Deck 12: An Age of Reform, 1820-1840

Question 1

The proliferation of new institutions such as poorhouses and asylums for the insane during the antebellum era demonstrated the:

A) lengths to which the federal government would go to provide for the general well-being of its citizens.
B) power of the Democratic Party.
C) tension between liberation and control in the era's reform movements.
D) expansion of liberty for those members of society who could not take care of themselves.
E) general economic prosperity of the nation.

Answer 1

tension between liberation and control in the era's reform movements.

Question 2

According to Alexis de Tocqueville, what were the most important institutions for organizing Americans?

A) state and federal governments
B) schools
C) political parties
D) voluntary associations
E) churches

Answer 2

voluntary associations

Question 3

How did reformers reconcile their desire to create moral order with their quest to enhance personal freedom?

A) They did not even try, because they had no intention of enhancing personal freedom.
B) They claimed that genuine liberty meant allowing others to eliminate those problems that might threaten that liberty.
C) They argued that too many people were "slaves" to various sins and that freeing them from this enslavement would enable them to compete economically.
D) They contended that self-discipline was so rare, someone had to step in and make sure that Americans could enjoy the fruits of their labor.
E) They felt that eliminating temptations would lead to the natural liberty that Protestants had long considered crucial to maintaining a good society.

Answer 3

They argued that too many people were "slaves" to various sins and that freeing them from this enslavement would enable them to compete economically.

Question 4

The reform communities established in the years before the Civil War:

A) followed all of the laws but simply banned ownership of private property.
B) usually followed standard gender and marital relations.
C) made no effort to combat the growing disparity between rich and poor.
D) called themselves utopian because they knew that their efforts were likely to fail.
E) set out to reorganize society on a cooperative basis.

Question 5

The American Tract Society was focused on:

A) slavery.
B) drinking.
C) feminism.
D) suffrage.
E) religion.

Question 6

By 1840, the temperance movement in the United States had:

A) united Americans of all classes and religions in a "war" against alcohol.
B) virtually disappeared.
C) convinced Congress to pass a national prohibition law.
D) made no measurable impact on Americans' drinking habits.
E) encouraged a substantial decrease in the consumption of alcohol.

Question 7

Although it only lasted a few years, the New Harmony community:

A) demonstrated that workers could function without discipline.
B) influenced education reformers and women's rights advocates.
C) popularized the abolitionist movement.
D) allowed Josiah Warren to prove his point about absolute individual freedom.
E) inspired the formation of more than a dozen off-shoot communities by 1850.

Question 8

Abby Kelley:

A) was one of the only female voices in the abolitionist movement.
B) demonstrated the interconnectedness of nineteenth-century reform movements.
C) was the first American woman to speak in public.
D) married a leading temperance advocate.
E) quit speaking publicly against slavery after her child was born.

Question 9

Horace Mann believed that public schools would do all of the following EXCEPT:

A) "equalize the conditions of men."
B) provide an avenue for social advancement.
C) restore a fractured society.
D) reinforce social stability.
E) help eliminate racial discrimination.

Question 10

The Oneida community:

A) allowed each member an equal vote in governing the community.
B) permitted all of its members to own private property.
C) banished any member who divulged any information about the community's sexual practices.
D) invented the concept of birth control in America.
E) controlled which of its members would be allowed to reproduce.

Question 11

Who founded the Shakers?

A) Joseph Smith
B) Ann Lee
C) Aimee McPherson
D) Louisa Alcott
E) Robert Matthews

Question 12

Members of which of the following groups were generally opposed to the temperance movement?

A) Catholics
B) Protestants
C) women
D) perfectionists
E) northern middle class

Question 13

About __________ reform communities, often called utopian communities, were established in the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century.

A) 20
B) 50
C) 100
D) 200
E) 500

Question 14

Common schools:

A) had no connection to the emerging industrial economy.
B) were based on the idea that the elite should be educated in their own schools.
C) suffered from the opposition of labor unions that wanted children available to work.
D) existed in every northern state by the time of the Civil War.
E) proved to be as popular in the North as they were in the South.

