CHAPTER 12
Religion, Romanticism, and Reform, 1800–1860
TRUE/FALSE
1. Many American Christians assumed that the United States had a God-mandated mission to
provide the world with a shining example of democracy.
2. The Unitarian church was especially popular with the educated elite in major cities.
3. Attempts to create official African American Methodist congregations largely failed because
freed slaves feared discrimination.
4. Persecution of the Mormons caused them to flee to Great Salt Lake in Utah, which was
then a part of Mexico.
5. Margaret Fuller edited the Dial, an experimental transcendentalist journal.
6. Although American literature flourished, newspaper readership declined during the first
half of the nineteenth century.
7. The word “teetotaler” originated with a temperance society’s use of the letter “T” to signify
total abstinence.
8. A major change in attitudes toward prisons during the 1830s was the idea that prisoners could
be rehabilitated.
9. The “cult of domesticity” banned women from joining organized religious denominations.
10. A Treatise on Domestic Economy argued that men and women should share equally in
completing the work of the household’s domestic sphere.
11. The women’s rights movement secured the vote for women nationwide before 1860.
12. Horace Mann was a notable promoter of public schools.
13. Some utopian communities experimented with new ideas and practices such as socialism,
free love, and special diets.
14. Brook Farm was the first secular utopian community built in the United States.
15. Anti-slavery organizations initially used the tactic of promoting a gradual end to slavery by
prohibiting it in the western territories but went on to demand immediate abolition everywhere.
16. William Lloyd Garrison published a radical anti-slavery newspaper called The Liberator.
17. Frederick Douglass was the founder of the abolitionist newspaper the North Star.
18. John C. Calhoun argued that enslaved African Americans should be immediately emancipated
because the moral costs of slavery far outweighed the economic costs.
19. The intellectual defenses of slavery in the South admitted that the institution offered no
benefits to blacks.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What was one of the most significant shifts in religion after the Revolution into the nineteenth century, and how did
this trend relate to political attitudes during the time?
a.
As the excitement of the Revolution wore off and the impulse for citizens to participate in political
spheres quickly waned, Americans began to view sin as innate and inevitable and to take more of a
backseat role in their religious and political lives.
b.
Encouraged by the lack of sectional tensions over economic policies as the new nation grew and
experienced a market revolution, Americans came to adopt cohesive religious beliefs and to
develop more united views on the morality of slavery.
c.
As individual property ownership by and large grew far less accessible, Americans began to feel
that they also had less of a stake in religious matters and lost faith in the idea of a God-given
mission to create an ideal society.
d.
With the decrease in economic inequality brought about by the market revolution, Americans had
less of an incentive to engage in reform movements and began to give renewed importance to ideas
of Calvinist determinism in their religious and political lives.
e.
Complementing their interest in having a say and exercising political rights, Americans experienced
a theological revolution in which they began to see themselves as free agents who could choose
salvation and improve themselves and society.
2. During the nineteenth century, many Christians generally moved away from ________ and
instead began to embrace ________.
a.
rationalism; the belief in predestination
b.
Enlightenment ideas; religious coercion
c.
the ideas of the Great Awakening; Puritanism
d.
Calvinist views; a more democratic religion
e.
Deism; guaranteed salvation
3. What role did the religious views of prominent leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin come to
play in the new nation?
a.
Jefferson and Franklin believed in an all-powerful God, which impacted the authority people came
to ascribe the government, especially the presidency and legislature.
b.
Jefferson and Franklin argued for the literal truth of the Bible, which inspired future politicians in
the new nation to adopt a literal view of the Constitution in all instances.
c.
Jefferson and Franklin were influenced by Deism, which viewed all people as created equal in the
eyes of God and promoted ideas of rationalism in the new nation.
d.
Jefferson and Franklin were basically atheists, which guaranteed that religion would play little role
in the day-to-day politics of the new nation and that fewer people would become activists.
e.
Jefferson and Franklin felt the United States should have an official religion, which, although it
never came to pass, had lasting effects on the limited free speech Americans had.
4. Which of the following did Unitarianism stress?
a.
reason and conscience
d.
ritualistic practices
b.
creeds and confessions
e.
belief in prophecy and miracles
c.
belief in the Holy Trinity
5. Which of the following did Universalists believe?
a.
Fear of hell should drive most decisions.
b.
Followers must place full trust in priests and ministers.
c.
God predestined only a few for salvation.
d.
Everyone had dignity and worth.
e.
