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Difficulty: MediumSocial Impact and the Influence of Revolutionary Ideals

Read the excerpt below.

"Here are no aristocratical families, no courts, no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiastical dominion, no invisible power giving to a few a very visible one; no great manufacturers employing thousands, no great refinement of luxury. The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe. Some few towns excepted, we are all tillers of the earth... We are a people of cultivators, scattered over an immense territory... united by the silken bands of mild government, all respecting the laws, without dreading their power, because they are equitable."
— J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer, 1782

Which of the following developments in the decade immediately following the publication of the excerpt most directly challenged Crèvecoeur's description of postwar American society?

  1. A
    The colonial resistance to the Stamp Act and other British revenue-raising measures.
  2. B
    The debate between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans over the creation of a national bank.
  3. The outbreak of armed uprisings by indebted western farmers against taxation and foreclosure.Answer
  4. D
    The adoption of the Articles of Confederation to replace the authority of the British Crown.

Answer

The outbreak of armed uprisings by indebted western farmers against taxation and foreclosure.
The correct answer is correct because the outbreak of Shays' Rebellion in 1786 directly challenged Crèvecoeur's idealized depiction of a harmonious, egalitarian society of self-sufficient farmers under a mild government. The rebellion exposed severe economic divisions between wealthy eastern merchants/creditors and impoverished western farmers facing foreclosure, proving that class conflict and intense dissatisfaction with state government policies were significant features of the post-Revolutionary landscape.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus to determine the author's argument and historical context.
Crèvecoeur describes early American society in 1782 as egalitarian, composed of independent agrarian cultivators, lacking deep wealth disparities or oppressive government, and living in relative harmony.
This establishes the baseline claims of the document against which historical developments must be measured.
2
Evaluate the chronological and thematic alignment of each option with the question prompt.
The question asks for a development in the decade immediately following 1782 (the 1780s to early 1790s) that directly challenged this description. Shays' Rebellion (1786) occurred in this timeframe and represented severe economic distress, class conflict between debtors and creditors, and armed resistance to state government actions.
This identifies which option is both chronologically accurate and directly contradicts the author's depiction of a harmonious, equal society under a mild government.

Key Concept

The social and economic tensions in post-Revolutionary America that challenged the ideals of equality and republican harmony.
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Social Impact and the Influence of Revolutionary Ideals

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