Question 15

Which statement about Shakers is FALSE?

A) They practiced "complex marriage" and publicly recorded sexual relations.
B) Their numbers grew through conversions and the adoption of orphans.
C) They bred cattle for profit and made furniture.
D) They believed that men and women were spiritually equal.
E) They abandoned private property and traditional family life.

Question 16

Brook Farm:

A) kept manual and intellectual labor strictly separate.
B) was modeled on the ideas of British reformer Robert Dale Owen.
C) showed that the Shaker philosophy worked as well in America as in Britain.
D) was founded by New England transcendentalists.
E) received favorable publicity from a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.

Question 17

What did reformers commonly believe about prisons and asylums?

A) That the persons entering these institutions would likely never leave them.
B) That they were not widely needed and not many were built.
C) That they would be excellent holding centers for society's undesirables.
D) That the persons in the facilities could be used as forced labor in factories.
E) That they could rehabilitate individuals and then release them back into society.

Question 18

Utopian communities were unlikely to attract much support because most Americans :

A) saw property ownership as key to economic independence, but nearly all the utopian communities insisted members give up their property.
B) feared the Communist Party that endorsed and, in some cases, sponsored these communities.
C) were Protestants, but all utopian communities required members to deny religious beliefs.
D) supported the industrial revolution, but most utopian communities turned away from industry in favor of an agrarian lifestyle.
E) considered the utopian communities to be too materialistic and selfish.

Question 19

Burned-over districts were:

A) areas in New York City where slaves had set fires.
B) in Louisiana, where slaves had burned cotton fields as a form of resistance.
C) regions where few evangelical Protestants lived (as though they had been burned out).
D) in Kansas and Nebraska, where fighting broke out over issues of slavery.
E) in New York and Ohio, where intense revivals occurred.

Question 20

Which of the following correctly pairs the reform community with the state in which it was located?

A) Brook Farm: Virginia
B) Oneida: Massachusetts
C) Zoar: Maine
D) New Harmony: Indiana
E) Modern Times: Tennessee

Question 21

Before the Civil War, who came to believe that the U.S. Constitution did not provide national protection to the institution of slavery?

A) Frederick Douglass
B) William Lloyd Garrison
C) David Walker
D) John C. Calhoun
E) Jennings Randolph

Question 22

How did the abolitionist movement that arose in the 1830s differ from earlier antislavery efforts?

A) Actually, the two movements were quite similar in every way; the later one was simply more well-known because more people were literate by the 1830s.
B) The later movement drew much more on the religious conviction that slavery was an unparalleled sin and needed to be destroyed immediately.
C) Earlier opponents of slavery had called for immediate emancipation, but the later group devised a plan for gradual emancipation that won broader support.
D) The later movement banned participation by African-Americans, because they feared that their involvement would cause a backlash.
E) The movement of the 1830s introduced the idea of colonizing freed slaves outside the United States, which proved immensely popular with southern whites.

Question 23

A young minister converted by the evangelical preacher Charles G. Finney, __________ helped to create a mass constituency for abolitionism by training speakers and publishing pamphlets.

A) David Walker
B) Theodore Weld
C) Abby Kelley
D) Lewis Tappan
E) Lydia Maria Child

Question 24

According to the mid-nineteenth-century physicians and racial theorists Josiah Nott and George Gliddon:

A) there were no separate species of races.
B) blacks and chimpanzees were the same.
C) skull sizes were the same for all races, but intelligence differed.
D) there was a hierarchy of races, with blacks forming a separate species between whites and chimpanzees.
E) there was not yet enough scientific data to prove either the southern or the abolitionist points of view.