Americans are God’s chosen people.
6. Why were the working poor attracted to Universalism?
a.
It encouraged sinning.
b.
It advocated for slavery and white superiority.
c.
It claimed that God had already determined people’s fates.
d.
It stressed the possibility of salvation for all people.
e.
It claimed that eternal punishment for sinners was not all that bad.
7. One significant factor that inspired the Second Great Awakening was
a.
the growing distrust of religion among African Americans.
b.
the formation of the Methodist denomination.
c.
the decline of Baptists in the South.
d.
The Book of Mormon.
e.
the intense discord between Presbyterians and Congregationalists.
8. Which of the following was associated with the Second Great Awakening?
a.
the popularity of camp meetings as a social outlet for isolated rural people
b.
the belief that only a small minority could attain salvation
c.
the growing appeal of Catholicism due to its revolutionary aid to the poor
d.
declining literacy rates due to the lack of printing technologies
e.
popular new translations of the Bible
9. Why might women be drawn to camp meetings?
a.
They provided an outlet for women to exhibit their preaching skills.
b.
They provided women with opportunities to participate as equals in public rituals.
c.
They were not open to male participation.
d.
They allowed women to edit the Bible to reflect their own ideals.
e.
They provided the only avenue of higher education available to women.
10. Which Protestant denomination was grounded in biblical fundamentalism and stressed the
equality of all before God and had no authority higher than the congregation?
a.
Baptist
d.
Presbyterian
b.
Lutheran
e.
Mormon
c.
Methodist
11. A minister on horseback who traveled the frontier to preach was called a(n)
a.
Unitarian.
d.
teacher.
b.
Deist.
e.
circuit rider.
c.
outlaw.
12. What was Francis Asbury’s significance as a historical figure?
a.
He recognized the failures of the frontier revival system in the western territories and shifted the
focus of Protestant evangelicals to the North.
b.
He retired the practice of the sermon among many evangelical churches and asked that followers
engage in community service as their primary form of worship.
c.
As an Anglican, he used the Second Great Awakening as an opportunity to strengthen the
denomination’s ties to the Church of England and to abandon Episcopalianism.
d.
His teachings caused Universalism and Unitarianism to supplant traditional religious beliefs and
greatly decrease the geographical reach of evangelism.
e.
As a Methodist, he began the itinerant preacher system, which became the most effective
evangelical method of the time.
13. African Americans found the Methodist and Baptist religions especially attractive because of their
a.
belief in the social equality of all before God.
b.
condemnation of racial discrimination by all participants.
c.
stoic and serious church services.
d.
lack of Bible studies.
e.
small number of churches and resulting privacy.
14. Why was western New York referred to as the burned-over district?
a.
The Oneida Community’s numerous silver forges and coal mines left a smoky haze over the region
and complicated western travel.
b.
Sinfulness had been wiped out of the region such that preachers held it up in their sermons as a
model religious community.
c.
The area had seen numerous religious movements and denominations sweep through the
population, roiled by evangelical revivalism.
d.
The area’s overwhelming turn away from religion signaled the end of the era of Jacksonian
democracy.
e.
A long and widespread drought had caused numerous fires in the region, and a record number of
American lives were lost.
15. Charles Finney successfully preached in Rochester, New York, during the winter of 1830–1831.
Who did his audiences tend to attract in contrast to camp-meetings?
a.
farm families
d.
prosperous higher-class groups
b.
working-class groups
e.
Native Americans
c.
women’s groups
16. Joseph Smith
a.
started the Unitarian church in Utah.
b.
was a great revivalist preacher from New England.
c.
founded the Mormon Church in western New York.
d.
claimed to be God’s only prophet.
e.
was a “circuit rider” preacher from the South.
17. What about the Mormons often generated hostility from non-Mormons?
a.
They denied the existence of a “promised land.”
b.
Their doctrines and practices were deemed too radical for mainstream Christianity.
c.
They embraced all Christian denominations.
d.
They equated the U.S. Constitution with God’s law.
e.
They promoted interracial marriage.
18. Which of the following statements about Brigham Young is accurate?
a.
He rejected Joseph Smith’s teachings on plural marriage.
b.
He completely revised the Book of Mormon and strengthened relations with other Christians.
c.
He declared war on Joseph Smith’s killers and conquered rich territory from them.
d.
He led the Mormons to Utah and, as territorial governor, defied federal authority.
e.
His leadership led to a drastic decrease in the size of the Mormon Church.
