Chapter 13: Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860
Critical Thinking Questions
15. In what ways did the Second Great Awakening and transcendentalism reflect and react to the changes in antebellum American thought and culture?
16. What did the antebellum communal projects have in common? How did the ones most influenced by religion differ from those that had other influences?
17. In what ways do temperance, health reforms, and phrenology offer reflections on the changes in the United States before the Civil War? What needs did these reforms fill in the lives of antebellum Americans?
18. Of the various approaches to the problem of slavery, which one do you find to be the most effective and why?
19. In what ways were antebellum feminists radical? In what ways were they traditional?