Question 25

The death of Elijah Lovejoy in 1837:

A) convinced many northerners that slavery was incompatible with white Americans' liberties.
B) resulted from his leading an anti-abolitionist mob that attacked William Lloyd Garrison.
C) demonstrated that fugitive slaves like Lovejoy faced great dangers while escaping from "slave catchers."
D) was played up by temperance pamphleteers to show the hazards of alcoholism.
E) led Congress to adopt the gag rule in order to prevent the sort of heated arguments that caused his death.

Question 26

William Lloyd Garrison argued in Thoughts on African Colonization that:

A) blacks could never fully achieve equality in America and would be happier in Africa.
B) because slaves were uneducated, it was necessary to educate them in America before sending them to Africa.
C) blacks were not "strangers" in America to be shipped abroad, but should be recognized as a permanent part of American society.
D) colonization should be subsidized through a tax on cotton.
E) because blacks had no political experience, Garrison himself ought to be appointed governor of the African colony.

Question 27

William Lloyd Garrison published an abolitionist newspaper called:

A) Free Press.
B) The Liberator.
C) The Pursuit of Happiness.
D) The North Star.
E) Gideon's Trumpet.

Question 28

The gag rule:

A) stated that newspapers could not print antislavery materials.
B) prevented Congress from hearing antislavery petitions.
C) denied women the right to speak in mixed-sex public gatherings.
D) prevented Congregational ministers from preaching against Catholics.
E) was adopted at the Seneca Falls Convention to symbolize that women did not have a voice in politics.

Question 29

How did the abolitionists link themselves to the nation's Revolutionary heritage?

A) They seized on the preamble to the Declaration of Independence as an attack against slavery.
B) They cracked the Liberty Bell to signify that the bonds of liberty were breaking under the weight of slavery.
C) They used mob action, just as the revolutionaries had when they attacked such disagreeable measures as the Stamp Act.
D) They reminded audiences constantly that the main issue the Sons of Liberty and similar groups had invoked was liberty.
E) They made a heroic figure of Crispus Attucks, the African-American who died at the Boston Massacre.

Question 30

Frederick Douglass wrote, "When the true history of the antislavery cause shall be written, __________ will occupy a large space in its pages."

A) newspaper editors
B) black abolitionists
C) freed slaves
D) white abolitionists
E) women

Question 31

The frontispiece of the 1848 edition of David Walker's book depicts a black figure receiving "liberty" and "justice" from:

A) the Declaration of Independence.
B) a slave master.
C) the Constitution.
D) the Underground Railroad.
E) heaven.

Question 32

What did the Fourth of July represent to Frederick Douglass?

A) the hypocrisy of a nation that proclaimed liberty but sanctioned slavery
B) the ultimate celebration of freedom
C) a beacon of hope that someday America would honor the claim that "all men are created equal"
D) an opportunity for slaves to join in a mass rebellion against their masters
E) the anniversary of the day he ran away from his master and claimed freedom

Question 33

Abolitionists challenged stereotypes about African-Americans by:

A) countering the pseudoscientific claim that they formed a separate species.
B) presenting the compositions of Henry Highland Garnet to disprove the belief that African culture was inferior because it produced no classical music composers.
C) pointing to Haiti, the scene of the famous slave revolts of the 1790s and 1800s, as a model of civilization.
D) making January 1, the anniversary of the end of the international slave trade, a holiday throughout the North until the end of the Civil War.
E) nominating Frederick Douglass for president in 1852 and winning him Vermont's electoral votes.

Question 34

Like Indian removal, the colonization of former slaves rested on the premise that America:

A) was fundamentally a white society.
B) wanted what was in the best interest of all the people.
C) was not financially able to support all who lived there.
D) provided opportunity for new land to those who desired it.
E) was a land of diversity and equality.

Question 35

Freedom's Journal:

A) was the autobiography of Joseph Taper, a fugitive slave.
B) published Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
C) was the newspaper of the Owenite community at New Harmony.
D) was established by Abby Kelley.
E) was the first black-run newspaper in the United States.