19. The rise of Romanticism indicated
a.
recognition of the limits of science and reason.
b.
a belief that Americans were too religious.
c.
a desire for art and literature that was uniquely American.
d.
a return to and celebration of conformity over nontraditional behavior.
e.
an emphasis on the rational over the mystical.
20. As a leader of the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that
a.
true fulfillment only could be achieved by the gathering of great wealth and material goods.
b.
one could only find God in the great architecture and literature of the Greeks.
c.
man had no spirit and pursuing a just life was ultimately pointless.
d.
God was dead, and the West had entered into an age of atheism.
e.
self-knowledge opened the doors to self-improvement and self-realization.
21. Which of the following best describes the Transcendental Club, which had its first meeting
in the 1830s?
a.
a tightly knit group of pro-slavery advocates who insisted that slavery should transcend sectional
divisions
b.
a loosely knit group of diverse, intellectually curious individualists who met to discuss philosophy,
religion, and literature
c.
a radical group of religious scholars who believed in reincarnation and possession
d.
a conservative group of political leaders who promoted territorial expansion so that the United
States would transcend its current boundaries
e.
a meeting hall outside of Boston where political leaders met to discuss how they might transcend
their differences
22. Which of the following writers believed wealth made people slaves to materialism, penned
the American classic Walden, and came to be an inspiration of the environmental movement?
a.
Edgar Allan Poe
d.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
b.
Emily Dickinson
e.
Henry David Thoreau
c.
Walt Whitman
23. Which of the following writers was the most original of the New England poets, led a solitary
lifestyle, and explored abstract themes such as life, death, fear, and the withdrawal of God?
a.
Edgar Allan Poe
d.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
b.
Emily Dickinson
e.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
c.
Walt Whitman
24. Which of the following writers proved perhaps the most controversial American writer of the
nineteenth century, was a political activist, wrote excitedly about industrial development, and
penned the controversial, free-verse work Leaves of Grass?
a.
Edgar Allan Poe
d.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
b.
Emily Dickinson
e.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
c.
Walt Whitman
25. For all their differences, the variety of reform movements that arose in the United States during the first half of the
nineteenth century had what in common?
a.
a commitment to abolitionism
b.
an absence of female membership and involvement
c.
a prohibition against black participation
d.
an impulse to perfect people and society
e.
the rejection of the idea that America had a divine mission
26. The American Temperance Union often asked that members that took the pledge
a.
destroy a liquor store in secret.
b.
sign a T for total abstinence from alcohol beside their names.
c.
spread the message of Christianity across the South.
d.
take in immigrants from Ireland.
e.
become socialists and move to the Oneida Community.
27. The American Temperance Union lost many moderate members in 1836 when it
a.
allowed women to join.
b.
called for total abstinence from all alcoholic beverages.
c.
allowed members to drink beer and wine.
d.
promoted the interests of poor immigrants.
e.
became too involved in politics.
28. Which of the following statements accurately describes the penitentiary established in 1816 at
Auburn, New York?
a.
It emphasized the need for prisoners to socialize and learn from one another.
b.
It stressed the value of reading literature and education programs thanks to Romanticism.
c.
It focused on the idea of rehabilitation in addition to punishment.
d.
Its approach to reforming criminals had long been in practice before the nineteenth century.
e.
It transported prisoners to factories and mills as free labor.
29. Many prison reformers of the early 1800s, such as those at Auburn, used the penitentiary for
a.
group therapy.
d.
providing prisoners an education.
b.
group labor.
e.
patriotic indoctrination.
c.
corporal punishment.
30. Dorothea Lynde Dix directed her reform efforts at
a.
insane asylums.
d.
slavery.
b.
public education.
e.
temperance.
c.
women’s rights.
31. In what way was Catharine Beecher’s A Treatise on Domestic Economy profoundly influential in the first half of the
nineteenth century?
a.
It helped shift the official status of women well beyond what it had been in the colonial era because
it put pressure on male politicians.
b.
It argued convincingly that women should enter the man’s sphere of professions in order to
contribute to the American economy.
c.
It served as a call to action for two breakthroughs for women of the time: the right to serve on juries
and sign contracts.
d.
It called upon women to accept their roles and promoted the idea that women should be trained not
for the workplace but for the domestic arts.
e.
It represented the views of all middle-class women who devoted themselves to improving the
quality of life in America.
