Ferment of Reform, 1820-1860

1. Ferment of Reform, 1820-1860

2. Second Great Awakening

3. Second Great Awakening • Early 19th Century religious revivals • Calvinist reaction against rationalism • 1795, Reverend Timothy Dwight, president Yale College began a series of campus revivals • 1832, Presbyterian minister Charles Finney, upstate New York • More radical form of revivalism • Appealed to people’s emotions & fear • All were free to be saved through faith & hard work • Western New York “burned-over district” from “fire-and-brimstone” revivals

4. Second Great Awakening • South • Itinerant Baptist & Methodist preachers like Peter Cartwright • 1850, Baptists & Methodists largest protestant denominations • Millennialism • Widespread belief that world was about to end • William Miller • Predicted world’s end on October 21, 1844 • Millerites would become Seventh-Day Adventists

5. Mormons • Founded by Joseph Smith, 1830, in NY • Based on Book of Mormon • Connected Indians to lost tribes of Israel • Gained followers moved from NY to OH, MO, & IL where Smith was murdered • Brigham Young moved Mormons to Utah • Belief in polygamy set U.S. government against them

6. The Transcendentalists • Questioned the doctrines of established churches & capitalistic habits of merchant class • Argued for a mystical & intuitive way of thinking to discover one’s inner self • Looked for the essence of God in nature • Challenged materialism; artistic expression more important than pursuit of wealth • Highly individualistic; viewed organized institutions as unimportant • Supported a variety of reforms; especially antislavery

7. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) • Popular lecturer • Wrote essays & poems • Urged Americans not to imitate European culture, but to create an American culture • His essays & poems argued for self-reliance, independent thinking, & the primacy of spiritual manners over material ones • Leading critic of slavery & Union supporter during the Civil War

8. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) • Conducted 2-year experiment of living in woods alone to discover essential truths about life • Walden (1854) • Advocated non-violent protest in essay “On Civil Disobedience” • Sent to jail for refusing to pay a tax that might be used to fight an “immoral” war—the Mexican War (1846-1848)

9. Brook Farm • 1841, George Ripley, protestant minister • Communal experiment on Brook Farm • To achieve “a more natural union between intellectual and manual labor.” • Some leading intellectuals lived there • Emerson, feminist Margaret Fuller, & Nathaniel Hawthorne • Ended in 1849 after a bad fire & due to heavy debts

10. Communal Experiments • Shakers • 6000 members by 1840s • Held property in common • Men & women kept separate; marriage & sex forbidden • Died out by mid-1900s due to lack of members • New Harmony, Indiana • Founded by industrialist & reformer Robert Owen • Hoped to solve inequity & alienation caused by Industrial Revolution • Failed because of financial problems & disagreements

11. Communal Experiments • Oneida, New York • 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes • Members shared property & marriage partners • Critics attacked as sinful experiment in “free love” • Community prospered economically by producing high-quality silverware • Fourier Phalanxes, 1840s • French socialist Charles Fourier advocated sharing work & living arrangements called Fourier Phalanxes • Movement died out quickly

12. Arts & Literature • Painting • Genre painting—portraying the everyday life of ordinary people • George Caleb Bingham, William S. Mount • Thomas Cole, Frederick Church • Hudson River School • Expressed romantic age’s fascination with the natural world • Architecture • American architects adapted classical Greek styles to glorify the democratic spirit

13. Arts & Literature • Literature • After War of 1812 American authors with American themes • Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathanial Hawthorne, Herman Melville

14. Reforming Society

15. Temperance • 1820 rate of alcohol consumption 5 gallons liquor/per person • 1826 American Temperance Society founded • Used moral arguments to persuade drinkers to take a pledge of total abstinence • 1840 Washingtonians, recovering alcoholics • Argued alcoholism a disease that needed treatment • 1840s over a million members of temperance societies • German & Irish immigrants opposed but lacked political power • 1851 Maine first of 13 states to prohibit liquor before Civil War • Lost steam prior to and during Civil War • Gained again in 1870s—Women’s Christian Temperance Union • 18th Amendment in 1919

16. Reforms for the disabled & prisoners • Dorothea Dix horrified that mentally ill were in prison with criminals • Dedicated her life to improving life for mentally ill • 1840s she convinced many state legislatures to build mental hospitals • Thomas Gallaudet founded school for the deaf • Dr. Gridley Howe school for the blind • Penitentiaries replaced prisons experimented with solitary confinement, structure, & discipline

17. Public Education • Horace Mann leader of the public school movement (MA) • Advocated improving schools, compulsory attendance, longer school year, & better teacher preparation • 1840s movement for tax-supported schools spread to other states • William Holmes McGuffey • McGuffey Readers textbooks that taught reading along with moral instruction • Extolled virtues of hard work, punctuality, & sobriety • Catholics started private schools in response to the Protestant tone of public schools

18. Public Education • 1830s Protestant denominations founded several new colleges • Some colleges began accepting women

19. Changing American Family

20. Changing American Family • Cities & industrialization changed roles of men & women • Men worked; women stayed home • Birthrate fell; size of families diminished • Cult of domesticity • Idealized view of women as moral leaders in the home & teacher of children

21. Women’s rights movement • Women involved in anti-slavery movement discriminated against by men in the movement • Sarah & Angelina Grimke objected • Angelina wrote Letter on the Condition of Women and the Equality of the Sexes (1837) • Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton • Seneca Falls Convention, NY (1848) • 1st women’s rights convention in U.S. • “Declaration of Sentiments” • All men & women created equal • Listed women’s grievances

22. Women’s rights movement • Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony • Leaders after Seneca Falls • Equal voting, legal & property rights for women • 1850s—Civil War women’s movement overshadowed by slavery

23. Antislavery Movement

24. American Colonization Society, 1817 • Free slaves & transport them to Africa • Appealed to moderate antislavery reformers & politicians • Large number of whites wanted to remove blacks from U.S. society • 1822 established Monrovia, Liberia • 1820-1860 12,000 blacks moved to Africa while # of slaves grew from 1.5 to 4 million

25. American Antislavery Society • William Lloyd Garrison • 1831 The Liberator • Beginning of the radical abolitionist movement • Called for the immediate abolition of slavery • 1833 Garrison & others founded American Antislavery Society • Garrison burned Constitution as a proslavery document

26. Liberty party • Garrison’s radicalism led to a split in the abolitionist movement • 1840 Liberty party was formed for political action as opposed to a moral crusade • James Birney candidate for president, 1840 & 1844 • One campaign pledge: to bring an end to slavery by political & legal means

27. Black Abolitionists • Escaped slaves & free blacks outspoken critics of slavery • Frederick Douglass • Harriet Tubman • David Ruggles • Sojourner Truth • William Still • Many organized effort to assist fugitive slaves • Underground Railroad