The Ferment of Reform And Culture

1. The Ferment of Reform And Culture Chapter 15 1790-1860

2. I. Reviving Religion • Third revolution in antebellum period (political, economic) was the transformation of American character • Reform movements motivated by changes in American character, economy • More educated, upstanding, improve society • Promoted new religions, better public schools, rights for women, abstinence from alcohol and abolition of slavery • Drew reforming impulse from religion • Beginning in the 1790’s into early 19th century Second Great Awakening transformed place of religion in US

3. I. Reviving Religion • Most Americans in first half of 19th century attended church • Not old Puritan theology but new rational theology based on reason and science • Many Founding Fathers were supporters of Deism (Supreme Being endowed humans with capacity for moral behavior, belief in reason not faith) • Deism inspired Unitarianism • Unitarianism began in New England end of 1700’s • Stressed essential goodness of human nature, not hellfire doctrine of Calvinism

4. I. Reviving Religion • 1800 new wave of revivals began on southern and western frontiers, called Second Great Awakening • Converted souls, reorganized churches and spawned numerous new sects • Affected many areas of American life from prison reform, the women’s movement and abolition of slavery • Spread through “camp meetings” that lasted several days • Many saved returned to old ways after meetings over, provided social outlet on lonely frontier

5. I. Reviving Religion • Methodists, Baptists gained most converts, each sect promoted personal salvation, democratic control over church affairs • Preachers called circuit riders • Charles Grandison Finney greatest of revival preachers, great orator • Became president of Oberlin College (Ohio), hotbed of abolitionism • Second G.A. caused feminization of religion, most ardent supporters of new religions and era’s reforms • Demonstrated ambivalence toward changing world (economic, industrial, market revolutions)

6. II. Denominational Diversity • Revivals caused fragmentation of religions • Western New York “Burned Over District” because so many preachers came and preached hellfire and damnation • 1830’s- Millerites (Adventists) came from this region • Leader said Christ would return on a certain date, did not happen • Second G.A. widened lines between classes • Prosperous, conservative not affected by revivalism (Easterners, better educated) • Methodists, Baptists form newly established regions • Less educated, less prosperous • Religions split over slavery issues (north and south)

7. III. A Desert Zion in Utah • 1830- Joseph Smith reported he received golden plates after a visit from an angel • Became Book of Mormon • Truly native American religion • Opposition to Mormon beliefs, ways caused group to migrate west • Antagonized non-Mormons, voting as a unit, practicing polygamy, cooperative economic practices • 1844 Smith and brother murdered by a mob in Carthage, IL • Leadership of Mormons taken up by Brigham Young

8. III. A Desert Zion in Utah • 1846-1847 Young leads Mormon pioneers to Utah • 1848 -5,000 settlers • Irrigation, hard work, luck, leadership of Young- community thrived, became a frontier theocracy • Clashed with Washington government, could not control Young • 1857 send federal army to allow US appointed judges to serve, inability to conform to American standards of culture delayed statehood until 1896

9. IV. Free Schools for Free People • Tax supported primary schools for children of the poor, wealthy used private tutors • During first half of 1800’s tax supported schools seen as good for teaching American ways and democracy • Little red schoolhouse became a shrine of democracy • School teachers poorly trained, poorly paid • Reform brought by Horace Mann, campaigned for better school houses, better pay, expanded curriculum • Noah Webster, wrote school books designed to promote patriotism • William McGuffey (McGuffey’s Readers) lessons in patriotism

10. V. Higher Goals for Higher learning • Many small, denominational colleges established during this period in the South and West • First state supported universities established (University of North Carolina 1795, University of Virginia 1819) • Changes in curriculum from traditional religious training to modern languages and the sciences • Women’s education grew (frowned upon earlier) • Oberlin College in Ohio opened doors to women and blacks • Tax supported libraries, magazines, traveling lecturers expanded zeal for learning to wider audiences

