As always, let’s start with the question stem. We are looking for an answer that, if true, would most seriously undermine McLoughlin’s account of the course of reform among Cherokee during the 1820s. So what was McLoughlin’s account?
We know from lines 17-20 that Missionaries had a “decisive impact†on Cherokee cultural reform. He discusses how the Missionaries catered to part-Cherokee elite at the expense of full-Cherokee majority, and that this created “intra tribal tensions.†(Line 26). Then, in lines 26-31, we learn that McLoughlin thinks that the elite initiated reforms, and that there was a backlash of traditional religious revival.
Ok, now let’s look at the answers to see what would undermine this account!
Answer A says that traditionalists gained control of a majority of seats. This does not undermine the account, as we know McLoughlin already acknowledges a “traditionalist full-Cherokee majority.†(Line 25).
Answer B says that the US government took an active interest in political and cultural development within Native American tribes. Ok, but this doesn’t tell us anything about the Cherokee specifically, nor about McLoughlin’s Missionary/elite/backlash theory. So no contradiction.
Answer C says the missionaries were strongly in favor of the reforms started by the elite. This is supported by the passage! See lines 21-24: “tendency to cater to . . . elite.†Not a contradiction, so also a wrong answer!
Answer D says: Revivals of traditional Cherokee religious beliefs began late in the eighteenth century, before the missionaries arrived. Ah ha! This contradictions McLoughlin’s account. Why? Because McLoughlin argued that the traditional revival was a “reaction†to elite-initiated reforms, which were themselves due to the “decisive impact†of the missionaries. If the traditional revival got started pre-missionaries, then the McLoughlin’s theory is undermined! That is why this is the right answer.
Answer E is wrong because it also doesn’t contradict anything in McLoughlin’s argument — he never argued that the elite viewed the reforms as beneficial to all Cherokee. If anything, the “tensions†suggest they would know it was not beneficial.
I hope that helps! Please let us know if you have further questions.