Question 36

Which book was to some extent modeled on the autobiography of fugitive slave Josiah Henson?

A) An Appeal to Reason
B) Society in America
C) Twelve Years a Slave
D) Uncle Tom's Cabin
E) Slavery As It Is

Question 37

The role of African-Americans in the abolitionist movement:

A) was limited to the writings and speeches of Frederick Douglass.
B) included helping to finance William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper.
C) showed that the movement was free from the racism that characterized American society.
D) was limited because the American Anti-Slavery Society banned them from its board of directors.
E) grew over time until, by the 1850s, the movement was dominated by blacks.

Question 38

The North Carolina-born free black whose An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World won widespread attention was:

A) David Walker.
B) William Lloyd Garrison.
C) Lewis Tappan.
D) Wendell Phillips.
E) Theodore Weld.

Question 39

William Lloyd Garrison:

A) secretly financed Nat Turner's Rebellion.
B) began publishing his newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, in 1831, but moved it to friendlier territory two years later.
C) attracted little support from fellow abolitionists, but historians have discovered his importance.
D) suggested that the North dissolve the Union to free itself of any connection to slavery.
E) published American Slavery As It Is, an influential pamphlet.

Question 40

The colonization of freed U.S. slaves to Africa:

A) received no support from southern slaveholders.
B) was strongly endorsed by William Lloyd Garrison throughout his career.
C) led to the creation of the free African nation of Ghana in 1835.
D) was praised by the English writer Harriet Martineau.
E) prompted the adamant opposition of most free African-Americans.

Question 41

The antebellum utopian communities were largely located in the Upper South.

Question 42

The __________ was established in hopes of making abolitionism a political movement.

A) Liberty Party
B) Whig Party
C) North Star Party
D) Republican Party
E) Afro-American Party

Question 43

What was a "bloomer" in the 1850s?

A) a utopian society
B) a new supporter of abolition
C) a feminist style of dress
D) an agricultural reformer
E) an advocate of free speech

Question 44

Dorothea Dix devoted much time to the crusade for the:

A) immediate abolition of slavery.
B) establishment of common schools in the South.
C) better treatment for convicted criminals in jail.
D) construction of humane mental hospitals for the insane.
E) right for women to vote in local school elections.

Question 45

The Seneca Falls Convention's Declaration of Sentiments:

A) did not demand voting rights for women because the participants were so divided on that issue.
B) was modeled on the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution.
C) was written primarily by the Grimké sisters.
D) condemned the entire structure of inequality between men and women.
E) inspired Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to become abolitionists.

Question 46

Although it was an exciting miniature university, the transcendentalists' Brook Farm community failed in part because many of the intellectuals who participated disliked farm labor.

Question 47

In general, Catholics supported the temperance movement.

Question 48

The first to apply the abolitionist doctrine of universal freedom and equality to the status of women:

A) were the Grimké sisters.
B) was Frederick Douglass.
C) was Susan B. Anthony.
D) were Henry Stanton and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
E) was James G. Birney.

Question 49

By 1860, all but two states had established tax-supported school systems for their children.

Question 50

All of the following are true of Margaret Fuller EXCEPT:

A) she was the first feminist leader educated at a major college.
B) her father was a member of Congress.
C) she was the first female literary editor of the New York Tribune.
D) she was a leading transcendentalist.
E) she believed marrying an American would mean subordinating herself to male dictation.

Question 51

The American Temperance Society directed its efforts at the drunkards, but not the occasional drinker.

Question 52

The organized abolitionist movement split into two wings in 1840, largely over:

A) whether to nominate William Lloyd Garrison or James G. Birney as the antislavery presidential candidate.
B) the question of abolitionists' taking a public stand on the controversial gag rule.
C) whether African-Americans should be allowed to speak at mixed-race public events.
D) a dispute concerning the proper role of women in antislavery work.
E) disagreements concerning the endorsement of colonization.

