democratic sects: The collapse of established churches was due, in large part, to the rise of Protestant sects that emphasized emotional faith over religious knowledge. The Baptists and Methodists were by far the two churches most successful in attracting new members. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Uncle Tom's Cabin: best-selling novel in nineteenth-century America, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Although primarily seen as an attack on slavery, also written as an attack on the market-dominated society in America at the time. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Susan Warner: nineteenth-century domestic author. Very popular; the themes of her books tended to emphasize the importance of a well-ordered home life as a necessary antidote to the market-oriented society. Wrote the best-selling novel The Wide, Wide World. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Joseph Smith: upstate New Yorker who claimed to receive visions from angels that led him to the golden plates that he translated into the Book of Mormon. With several thousand followers, he began the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 minstrel shows: popular form of entertainment in the North that first appeared in 1831. White actors, dressed in blackface, parodied racial stereotypes for white audiences. Although these shows promoted the idea of black racial inferiority, they also introduced mainstream society to certain aspects of black culture that otherwise would not have been acknowledged. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 William Miller: Baptist evangelical preacher from New York who predicted that the destruction of the world would occur after March 1843. Thousands of his followers, called Millerites, gathered together, prayed, and attended meetings waiting for the end of the world. The movement faded after March 1844 but in the 1860s former Millerites established the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 blood sports: popular among urban working men. Included cockfighting, ratting, and dog fighting. They became very popular during the 1850s, when they came to be staged by saloonkeepers, despite laws banning such activities in many states. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Sunday schools: shifted to an emphasis on preparing children's souls for conversion after the revivals of the 1820s and 1830s. Middle-class children were now included in classes, corporal punishment was forbidden, and teachers tried to develop the moral sensibilities of their charges. Sunday schools became training grounds for free agency and moral accountability. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Explore the value and belief structures of the Northern middle class. The Northern middle class came together consciously as a class during the first several decades of the nineteenth century. The rise of this group was the direct consequence of the market and transportation revolutions that had occurred during the period from 1790 to 1840. A middle class, of course, always had existed in some form, but this group of merchants, master craftsmen, manufacturers, and commercially driven farmers and other entrepreneurs created the new emerging market economy. For the most part, these values emphasized the principles of capitalist acquisitivism. The idea of progress directed this group, a progress that rested firmly with material goals. Competitive, profit oriented, and individualistic, this new middle class turned its back on the emphasis on community, reciprocity, and group-oriented goals most evident in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The new middle class was not consciously opposed to these ideas and, much like their forebears, hoped for the material growth of the entire community. A cardinal tenet of the new middle-class ideology, however, was that, ultimately, the individual was responsible for himself-opportunities existed only for those who worked hard. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Examine the antebellum home-life-oriented, or domestic, literature of the United States. With important developments in the areas of printing and education, the early nineteenth century became a fertile time for literature and literary developments. The most famous writers of the nineteenth century--authors like Hawthorne, Poe, and Melville-were not necessarily the most widely read. Indeed, an author like Hawthorne complained about the lagging sales of his books as compared to those of popular sentimental writers like Lydia Maria Child and Susan Warner. Women authors controlled the literary market in the early nineteenth century, selling several hundred thousand copies of books during these years. Their novels were both a reflection of, and a catalyst for, the emerging middle-class culture of the North. Emphasizing sentimentality and domesticity, these novels juxtaposed the sanctity of the home to the vagaries and dangers of the marketplace. Indeed, in novels like Warner's The Wide, Wide World and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, it is the family that is seen as the last bastion of republican virtue--the family under the moral direction of the virtuous and domestic mother figure. In many ways, these novels were a subversive depiction of a world unrelated to the one dominated by the economic market, a market that, to many, seemed to threaten the republic itself. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Describe the various types of popular entertainment that appealed to northern Americans in the nineteenth century. With the various market developments that characterized northern society in the period from 1820 to 1840, new forms of entertainment, and new-found leisure time to enjoy this entertainment, were emerging. Although originating in working-class urban areas, these forms of entertainment also permeated rural parts of the North, although usually textured with a local flavor. While many of these amusements were violent--such as cockfighting and ratting--others simply were action-packed, such as exuberant dramatizations of Shakespeare's plays. One of the most popular was Richard III, although a very broadly played version to be sure. Quite possibly the most popular nineteenth-century amusement was prizefighting, or boxing. The appeal of the participants was their courage, strength, and masculinity, but ethnic, national, and class pride was tied to the success of this sport as well. Although most of the audience was working-class, a good deal of society's older aristocracy made their way to these events. Conspicuously absent, however, was the emerging middle class; their values and beliefs looked with suspicion on the so-called blood sports. Indeed, during the course of the nineteenth century, middle-class reformers and lawmakers attempted to decrease the growing appetite for these activities, though usually with little success. