Day 62: The Ferment of Reform and Culture

1. Day 62: The Ferment of Reform and Culture Baltimore Polytechnic Institute November 27, 2012 A/A.P. U.S. History Mr. Green

2. Rise of a Mass Democracy Objectives: Students will analyze antebellum reform movements including religion, education, prohibition, and women’s rights. Describe the widespread revival of religion in the early nineteenth century and its effects on American culture and social reform. Describe the cause of the most important American reform movements of the period, identifying which were most successful and why. AP Focus The Second Great Awakening releases a torrent of religious fervor, combining a belief in moral self-improvement and a wish to expand democracy by means of evangelicalism. Religion and Reform are among the new AP themes. From the 1830s to 1850s, the nation experiences a burst of reform activity. Various movements set out to democratize the nation further by combating what they see as institutions and ideas that thwart the expression of democratic values and principles.

3. Chapter Focus Chapter Theme The spectacular religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening reversed a trend toward secular rationalism in American culture and helped to fuel a spirit of social reform. In the process, religion was increasingly feminized, while women, in turn, took the lead in movements of reform, including those designed to improve their own condition.

4. Announcements Continue your work on Presidential Election Charts 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848 Decades Chart for the 1840’s due Monday Quiz on Thursday covering Chapter 15

5. Reform and Culture Cooperative societies virtually all failed or changed their methods sooner or later New Harmony – colony sank out of confusion Brook Farm – lost a new building before it was finished in 1846, collapsed in debt Oneida Community – free love, birth control, eugenics to get better offspring Lasted 30 years making good steel traps and silver plates Shakers – Upstate New York Extinct by 1940 because they prohibited marriage and sex

6. Dawn of Scientific Achievemet Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Prof. Louis Agassiz, Prof. Asa Gray, John J. Audubon – Birds of America Audubon Society for the protection of birds Medicine bleeding was common cure, smallpox plagues still an issue, yellow fever in Philadelphia 1793, malaria, no knowledge of germs and sanitation Life expectancy was 40 years for a white born in 1850 Decayed teeth, tooth extraction done by blacksmith Fad diets Medicine by regular doctors was harmful Surgery performed after stiff whiskey, patient tied down Laughing gas and ether developed in early 1840s

7. Artistic Achievements Imitated European models – public buildings in Greek and Roman style 1820-1850 Greek revival Thomas Jefferson brought classical designs with Monticello Painting suffered because people just didn’t have time. Working hard for dollars Early painters went to England People thought it was a sinful waste of time Some competent painters like Gilbert Stuart, Charles Wilson Peale (MD), John Trumbull Hudson River School known for landscapes Painting’s competition was the daguerreotype in 1839 Minstrel shows – white actors in blackface singing “darky music” Stephen Foster went to the south once, then went back to PA to write some of the most popular American folk music – captured spirit of the slaves

8. Blossoming of a National Literature Most Americans wrote political essays, not literature Common Sense, Federalist papers After 1812, nationalism increased and the northeast wasn’t too focused on surviving – had time to write Knickerbocker Group in NY, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant

9. Trumpeters of Transcendentalism Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson celebrated what literary movement? Transcendentalism – truth transcends the senses, cannot be found by observation alone, everyone has inner light that can illuminate the highest truth and put him or her in direct touch with God -no precise definition Individualism -self-reliance, self-culture, self-discipline Thoreau was jailed for not paying taxes – condemned a government that supported slavery

10. Glowing Literary Lights Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Poetry John Greenleaf Whittier • Influenced social action James Russell Lowell • Poet Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes • Anatomy teacher Louisa May Alcott • Little Women Emily Dickinson William Gilmore Simms

11. Literary Individualists/Dissenters Edgar Allen Poe Orphaned, had diseases, wife died of TB at 13 Failed to kill himself, went to drinking Horror writing Nathaniel Hawthorne Scarlet Letter Struggle between good and evil, original sin Herman Melville Moby Dick Stories of the south seas where he traveled and escaped cannibals

12. Portrayers of the Past George Bancroft • Helped found Naval Academy • History of the U.S. to 1789 William H. Prescott • Accounts of conquest of Mexico and Peru • France v. Britain in colonial times Historians • New Englanders

13. Homework Finish reading all of Chapter 15 12 Question reading check at the beginning of class.