THE FERMENT OF REFORM AND CULTURE

Chapter 15

Essential Questions? What characteristics define

a perfect society? How did the art, literature,

and language of 1801-1850 reflect a collective sense of nationalism and sectionalism?

Reform Movement Reformers promoted improving many

areas of life: Education Women’s rights Religion Morals

Reviving Religion Tocqueville declared, “ no country in the

world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence than US”

What, in America’s past, has been the driving force behind religion?

Reviving Religion Deism popular among founding fathers. What is Deism? 2nd Great Awakening is used to describe

the rebirth of religious fervor across the nation (1820-1850)

New religious groups Revivals (camp meetings) flourish Methodists and Baptists see increase in

membership

Charles Finney Best known 2nd GA

preacher “Fire and

Brimstone” Denounced alcohol

and slavery Persuaded

thousands toward “salvation”

Burning Desires Middle-class women were frightened by

the changing world (IR), driven toward religious movements to find answers.

Poor also flocked to religion for direction. NY state the hotbed of activity, “Burned-

Over District” Disputes over slavery split the Baptists

and Methodists Are any of you Southern Baptists? What does

that mean?

The Desert Zion in Utah 1830: Joseph Smith sees

a vision, directs him toward “golden plates”

Smith translates them into the Book of Mormon

Mormons believed in polygamy, neighbors didn’t

Driven from NY to Illinois

Mob murders Smith

Brigham Young becomes leader of Mormons, wants to get far away from persecution of non-Mormons.

1846: Mormons move to Utah

Forced to abandon polygamy for statehood

Estimated 6 million in US today.

Smith and Young

Free Schools for Free People

Jefferson an early advocate for free education

How could a democracy flourish without a knowledgeable base?

Public Ed. Is expensive, taxpayers objected

Horace Mann is an education reformer

Better facilities, higher pay for teachers, expanded curriculum

Slaves legally forbidden from education. Why?

Noah Webster: the dictionary guy!

The Way it Was

Higher Learning UNC 1st state college, 1795 Jefferson built UVA in 1819 “Too much learning injured the female

brain” Women excluded from higher learning Oberlin College accepted women, men, and

AA by 1837 Textbook page 327

Age of Reform States outlaw debtors’ prison Changing standards for capital

punishment Prisons cleaned up, efforts made to

actually rehabilitate inmates. Dorothea Dix campaigned for the

mentally ill Got them out of prisons and into hospitals

Dorothea Dix

Demon Rum Few laws against drinking, lead to people

being drunk, a lot! Weddings, funerals, court cases,

congressional assemblies often delayed or ruined

Decreased efficiency and lead to injuries in factories

Drunk dads spent paychecks on booze, beat wives and kids

Reformers want to change this “blight” on society.

Demon Rum 2 methods of

change 1. strengthen the

morals of drunks 2. create laws that

prohibited, or restricted alcohol

Several states prohibit alcohol, but later reverse their decisions

Women in Revolt Women have few

rights No suffrage Husbands could beat No property Thought to be

emotionally weak “Cult of domesticity”

Women begin to push for change in early 1800s

Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Grimke Sisters push for suffrage

Organize the Seneca Falls Convention 1848

The dumbest white man could vote, why not the smartest women?

“all men and women are created equal”

Changing Fashion

Wilderness Utopias The drive for perfection enticed many to

leave society and start from scratch with high ideals.

These communities became known as Utopias New Harmony, IN Brook Farm, MA Oneida, NY

Often failed do to radicals, lazy people and opportunists

Based on different theories including sexual promescuity.

Oneida Silverware

Artistic AchievementHUDSON RIVER SCHOOL OF ART = LANDSCAPE

DAGUERREOTYPE: EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY

National Literature Blooms Early US Literature

The Federlist Common Sense Autobiography, by

Franklin New Masters of

literature: The Knickerbocker

Club: NY writers that contributed to sense of nationalism

Washington Irving: played on Dutch decedents in NY “Rip Van Winkle” “Legend of Sleepy

Hollow” James Fenimore

Cooper: 1st US novelist to gain worldwide fame. The Spy The Last of the

Mohicans”

Transcendentalism Writing style that

resulted in loosening of Puritan values in New England, influenced by Buddhism.

Truth doesn't have to be learned, it can be experienced.

Promoted self-reliance, self-discipline

Henry David Thoreau Refused to pay taxes

because they supported slavery, went to jail.

Wrote Civil Disobedience, inspired Gandhi and King.

Walt WhitmanLeaves of GrassPoet, Romantic

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thoreau and Whitman

American Masters Edgar Allan Poe

Orphan, sickly, wife dies, Debtor

Lyrical poet “The Raven” “Tell Tale Heart” “The Fall of the House

of Usher” Nathaniel Hawthorne

Wrote of Americas’ contradictory past

The Scarlett Letter

James Fennimore Cooper 1st great US

novelist recognized by Europe

Last of the Mohicans

Washington Irving “Sleepy Hollow” “Rip Van Winkle”

Essential Questions? What characteristics define

a perfect society? How did the art, literature,

and language of 1801-1850 reflect a collective sense of nationalism and sectionalism?