Until recently, it was thought that the Cherokee, a Native American tribe, were compelled to assimilate Euro-American culture during the 1820s. During that decade, it was supposed, White missionaries arrived and, together with their part-Cherokee intermediaries, imposed the benefits of “civilization” on Cherokee tribes while the United States government actively promoted acculturalization by encouraging the Cherokee to switch from hunting to settled agriculture. This view was based on the assumption that the end of a Native American group’s economic and political autonomy would automatically mean the end of its cultural autonomy as well.
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William G. McLaughlin has recently argued that not only did Cherokee culture flourish during and after the 1820s, but the Cherokee themselves actively and continually reshaped their culture. Missionaries did have a decisive impact during these years, he argues, but that impact was far from what it was intended to be. The missionaries’ tendency to cater to the interests of an acculturating part-Cherokee elite (who comprised the bulk of their converts) at the expense of the more traditionalist full-Cherokee majority created great intratribal tensions. As the elite initiated reforms designed to legitimize their own and the Cherokee Nation’s place in the new republic of the United States, antimission Cherokee reacted by fostering revivals of traditional religious beliefs and practices. However, these revivals did not, according to McLaughlin, undermine the elitist reforms, but supplemented them with popular traditionalist counterparts.
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Traditionalist Cherokee did not reject the elitist reforms outright, McLaughlin argues, simply because they recognized that there was more than one way to use the skills the missionaries could provide them. As he quotes one group as saying, “We want our children to learn English so that the White man cannot cheat us.” Many traditionalists Cherokee welcomed the missionaries for another reason: they perceived that it would be useful to have White allies. In the end, McLaughlin asserts, most members of the Cherokee council, including traditionalists, supported a move which preserved many of the reforms of the part-Cherokee elite but limited the activities and influence of the missionaries and other White settlers. According to McLaughlin, the identity and culture that resulted were distinctively Cherokee, yet reflected the larger political and social setting in which they flourished.
Because his work concentrates on the nineteenth century, McLaughlin unfortunately overlooks earlier sources of influence, such as eighteen-century White resident traders and neighbors, thus obscuring the relative impact of the missionaries of the 1820s in contributing to both acculturalization and resistance to it among the Cherokee. However, McLaughlin is undoubtedly correct in recognizing that culture is an ongoing process rather than a static entity, and he has made a significant contribution to our understanding of how Cherokee culture changed while retaining its essential identity after confronting the missionaries.
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1. Which one of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
(A) McLaughlin’s studies of the impact of missionaries on Cherokee culture during the 1820s are fundamentally flawed, since McLaughlin ignores the greater impact of White resident traders in the eighteenth century.
(B) Though his work is limited in perspective, McLaughlin is substantially correct that changes in Cherokee culture in the 1820s were mediated by the Cherokee themselves rather than simply imposed by the missionaries.
(C) Although McLaughlin is correct in asserting that cultural changes among the Cherokee were autonomous and so not a result of the presence of missionaries, he overemphasizes the role of intertribal conflicts.
(D) McLaughlin has shown that Cherokee culture not only flourished during and after the 1820s, but that changes in Cherokee culture during this time developed naturally from elements already present in Cherokee culture.
(E) Although McLaughlin overlooks a number of relevant factors in Cherokee cultural change in the 1820s, he convincingly demonstrates that these changes were fostered primarily by missionaries.
2. Which one of the following statements regarding the Cherokee council in the 1820s can be inferred from the passage?
(A) Members of the Cherokee council were elected democratically by the entire Cherokee Nation.
(B) In order for a policy to come into effect for the Cherokee Nation, it had to have been approved by a unanimous vote of the Cherokee council.
(C) Despite the fact that the Cherokee were dominated politically and economically by the United States in the 1820s, the Cherokee council was able to override policies set by the United States government.
(D) Though it did not have complete autonomy in governing the Cherokee Nation, it was able to set some policies affecting the activities of White people living in tribal areas.
(E) The proportions of traditionalist and acculturating Cherokee in the Cherokee council were determined by the proportions of traditionalist and acculturating Cherokee in the Cherokee population.
3. Which one of the following statements regarding the attitudes of traditionalist Cherokee toward the reforms that were instituted in the 1820s can be inferred from the passage?
(A) They supported the reforms merely as a way of placating the increasingly vocal acculturating elite.
(B) They thought that the reforms would lead to the destruction of traditional Cherokee culture but felt powerless to stop the reforms.
(C) They supported the reforms only because they thought that they were inevitable and it was better that the reforms appear to have been initiated by the Cherokee themselves.
(D) They believed that the reforms were a natural extension of already existing Cherokee traditions.
(E) They viewed the reforms as a means of preserving the Cherokee Nation and protecting it against exploitation.
4. According to the passage, McLaughlin cites which one of the following as a contributing factor in the revival of traditional religious beliefs among the Cherokee in the 1820s?
(A) Missionaries were gaining converts at an increasing rate as the 1820s progressed.
(B) The traditionalist Cherokee majority thought that most of the reforms initiated by the missionaries’ converts would corrupt Cherokee culture.
(C) Missionaries unintentionally created conflict among the Cherokee by favoring the interests of the acculturating elite at the expense of the more traditionalist majority.
(D) Traditionalist Cherokee recognized that only some of the reforms instituted by a small Cherokee elite would be beneficial to all Cherokee.
(E) A small group of Cherokee converted by missionaries attempted to institute reforms designed to acquire political supremacy for themselves in the Cherokee council.
5. Which one of the following, if true, would most seriously undermine McLaughlin’s account of the course of reform among the Cherokee during the 1820s?
(A) Traditionalist Cherokee gained control over the majority of seats on the Cherokee council during the 1820s.
(B) The United States government took an active interest in political and cultural developments within Native American tribes.
(C) The missionaries living among the Cherokee in the 1820s were strongly in favor of the cultural reforms initiated by the acculturating elite.
(D) Revivals of traditional Cherokee religious beliefs and practices began late in the eighteenth century, before the missionaries arrived.
(E) The acculturating Cherokee elite of the 1820s did not view the reforms they initiated as beneficial to all Cherokee.
6. It can be inferred from the author’s discussion of McLaughlin’s views that the author thinks that Cherokee acculturalization in the 1820s
(A) was reversed in the decades following the 1820s
(B) may have been part of an already-existing process of acculturalization
(C) could have been the result of earlier contacts with missionaries
(D) would not have occurred without the encouragement of the United States government
(E) was primarily a result of the influence of White traders living near the Cherokee
Answers: B,D,E,C,D,B
1. Which one of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
(A) McLoughlin’s studies of the impact of missionaries on Cherokee culture during the 1820s are fundamentally flawed, since McLoughlin ignores the greater impact of White resident traders in the eighteenth century.; incorrect as his studies may overlook earlier sources of influence but aren't fundamentally flawed.
(B) Though his work is limited in perspective, McLoughlin is substantially correct that changes in the Cherokee culture in the 1820s were mediated by the Cherokee themselves rather than simply imposed by the missionaries.; correct as "not only did Cherokee culture flourish during and after the 1820s, but the Cherokee themselves actively and continually reshaped their culture. Missionaries did have a…