the spirit of reform - amazon web services...268 chapter 8 the spirit of reform the 1828 election...

264

The Spirit of Reform 1828–1845

1828• North-South rift

develops over tariff

1830• Mormon religion

officially organizes

1829• Slavery abolished

in Mexico

1835• Fairy tales of Hans Christian

Andersen published

1836• First botany textbook published

Why It MattersReform was a key theme of the 1830s and 1840s. Political reform came with the growth of

popular democracy. President Jackson’s election symbolized the new power of common citizens.For many Americans, social or religious reform was a goal. Some wanted to end slavery. Others

wanted to expand education or women’s rights. Throughout this period, sectional rivalries grewmore bitter.

The Impact TodaySocial and political ideals born in this period became important American values.

• Many Americans value education highly and believe that anyone, regardless of background, might rise to a high political office if they have a good education.

• The desire to help others inspires many Americans.

The American Vision Video The Chapter 8 video, “The Spirit of Reform,” chronicles important reform campaigns of this era.

▲

▼ ▼ ▼

1833• American Antislavery

Society founded byWilliam Lloyd Garrison

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1825 1830 1835

▲

1832• Democrats hold their first

presidential nominatingconvention

▲Jackson

1829–1837

265

1838• Cherokee are driven from

Georgia and embark onthe Trail of Tears

1848• Women’s rights

convention held atSeneca Falls, New York

1842• China opened by

force to foreign trade

1845• Irish potato

famine begins

The Verdict of the People by George Caleb Bingham, 1855

▲▲

▼ ▼1837• Queen Victoria

ascends to Englishthrone

▼

HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the American VisionWeb site at tav.glencoe.comand click on ChapterOverviews—Chapter 8 topreview chapter information.

1840 1845

W. Harrison1841

Tyler1841–1845

Van Buren1837–1841

http://tav.glencoe.com

Margaret Bayard Smith was one of the thousands of Americans who attended the presi-dential inauguration of Andrew Jackson in 1829. She later wrote to a friend about how muchthe atmosphere in Washington, D.C., impressed her. “Thousands and thousands of people,without distinction of rank, collected in an immense mass around the Capitol, silent, orderlyand tranquil,” she explained.

On that day, President Jackson broke a long tradition by inviting the public to his reception.When Smith later attended the White House gala, however, she quickly formed a differentopinion about the crowd she had so admired just hours before. “The majesty of the peoplehad disappeared, and a rabble, a mob, of boys, . . . women, children—[were] scrambling,fighting romping,” she wrote. “The President, after having been literally nearly pressed todeath and almost suffocated and torn to pieces by the people in their eagerness to shakehands with Old Hickory, had retreated through the back way. . . . Cut glass and china to theamount of several thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle to get refreshments. . . .Ladies and gentlemen only had been expected at this levee, not the people en masse. But itwas the people’s day, and the people’s President, and the people would rule.”

—adapted from First Forty Years of Washington Society

A New Era in PoliticsThe citizens who had turned the normally dignified inauguration reception into a

boisterous affair represented a new class of American voters and a new era in Americanpolitics. Beginning in the early 1800s and continuing through the presidency of

1828Andrew Jacksonelected president

266 CHAPTER 8 The Spirit of Reform

✦ 1840

Jacksonian America

Main IdeaThe election of Andrew Jackson usheredin a new era of American politics.

Key Terms and Namesspoils system, caucus system, Tariff ofAbominations, secede, John C. Calhoun,nullification, Daniel Webster, Force Bill,Indian Removal Act, Trail of Tears, Panicof 1837

Reading StrategyOrganizing As you read about AndrewJackson’s administration, complete agraphic organizer similar to the one belowby listing the positions of Jackson andCalhoun during the nullification crisis.

Reading Objectives• Explain how Jackson’s background

influenced his ideas of democratic government.

• Describe how the nullification crisissparked debate over states’ rights.

Section ThemeGroups and Institutions The Americanpolitical system became more democratic during the Jacksonian era.

✦ 1825 ✦ 1835

1830Webster-Haynedebate held in Senate

1836Martin Van Burenelected president

1838United States drives theCherokee out of Georgia

United Nations

Jackson’s Position Calhoun’s Position

Nullification

✦ 1830

Hair comb worn atJackson’s Inaugural

Andrew Jackson, the nation’s political systembecame more democratic. During this time, govern-ment became more inclusive and ordinary citizensbecame a greater political force.

States Expand Voting Rights In the early 1800s,hundreds of thousands of Americans, mostly whitemen, gained the right to vote. This was largelybecause many states lowered or eliminated prop-erty ownership as a voting qualification. In addi-tion, as cities and towns grew, the percentage ofworking people who did not own propertyincreased. These people paid taxes and had an inter-est in the political affairs of their communities—andthey too wanted a greater voice in electing thosewho represented them.

The expansion of voting rights was very much inevidence in the presidential election of 1828. In 1824about 355,000 Americans had voted for president.Four years later, more than 1.1 million citizens cast aballot in the presidential election. The expansion ofsuffrage continued, and by 1840, more than 2.4 mil-lion Americans voted in the presidential election.

The People’s President In 1828, it was AndrewJackson who won the support of these new voters,many of whom resided on the frontiers of the Westand South. Many of the citizens who voted for thefirst time in 1828 saw inJackson a man they trulycould admire. Orphaned atthe age of 14, Jacksonreceived little formal educa-tion. His achievements weredue to his diligence, hardwork, and innate intelli-gence. Jackson was electedTennessee’s first representa-tive to Congress before theage of 30. In the War of 1812,he won fame leading histroops to victory at the Battleof New Orleans. In 1818,forces under his commandinvaded and capturedSpanish Florida. Jackson’smost obvious trait was hisforce of will, a characteristicthat became evident whensomeone tried to defy him.

Jackson’s early life wasnotable for violent personalquarrels. He took part in five

duels, once killing his opponent. As Jackson grewolder, his temper and actions became milder. By thetime he entered the White House, he had become aperson of dignity and courtesy.

The Spoils System As president, Andrew Jacksonreturned the common people’s admiration of him.He had a great belief in the capability and intelli-gence of average Americans. More than earlier presi-dents, Jackson felt that the majority should rule in ademocracy and that ordinary citizens should play amore prominent role in government.

Toward that end, Jackson strongly supported thespoils system, the practice of appointing people togovernment jobs on the basis of party loyalty andsupport. Rewarding supporters with governmentjobs had long been part of American politics, butJackson was the first president to force out largenumbers of government employees in order toappoint his own followers. A shocked John QuincyAdams charged that the president’s actions madegovernment “a perpetual . . . scramble for office.”

Jackson considered the spoils system to be demo-cratic. By getting rid of a permanent office-holdingclass, he opened up government to more ordinary cit-izens. He felt that since government jobs were “soplain and simple,” they should be rotated at will andgiven to supporters.

Jackson’s Popularity Andrew Jackson attracted large crowds on his trip toWashington, D.C., in 1829 to take office. His determined character can be seenin the portrait on the right by famous painter Asher Durand. In what ways wasJackson different from previous presidents?

History Through Art

A More Open Electoral System In addition tothese measures aimed at strengthening democracy,Jackson’s supporters moved to make the politicalsystem—specifically, the way in which presidentialcandidates were chosen—more democratic. At thattime, political parties used the caucus system toselect presidential candidates. The members of theparty who served in Congress, known as the partycaucus, would meet to choose the nominee for presi-dent. Jackson’s supporters believed that such amethod restricted access to office mainly to the eliteand well connected.

The Jacksonians replaced the caucus with thenational nominating convention. At nominatingconventions, delegates from the states gathered todecide on the party’s presidential nominee. Throughthe convention, proponents believed, political powerwould come from the people rather than from elitepolitical institutions. In 1832 the Democrats held anominating convention to renominate AndrewJackson for president.

Examining In what ways did theUnited States become more democratic in the early 1800s?

The Nullification CrisisJackson had not been in office long before he had

to focus on a national crisis. It centered on SouthCarolina, but it also highlighted the growing riftbetween the nation’s Northern and Southern regions.

The Debate Over Nullification Throughout theearly 1800s, South Carolina’s economy had beenweakening. Many of the state’s residents blamed thissituation on the nation’s tariffs. Because it had fewindustries, South Carolina purchased many of itsmanufactured goods, such as cooking utensils andtools, from England, but tariffs made them extremelyexpensive. When Congress levied yet another newtariff in 1828—which critics called the Tariff ofAbominations—many South Carolinians threatenedto secede, or withdraw, from the Union.

The growing turmoil troubled one politician in par-ticular: John C. Calhoun, the nation’s vice presidentand a resident of South Carolina. Calhoun felt tornbetween upholding the country’s policies and helpinghis fellow South Carolinians. Rather than supportsecession, Calhoun put forth the idea of nullification

Reading Check


The 1828 ElectionThe election of 1828, which put Andrew Jackson in

office, was one of the most significant in Americanhistory. It showed the increasing strength of theWest, the power of sectionalism, and the impact of a more democratic process.