Question 53

To members of the North's emerging middle-class culture, reform became a badge of respectability.

Question 54

Which of the following was NOT a reform movement in which women played a prominent role during the early to mid-nineteenth century?

A) abolitionism
B) mental health treatment
C) the anti-Mexican-War movement
D) redemption of prostitutes
E) temperance

Question 55

Which state enacted a far-reaching law allowing married women to sign contracts and buy and sell property?

A) New Jersey
B) Massachusetts
C) Vermont
D) Pennsylvania
E) New York

Question 56

Institutions like jails, mental hospitals, and public schools were inspired by the conviction that those who passed through their doors could eventually be released to become productive, self-disciplined citizens.

Question 57

The antislavery poet John Greenleaf Whittier compared reformer Abby Kelley to:

A) Helen of Troy, who sowed the seeds of male destruction.
B) an Amazon, a mighty female warrior of Greek mythology.
C) Queen Elizabeth, who had ruled the British empire with such skill.
D) Molly Pitcher, the patriotic heroine of the American Revolution.
E) Joan of Arc, who led the armies of France into battle.

Question 58

Angelina and Sarah Grimké:

A) supported Catharine Beecher's efforts to expand political and social rights for women.
B) critiqued the prevailing notion of separate spheres for men and women.
C) were Pennsylvania-born Quakers whose religion compelled them to oppose slavery.
D) publicly defended the virtues of southern paternalism in lectures to southern women.
E) delivered many public lectures in which they detailed their escape from slavery.

Question 59

The Shakers believed God had a dual personality, both male and female.

Question 60

The Seneca Falls Convention's Declaration of Sentiments was modeled after the

A) Declaration of Independence.
B) U.S. Constitution.
C) Woman of the Nineteenth Century.
D) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
E) Letters on the Equality of the Sexes.

Question 61

With his abolitionist writings, David Walker employed both secular and religious language.

Question 62

The abolitionist movement split in two in part because Abby Kelley had been appointed to an office within the American Anti-Slavery Society, which angered some men who believed it was wrong for women to occupy such a prominent position.

Question 63

Dorothea Dix devoted her life to the cause of temperance, founding the American Temperance Organization.

Question 64

The demand that women should enjoy the rights to regulate their own sexual activity and procreation and to be protected by the state against violence at the hands of their husbands challenged the notion that claims for justice, freedom, and individual rights should stop at the household's door.

Question 65

The fight for the right to debate slavery openly and without reprisal led abolitionists to elevate "free opinion" to a central place in what William Lloyd Garrison called the "gospel of freedom."

Question 66

Black abolitionists developed an understanding of freedom that went well beyond that of most of their white contemporaries.

Question 67

In 1817, free blacks assembled in Philadelphia for the first national black convention.

Question 68

Nearly all abolitionists, despite their militant language, rejected violence as a means of ending slavery.

Question 69

As women began to take an active role in abolition, public speaking for women became socially acceptable to most Americans.

Question 70

Abolitionists were among the first to appreciate the key role of public opinion in a mass democracy, focusing their efforts on awakening the nation to the moral evil of slavery.

Question 71

Most African-Americans enthusiastically favored the colonization idea and moving to Africa.

Question 72

Mob attacks and attempts to limit abolitionists' freedom of speech convinced many northerners that slavery was incompatible with the democratic liberties of white Americans.

Question 73

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin gave the abolitionist message a powerful human appeal as it was based on the life of the fugitive slave Josiah Henson.

Question 74

Abolitionists agreed with the labor movement's argument that workers were subjugated to "wage slavery."

Question 75

The participants at Seneca Falls embraced the identification of the home as the women's "sphere."

Question 76

The Beecher sisters helped organize a movement against Indian removal.

Question 77

Abolitionists consciously identified their movement with the heritage of the American Revolution.

Question 78

Many abolitionists were fairly violent, and they attempted to aggressively convince the slaveholder of his sinful ways.