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The Jeffersonian Era. The Jefferson Vision. The Republican vision of America sought a society of sturdy, independent farmers, unlike that found in the industrial, and big cities, in Europe. Republican Ambition.
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The Jefferson Vision • The Republican vision of America sought a society of sturdy, independent farmers, unlike that found in the industrial, and big cities, in Europe.
Republican Ambition • Jefferson dismantled much of the bureaucratic power structure that the Federalists had erected in the 1790s. • Insured the federal government would not be a force in American life by limiting its power. • Recognized that which they could not change.
Public Education • Called for a national crusade against ignorance • Purpose was to educate the electorate. • All male voters should receive free education • States did little to fund or enforce
Private Education • Open to only those that could afford. • In the South and Mid-Atlantic religious groups ran most of the schools. • New England academies trained its members for the ranks of the elite. • Few schools open to the poor, and those that were, were inferior.
Women in Education • At the turn of the 19th century, the illiteracy rate among women exceeded 50%. • Female academies created to teach Republican Motherhood. • Teach children to be enlightened • Men believed women should be educated so that they were better wives and mothers.
Women in Education • Judith Sargent Murray published an essay defending women’s rights to education • Argued men and women were equal in intellect and potential. • Believed women should have the same opportunities which would set themselves apart from their husband and traditional roles.
Minority Education • Reformers began a movement to educate the ignorant and ‘backward’ people of America. • Focus was on Indian education. • Jefferson viewed the Indians as “Noble Savages” who, unlike the Africans, were less inferior • Free blacks had little choice for education, what choice they did have was segregated and in the north. • Some slaves taught themselves to read and write.
Higher Education • Less widely available. • Only nine colleges at the start of the Revolution. • Most all colleges relied on tuition and private funding • Only 1 in 1,000 men attended college. • Theology, Classics, and Law taught • Clergy only accepted profession in which college was a prerequisite.
Medicine and Science • University of Pennsylvania created the first medical school • Medicines were met with opposition due to the use of ‘scientific’ studies and age old traditions. • Benjamin Rush would change some views.
Medicine and Science • Common practice was ‘Bloodletting’ • Doctors/Barbers would slice a patients wrist and drain their blood in order to ‘cure’ them. • Medicine changed the role of the woman by restricting ‘Midwives’ and removing a traditional role held by many women. • Rush convinced others that inadequate sanitation was the cause of disease.
Nationalism • Jedidiah Morse, Geography Made Easy, preached that the United States should author its own textbooks to prevent the aristocratic ideas of England. • Noah Webster argued that American students should be educated as patriots with nationalistic and American thoughts. • Webster authored the first American Dictionary to break away from English spelling.
Nationalism • Many authors attempted to capture the American spirit and remove themselves from English literature. • Washington Irving wrote popular folk tales with such characters as Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane. • Mercy Otis Warren is best known for her work on the History of the Revolution, which emphasized the heroism of the American struggle. • Literature helped instill an early influx of nationalism for a people trying to find themselves.
Religious Skepticism • The American Revolution helped to dismantle the union between church and state. • During this time new theologies developed that incorporated more science and less god. • Deism became widely accepted. • Universalism emerged to challenge predestination • The Holy Trinity was challenged, arguing that Jesus was a disciple, not the son of god. • These thoughts became known as rationalism and were more popular and powerful than other religions.
Second Great Awakening • Many religious pundits recognized the decline of religious values and set forth to reign the people back in the late 18th century. • The Methodist and Baptist became the fastest growing religions. • Revivalists were held throughout the country, in which people began embracing the sensation in large numbers. • Camp meetings, emotional behavior, religious fervor, and the decline in predestination helped to assuage the people.
Second Great Awakening • The impact of the Awakening affected almost everyone; but more so blacks, young women, Native Americans, and people on the frontier. • The SGA allowed for social stability in communities because it was accepted that people were committed to the same Christian faith. • Revivalism stirred racial unrest in the south • Handsome Lake preached to his fellow Indians the need to give up the destructive behaviors of the white man.
Inventions • Samuel Slater is considered the Father of American Industrialization in the United States, but known as Slater the Traitor in the United Kingdom. • Slater memorized each detail and piece of textile mills for Spinning Jenny’s and brought this to America. • It severely crippled the dominance of the British in world production.
Inventions • The Industrial Revolution: • Led to a rise in the standard of living. • Developed the Middle Class • Created a working-class culture • Eli Whitney • Revolutionized cotton production with the cotton gin • Created interchangeable parts for weapons
Inventions • The Cotton Gin • Believed to be developed by Nathaniel Greene but stolen by Eli Whitney • Separated cotton quickly from the seed • Allowed for an increase in production to meet demand • Created new textile factories in the North • BUT!!!!! • This invention also created the need for more slaves!!!! • Cotton was now produced in the upland South.
Urbanization • With the rapid growth of industrialization came the need for a major change in the transportation network and transport of raw materials to factory. • Tariffs were passed favoring American ships and American ports. • The war in Europe increased the American Merchant Marines.
Urbanization • Internally • Rivers were used extensively to transport goods. • The invention and rise in Steamboat use propelled the United States as one. • Robert Fulton’s Clermont began a series of profitable trades for goods from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. • Turnpikes were built as a win-win profit for the builders and owners of goods. • All of this created an expansion of domestic shipping.
Urbanization • Cities began populating in great numbers • Cities offered: • Music • Theater • Dance • Restaurants • Horse Racing • Philadelphia was known as the “Athens of America” • Most of the United States was stillwilderness.
Jefferson as President • Inwardly Jefferson believed that his victory in the election of 1800 was a revolution over Adams that hadn’t been seen since 1776. • It was Jefferson’s chance to reduce drastically the size and power of the national government.
Washington, D.C. • Designed by French architect Pierre L’Enfant • It was to rival Paris on a grand scale • At best, Washington was nothing more than a raw provincial village whose population would grow slowly, but steady. • It never rivaled New York or Philadelphia • Had few public buildings of consequence • Was drained from its marsh beginnings
Thomas Jefferson the Man • Jefferson was a widower • Believed to be the reason his social affairs were never in order. • Owned more than 100 slaves • Rumored to have a child with his slave Sally Hemings. • Displayed excellent political skills • Writer of the Declaration of Independence • Considered shrewd • Eliminated the aura of royalty that surroundedthe presidency • Used the office of Presidency for Patronage purposes.
