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“The Pursuit of Perfection” In Antebellum America. 1. The Second Great Awakening. “Spiritual Reform From Within” [Religious Revivalism]. Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality. Education. Temperance. Abolitionism. Asylum & Penal Reform. Women’s Rights.
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“The Pursuit of Perfection” In Antebellum America
1. The Second Great Awakening “Spiritual Reform From Within”[Religious Revivalism] Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality Education Temperance Abolitionism Asylum &Penal Reform Women’s Rights
The Mormons(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) • 1823 Golden Tablets • 1830 Book of Mormon • 1844 Murdered in Carthage, IL Joseph Smith – Palmrya, NY- Hill Cumorah Pageant(1805-1844)
The Mormons(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) • Deseret community. • Salt Lake City, Utah Brigham Young(1801-1877)
The Shakers Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784) • If you will take up your crosses against the works of generations, and follow Christ in theregeneration, God will cleanse you from allunrighteousness. • If you improve in one talent, God will give you more. Communal living; strict disciplined life style; celibacy; “shaking” with the “spirit” ; peaceful; skilled craftsman. R1-4
'Tis the gift tobe simple, 'Tis the gift to be free,'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,And when we find ourselves in the place just right,'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.When true simplicity is gainedTo bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,To turn, turn will be our delight,'Till by turning, turning we come round right. Shaker Hymn
2. Transcendentalism (European Romanticism) • “Transcend” the limits of intellect and allow the emotions, the SOUL, to create an original relationship with the Universe. • They instinctively rejected all secular authority and the authority of organized churches and the Scriptures, of law, or of conventions Give freedom to the slave. Give well-being to the poor and the miserable. Give learning to the ignorant. Give health to the sick. Give peace and justice to society.
Transcendentalist Intellectuals/WritersConcord, MA Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau Nature(1832) Civil Disobedience(1849) Self-Reliance (1841) Walden(1854) “The American Scholar” (1837) R3-1/3/4/5
On Walden Pond • "If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away." • Henry David Thoreau
Walt Whitman • All “inclusive”…embraced the diversity of American society • Inspired by common people • Like the Transcendentalists, celebrates… • NATURE, • EMOTIONS, • THE INDIVIDUAL • Leaves of Grass (1855) – new, modern form of poetry…not bound by meter and rhyme.
A Transcendentalist Critic:Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864) • Their pursuit of the ideal led to a distorted view of humannature and possibilities: * The Blithedale Romance • One should accept the world as an imperfect place: * Scarlet Letter* House of the Seven Gables