The percentage of eligible voters who actually cast a ballotincreased dramatically in the election of 1828. So did theabsolute number: three times as many people voted forpresident in 1828 than in 1824. This was mainly becausemany states had lowered or eliminated property ownershipas a voting qualification. In Jacksonian terms, it was a newera, the era of the “common man.”

At a public reception open to all, crowds flocked to the White House tocelebrate Jackson’s inauguration. In the confusion, people trampled overone another, soiling the carpets and ruining furniture as they rushed tomeet the president. “It was a proud day for the people,” wrote a friendof the president. “General Jackson is their own President.” Otherobservers were horrified. Joseph Story, a Supreme Court justice,remarked with disgust, “The reign of King ‘Mob’ seems triumphant.”

➤

1824 1828Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970

Did notVote

73.1%Did not

Vote42.4%

Voted26.9%

Voted57.6%

to defuse the situation. He explained this idea in ananonymously published work, The South CarolinaExposition and Protest, which argued that states hadthe right to declare a federal law null, or not valid.Calhoun theorized that the states had this right sincethey had created the federal Union.

The issue continued to simmer beneath the surfaceuntil January 1830, when Robert Hayne of SouthCarolina and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts con-fronted each other on the floor of the Senate. Webster,perhaps the greatest orator of his day, was a ferociousdefender of the Union. Hayne was an eloquent cham-pion of the right of states to chart their own course.

Hayne asserted that the Union was no more than avoluntary association of states and advocated themotto, “Liberty first and Union afterward.” Webstercountered that neither liberty nor the Union couldsurvive without binding federal laws:

“I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond theUnion, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recessbehind. I have not coolly weighed the chances ofpreserving liberty when the bonds that unite ustogether shall be broken asunder. I have not

accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I canfathom the depth of the abyss below. . . . Liberty andUnion, now and for ever, one and inseparable!”

—quoted in The Writings and Speechesof Daniel Webster

Jackson Defends the Union Several months afterthe Webster-Hayne debate, President Jackson leteveryone know where he stood on the issue.During a political dinner, Jackson stood to make atoast. Looking directly at John Calhoun, he said,“Our federal Union—it must be preserved.”Calhoun’s hand shook, and he spilled wine as herose to counter Jackson with, “The Union—next toour liberty, most dear.”

The war of words erupted into a full confrontationin 1832, when Congress passed yet another tariff law.At President Jackson’s request, the new law cut tar-iffs significantly, but South Carolinians were not sat-isfied. The state legislature asked South Carolinavoters to elect a special state convention. InNovember 1832, the convention adopted an ordi-nance of nullification declaring the tariffs of 1828 and1832 to be unconstitutional.

Jackson considered the nullification an act of trea-son, and he sent a warship to Charleston. In 1833Congress passed the Force Bill, authorizing the pres-ident to use the military to enforce acts of Congress.As tensions rose, Senator Henry Clay pushedthrough Congress a bill that would lower the nation’stariffs gradually until 1842. In response, SouthCarolina repealed its nullification of the tariff law.Both sides claimed victory, and the issue was laid torest—at least temporarily.

Summarizing What caused thenullification crisis?

Policies Toward Native Americans Andrew Jackson’s commitment to extending

democracy did not benefit everyone. His attitudetoward Native Americans reflected the views of manywesterners at that time. Jackson had fought the Creekand Seminole people in Georgia and Florida, and inhis inaugural address he declared his intention tomove all Native Americans to the Great Plains.

This idea had been gaining support in the UnitedStates since the Louisiana Purchase. John C. Calhounhad formally proposed it in 1823 when he wassecretary of war. Many Americans believed that the

Reading Check

CHAPTER 8 The Spirit of Reform 269

Election of 1828

Presidential Election, 1828

Candidate Electoral VotePopular Vote Political Party

Jackson

Adams

178 Democrat

Republican

647,231

509,097 83

ARK.TERR.

FLA.TERR.

MICH.TERR.

UNORG.TERR.

8

20

5 6

16

1

S.C.11

N.C.15

N.J.8

N.Y.

VT.7

ME.

CONN.8

MASS.15

N.H.8

R.I.4

DEL.3

MD.

VA.24KY.

14

TENN.11

GA.9

ALA.5MISS.

3

ILL.3

MO.3

IND.5

OHIO16

PA.28

LA.5

The growing political influence of what wasthen the West is evident in the number ofelectoral votes delivered by western states.

➤

Great Plains was a wasteland that would never besettled. They thought that if they moved NativeAmericans to that region, the nation’s conflict withthem would be over. In 1830, Jackson pushed throughCongress the Indian Removal Act, which providedmoney for relocating Native Americans.

Most Native Americans eventually gave in andresettled in the West, but not the Cherokee ofGeorgia. Over the years, this Native American grouphad adopted aspects of white culture, and they hiredlawyers to sue the state of Georgia. Their case,Worcester v. Georgia, eventually reached the SupremeCourt. In 1832 Chief Justice John Marshall orderedstate officials to honor Cherokee property rights.Jackson refused to support the decision. “Marshallhas made his opinion,” the president reportedly said,“now let him enforce it.” ; (See page 1083 for informationon Worcester v. Georgia.)

Until 1838 most of the Cherokee resisted the gov-ernment’s offers of western land. Jackson’s successor,Martin Van Buren, eventually sent in the army toresolve the conflict. The army forced the remainingpeople out of their homes and marched them to whatis now Oklahoma. About 2,000 Cherokee died incamps while waiting for the migration to begin.Approximately 2,000 more died of starvation, dis-ease, and exposure on the journey, which becameknown as the Trail of Tears.

By 1838, the government had moved most NativeAmericans still living east of the Mississippi, except forthe Seminole of Florida, to reservations. Most peoplesupported these removal policies. Only a fewdenounced the harsh treatment of Native Americans.Non-supporters included some of the NationalRepublicans and a few religious denominations, espe-cially the Quakers and Methodists.

Interpreting What was theTrail of Tears?

ECONOMICS

Jackson Battlesthe National Bank

One of the most con-tentious developments ofJackson’s presidency washis campaign against theSecond Bank of the UnitedStates. Like most Westernersand many working people,President Jackson was sus-picious of the Bank. Heregarded it as a monopolythat benefited the wealthyelite.

Despite its reputation, theBank played an importantrole in keeping the moneysupply of the United Statesstable. At the time, mostAmerican paper money con-sisted of bank notes issuedby private state banks. Statebanks issued bank noteswith the promise that the notes could always be turned in for “hard”money—gold or silver coins.

Reading Check

N

S

EW

200 kilometers0Albers Conic Equal-Area projection

200 miles0

80°W85°W90°W95°W

30°N

35°N

25°N

40°N

Ohio

R

.

Gulf of Mexico

Atlantic

Ocean

Mississippi R.

Missouri

R.

The Cherokee took their refusal to moveto the Supreme Court—and won. Federaltroops forced them to leave in 1838.

Chief Osceolaled the Seminolein rebellion.

In 1832 Sauk and Fox warriors led by Chief Black Hawk fought to reclaim territory east of the Mississippi River, but were defeated.

CherokeeChickasaw

Choctaw

Sauk

Fox

Seminole

Creek

REPUBLICOF

TEXAS

IOWA TERR.

WIS.TERR.

INDIANTERR.

MO.

ILL.IND.

OHIO

KY.

TENN.

ARK.

LA.

MISS.ALA.

GA.

FLA.TERR.

S.C.

N.C.

VA.

PA.

MD.DEL.

N.J.

N.Y.R.I.

CONN.

MASS.

UNORG.TERR.

New Orleans

Vicksburg

Memphis

Batesville

LittleRock

CamdenWashington

Montgomery'sPoint

Nashville

PaducahSpringfield

Huntsville

Ft. SmithFt. GibsonFt. Coffee

Native American Removal, 1832–1841

1. Interpreting Maps Name two Native American groupsin the northern half of the United States that wereforced to move.

2. Applying Geography Skills Where did the Trail ofTears end?

Ceded by Native AmericansCeded to Native AmericansMulti-Group Removal RouteSingle Group Removal RouteTrail of TearsFort1840 border

The state banks, however, would often issue morepaper money than they could redeem in gold or sil-ver. This let them make more loans at lower interestrates, but it created the danger of inflation. To preventthe state banks from loaning too much money, theBank of the United States regularly collected banknotes and asked state banks to redeem them for goldand silver. This action forced state banks to be carefulabout how much money they loaned, and it also lim-ited inflation.

The Bank had done a good job stabilizing themoney supply and interest rates, but many westernsettlers, who needed easy credit to run their farms,were unhappy with the Bank’s lending policies.President Jackson also believed the Bank wasunconstitutional, despite the Supreme Court’s rul-ing in McCulloch v. Maryland. He did not believethat as president he had to accept this SupremeCourt ruling.

To make the Bank an issue in the 1832 presidentialcampaign, Jackson’s congressional opponents intro-duced a bill extending the Bank’s charter for another20 years. Congress passed the bill, but Jacksonvetoed it. When the election was over, it was clearthat most Americans supported Jackson. He easilywon a second term.

