HIS 521 US Social and Cultural History to 1865
William H. Mulligan, Jr. 

Discussion 8 April 30, 1998

1. Discuss the underlying causes for the development of reforming organizations in the United States between 1815 and 1860. 

2. How did Americans' ideas about human nature change from the colonial period to the years of reform?

3.What were the defining beliefs and practices of the United Society of Believers (a.k.a. Shakers)?

4. What roles did women play in Shaker communities? In what ways was this different from the larger society?

5. What were the defining beliefs and practices of the Oneida community?

6.What were the defining beliefs and practices of the early Mormons? Why were they so severely persecuted?

For Readers of Mintz, Moralists & Reformers 

7. Why was there such fear of social breakdown in antebellum America?

8. What role does millennialism, according to Mintz, play in nineteenth-century reform efforts?

9.What is the relationship between nineteenth-century reform efforts and liberalism?

For readers of Foster, Religion and Sexuality

7.What role does millennialism play in the reforming efforts of the nineteenth century, according to Foster?

8.Discuss the differences in sexual ideology and practice among the Shakers, the Oneida Community, and the Mormons. Why does each group develop the particular culture it does?

9.What impact do these groups have on the larger society?

FINAL EXAM ESSAY 

Choose one of the following and answer in a well-developed essay.

 A. What were the social values of Americans in 1860? Discuss how had they developed and what ideas and ideals supported them.

B. Discuss the place of women in antebellum America.

C. To what extent had class become the defining element in behavior in American society after the Revolution?

D.Select one group, person, or topic we have studied since the mid term and discuss its significance in the evolution of American society.