Lecture 16
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The document summarizes key social, religious, and cultural developments in the United States between 1790-1860. It describes the rise of popular religion through movements like Deism, Unitarianism, and the Second Great Awakening. It also discusses the growth of education reforms led by figures like Horace Mann and Noah Webster, as well as new religious sects and reform movements focused on issues like abolition, women's rights, and temperance. The period saw major changes to religion, education, and the emergence of America's reformist spirit.
Lecture 16
- 1. The Ferment ofThe Ferment of Reform & CultureReform & Culture 1790-1860
- 2. Religion in AmericaReligion in America • 75% of 23 million attended church regularly • Religion had become more liberal • 1794 – Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason attacked the church
- 3. In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America, I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country… Religion was the foremost of the political institutions of the United States. -- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832 The Rise of Popular ReligionThe Rise of Popular Religion R1-1
- 4. • Deism –Franklin & Jefferson –Relied on reason over faith • Unitarianism –belief in God as one person not the Trinity –Stressed the essential goodness of human beings
- 5. • Embraced by intellectuals such as Ralph Waldo Emerson
- 6. The Second GreatThe Second Great AwakeningAwakening • 1800 - began as a backlash against the liberalism of the Age of Reason • Led to an era of evangelism & reform
- 8. • Effects: –“Born-again” Christians –Reorganized churches & new sects –New reform movements: •Temperance •Abolitionism •Women’s Movement •Prison Reform
- 9. • Methodists & Baptists led camp meetings –sent missionaries to the Indians & overseas –Peter Cartwright •Methodist “circuit rider” preacher
- 10. Second Great Awakening Revival MeetingSecond Great Awakening Revival Meeting
- 11. • Charles Grandison Finney –Greatest of revival preachers –Conducted revivals in eastern cities
- 12. The ranges of tents, the fires, reflecting light…; the candles and lamps illuminating the encampment; hundreds moving to and fro…;the preaching, praying, singing, and shouting,… like the sound of many waters, was enough to swallow up all the powers of contemplation. Charles G. FinneyCharles G. Finney (1792 – 1895)(1792 – 1895) “soul-shaking” conversion R1-2
- 13. New Religious SectsNew Religious Sects • “Burned-Over District” –Western NY • Adventists (Millerites) –William Miller led to believe the second coming was to happen on Oct. 22, 1844
- 14. ““Burned-Over” District in Upstate NYBurned-Over” District in Upstate NY
- 15. • Class & region lines widened as well –Southern & northern churches broke apart over slavery –Foreshadowing of secession
- 16. • Mormons –1830 – Joseph Smith founded Mormon church •Claims to have been given golden plates by the Angel Moroni
- 17. • Plates constituted the Book of Mormon & gave rise to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
- 18. • Mormons followed Smith west to Ohio, Missouri & finally Illinois • Persecuted for cooperativism, voting as a unit, having their own militia, & practicing polygamy
- 19. • 1844: Joseph Smith & his brother were killed by a mob in Carthage, IL • 1846-47: Brigham Young led Mormons to Salt Lake, Utah –5000 settled by 1848
- 20. The Mormon TrekThe Mormon Trek
- 21. • 1850: Young becomes territorial governor • 1859: “Mormon War” –Federal troops forced Mormons to submit to Federal authority
- 22. Education ReformsEducation Reforms • Free tax-supported education slowly gained support at all levels of society (1825-1850) –The Little Red Schoolhouse & the “3 R’s”
- 24. Horace MannHorace Mann • Led the crusade for better teachers, better schools & longer school years
- 25. • Helped create “normal schools” –Teaching colleges to train teachers
- 26. Noah WebsterNoah Webster • “Schoolmaster of the Republic” • Improved textbooks & standardized an American dictionary
- 27. William H. McGuffeyWilliam H. McGuffey • Created McGuffey’s Readers • Taught grammar, morality, patriotism, & idealism to grade schoolers
- 28. Higher EducationHigher Education • Second Great Awakening led to the creation of many small, denominational liberal-arts colleges • Federal land grant colleges
- 29. University of Virginia 1819University of Virginia 1819 • Founded & designed by Thomas Jefferson • Founded as a non-religious institution dedicated to science & modern language
- 30. Women’s EducationWomen’s Education • Considered frivolous • 1821 – Emma Willard established the Troy Female Seminary
- 31. • 1837 – Oberlin College admitted women after already having admitted Blacks • Mary Lyon established Mount Holyoke Seminary in Mass.