Jackson took his re-election as a directive from thepeople to destroy the Bank at once, even though itscharter did not run out until 1836. He removed thegovernment’s deposits from the Bank and placedthem in state banks. The removal of the depositsforced the Bank to call in its loans and stop lending.

By putting an end to the Bank of the United States,Jackson had won a considerable political victory.Later, however, critics would charge that the end ofthe Bank contributed significantly to the financialwoes that plagued the country in the years ahead.

Examining Why was PresidentJackson against the Second Bank of the United States?

A New Party EmergesAndrew Jackson’s forceful style had earned him

plenty of detractors, and by the mid-1830s a newparty emerged to oppose him. The group nameditself the Whigs after the party in England that hadworked to limit the king’s power. The Whigs advo-cated a larger federal government, industrial andcommercial development, and a centralized econ-omy. Jackson’s Democrats, on the other hand,favored a limited federal government, and they dis-trusted eastern merchants and business leaders.

The Presidency of Martin Van Buren The Whigswere united in opposing Jackson, but they were unableto settle on a leader. During the 1836 presidential elec-tion, Jackson’s popularity and the nation’s continuingprosperity helped Democrat Martin Van Buren defeatthe Whigs, who had three candidates for president.

The new president had little time to savor hisvictory. Shortly after Van Buren took office, a crip-pling economic crisis hit the nation. During thisPanic of 1837, as the crisis was called, many banksand businesses failed. Thousands of farmers losttheir land, and unemployment soared among east-ern factory workers. Van Buren, a firm believer in hisparty’s philosophy of a limited federal government,did little to ease the crisis.

“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” With the nationexperiencing hard times, the Whigs looked forwardto ousting the Democrats in the presidential electionof 1840. They nominated General William HenryHarrison, who was regarded as a hero for his role in

Reading Check

Kingly Rule? Jackson’s strong-willed leadership attracted many critics.Here the cartoonist portrays Jackson as an absolute monarch. Whatdoes Jackson appear to be trampling underfoot?

Analyzing Political Cartoons


the Battle of Tippecanoe and in the War of 1812. JohnTyler, a Southerner and former Democrat who hadleft his party in protest over the nullification issue,joined the ticket as the vice presidential candidate.Adopting the campaign slogan “Tippecanoe andTyler too,” the Whigs blamed Van Buren for theeconomic depression. To attract western voters, theypresented Harrison, a man born to wealth and privi-lege, as a simple frontiersman.

The strategy worked. Harrison won a decisive vic-tory—234 electoral votes to 60, although the popular

vote was much closer. On March 4, 1841,Harrison delivered his inauguration speech.The weather that day was bitterly cold, butHarrison insisted on delivering his nearly two-hour address without a hat or coat. He camedown with pneumonia and died 32 days later,thereby serving the shortest term of anyAmerican president. Vice President John Tylerthen succeeded to the presidency.

The Tyler Years Tyler’s rise to the presi-dency shocked Whig leaders. Tyler actuallyopposed many Whig policies, and party lead-ers had placed him on the ticket mainly toattract Southern voters. Congress and the pressmockingly called Tyler, “His Accidency.” TheWhigs in Congress tried to push through theiragenda anyway, including a Third Bank of theUnited States and a higher tariff, but Tylersided with the Democrats on these key issues.

Foreign relations occupied the country’s attentionduring much of Tyler’s administration, especiallyrelations with Great Britain. Disputes over theMaine-Canadian border and other issues resulted inthe 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which estab-lished a firm boundary between the United Statesand Canada from Maine to Minnesota.

By the middle of the 1800s, a wave of social changewas sweeping across the nation. Americans beganexamining numerous aspects of their culture, fromreligion to literature. A social transformation soonbegan, which eventually led to the shaping of auniquely American society.

Identifying What new politicalparty won the presidential election of 1840?

Reading Check

Writing About History

Checking for Understanding1. Define: spoils system, caucus system,

secede, nullification.2. Identify: Tariff of Abominations, John

C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, Force Bill,Indian Removal Act, Trail of Tears, Panicof 1837.

Reviewing Themes3. Groups and Institutions In what ways

did the United States become moredemocratic during Jackson’s presidency?

Critical Thinking4. Determining Cause and Effect What

effect did the Panic of 1837 have on thepresidential election of 1840?

5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list thepolicies of the Whigs and Jackson’sDemocrats.

Analyzing Visuals6. Examining Art Study the artwork on

page 267. Some wealthy Americansclaimed that President Jackson’s support-ers were a “mob” element in the nation.How does the artist portray Jackson’ssupporters? Why do you think so?

7. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are aNative American living in the UnitedStates during Andrew Jackson’s presi-dency. Write a letter to PresidentJackson giving your opinion of theIndian Removal Act.


Party Policies

Whigs

Democrats

Major American Political Parties Since 1789

Federalist

Democratic-Republican

National Republican

Democratic

Whig

Republican

1789 1804 1820 1836 1852 1868 1884 1900 1916 1932 1948 1964 1980 19961796 1812 1828 1844 1860 1876 1892 1908 1924 1940 1956 1972 1988 2002

Source: Governing by Consent.

1. Interpreting Graphs What party shown had theshortest life span?

2. Comparing How long have Republicans andDemocrats been major political rivals?

1830Mormon religionofficially organizes

✦ 1838

By June of 1850, Daniel Guiney had made up his mind. He was going to leave his impov-erished town in Ireland and move to the United States. The enthusiastic letters he hadreceived from friends convinced him that life had to be better in the United States. Irelandwas suffering a devastating famine. Tens of thousands of citizens were dying of starvation,while many more were fleeing the country.

By August 1850, Guiney and a group from his neighborhood had moved to Buffalo, NewYork. After settling in, Guiney wrote back home about the wondrous new land where theynow resided.

“We mean to let you know our situation at present. . . . We arrived here about five o’clockin the afternoon of yesterday, fourteen of us together, where we were received with thegreatest kindness of respectability. . . . When we came to the house we could not state to youhow we were treated. We had potatoes, meat, butter, bread, and tea for dinner. . . . If youwere to see Denis Reen when Daniel Danihy dressed him with clothes suitable for this coun-try, you would think him to be a boss or steward, so that we have scarcely words to state toyou how happy we felt at present.”

—quoted in Out of Ireland

The New Wave of ImmigrantsDaniel Guiney was just one of the millions of immigrants who came to the United

States in search of a better life in the mid-1800s. The arrival of these newcomers coincided with a time when Americans were blazing new paths in a host of cultural

A Changing Culture

Immigrant’s trunk

Main IdeaThe United States underwent dramaticsocial and cultural changes during theearly and mid-1800s.

Key Terms and Namesnativism, Know-Nothings, Second Great Awakening, Charles GrandisonFinney, Joseph Smith, romanticism,transcendentalism, utopia

Reading StrategyCategorizing Complete a graphic organ-izer similar to the one below by listingbeliefs of various religious groups of theSecond Great Awakening.

Reading Objectives• Explain the goals of the different groups

active in the Second Great Awakening.• Identify the key ideas of romanticism

and two important romantic thinkers orwriters.

Section ThemeGroups and Institutions The SecondGreat Awakening increased support formany religious groups in the UnitedStates.

✦ 1846

1845Potato faminestrikes Ireland

1850Hawthorne’s ScarletLetter published

1854American Party forms


Religious Groups Beliefs

✦ 1830 ✦ 1854


The Bay and Harbor of New York Immigrants arrive in New York City. Castle Garden, the build-ing in the distant left, served as a processing facility for immigrants beginning in 1855. Many immigrantssaw posters such as this one (left) advertising passage between Liverpool and Boston. What twonationalities made up the majority of immigrants to America during the mid-1800s?

History

areas, including religion, art, and literature. Together,these events helped bring great changes to Americansociety in the years before the Civil War.

Between 1815 and 1860, the United States experi-enced a massive influx of immigrants. Over 5 millionforeigners arrived on its shores. Many had fled vio-lence and political turmoil at home, while otherssought to escape starvation and poverty. Most ofthese newcomers found opportunity and a fresh start,but some also found discrimination and prejudice.

Newcomers From Ireland and Germany Thelargest wave of immigrants, almost 2 million, camefrom Ireland. The driving force behind the massiveexodus was the onset of widespread famine in 1845,when a fungus destroyed much of the nation’s crop ofpotatoes, a mainstay of the Irish diet. Most Irish immi-grants arrived in the United States with no moneyand few marketable skills. They generally settled inthe industrialized cities of the Northeast, where manyworked as unskilled laborers and servants.

Between 1815 and 1860, Germans represented thesecond largest group of immigrants. By 1860 over 1.5million Germans had arrived in the United States.Most had enough money to move beyond the large

eastern cities and settle in the Midwest. There theybecame farmers or went into business. Like mostother immigrants, Germans reveled in their new-found sense of freedom and liberty. German immi-grant August Blümmer expressed this sentiment in aletter he wrote in 1838:

“Over there [Germany] common sense and freespeech lie in shackles. . . . I invite you to come overhere, should you want to obtain a clear notion of genuine public life, freedom of people and a sense ofbeing a nation. . . . I have never regretted that I camehere, and never! never! again shall I bow my headunder the yoke of despotism and folly.”