11. VI. An Age of Reform • Reform campaigns inspired by religion sought to build a more perfect society • Appealed to middle class women as a way to escape home, enter arena of public affairs • Reformers wanted to reaffirm traditional values in a world disrupted and transformed by the changes brought by industrialization • Debtor’s prisons were abolished • Criminal punishment was reformed, idea of prison as place for reform established • Treatment of mentally ill, led by Dorthea Dix • Insane Asylums were places of brutal treatment and she campaigned to make them more humane, idea of mental illness born at this time

12. VII. Demon Rum-The Old Deluder • Drinking problem attracted attention of nation • Caused decrease in efficiency of labor, higher risk of accidents in new industrial machines • 1826- American Temperance Society founded in Boston • Drinkers seen as scourge from Old World • Temperance pledges signed, “Cold Water Army” • Melodramatic books demonstrated evils of alcohol (Ten Nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There-1854) • Alcohol consumption dropped as the century wore on, so the movement worked

13. VIII. Women in Revolt • During antebellum period female reformers became more vocal • Women’s place was in the home, could not vote or own property • Legally regarded as minors • Changing economy separated men and women into different spheres • Women were artistic and refined, keepers of societies conscience • Most female reformers were from middle class families, white • Began to demand rights for women • Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Grimke sisters all fought for women’s rights (many had Quaker backgrounds and were abolitionists) • 1848-Seneca Falls Convention • Women's Rights Convention, Stanton read “Declaration of Sentiments”, based on Declaration of Independence, “all men and women created equal” • Things changed for women by the eve of the Civil War some had property rights, beginning to gain admission to colleges- still they could not vote

14. IX. Wilderness Utopias • Over 40 cooperative communities established to live out the reform minded ideals of the age, most did not last long • Communities promised equality for all members • Many were in rural, isolated areas • Based on religious ideas and principles • Members typically worked common land and property • Many quickly ran into futility and failed, because after the founder passed away each idealist had their own vision • 1825- New Harmony, Indiana established by Robert Owen • 1841 Brook Farm, Mass. Based on ideas of transcendentalism • 1848- Oneida Community in NY practiced free love, selection of parents for superior offspring • Did better than most, manufactured goods that supported community • Shakers established by Mother Anne Lee, started in 1770’s and grew to almost 6,000 members, known for simple furniture

16. X. The Dawn of Scientific Achievement • Early American inventions centered practical gadgets, not pure science (plow, mechanical reaper, etc.) • Some scientific talent in America • Most notably John J. Audubon, studied birds of America in detail • American medicine primitive and life was short (avg. 50 years)

17. XI. Artistic Achievements • American architecture copied European styles • Thomas Jefferson was the best American architect (designed Monticello, Univ. of VA) • Competent painters, Gilbert Sullivan (portraits of Washington), John Trumbull (Revolutionary War scenes) • Hudson River School of painters, romanticized local landscapes (misty, foggy, rainy, man very small) • 1840’s Competition for paintings comes from daguerreotype (crude type of photo) • Minstrel show, performers in “black face" became popular forms of entertainment

18. XII. Blossoming of National Literature • Most influential publications up to this point were political essays (Common Sense, Federalist) • Nationalism and spirit of independence after War of 1812, new group of writers emerged, “Knickerbocker Group”- Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant • American themes of nature, the supernatural and individualism • Novels widely read in Europe, legitimized American literature • Natty Bumppo became the archetype of the American westerner

19. XIII. Trumpeters of Transcendentalism • Began in New England • Release from liberalizing straightjacket of Puritan ideology • Reaction to John Locke and that truth is acquired through the senses • Each person possesses an inner light or “Oversoul” • Beliefs included commitment to self- reliance, fundamental truth came from experience • Rejected authority and conventional wisdom • Best known Emerson, Thoreau • Thoreau lived in cabin on Walden Pond in Mass. for two years wrote Walden: Or Life in the Woods about experience • Refused to pay poll tax in Mexican-American War, wrote essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience • Idealistic tract promoting nonviolence • Thoreau saw civil disobedience as the right of individuals to refuse to obey laws they feel are unjust • Walt Whitman wrote Leaves of Grass, became poet laureate of democracy • Writings reflected leaving behind Old World, embracing new