The importance of Republican Motherhood/Cult of Domesticity

1. The importance of Republican Motherhood/Cult of Domesticity • Most APUSH exams have one to two multiple choice questions and the writers use straightforward definitions, quotes and even picture to see if students can identify these concepts. 2006 DBQ was devoted to this topic

2. Social & Cultural movements- pre-civil war • Lowell factory workers= Massachusetts farm girls mainly 1820-1830, eventually replaced by Irish immigrants who would work for cheap • Women’s movement • Middle class women • Legal & educational rights • Ties to anti-slavery & temperance movement • Conventions in NE and Midwest but not South • SENECA FALLS CONVENTION-1848 • Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott • Declaration of Sentiments & Resolutions=greater rights for women: suffrage, right to retain property after marriage, greater divorce & custody rights, equal educational opportunities • APUSH Test Tip= know what reforms the convention called for and what it did not- ie. Did not call for more liberal abortion laws or equal pay for equal work

3. Notable women in this time • Dorothea Dix= reform for the treatment of mentally handicapped people as well as prison reform. NOT in women’s rights movement • Sarah Grimke=one of first women to publically support abolition & women’s rights

4. Abolition movement • American Colonization Society=worked to return freed slaves to Africa mainly led by middle-class men & women • William Lloyd Garrison=editor of The Liberator-abolitionist newspaper & a founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Called for emancipation of slaves • Frederick Douglass=black abolitionist who also fought for women’s rights & equality for Native Americans • APUSH Test Tip- most know Douglass & questions for sure but also know Garrison – the writers like him

5. Transcendentalism & Utopian Communities • Transcendentalism=philosophical & literary movement of the 1800s that emphasized a simple life that celebrated truth in nature, personal emotion & imagination • Henry David Thoreau & Ralph Waldo Emerson top writers • Utopian communities=perfect life achieved through conscious act of will- @ Brook Farm, New harmony & Oneida Community • Escape competitive America • Regulate your moral behavior • Create cooperative life in harmony with others

6. Culture • Education-McGuffey Readers, more newspapers, more training for teachers, better schools • Art=Hudson River School- led by Thomas Cole, painted landscapes to celebrate beauty of America-first actual art school

7. Gathering Storm 1840-1860 • Manifest Destiny= US will expand • Sea to shining sea • God given right • Americans support • Texas- Lone Star republic • Jackson opposed annexation- why? • America divided over Texas until added in 1845 • Oregon-dispute with Britain over boundary=54 / 40 or fight!

8. Mexican War 1846-1848 • Polk justifies war by claiming Mexican troops crossed into America over Rio Grande/vs. Nueces River boundary dispute & killed soldiers • Lincoln & others support war, Whigs do not • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the war & US gains CA, NM, UT, most of AZ, NV, parts of CO & WY. + Rio Grande is border-period. • WILMOT PROVISO=called for no slavery in these new lands. Never became law but eventually endorsed by all but one of the free state legislatures-issue of expanding slavery • APUSH Test Tip=easy to believe this was a law, but actually passed twice by House and rejected by Senate. Test writers may use the phrase “passage of the Wilmot Proviso” as a tempting but WRONG answer

9. Compromise of 1850 • Key players= Stephen Douglas, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay & John C. Calhoun • Not a player=Abe Lincoln • Provisions: • Admit CA as a free state • Abolish slave trade in DC but continue to protect slavery in DC • Pass a more stringent fugitive slave act • Establish territorial govts of NM & UT but no decision on slavery there yet

10. Events that led to Civil War • Popular Sovereignty • Stephen Douglas is the champion of this idea • Settlers of a given territory would have sole right to decide whether or not slavery would be permitted • KS / NE Act- 2 territories & those states get to choose • Consequences= Missouri Compromise 1820 erased • Slavery can expand beyond South leads to huge debate • Bloody Kansas • Split in Democratic Party • Republican Party forms • Violence in Congress

11. More events APUSH Test Tip=important to remember which compromises, acts & Supreme Court decisions restrict the expansion of slavery& which do not • Dred Scott Case 1857 • Ruling= Dred is a slave & no right to sue in court. Constitution says they are private property & can be taken into any territory regardless of free or slave state • Consequences= invalidates the NorthWest Ordinance of 1787 & Missouri Compromise of 1820. Becomes major issue in Lincoln-Douglas debates. Deeper divide between North & South

12. And still more… • Election of 1860 • Republicans v/ Democrats: • Abe- Republicans accept slavery where it exists but don’t want further expansion in to territories • Democrats split • Northern Democrats favor Douglas & popular sovereignty • Southern Democrats support Breckinridge, extension of slavery to territories & annexation of Cuba • Consequences: Lincoln wins electoral vote but not majority of popular vote & 7 states led by (you guessed it) SC secede from the Union