Deck 12: Afire With Faith 1820-1850

Question 1

The chapter introduction tells the story of Lyman Beecher and his offspring to make the point that

A) nineteenth-century preachers often stressed the wickedness of American society.
B) while the Beecher family stood for older values and tried to halt the rapid changes in American society, other Americans sought to harness change to bring about a more perfect society.
C) zealous evangelical Protestants sought to hasten the coming of Christ's kingdom on earth through diverse strategies for reforming society.
D) Transcendentalist Beecher represented the more secular, Romantic side of a quest for an improved society that characterized America in the 1820s and 1830s.

Answer 1

zealous evangelical Protestants sought to hasten the coming of Christ's kingdom on earth through diverse strategies for reforming society.

Question 2

Who was the person who founded modern revivalism?

A) Harriett Stowe
B) Lyman Beecher
C) George Whitefield
D) Charles Grandison Finney

Answer 2

Charles Grandison Finney

Question 3

With respect to the middle-class family after 1820, all of the following explain the decline in family size in general and in the birth rate in particular EXCEPT

A) parents' desire to improve the standard of living of themselves and their children.
B) the use of birth control methods.
C) delaying marriage until one had the financial means to support a family.
D) a view of family more geared to functional usefulness than affection.

Answer 3

a view of family more geared to functional usefulness than affection.

Question 4

Evangelical black churches grew in the North even as they were being suppressed in the South after 1820. The most important of the new black independent churches was the

A) African Catholic Church of America.
B) American Baptist Church for Blacks.
C) African Methodist Episcopal Church.
D) African American Baptist Church.

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT an accurate statement concerning the significance of the Second Great Awakening?

A) Evangelical Protestantism became the dominant form of Christianity in America.
B) It reinforced the sense of pessimism and guilt that was present in America at the time.
C) It emphasized the ability of anyone to attain salvation.
D) It reinforced the dominant American belief in equality and democracy.

Question 6

Which of the following statements about Romanticism is accurate?

A) It came from Europe as part of the Enlightenment.
B) It was incompatible with the doctrines of the revivals.
C) It glorified the individual.
D) It was a uniquely American cultural movement.

Question 7

Transcendentalism

A) was the theological foundation undergirding the revivals of the Second Great Awakening.
B) was based on the ideas of Dorothea Dix.
C) rejected individualism in favor of utopian communalism.
D) sought to rise above reason through individualist spiritual communion with nature.

Question 8

By 1850 Catholics accounted for ________ percent of the U.S. population-the same percentage as Presbyterians.

A) 5
B) 8
C) 11
D) 14

Question 9

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is also known as

A) the Mormon Church.
B) the Shakers.
C) the Unitarian Church.
D) the Nephites.

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT an accurate statement about Mormonism?

A) Like the liberal theology of Finney, Mormonism placed little emphasis on predestination and proclaimed that salvation was available to all.
B) Mormons believed in a strict separation of church and state.
C) Mormon culture upheld middle-class values such as hard work, thrift, and self-control.
D) Mormons taught that Christ would return to rule the earth.

Question 11

Why was the loose network of antislavery sympathizers who conveyed runaway slaves north to freedom known as the Underground Railroad?

A) The route was primarily by subway in the major eastern cities.
B) Runaway slaves were directed by conductors from one "station" to the next.
C) Slaves traveled in secret compartments in Pullman sleeping cars, whose only access was from below the car.
D) Many of the segments north were through secret tunnels constructed to bypass major roads.

Question 12

Seneca Falls, New York, was the site of

A) George Ripley's Brook Farm.
B) Charles Grandison Finney's greatest revival.
C) the first major women's rights convention.
D) Lane Seminary.

Question 13

What reform movement won temporary political success through the Maine Law?

A) the anti-drinking crusade
B) the movement for public high schools
C) the campaign for women's suffrage
D) the movement to improve prison conditions

Question 14

What reform effort suffered a temporary political defeat through the gag rule?

A) the anti-drinking crusade
B) the abolitionist drive to petition Congress against slavery
C) the movement to improve prison conditions
D) the campaign for women's suffrage

Question 15

As a result of the _______, the dominant form of Christianity in America became evangelical Protestantism.

Question 16

The writer ________ built a cabin on the edge of Walden Pond in Concord, living by himself for 16 months to demonstrate the advantages of self-reliance.

Question 17

What is millennialism? How did millennialism encourage the cause of reform?

Question 18

What were Charles Finney's new measures? How did they strengthen revivalism?

Question 19

What was "true woman"? Describe how the concept became important during this period.

Question 20

Give three examples of how the middle-class family changed in this period. How was the middle-class family different from the family in earlier periods?

Question 21

Why did the temperance movement enjoy such widespread support? Among the reasons you list, which do you think was most important?

Question 22

How did revivalism help people adjust to the market?

Question 23

How did Romanticism contribute to American values? How did it strengthen the reform impulse?

Question 24

Describe the range of antislavery positions, and mention at least three people who exemplified those different positions.

Question 25

Consider the following statement: "Revival audiences responded to the call for reform partly because they were unsettled by the era's rapid social changes."Describe these social changes and how revivalism addressed them. Do you find the argument convincing? Why or why not?

Question 26

What was the "cult of domesticity"? Do you believe that ideal helped or hurt the position of women in American society? Support your argument with specific examples of how the new ideal affected women's lives.

Question 27

Give three examples of reform movements that turned to political action to accomplish their goals. Why did these movements turn to political action? How did this represent a departure from earlier ideals?

Question 28

List three utopian communities and three humanitarian reform movements in the Jacksonian era. Pick one from each group and compare their approaches to reform.

Question 29

Historians have seen the reform movements of the 1830s and 1840s as both conservative and radical. Give at least two specific examples of how aspects of the movement were conservative (how they upheld institutions and values). Then suggest at least two examples of how other aspects were radical (how they overturned institutions and values). On balance, was reform a greater force for change or for preservation?

Question 30

How do the activities of the Beecher family illustrate the tensions within the reform community? Discuss the activities of at least two of Lyman Beecher's children. How did their activities contrast with one another? How did their activities extend beyond the actions and goals of their father?