—quoted in News from the Land of Freedom

Nativism While immigrants often found a newsense of freedom in the United States, some encoun-tered discrimination. The presence of people fromdifferent cultures, with different languages and dif-ferent religions, produced feelings of nativism, orhostility toward foreigners.

In the 1800s, many Americans were strongly anti-Catholic. Many prominent ministers preached

anti-Catholic sermons. Occasionally, anti-Catholicriots erupted. The arrival of millions of predomi-nantly Catholic Irish and German immigrants led to the rise of several nativist groups, such as the Supreme Order of the Star Spangled Banner,founded in 1849. These groups pledged never tovote for a Catholic and pushed for laws banningimmigrants and Catholics from holding publicoffice. In July 1854, delegates from these groupsformed the American Party. Membership in theparty was secret, and those questioned were obligedto answer, “I know nothing.” The Know-Nothings,as the party was nicknamed, built a large followingin the 1850s.

Analyzing Why did nativismbecome so strong in the mid-1800s?

A Religious RevivalAs immigrants added to the diversity of society,

Americans were transforming the society in whichthey lived. One important change came in Americanreligious life, where traditional Protestantism experi-enced a dramatic revival, and new forms of worshipbecame prominent.

The Second Great Awakening By the end of the1700s, many church leaders sensed that Americans’commitment to organized religion was weakening.This deterioration was due in large part to thegrowth of scientific knowledge and rationalism,notions that challenged the doctrine of faith. In theearly 1800s, religious leaders organized torevive Americans’ commitment to religion.The resulting movement came to be calledthe Second Great Awakening. It began inKentucky, among frontier farmers, andquickly spread to the rest of the country.Leaders of the various Protestant denomi-nations—most often Methodists, Baptists,and Presbyterians—held camp meetingsthat attracted thousands of followers fordays of song, prayer, and emotional out-pourings of faith.

The basic message of the Second GreatAwakening was that individuals must read-mit God and Christ into their daily lives. Thenew revivalism rejected the traditionalCalvinist idea that only a chosen few werepredestined for salvation. Instead, ministerspreached that all people could attain gracethrough faith.

One of the most prominent advocates of this newmessage was a Presbyterian minister named CharlesGrandison Finney. Finney preached that each personcontained within himself or herself the capacity forspiritual rebirth and salvation. Finney helped foundmodern revivalism. His camp meetings were carefullyplanned and rehearsed to create as much emotion aspossible. He compared his methods to those used bypoliticians and salespeople, and he used emotion tofocus people’s attention on his message. Finney beganpreaching in upstate New York, where he launched aseries of revivals in towns along the Erie Canal. Hethen took his message to the cities of the Northeast.

Finney also served as president of Oberlin Collegein Ohio, the first college in the United States to admitwomen and African Americans. Although Oberlinbecame a center for social reform movements in theUnited States, Finney warned against using politicsto change society. He believed that if Christian ideasreformed people from within, society would becomebetter, but if people remained selfish and immoral,political reforms would not make any difference.

New Religious Groups Emerge A number of otherreligious groups also flourished during this period.The Unitarians and Universalists broke away fromthe New England Congregational Church. Unitariansreject the idea that Jesus was the son of God, arguinginstead that he was a great teacher. Their name comesfrom the belief that God is a unity, not a trinity ofFather, Son, and Holy Spirit. Universalists believe inthe universal salvation of souls. They reject the idea ofhell and believe God intends to save everyone.

Reading Check

Religious Zeal J. Maze Burban’s Religious Camp Meeting dramatizes religious revivalism,showing a charismatic preacher reaching many in the audience. From studying the image,can you suggest other reasons people might want to attend?

History Through Art

Another religious group that emerged during thisperiod was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints, whose followers are commonly known asMormons. Joseph Smith, a New Englander living inwestern New York, began preaching Mormon ideasin 1830 after claiming to have been called to restorethe Christian church to its original form. Smith pub-lished The Book of Mormon that year, saying it was atranslation of words inscribed on golden plates thathe had received from an angel. The text told of thecoming of God and the need to build a kingdom onEarth to receive him.

After enduring continuous harassment in Ohio,Missouri, and elsewhere, Mormons from around theMidwest moved to Commerce, Illinois, in the springof 1839. They bought the town, renamed it Nauvoo,and began building a self-contained community. Thegroup prospered in the Midwest, with Nauvoo num-bering about 15,000 in 1844. Persecution continued,however, and that same year local residents mur-dered Smith. After Smith’s death, Brigham Youngbecame the leader of the Church. The Mormons thenleft Illinois and trekked westward to the Utah terri-tory, where they put down permanant roots.

Summarizing What was the basic

message of the Second Great Awakening?

A Literary RenaissanceThe optimism of the Second Great

Awakening about human nature alsoinfluenced philosophers and writers.Many leading thinkers of the dayadopted the tenets of romanticism, amovement that began in Europe inthe 1800s. Romanticism advocatedfeeling over reason, inner spiritualityover external rules, the individualabove society, and nature over envi-ronments created by humans.

One notable expression ofAmerican romanticism came fromNew England writers and philoso-phers who were known as the tran-scendentalists. Transcendentalismurged people to transcend, or over-come, the limits of their minds and lettheir souls reach out to embrace thebeauty of the universe.

American Writers Emerge Themost influential transcendentalistwas Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his1836 essay Nature, Emerson wrote

that those who wanted fulfillment should work forcommunion with the natural world. Emerson influ-enced other writers, including Margaret Fuller andHenry David Thoreau. Thoreau believed that indi-viduals must fight the pressure to conform. “If a mandoes not keep pace with his companions, perhaps itis because he hears a different drummer,” he wrote.“Let him step to the music which he hears, howevermeasured or far away.”

Emerson and Thoreau were only two of many writ-ers who set out to create uniquely American works.Washington Irving, famous for his “Legend of SleepyHollow” (1819), became one of the first prominentAmerican writers. James Fenimore Cooper romanti-cized Native Americans and frontier explorers in hisLeatherstocking Tales, the most famous being The Lastof the Mohicans (1826). Nathaniel Hawthorne, a NewEngland customs official, wrote over 100 tales andnovels. His novel The Scarlet Letter (1850), with itsPuritan setting, explored the persecution and psycho-logical suffering that results from sin. HermanMelville, another New Englander, wrote the greatMoby Dick (1851). Edgar Allan Poe, a poet and shortstory writer, achieved fame as a writer of terror andmystery. Perhaps the most important poet of the erawas Walt Whitman, who published a volume of poetryin 1855 called Leaves of Grass. Whitman loved nature,

Reading Check


i n H i s t o r yMargaret Fuller1810–1850

As a young woman,Margaret Fuller was amember of a group ofprominent NewEngland writers andphilosophers whodeveloped transcenden-talism. In 1840, with thehelp of Ralph WaldoEmerson, she founded the maga-zine The Dial, which published poetry and essays of the transcendentalistmovement.

Fuller also organized groups ofBoston women to promote their education and intellectual develop-ment. These meetings convinced her towrite the book Women in theNineteenth Century, in which sheargued that women deserved equalpolitical rights.

Fuller’s success in edit-ing The Dial caught the

eye of Horace Greeley,the famous editor ofthe New York Tribune.In 1844 Greeley hiredFuller to be theTribune’s literary critic.

In 1846 he sent Fuller toEurope to cover

European reform efforts.While visiting Italy, Fuller met

and married Giovanni AngeloOssoli, a revolutionary fighting to uniteItaly into one country.

Fuller sent home reports about theItalian revolution of 1848, becomingthe first American woman foreign warcorrespondent. In 1850, as the revolu-tion fell apart, Fuller, Ossoli, and theiryoung son set sail for the United States.Tragedy struck when their ship sanknear Long Island, New York, and allthree drowned.

Another religious group that emerged during thisperiod was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints, whose followers are commonly known asMormons. Joseph Smith, a New Englander living inwestern New York, began preaching Mormon ideasin 1830 after claiming to have been called to restorethe Christian church to its original form. Smith pub-lished The Book of Mormon that year, saying it was atranslation of words inscribed on golden plates thathe had received from an angel. The text told of thecoming of God and the need to build a kingdom onEarth to receive him.

After enduring continuous harassment in Ohio,Missouri, and elsewhere, Mormons from around theMidwest moved to Commerce, Illinois, in the springof 1839. They bought the town, renamed it Nauvoo,and began building a self-contained community. Thegroup prospered in the Midwest, with Nauvoo num-bering about 15,000 in 1844. Persecution continued,however, and that same year local residents mur-dered Smith. After Smith’s death, Brigham Youngbecame the leader of the Church. The Mormons thenleft Illinois and trekked westward to the Utah terri-tory, where they put down permanant roots.

Summarizing What was the basic

message of the Second Great Awakening?

A Literary RenaissanceThe optimism of the Second Great

Awakening about human nature alsoinfluenced philosophers and writers.Many leading thinkers of the dayadopted the tenets of romanticism, amovement that began in Europe inthe 1800s. Romanticism advocatedfeeling over reason, inner spiritualityover external rules, the individualabove society, and nature over envi-ronments created by humans.