- 32. The LyceumsThe Lyceums • Travelling lecturers made the circuit • Gave talks on science, literature, & philosophy • Ralph Waldo Emerson
- 33. Age of ReformAge of Reform • Most driven by evangelical Christians • Reform movements included: –Education –Women’s rights –Communal living
- 35. Memory AidMemory Aid • A Totally Wicked Elephant Made People Devour Worms • Abolition • Temperance • Women’s Rights • Education • Mental Inst. • Prisons • Debtors prisons • War
- 36. • Women very involved in abolitionism, women’s suffrage & other reforms
- 37. Prison ReformPrison Reform • Laboring class voted for an end to debtors prisons • Number of capital crimes reduced • Prisons called to reform instead of punish
- 38. Dorothea DixDorothea Dix • Traveled 60,000 miles chronicling the abuses against the mentally ill • Petitioned Massachusetts Legislature to improve conditions
- 39. American Peace SocietyAmerican Peace Society • Anti-war group led by William Ladd called for an end to all war
- 40. Temperance MovementTemperance Movement • Custom & hard lifestyle led to widespread alcohol abuse • 1826 – American Temperance Society formed
- 41. • Tolerance –moderation in use of alcohol • Prohibition –make alcohol illegal
- 42. Annual Consumption of Alcohol
- 43. Ten Nights in a BarroomTen Nights in a Barroom and What I Saw Thereand What I Saw There • Novel by T.S. Arthur in 1854 • Depicted how a stable village was transformed by a new tavern
- 45. ““The Drunkard’s Progress”The Drunkard’s Progress” the first glass to the gravethe first glass to the grave, 1846, 1846
- 46. • Neal S. Dow –sponsored the Maine Law of 1851 –prohibited the manufacture & sale of alcohol –12 states had laws by 1857
- 47. Women’s RightsWomen’s Rights • Industrial Rev. had separated men & women into distinct roles • Women physically & emotionally weak yet artistic & refined • “Cult of domesticity”
- 48. Lucretia MottLucretia Mott ElizabethElizabeth Cady StantonCady Stanton
- 49. • Stanton & Mott organized Seneca Falls Conference • Stanton urged equality, rights to sue & own property • Advocated women’s suffrage
- 50. Susan B. AnthonySusan B. Anthony • Militant lecturer for women’s rights
- 51. • Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell –first female graduate of a medical college • Margaret Fuller –edited The Dial • Grimke sisters –spoke against slavery
- 52. • Lucy Stone, abolitionist, who kept her maiden name after she married
- 53. • Amelia Bloomer wore a short skirt with “Turkish” trousers
- 54. Seneca Falls (1848)Seneca Falls (1848) • Women’s Rights Convention • 61 women, 34 men attended • “Declaration of Sentiments” read by Stanton –“All men & women are created equal” –Demanded women’s suffrage
- 55. • Launched woman’s rights movement • Eclipsed by Abolition & the Civil War
- 56. UtopianismUtopianism • 40+ communes created during the period • New Harmony (1825) –Robert Owen established in Indiana with 1000 people –Attracted scholars & scoundrels
- 57. Brook Farm (1841)Brook Farm (1841) • 20 transcendentalist intellectuals • Successful attempt at communal living until fire destroyed the experiment
- 58. Oneida Colony (1848)Oneida Colony (1848) • Founded in NY • Experimented in “complex marriages” & eugenics • Made & sold steel traps & silverware • Troubles with law led to end
- 59. Shakers (1776-1940)Shakers (1776-1940) • 6000 members in 1840 • Celibacy & simplicity • Equal spirit of men & women • Opposition to marriage & sex led to extinction
- 60. Shaker Meeting
- 62. Scientific AchievementScientific Achievement • Practical science • Nathaniel Bowditch (Navigation) • Matthew Maury (Oceanography) • Benjamin Silliman (chemist & geology professor at Yale)
- 63. • Louis Aggasiz (biology professor at Harvard) • Asa Gray (Botany at Harvard) • John J. Audubon - painted birds in the wild –“Birds of America”
- 65. • Medicine slow to catch up to scientific achievement –Bleeding –Smallpox plagues –40 year life expectancy in 1850 –Surgery & whiskey
- 68. • Painting handicapped by lack of wealthy class & Puritanism roots • Moved from portraits to landscapes
- 69. John Singleton CopleyJohn Singleton Copley
- 70. Watson and the SharkWatson and the Shark
- 75. MusicMusic • Minstrels in “blackface” sang “darky tunes” • Stephen Foster - “Old Folks at Home”
- 76. LiteratureLiterature • Essays - The Federalist, Common Sense. • Ben Franklin's - Autobiography
- 77. • The Knickerbocker Group –Washington Irving •1st to gain international recognition •Rip Van Winkle –James Fenimore Cooper •1st American novelist to gain world fame •Last of the Mohicans
- 78. –William Cullen Bryant •Poet (“Thanatopsis”) •Editor of the New York Evening Post
- 79. TranscendentalismTranscendentalism • Truth “transcends” the senses & cannot be found by observation alone • Believed people have an inner light that allows direct contact with God
- 80. • Emphasized individualism & self-reliance • Hostile to formal institutions & conventional wisdom
- 81. Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson • Famous address to Phi Beta Kappa “The American Scholar” • Stressed self-reliance, self- improvement, optimism & freedom as a practical philosopher
- 83. Henry David ThoreauHenry David Thoreau • Poet & non-conformist • Walden: Or Life in the Woods • Refused to pay taxes to support war in Mexico • Civil Disobedience
- 84. Walt WhitmanWalt Whitman “The Poet“The Poet Laureate ofLaureate of Democracy”Democracy”
- 85. • Romantic, emotional • Leaves of Grass (1855) • Wrote of enthusiasm of expanding America
- 86. Literary LightsLiterary Lights • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow –Historically-based poems • John Greenleaf Whittier –Influenced social action • James Russell Lowell –Political satirist • Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes –Poet
- 87. • William Gilmore Simms –Southern novelist • Edgar Allan Poe –Short story author • Nathaniel Hawthorne –The Scarlet Letter • Herman Melville –Moby Dick
- 88. Daily DiversionsDaily Diversions • Stage plays: Uncle Tom’s Cabin & Ten Nights in a Barroom • Famous Actors: Edwin Forrest, Junius Brutus Booth (sons Edwin Booth & John W. Booth)
- 89. • Horse racing • Baseball (1845) NY Knickerbockers 1858NY Knickerbockers 1858
- 90. • Showboats • Circuses –Phineas T. Barnum “a sucker is born every minute”
- 91. • Upper class crowd “summered” at resorts like Saratoga Springs & Newport, RI • Rich often made the “Grand Tour” of Europe
- 92. Alexis de ToquevilleAlexis de Toqueville • Democracy in America (1835) • Individualism & equality characterized antebellum America
- 93. The Frontier ExperienceThe Frontier Experience • Frederick Jackson Turner • “Significance of the Frontier in American History” • 1893 essay described that the frontier forged the American character