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Describe the significance of newspapers in the early nineteenth century. The post-revolutionary society was remarkably literate. By 1820, all but the poorest Americans could read. Enterprising businessmen serviced this market by offering a wide range of inexpensive reading materials, including newspapers. The federal government helped by offering newspapers discounted postal rates and no charge at all for papers to communicate with each other. As a result, by 1835, there were 1,258 newspapers, 90 of them dailies, in America--at least twice what Britain had. Although only 10 percent of American households received a newspaper, most people had access to them as they were commonly read aloud in groups and passed from person to person. As a result, a democratization of society was enhanced as information was no longer controlled by the few. In addition, the wealth of news allowed individuals to consider and make personal judgments on events and ideas they might otherwise not have been aware of happening. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Examine the millennialist religions that emerged in the nineteenth-century Northeast. While the market revolution of the early nineteenth century promised material progress and rewards to the new middle class, it also engendered resentment and tension from other groups in society. Market development sparked a significant increase in new religious groups, particularly those that emphasized millennialism. Market society brought with it uncertainty and insecurity, as well as more tangible problems, such as poverty, vice, and crime. Many were appalled by these developments and could not necessarily blame commercial development directly, but recognized that their world was significantly different and was less certain than that of their parents. Contrary to the uncertainty of the market was the security of religious dogma. The Mormons were founded by Joseph Smith, an upstate New York farmer who claimed to have received visions from angels. Millerites, on the other hand, were the most dramatic example of the new millennial trends (the belief that the second coming of Christ would occur at the end of a thousand years of social perfection). Founded by William Miller, a New York Baptist, the Millerites believed that the Earth would end in the year following 1843. Of course, the failure of this prediction to occur led to the decline of the church, but the uncertainty that plagued nineteenth-century Americans still existed. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Examine the feminization of middle-class American domestic life in the nineteenth century. During the nineteenth century the traditional patriarchal home life of middle-class Americans gave way to a new paradigm. Urban men worked in the world outside the home, while women and children remained within the household. Thus the concept developed that there were separate masculine and feminine spheres. Men went into the public sphere of business and politics; women stayed secluded in the private sphere of child care and housework. The creation of these realms of influence lessened the authority of the male breadwinner within the home and increased the role of the female homemakers. Women were accorded new responsibilities for maintaining the spiritual life of the family and for instructing children in proper behavior. The harsh discipline that had characterized the old male-dominated households gave way to gentle childrearing techniques based on love. Mothers reasoned with their children and tried to instill in them the desire to live a life of self-discipline and righteousness. By the 1830s, middle-class women were having fewer children and were spacing them further apart than had previous generations. The average woman in Utica, New York, for example, gave birth to 3.6 children at intervals of five years apiece. Homes were no longer noisy and overcrowded, and mothers could devote quality time to the care and instruction of individual children. In general, the feminization of middle-class domestic life created a positive and trusting atmosphere within the home. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 How did southern evangelicalism change its position on slavery between 1780-1840? Slavery was a major issue immediately following the Revolution. Evangelicals leaders, particularly Methodists and Baptists, preached that republicanism and justice were incompatible with enslavement and called for the freeing of all slaves by members of their churches. Many plantation owners, understandably, were threatened by this position. These churches, however, failed to enforce these demands and, in fact, moved quite strongly toward accepting and eventually defending the slave system. By the 1820s and even more so later, evangelicals came to see the institution of slavery as agreeable with religion. Part of this shift is explained by the development of conservatism in the ranks of the churches in which the world was seen as having a fixed hierarchy and God-given social order. Inequality, with one group dominating another, whether it be men over women, or masters over slaves, were seen as the unquestioned will of God. At the same time, evangelicals considered the conversion of slaves to Christianity as necessary and essential. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Compare the cultures of the northern and southern United States in the period from 1820 to 1850. Essay should address several key points: A. Northern middle-class culture 1. Origins a. Revolutions in print b. Developments in literacy and thought 2. World view a. Values, beliefs, and attitudes b. Religious developments 3. Amusements a. Literary interests b. Popular amusements, sports, and so forth B. Southern elite culture 1. Origins a. Seventeenth-century origins b. The beginnings of the Bible belt 2. World view a. Values, beliefs, and attitudes b. Religious developments 3. Amusements 4. Significance of evangelicals a. Criticism and defense of slavery b. Gender and power
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1 Examine the rise of new religious denominations in the United States in the nineteenth century. Essay should address several key points: A. Background to religious developments 1. Market and commercial developments a. Transportation and market revolutions b. Uncertainty of the market B. Evangelical developments 1. Millerites and Millennialism a. Belief in the end of the world b. Popularity skewed to certain geographical areas 2. Joseph Smith and Mormonism a. Return to patriarchy b. Relationship to society in general C. Religion and the South 1. Significance of camp meetings a. Articulation of community b. Evangelical orientation 2. Effects on denominational orientation
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1 Examine the role and influence of women in the development of nineteenth-century American culture. Essay should address several key points: A. Feminization of domestic life 1. Male sphere a. Politics and economics b. Traditional disciplinarians 2. Female sphere a. Moral influence within home b. Child rearing c. Sunday schools B. Popular literature 1. Magazines and novels a. Godey's Ladies Book b. Uncle Tom's Cabin 2. Sentimentality a. Middle-class ideals upheld b. Religious message c. Critics of male writers C. Romantic cult of nature 1. Religious purposes 2. Scenic tourism 3. The sublime experience D. Southern traditions 1. Male roles a. Defending family honor b. Protecting reputations 2. Female roles a. Subordinate status b. Fulfilling prescribed expectations
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1