The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People (Brinkley), 7th Edition

Chapter 12: Antebellum Culture and Reform

Study Questions

Your Results:

1			How was the work of James Fenimore Cooper the culmination of an effort to produce a truly American literature? What did his work suggest about the nation and its people?
2			Who were the transcendentalists? What was their philosophy and how did they express it in literature?
3			How did the utopian communities attempt to redefine the sex roles? Which communities were most active in this effort, and what did they accomplish?
4			Who were the Mormons? What were their origins, what did they believe, and why did they end up in Utah?
5			What gave rise to the crusade against drunkenness? What successes and failures resulted from the movement's efforts?
6			What were the problems facing public education, and what types of institutions were created to deal with them?
7			How did feminists benefit from their association with other reform movements—most notably, abolitionists—and at the same time suffer as a result?
8			What was the antislavery philosophy of William Lloyd Garrison? How did he transform abolitionism into "a new and dramatically different phenomenon"?
9			What role did black abolitionists play in the movement? How did their philosophy compare with that of Garrison?
10			How did abolitionists attempt to arouse widespread public anger over slavery through the use of propaganda? What was the most significant work to emerge from this effort? Why did it have such an impact?

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