32. The “cult of domesticity” was the idea that
a.
women deserved education.
b.
professions should be open to women.
c.
romantic love was the basis of successful marriage.
d.
large families were beneficial.
e.
a woman’s place is in the home.
33. Which of the following is true of the Seneca Falls Convention?
a.
It celebrated the cult of domesticity.
b.
It was a meeting of women’s rights activists.
c.
It showed the mass appeal of temperance.
d.
It reflected female dominance of the abolitionist movement.
e.
It brought immediate improvements in women’s lives.
34. What was a key reason why some reformers advocated for a public-school system?
a.
to ensure only the wealthy had the basic level of skills necessary for a good life
b.
to reinforce values of the Catholic Church in every American
c.
to prepare the next generation to become good citizens
d.
to deny immigrant children an American education
e.
to give school-age children a year-round learning opportunity
35. Why did the working poor often favor expanding the number of public schools in the first half
of the nineteenth century?
a.
The quality of a public education was better than that of private schools in most cities at the time.
b.
The children of the working poor would be guaranteed to no longer need to labor in factories or do
farmwork.
c.
The South, where many of the working poor lived, had been the region initiating and leading the
public school movement.
d.
The working poor wanted free schools to give their children an equal chance to pursue the
American dream.
e.
Building public schools promised to expand the number of construction jobs and therefore greatly
improve employment prospects.
36. The southern state that by 1860 had done the most to advance public education was
a.
Virginia.
d.
Georgia.
b.
Texas.
e.
North Carolina.
c.
Alabama.
37. Members of the Shaker community
a.
believed that Jesus Christ had returned to Earth in the 1820s.
b.
practiced free love and polygamy.
c.
were not permitted to leave after their “initiation.”
d.
practiced celibacy and owned everything in common.
e.
increased their numbers by having large families.
38. What was Brook Farm?
a.
an attempt at cooperative living founded by transcendentalists that became America’s first secular
utopian community
b.
a church founded by Mormons with the purpose of increasing dialogue between all Christian
denominations
c.
a community that practiced “complex marriage” and promoted free sex and birth control access
d.
a home for escaped slaves founded by free blacks along the Underground Railroad to Canada
e.
a long-lasting Quaker community that practiced strict celibacy and worshipped through actions
such as shrieking and stamping their feet
39. Why was John Humphrey Noyes, founder of the Oneida Community, arrested and ultimately
forced to flee Vermont?
a.
He advocated complete sexual freedom.
b.
He argued for the establishment of total socialism.
c.
He preached interracial marriage.
d.
He practiced complete sexual abstinence.
e.
He offered euthanasia for the elderly.
40. Most of the utopian communities of the early nineteenth century
a.
received funding from the government.
b.
saw their ideas quickly become accepted by the public.
c.
were established inside major cities.
d.
quickly became failures.
e.
flourished in the long term.
41. Why did the American Colonization Society acquire the land in West Africa that eventually
became the country of Liberia?
a.
The Society saw it as a source of new slaves for the American South.
b.
The Society saw it as a location to build a white nation on the African continent.
c.
The Society saw it as a place to transport free blacks and freed slaves.
d.
The Society saw it as a land they could rule over like a kingdom.
e.
The Society saw it as a valuable source of coal and diamonds.
42. Which of the following statements describes the significance of William Lloyd Garrison as
a historical figure?
a.
As a white abolitionist, he demanded immediate emancipation of slaves and launched the anti–
slavery newspaper The Liberator.
b.
He organized an anti-slavery political party that grew in size such that it participated in several
presidential elections in the early 1800s.
c.
As a prominent business leader, he used calm, moderate language to oppose unfair treatment of
laborers in factories and bring other industrialists to his side.
d.
He was a black man murdered when a mob attacked his printing office, and his death sent
shockwaves around the country.
e.
As a southern senator, he actively defended slavery because of its importance to the economy and
created a system for turning in runaways.
43. Why did the American Anti-Slavery Society split into competing factions?
a.
Some prominent members demanded the pursuit of societal reforms beyond abolition, including
women’s rights.
b.
Some prominent members argued that capitalism should be dismantled.
c.
Some prominent members suggested that the North make peace with slavery.
d.
Some prominent members advocated the practice of “free love” at meetings.
e.
Some prominent members owned slaves themselves.
44. Which of the following did the Liberty party advocate?
a.
socialism
d.
free trade
b.
anarchy
e.
free love
c.
abolitionism
45. Frederick Douglass
a.
was the founder of the Underground Railroad.
b.
became a notable black preacher.
c.
wrote a famous account of his life as a slave.
d.
was captured in the North and returned to slavery.
e.
helped abolish slavery in the British West Indies.