One notable expression ofAmerican romanticism came fromNew England writers and philoso-phers who were known as the tran-scendentalists. Transcendentalismurged people to transcend, or over-come, the limits of their minds and lettheir souls reach out to embrace thebeauty of the universe.

American Writers Emerge Themost influential transcendentalistwas Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his1836 essay Nature, Emerson wrote

that those who wanted fulfillment should work forcommunion with the natural world. Emerson influ-enced other writers, including Margaret Fuller andHenry David Thoreau. Thoreau believed that indi-viduals must fight the pressure to conform. “If a mandoes not keep pace with his companions, perhaps itis because he hears a different drummer,” he wrote.“Let him step to the music which he hears, howevermeasured or far away.”

Emerson and Thoreau were only two of many writ-ers who set out to create uniquely American works.Washington Irving, famous for his “Legend of SleepyHollow” (1819), became one of the first prominentAmerican writers. James Fenimore Cooper romanti-cized Native Americans and frontier explorers in hisLeatherstocking Tales, the most famous being The Lastof the Mohicans (1826). Nathaniel Hawthorne, a NewEngland customs official, wrote over 100 tales andnovels. His novel The Scarlet Letter (1850), with itsPuritan setting, explored the persecution and psycho-logical suffering that results from sin. HermanMelville, another New Englander, wrote the greatMoby Dick (1851). Edgar Allan Poe, a poet and shortstory writer, achieved fame as a writer of terror andmystery. Perhaps the most important poet of the erawas Walt Whitman, who published a volume of poetryin 1855 called Leaves of Grass. Whitman loved nature,

Reading Check


i n H i s t o r yMargaret Fuller1810–1850

As a young woman,Margaret Fuller was amember of a group ofprominent NewEngland writers andphilosophers whodeveloped transcenden-talism. In 1840, with thehelp of Ralph WaldoEmerson, she founded the maga-zine The Dial, which published poetry and essays of the transcendentalistmovement.

Fuller also organized groups ofBoston women to promote their education and intellectual develop-ment. These meetings convinced her towrite the book Women in theNineteenth Century, in which sheargued that women deserved equalpolitical rights.

Fuller’s success in edit-ing The Dial caught the

eye of Horace Greeley,the famous editor ofthe New York Tribune.In 1844 Greeley hiredFuller to be theTribune’s literary critic.

In 1846 he sent Fuller toEurope to cover

European reform efforts.While visiting Italy, Fuller met

and married Giovanni AngeloOssoli, a revolutionary fighting to uniteItaly into one country.

Fuller sent home reports about theItalian revolution of 1848, becomingthe first American woman foreign warcorrespondent. In 1850, as the revolu-tion fell apart, Fuller, Ossoli, and theiryoung son set sail for the United States.Tragedy struck when their ship sanknear Long Island, New York, and allthree drowned.



Checking for Understanding1. Define: nativism, romanticism,

transcendentalism, utopia.2. Identify: Know-Nothings, Second Great

Awakening, Charles Grandison Finney,Joseph Smith.

3. Summarize the goals of the Know-Nothings.

Reviewing Themes4. Groups and Institutions What reli-

gious denominations increased theirinfluence in the United States duringthe Second Great Awakening?

Critical Thinking5. Interpreting How did the writers of

the early to mid-1800s reflect Americanlife?

6. Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to listAmerican cultural movements in themid-1800s.

Analyzing Visuals7. Examining Art Study the painting on

page 275 of the camp meeting. Whatelements of the image suggest that therevival attracted many working-classpeople?

8. Expository Writing Imagine you arean Irish or German immigrant in themid-1800s. Write an essay contrastingthe United States with your homeland.Describe your new life in the UnitedStates and how you are treated.

the common people, and American democracy, and hisfamous work reflects these passions. The best-remem-bered female poet of the era was Emily Dickinson,who wrote simple, personal, deeply emotional poetry.

The Penny Press Another important developmentof the early 1800s was the rise of the mass newspaper.Before the 1800s, most newspapers catered to well-educated readers. They were typically publishedonce a week and cost around six cents, which was farbeyond the reach of the average worker.

As more Americans learned to read and gained theright to vote, publishers began producing inexpen-sive newspapers, known as penny papers, whichprovided the kind of news most people liked.Reports of fires, crimes, marriages, gossip, politics,and local news made the papers an instant success.

General interest magazines that catered to a morespecialized readership also emerged around thistime. In 1830 Louis A. Godey founded Godey’s Lady’sBook, the first American magazine for women. Thepoet James Russell Lowell launched Atlantic Monthly,another magazine for the well-educated, in 1857,while Harper’s Weekly covered everything from bookreviews to news reports.

Evaluating What were the mainthemes of American writers in the early 1800s?

Utopian CommunitiesThe ideas that drove the religious and artistic

movements of the United States in the mid-1800s—optimism about human nature and a belief in

people’s ability to redefine their lives—also spurredthe establishment of new communities. The peoplewho formed these communities believed that societytended to corrupt human nature. They thought thatthe way to a better life was to separate themselvesfrom society and form their own utopia, or ideal soci-ety. Cooperative living and the absence of privateproperty characterized these communities, anddozens of them sprang up and flourished during theJacksonian Era.

In New England, near West Roxbury, Mas-sachusetts, transcendentalist George Ripley estab-lished a utopian community known as Brook Farmin 1841. The farm offered its members the chance toengage in intellectual activity while cooperativelyrunning a farm. Ultimately, Brook Farm collapsedafter a large fire left the group with huge debts.

The religious group known as the Shakers estab-lished small utopian communities from Maine toKentucky. The group got its name from a ritual“shaking” dance that members performed. TheShakers reached their peak in the mid-1800s withsome 6,000 members. Since they did not believe inmarrying or having children, the group could onlyexpand by making converts.

In the end, the number of Americans who chose tolive in utopian communities was relatively small.Many more, inspired by a strong faith in humangoodness, attempted not to escape society but toreform it.

Interpreting What spurred theestablishment of utopian societies?

Reading Check

Reading Check

Movements inAmerican Culturein the Mid-1800s

By 1841 Dorothea Dix had been a schoolteacher in Massachusetts for many years. Thatyear, a clergyman asked her to lead a Sunday school class at a local prison. What Dix sawthere appalled her. Mentally ill persons lay neglected in dirty, unheated rooms. Putting asideher teaching career, she began a crusade to improve prison conditions for the mentally ill andto provide them with the treatment they needed.

In 1843 Dix composed a letter to the Massachusetts legislature calling for such reforms.She pointed to the example of one local woman as evidence that more humane treatmentmight help many of the mentally ill. “Some may say these things cannot be remedied,” shewrote. “I know they can. . . . A young woman, a pauper . . . was for years a raging maniac. A cage, chains, and the whip were the agents for controlling her, united with harsh tones andprofane language.” Dix explained that a local couple took the woman in and treated her withcare and respect. “They are careful of her diet. They keep her very clean. She calls them‘father’ and ‘mother.’ Go there now, and you will find her ‘clothed,’ and though not perfectlyin her ‘right mind,’ so far restored as to be a safe and comfortable inmate.”

—adapted from Old South Leaflets

1848Seneca FallsConvention

1843Dorothea Dix calls for reforming care of mentally ill


✦ 1855

The Reform SpiritLargely through the efforts of Dorothea Dix, more than a dozen states enacted

sweeping prison reforms and created special institutions for the mentally ill. As influen-tial as she was, Dix was just one of many citizens who worked to reform various aspectsof American society in the mid 1800s.

Reforming Society

Dorothea Dix

Main Idea Spurred on by a revival of religion and aheightened belief in the power of individ-uals, Americans engaged in reform effortsin the early and mid-1800s.

Key Terms and NamesDorothea Dix, Lyman Beecher, benevolent society, temperance,penitentiary, Horace Mann, ElizabethCady Stanton

Reading StrategyTaking Notes As you read aboutAmerican reform efforts in the early andmid-1800s, use the section’s major head-ings to create an outline like the onebelow.

Reading Objectives• Analyze the connection between reli-

gious and social reform.• List major areas of society that reform-

ers set out to improve.

Section Theme Continuity and Change Reform move-ments sought to change American soci-ety, but in ways that upheld Americanvalues and ideals.

1851Maine passes first statelaw prohibiting alcohol

1852Massachusetts passes firstmandatory school attendance law

✦ 1843

Reforming SocietyI. The Reform Spirit

A.B.C.D.

II.

✦ 1847 ✦ 1851

The reform movements of the mid-1800s stemmedin large part from the revival of religious fervor.Revivalists preached the power of individuals toimprove themselves and the world. Lyman Beecher,a prominent minister, insisted that it was the nation’scitizenry more than its government that should takecharge of building a better society. True reform, hesaid, could take place only through “the voluntaryenergies of the nation itself. ”

Under the guidance of Beecher and other religiousleaders, associations known as benevolent societiessprang up in cities and towns across the country. Atfirst, they focused on spreading the word of God andattempting to convert nonbelievers. Soon, however,they sought to combat a number of social problems.

