Problem 1: Compare Black Massachusettsan poet Phillis Wheatley's 1770s vision of nature in the "Nature and the Market" documents with that of Puritan Separatist leader William Bradford 150 years before. What do you notice?
Problem 2: Drawing on the documents in the Major Problems chapter on "Farms and Cities," how did American society and economy change in the early 19th century? To what extent did these changes drive shifts in American political beliefs and environmental ethics? Or were the socioeconomic changes shaped BY these ideologies?
Problem 3: Consider in particular the probing question posed by historian Carolyn Merchant in the excerpt: "Are people naturally competitive and entrepreneurial or altruistic and sharing, or are these attributes historically constructed and dependent on environments, economic systems, and cultural characteristics?"
Problem 4: Drawing on the documents in the "Major Problems" chapter on "Nature and the Market," outline the spectrum of views about nature and environmental ethics among Americans at the time. Which document or documents provide really strong understanding of particularly important threads in that conversation? Summarize documents and quote key passages in support of your interpretation.