The author claims that, until recently, it was believed that white missionaries arrived during the 1820s and compelled the Cherokee to assimilate Euro-American culture.
In the final paragraph of the passage, the author argues that McLoughlin's view of the Cherokee acculturalization in the 1820s may be too focused on the 19th century, thereby overlooking earlier potential sources of influence such as white resident traders and neighbours present in the 18th century. As there were Euro-American influences on the Cherokee prior to the 1820s, it is possible that the acculturalization that was facilitated by the missionaries may have been part of an already-existing process of acculturalization.
It is also significant to note that, for this question, you can definitively eliminate the other four answer choices as they are all negated by the information presented in the passage. This leaves B as the only possible correct answer.
Hope this is helpful! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
ZhenzhenOctober 14, 2020
I hesitated between B and C and picked C, can you please explain why C is not correct? I think "could have been the result of earlier contacts with missionaries" is kind of similar to "over looks earlier sources of influence, such as eighteenth century White resident traders ..... obscuring ...impact of the missionaries of the 1820s in contributing to both acculturalization ...."
FelixNovember 9, 2020
same question ^^
MelodyDecember 7, 2020
I have the same question. I interpreted C as saying " overlooks earlier sources of influence.."