One striking feature of the reform effort was theoverwhelming presence of women. Young women inparticular had joined the revivalist movement inmuch larger numbers than men. One reason was thatmany unmarried women with uncertain futures dis-covered in religion a foundation on which to buildtheir lives. As more women turned to the church,many also joined religious-based reform groups.These reform groups targeted aspects of Americansociety they considered in dire need of change.Among these issues were excessive drinking,prisons, and education.

The Temperance Movement A number of reform-ers argued that no social vice caused more crime, dis-order, and poverty than the excessive use of alcohol.Men who drank excessively, they argued, spent theirmoney on liquor rather than food and other familynecessities, and they sometimes abused their wivesand children. While some may have disagreed withthis assessment, no one could dispute the fact that

alcoholism was widespread during the early 1800s.In small towns throughout the West, citizens drank toease the isolation and loneliness of rural life, while inthe pubs and saloons in eastern cities, drinking wasthe main leisure activity for many workers.

Although advocates of temperance, or modera-tion in the consumption of alcohol, had been activesince the late 1700s, the new reformers energized thecampaign and greatly increased its influence.Temperance groups formed across the country,preaching the evils of alcohol and persuading heavydrinkers to give up liquor. In 1833 several of thesegroups joined together to form the AmericanTemperance Union.

Temperance societies also pushed for laws to pro-hibit the sale of liquor. In 1851 Maine passed the firststate prohibition law, an example followed by adozen other states by 1855. Other states passed “localoption” laws, which allowed towns and villages toprohibit liquor sales within their boundaries.

Prison Reform The spirit of reform also promptedAmericans to consider ways to improve the prison sys-tem. Inmates of all kinds, from violent offenders todebtors and the mentally ill, often were indiscrimi-nately crowded together in jails and prisons, whichwere literally holes in the ground in some cases. Onejail in Connecticut, for example, was an abandonedmineshaft. Beginning around 1816, many states beganbuilding new facilities to provide a better environmentfor inmates.


Drunkard’s Progress In 1846 Nathaniel Currier made thislithograph (left), or print made by engraving on stone. It clearlylays out the path to degradation that begins in Step 1, a glassof alcohol with a friend. Some innkeepers advertised their tem-perance principles with a sign such as the one above. Fromlooking at the lithograph, how can you tell that womenwere often temperance supporters?

History Through Art

Underlying the prison reform movement was abelief in rehabilitating prisoners rather than merelylocking them up. Officials designed forms of rigiddiscipline to rid criminals of the “laxness” that hadled them astray. Solitary confinement and the imposi-tion of silence on work crews were meant to giveprisoners the chance to meditate and think abouttheir wrongdoing. Even the name of these new pris-ons, penitentiaries, highlighted the notion that theywere places where individuals would work toachieve penitence, or remorse.

Educational Reform In the early 1800s, manyreformers began to push for a system of public educa-tion—government-funded schools open to all citizens.The increase in the number of voters in the 1820s and1830s and the arrival of millions of new immigrantsconvinced many people of the need for public educa-tion. Most American leaders and social reformersbelieved that a democratic republic could only surviveif the electorate was well educated and informed.

One of the leaders of the public education move-ment was Massachusetts legislator Horace Mann. Aspresident of the Massachusetts Senate, Mann pressedfor more public education and backed a bill in 1837creating a state board of education in Massachusetts.

He then stepped down from his elective office toserve as secretary of the new board. During his 12years in that post he doubled teachers’ salaries,opened 50 new high schools, and established schoolsfor teacher training called “normal schools.”Massachusetts quickly became the model for allother northern states. Mann’s driving conviction wasthat a nation without an educated populace wouldhave to struggle just to survive, much less prosper:

“The establishment of a republican government,without well-appointed and efficient means for theuniversal education of the people, is the most rashand foolhardy experiment ever tried by man. . . . Itmay be an easy thing to make a republic, but it is avery laborious thing to make republicans; and woe tothe republic that rests upon no better foundationsthan ignorance, selfishness and passion!”

—from “Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education,” 1848

In 1852 Massachusetts passed the first mandatoryschool attendance law; New York passed a similarmeasure the next year. In the years before the CivilWar, reformers campaigned for district, or common,


Old-FashionedSchool Days

Public schools in the early to mid-1800swere rough-and-ready affairs. Studentscame in all ages and sizes, teachers oftenhad little training, and books and supplieswere hard to obtain.

• One-Room SchoolhouseThe painting New England School byCharles Frederick Bosworth tells thetale of teachers’ challenges in earlypublic schools. With a mixed-agedclass, the teacher had to teach a few students at a time, leaving the others to their own education—or entertainment.

• Schoollunch pail

• School ink jar

schools at the primary level. Reformers believed thatsuch schools could teach all children the basics ofreading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as instill awork ethic. District schools were open to all and weresupported by district taxes, state funds, and tuitionpaid by parents.

By the 1850s, tax-supported elementary schools hadgained widespread support in the northeastern statesand had begun to spread to the rest of the country.Rural areas responded more slowly because childrenwere needed to help with planting and harvesting.

In the South, a reformer named Calvin Wileyplayed a similar role in North Carolina to that ofHorace Mann in Massachusetts. In 1839 NorthCarolina began providing support to local communi-ties that established taxpayer-funded schools. Wileytraveled throughout the state, building support forpublic education. By 1860, about two-thirds of NorthCarolina’s white children attended school part of theyear. The South as a whole responded less quickly,and only about one-third of southern white childrenwere enrolled in public schools by 1860. AfricanAmerican children were excluded almost entirely.

Women’s Education When officials talked abouteducating voters, they had men in mind—womenwere still not allowed to cast a ballot in the 1800s.Nonetheless, a number of women took advantage

of the reform movement to create more educa-tional opportunities for girls and women.

Emma Willard, who founded a girls’ boardingschool in Vermont in 1814, was an early educationalpioneer. Her school covered the usual subjects foryoung women, such as cooking and etiquette, but it also included academic subjects like history,math, and literature, which were rarely taught towomen. In 1837 another educator, Mary Lyon,opened the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary inSouth Hadley, Massachusetts, the first institution ofhigher education for women only.

Also in the 1800s, Elizabeth Blackwell became thefirst woman to earn a medical degree in the UnitedStates or Europe. In 1857 she founded the New YorkInfirmary for Women and Children, which wasstaffed entirely by women.

Identifying What three areas ofsocial reform did reformers target?

The Early Women’s MovementIn the early 1800s, the Industrial Revolution began

to change the economic roles of men and women. Inthe 1700s, most economic activity took place in ornear the home because most Americans lived andworked in a rural farm setting. Although husbandsand wives had distinct chores, maintaining the farmwas the focus of their efforts. By the mid-1800s, thesecircumstances had started to change, especially in thenortheastern states. The development of factoriesand other work centers separated the home from theworkplace. Men now often left home to go to work,while women tended the house and children. In time,this development led to the emergence of the firstwomen’s movement.

“True Womanhood” As the nature of workchanged, many Americansbegan to divide life into twospheres of activity—thehome and the workplace.Many believed the home tobe the proper sphere forwomen, partly because theoutside world was seen ascorrupt and dangerous, andpartly because of popularideas about the family.

The Christian revivalismof the 1820s and 1830sgreatly influenced theAmerican family. For many

Reading Check


Student WebActivity Visit theAmerican Vision Website at tav.glencoe.comand click on StudentWeb Activities—Chapter 8 for anactivity on reformmovements.

HISTORY

• First ReadersGenerations of stu-dents usedMcGuffey’s Readers,first produced in the1830s by WilliamMcGuffey. His readers—the first Eclectic Reader is pictured here—ranged from simpleto advanced and aimed to give students a happy, positivefeeling. A college president at the end of his life, McGuffeybegan teaching in frontierOhio schools when he wasonly 13.

• Schooldesk


parents, raising children was treated as a solemnresponsibility because it prepared young people for adisciplined Christian life. Women often were viewedas more moral and charitable than men, and theywere expected to be models of piety and virtue totheir children and husbands.

The idea that women should be homemakers andshould take responsibility for developing their chil-dren’s characters evolved into a set of ideas known as“true womanhood.” Magazine articles and novelsaimed at women reinforced the value of their role athome. In 1841 Catherine Beecher, a daughter of min-ister and reformer Lyman Beecher, wrote a bookcalled A Treatise on Domestic Economy. The popularvolume argued that women could find fulfillment athome and gave instruction on childcare, cooking,and health matters.

Women Seek Greater Rights Many women didnot feel the ideas of true womanhood were limiting.Instead, the new ideas implied that wives were nowpartners with their husbands and in some ways weremorally superior to them. Women were held up asthe conscience of the home and society.

The idea that women had an important role toplay in building a virtuous home was soon extendedto making society more virtuous. As women becameinvolved in the great moral crusades of the era, somebegan to argue that they needed greater politicalrights to promote their ideas.

An advocate of this idea was Margaret Fuller.Fuller argued that every woman had her ownrelationship with God and needed “as a soul to live

freely and unimpeded.” She declared, “We wouldhave every arbitrary barrier thrown down and everypath laid open to women as freely as to men.” Fullerbelieved that if men and women, whom she calledthe “two sides” of human nature, were treatedequally, it would end injustice in society.