46. Which of the following was an action taken by Sojourner Truth?
a.
advocating for a resumption of New York’s colonial slave laws
b.
speaking publicly for women’s rights and abolition
c.
formally ending the plantation system
d.
massacring slave masters
e.
helping found the African nation of Liberia
47. The killing of Elijah Lovejoy showed the
a.
violent tactics of abolitionists.
b.
danger of encouraging slave rebellion.
c.
end of a free press.
d.
growing support for black equality.
e.
fact that support of slavery extended into the North.
48. Which of the following did southerners use to attempt to justify slavery?
a.
claims of black racial inferiority and the idea that slavery was rooted in the Bible
b.
the lack of competition for white jobs and the decline of the cotton industry
c.
the threat of British cotton production exceeding America’s because Britain had
more slaves
d.
the fact that slavery was more widespread in the western territories than in the South
e.
widespread West African support of American slavery and the slave trade
49. By the 1830s, John C. Calhoun was arguing that
a.
blacks deserved equality.
d.
plantations were no longer profitable.
b.
the Bible opposed slavery.
e.
slavery was a “great good.”
c.
slavery should be phased out.
50. Which of the following did Garrison correctly predict would be unavoidable?
a.
the unity of the United States as slave states only
b.
the end of the Bible being used to attempt to justify slavery
c.
the decline of militant reformers known as “free–soilers”
d.
the eventual separation between the free and slave states
e.
the end of cotton’s hold on the economy due to drought
ESSAY
1. Describe the various religious movements of the era—the rational religions, the Second Great Awakening, the
Mormons, and so on—characterizing the origin and adherents of each.
2. According to the textbook, the Romantics “preferred the stirrings of the heart over the calculations
of the head.” In what ways was Romanticism a response to science and organized religion?
3. Describe the various trends in education during this period. Explore how geographic location, gender, or
socioeconomic status impacted attitudes and access to education.
4. Describe the various facets and accomplishments and limitations of the women’s movement
of the first half of the nineteenth century.
5. Using specific examples, discuss the objectives, membership, practices, and success of the nineteenth–century
utopian communities.
6. Discuss how western expansion, increased democracy, and the Second Great Awakening all
influenced each other.
7. All within the context of the expansion of democracy, discuss the emergence of the popular press,
the giants of American literature, and the growth of public education.
8. Detail the rise of the temperance movement in American society. What was the outcome of this movement’s efforts?
9. Trace the reforms in prisons and asylums in America. Include the major changes in the treatment
of prisoners, the disabled, and dependent children in antebellum America.
10. Evaluate the black abolitionist movement. Who were some of the major leaders, and what
methods did they use to promote their cause?
11. Evaluate the goals, methods, and leadership of the abolitionist movement. Which of the
methods were most effective? Why?
12. Describe the southern defense of slavery before and after 1830.
MATCHING
Match each description with the item below.
a.
was able to devote most of her attention as an unmarried woman to the women’s movement and
organized the Seneca Falls Convention
b.
was the most successful circuit rider and went on to run for Congress against Abraham Lincoln
c.
gave riveting speeches against slavery, became the first woman officer in the American Anti–
Slavery Society, and championed women’s rights and temperance
d.
was the founder of the Shakers and was thought to be a prophet and seer to equated cleanliness,
hard work, and chastity with saintliness
e.
gathered a group of “Perfectionists” in Vermont, banned private property, and proclaimed a new
doctrine called “complex marriage”
f.
was a poet who would become a leader of the women’s suffrage movement after her oppressive
husband’s death
g.
was a leading but controversial health reformer who promoted a strict diet and discouraged sexual
activity
h.
advocated for the reform of insane asylums and proved the most important figure in boosting
awareness of the plight of the mentally ill
i.
was an escaped slave who became a leading anti-slavery advocate, a traveling speaker, and the
best-known man of color in America
j.
was a former slave who settled in Cleveland, Ohio, and helped runaway slaves cross the border into
Canada
1. Frederick Douglass
2. John Humphrey Noyes
3. Julia Ward Howe
4. Abigail Kelley
5. Sylvester Graham
6. Mother Ann Lee
7. Susan B. Anthony
8. Peter Cartwright
9. Dorothea Lynde Dix
10. William Wells Brown