In 1848 Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth CadyStanton, two women active in the antislavery move-ment, organized the Seneca Falls Convention. Thisgathering of women reformers marked the begin-ning of an organized women’s movement. The con-vention issued a “Declaration of Sentiments andResolutions” that began with words expanding theDeclaration of Independence: “We hold these truthsto be self-evident: that all men and women are cre-ated equal. . . .” Stanton shocked many of thewomen present by proposing that they focus ongaining the right to vote. Nevertheless, the SenecaFalls Convention is considered by many to be theunofficial beginning of the struggle for women’s vot-ing rights. ; (See page 1070 for more information on the“Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions.”)

Throughout the 1850s, women continued toorganize conventions to gain greater rights for them-selves. The conventions did meet with some success.By 1860, for example, reformers had convinced 15states to pass laws permitting married women toretain their property if their husbands died. Aboveall, these conventions drew attention to their causeand paved the way for a stronger movement toemerge after the Civil War.

Examining What events of the mid-1800s sparked the first women’s movement?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Define: benevolent society, temper-

ance, penitentiary.2. Identify: Dorothea Dix, Lyman Beecher,

Horace Mann, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.3. State the main goal of the early

women’s movement.

Reviewing Themes4. Continuity and Change How did the

Second Great Awakening affect thereform movements of the mid-1800s?

Critical Thinking5. Evaluating In what ways did the new

penitentiaries change the prison system?

6. Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list themajor reform areas.

Analyzing Visuals7. Examining Art Study the painting of

the New England school on page 280.How was the room heated? What kindsof supplies did the students have?

8. Expository Writing Think of reformsyou believe are needed today in theUnited States. Write a letter to yourlegislator expressing why you believethe reforms are needed. Give examplesof problems in your community asevidence.

Areas ofReform


I went to the woods because Iwished to live deliberately, to frontonly the essential facts of life, and seeif I could not learn what it had toteach, and not, when I came to die,discover that I had not lived. I did notwish to live what was not life, livingis so dear; nor did I wish to practiceresignation, unless it was quite neces-sary. I wanted to live deep and suckout all the marrow of life, to live sosturdily and Spartan-like as to put torout all that was not life, to cut abroad swath and shave close, to drivelife into a corner, and reduce it to itslowest terms, and, if it proved to bemean, why then to get the whole andgenuine meanness of it, and publishits meanness to the world; or if itwere sublime, to know it by experi-ence. . . . For most men, it appears tome, are in a strange uncertainty aboutit, whether it is of the devil or of God,and have somewhat hastily concludedthat it is the chief end of man here to“glorify God and enjoy him forever.”

Still we live meanly, like ants. . . .Our life is frittered away by detail. Anhonest man has hardly need to countmore than his ten fingers. . . .Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say,let your affairs be as two or three, andnot a hundred or a thousand; insteadof a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail. . . .

Let us spend one day as deliber-ately as Nature, and not be thrownoff the track by every nutshell andmosquito’s wing that falls on therails. . . . Why should we knockunder and go with the stream?

Henry David Thoreau was part of the Transcendentalistmovement that started as areform movement within theUnitarian Church. Transcen-dentalism stressed the connec-tion of the soul of the individualto the soul of the world. Simplyput, the Transcendentalistsbelieved that God resided ineach person. None of the worksof poetry and prose during thisperiod more fully embodiedTranscendental ideals thanThoreau’s Walden. Part journal,part social commentary, andpart sermon, the work summa-rizes and expands Thoreau’sexperiences at Walden Pond,near Concord, Massachusetts,where he built a cabin and livedin relative solitude for two years.

Read to DiscoverWhat does Thoreau say we mustdo to live in society?

Reader’s Dictionaryswath: path

sublime: supreme; awesome

perturbation: annoyance; irritation

from Waldenby Henry David Thoreau

Analyzing Literature1. Recall What motivated Thoreau to go

and live alone in the wilderness?2. Interpret What do you think the

phrase “every nutshell and mosquito’swing” means?

3. Evaluate and Connect Do you thinkyou could live alone in the woods fortwo years as Thoreau did? Why orwhy not?

Interdisciplinary ActivityLanguage Arts Imagine you are Thoreauat the end of your first year at Walden.Write a diary entry describing your feelingslooking back on the first year and ahead tothe year to come.


In 1831 William Lloyd Garrison began publishing a fiery antislavery newspaper inBoston. One day in 1834, a large group gathered outside Garrison’s office to express its dis-approval of his views. An onlooker, Thomas Low Nichols, described what followed:

“I was in the editorial office of Mr. Garrison when the crowd began to gather in the streetbelow. . . . There were hundreds—then thousands. It was a mob of people dressed in blackbroadcloth, a mob of gentlemen—capitalists, merchants, bankers, a mob of the StockExchange and of the first people in Boston, which considered itself the nicest of cities, andintellectually the ‘hub of the universe’. . . . There was a great howl of rage; but, a momentafter, it became a yell of triumph. Garrison had been seen to go from the building into anarrow lane behind it. Pursued, he took refuge in a carpenter’s shop, only to be draggedout and carried into the midst of the mob. . . . I saw him, his hat off, his bald head shining,his scanty locks flying, his face pale. . . .”

—quoted in Witness to America

1831William Lloyd Garrison beginspublishing the Liberator


✦ 1832

Early Opposition to SlaveryBy the 1830s, a growing number of Americans had begun to demand an immediate

end to slavery in the South. Of all the reform movements that began in the early 1800s,the movement to end slavery was the most divisive. By pitting North against South, itpolarized the nation and helped bring about the Civil War.

The AbolitionistMovement

Main IdeaIn the midst of the nation’s reform move-ment, a number of citizens embarked ona crusade known as abolitionism to endslavery in the United States.

Key Terms and Namesgradualism, American ColonizationSociety, abolition, William Lloyd Garrison,emancipation, American AntislaverySociety, Frederick Douglass

Reading StrategySequencing As you read about thebeginning of the abolitionist movement,complete a time line similar to the onebelow to record early events of thismovement.

Reading Objectives• List groups involved in the early aboli-

tionist movement.• Analyze how Northerners and

Southerners viewed abolitionism.

Section ThemeIndividual Action Abolitionist reformerschallenged the morality and legality ofslavery in the United States.

✦ 1830

1833Prudence Crandall arrested;American Antislavery Society founded

1834Mob attacks WilliamLloyd Garrison

1836House of Representatives adoptsgag rule on abolionist petitions

1790s

1821 1832

1831 1833

1840s

1816

✦ 1834 ✦ 1836

William Lloyd Garrison


Gradualism From the earliest days of the Republic,many Americans had opposed slavery. Many of thecountry’s founders knew that a nation based on theprinciples of liberty and equality would have diffi-culty remaining true to its ideals if it continued toenslave human beings. Quakers and Baptists in boththe North and South had long argued that slaverywas a sin. After the Revolution, Baptists in Virginiacalled for “every legal measure to [wipe out]this horrid evil from the land.”

Early antislavery societies generally sup-ported an approach known as gradualism, orthe belief that slavery had to be ended gradu-ally. First they would stop new slaves frombeing brought into the country. Then theywould phase out slavery in the North andthe Upper South before finally ending slav-ery in the Lower South. Slaveholders would also becompensated for their loss. Supporters of gradual-ism believed it would give the South’s economytime to adjust to the loss of enslaved labor.

Colonization The first antislavery societies alsobelieved that ending slavery would not end racism inthe United States. Many thought that the best solutionwas to send African Americans back to their ancestralhomelands in Africa. In December 1816, antislaveryreformers founded the American ColonizationSociety (ACS) to move African Americans to Africa.The society had the support of many prominentAmericans, including James Madison, James Monroe,Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Marshall.

By 1821 the ACS had acquired land in West Africa.The following year, free African Americans beganboarding ships chartered by the society to take themto Africa. There they established a colony that even-tually became the country of Liberia. It declared itsindependence as a republic in 1847 and adopted aconstitution designed after the U.S. Constitution. Thecapital, Monrovia, was named for President Monroe.

Colonization was never a realistic solution to slav-ery and racism, however. The cost of transportingAfrican Americans was high, and the ACS had todepend on donations. Moving the roughly 1.5 millionAfrican Americans who lived in the United States in1820 to Africa was nearly impossible. Furthermore,most African Americans regarded the United States astheir home and were not prepared to migrate toanother continent. Only an estimated 12,000 AfricanAmericans moved to Africa between 1821 and 1860.

Identifying What two religiousgroups were among the first to oppose slavery?

The New Abolitionists Gradualism and colonization remained the main

goals of antislavery groups until the 1830s, when anew idea, abolition, began to gain ground.Abolitionists argued that enslaved African Americansshould be freed immediately, without gradual meas-ures or compensation to former slaveholders.

TURNING POINT

Garrison Stirs a New Movement Abolitionismbegan to gain support in the 1830s for several rea-sons. As with other reform movements of the era, itdrew its strength from the Second Great Awakening,with its focus on sin and repentance. In the eyes ofabolitionists, slavery was an enormous evil of whichthe country needed to repent.

The first well-known advocate of abolition was afree African American from North Carolina namedDavid Walker, who published Appeal to the ColoredCitizens of the World. In this pamphlet, Walker advo-cated violence and rebellion as the only way to endslavery. Although Walker’s ideas were influential, therapid development of a large national abolitionistmovement in the 1830s was largely due to the effortsof William Lloyd Garrison.

In 1829 Garrison became assistant to BenjaminLundy, the Quaker publisher of the Baltimore anti-slavery newspaper, Genius of Universal Emancipation.Garrison admired Lundy but grew impatient with hisgradualist approach. In 1831 Garrison left his mentorand, with fellow abolitionist Isaac Knapp, foundedBoston’s antislavery newspaper, the Liberator.

Reading Check

Abolitionist Songs Abolitionists used songs to stirup enthusiasm for their cause. To make songs easierto learn, they often wrote new words for old tunes.Here is a stanza William Lloyd Garrison wrote to thetune of “Auld Lang Syne”:

I am an abolitionist!I glory in the name;Though now by Slavery’s minions hiss’d,And covered o’er with shame;It is a spell of light and power—The watchword of the free:—Who spurns it in this trial-hour,A craven soul is he!

Banner celebrating Garrison’sabolitionist newspaper, the Liberator

The paper’s style was anything but moderate, asGarrison wrote caustic attacks on slavery and calledfor an immediate end to it. To those who objected tohis fiery language, he responded that the time formoderation was over:

“I am aware that many object to the severity of mylanguage; but is there not cause for severity? I will beas harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice.On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, orwrite with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whosehouse is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him tomoderately rescue his wife from the hands of the rav-isher; tell the mother to gradually [remove] her babefrom the fire into which it has fallen—but urge menot to use moderation in a cause like the present. I amin earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I willnot retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.”

—from the Liberator

With his balding head, his steel-rimmed glasses,and his plain black suits, Garrison was as mild-look-ing as his words were strong. Inside this soft-spokenman, however, an intense passion burned. In his

mind, the situation was very clear: Slaverywas immoral and slaveholders were evil.The only option was immediate and com-plete emancipation, or the freeing of allenslaved people.

Garrison soon attracted enough follow-ers in the North to enable him to found theNew England Antislavery Society in 1832and the American Antislavery Society in1833. Membership in both organizationsgrew quickly. By the mid-1830s, there werehundreds of society chapters, and in 1838,there were more than 1,350 chapters withover 250,000 members.

Other Abolitionists at Work As the anti-slavery movement gained momentum, newleaders emerged from Garrison’s shadowand carried on the effort. Theodore Weld, adisciple of the evangelist Charles GrandisonFinney, was one of the most effective lead-ers, recruiting and training many abolition-ists for the American Antislavery Society.Arthur and Lewis Tappan, two devout andwealthy brothers from New York City, alsoemerged as leaders.

The orator Wendell Phillips, the poetJohn Greenleaf Whittier, and many others

became active in the cause as well. Many women alsogave their efforts to the abolitionist movement.Prudence Crandall worked as a teacher and aboli-tionist in Connecticut, and Lucretia Mott often spokeout in favor of abolitionism. Some Southern womenalso joined the crusade. Among the earliest wereSarah and Angelina Grimké, South Carolina sisterswho moved north to work openly against slavery.

African American Abolitionists Not surprisingly,free African Americans took a prominent role in theabolitionist movement. African Americans in theNorth, who numbered over 190,000 by 1850, enduredmuch prejudice, but they cherished their freedomnonetheless. When Garrison launched his newspa-per, African Americans rushed to his support, notonly buying the paper but also helping to sell it.Many began writing and speaking out against slav-ery and taking part in protests and demonstrations.

One of the most prominent African American fig-ures in the movement was Frederick Douglass, whohad escaped from slavery in Maryland. Douglasswas a brilliant thinker and an electrifying speaker. “Iappear before the immense assembly this evening asa thief and a robber,” he told one Massachusetts


i n H i s t o r yPrudence Crandall1803–1890

In 1831 PrudenceCrandall was running asuccessful school forgirls in Canterbury,Connecticut, whenSarah Harris, the daugh-ter of a prominent AfricanAmerican farmer, soughtadmission. When Crandallagreed to let her in, local parentsobjected, and many withdrew their chil-dren from the school.

Rather than reverse her decision,Crandall announced that she was re-organizing her school as a teacher-training institution for AfricanAmerican women. The citizens ofCanterbury erupted in protest. Tocombat Crandall’s effort, the state leg-islature passed the “Black Law,” whichforbade Connecticut schools fromadmitting out-of-state African

American students andseverely limited the type

of schools that in-stateAfrican Americans couldattend. Crandallignored the law andwas arrested in August1833.

In a highly publicizedcase, prosecutors con-

victed her, but her convic-tion was overturned on

appeal. In the wake of the trial,residents terrorized the school, dirtyingits well, refusing it supplies, and creatingother hardships. In 1834, Crandallclosed her school.

Upon her death nearly 60 years later,a friend recalled her willingness to fightfor what she believed in. “She had deepconvictions of right. . . . Neither death,life, angels, principalities, things pres-ent, things to come, heights, depths,nor any other creature could keep herfrom following her convictions.”

group in 1842. “I stole this head, these limbs, thisbody from my master, and ran off with them.”Douglass published his own antislavery newspaper,the North Star, and wrote an autobiography, Narrativeof the Life of Frederick Douglass, which quickly sold4,500 copies after its publication in 1845.

Another important African American abolitionistwas Sojourner Truth. She gained freedom in 1827when New York freed all remaining enslaved peoplein the state. In the 1840s her antislavery speeches—elo-quent, joyous, and deeply religious—drew hugecrowds. Though lacking a formal education, Truthenthralled listeners with her folksy wit, engaging sto-ries, contagious singing, and strong message.

Summarizing How did WilliamLloyd Garrison work to end slavery?

The Response to AbolitionismAbolitionism was a powerful force, and it pro-

voked a powerful public response. In the North, citi-zens looked upon the abolitionist movement with

views ranging from support to indifference to oppo-sition. In the South, many residents feared that theirentire way of life was under attack. They rushed todefend the institution of slavery, which they saw asthe key to the region’s economy.

Reaction in the North While many Northernersdisapproved of slavery, some opposed extreme aboli-tionism even more. They viewed the movement as adangerous threat to the existing social system. Somewhites, including many prominent businesspeople,warned it would produce a destructive war betweenthe North and the South. Others feared it might leadto a great influx of freed African Americans to theNorth, overwhelming the labor and housing mar-kets. Many in the North also had no desire to see theSouth’s economy crumble. If that happened, theymight lose the huge sums of money Southernplanters owed to Northern banks, as well as theSouthern cotton that fed Northern textile mills.

Given such attitudes, the attack on Garrison inBoston was not surprising. In fact, it was one ofmany such assaults. In 1837 in Illinois, for example,

Reading Check

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45.4

45.7*45.0

200 kilometers0Albers Conic Equal-Area projection

200 miles0

N

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35°N

30°N

95°W 90°W 85°W 80°W

Gulf of Mexico

Atlantic

OceanTEX.***

LA.

ARK.

MISS.ALA. GA.

FLA.*

S.C.

N.C.TENN.

KY.VA.**

MO.

MD.

African American Populations, 1820 and 1860

182010.0 10.0

* 1830 data (Florida)** Includes present-day

West Virginia (Virginia)

*** No data for 1820 (Texas)

African AmericanPercentage

of Total Population

1860

1. Interpreting Maps What two states had the highestpercentage of African American population in 1820?

2. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think supportfor gradualism and colonization was stronger in Virginiathan in South Carolina?

abolitionist publisher Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoywas killed trying to protect his printing press from a mob. Yet Northerners also resented Southernslave-catchers, who kidnapped African Americanrunaways in the North and hauled them back to the South. In response, several states in the North passed personal liberty laws restricting slaverecapture.

Reaction in the South To most Southerners, slav-ery was a “peculiar institution,” one that was distinc-tive and vital to the Southern way of life. While theNorth was building cities and factories, the Southremained mostly agricultural, becoming increasinglytied to cotton and the enslaved people who plantedand picked it. Southerners responded to the growing

attacks against slavery by strongly defending theinstitution. South Carolina’s governor called it a“national benefit,” while Thomas Dew, a leadingSouthern academic, claimed that most slaves had nodesire for freedom, because they enjoyed a close andbeneficial relationship with their slaveholders. “Wehave no hesitation in affirming,” he declared, “that,throughout the whole slaveholding country, theslaves of good [slaveholders] are his warmest, mostconstant, and most devoted friends.”

Less than eight months after Garrison printed hisfirst shocking words in the Liberator in 1831, NatTurner, an enslaved preacher, led an uprising thatkilled over 50 Virginians. Many Southerners believedthat papers like the Liberator sparked this rebellion.Although Garrison’s paper did not even circulate inthe South, furious Southerners demanded the sup-pression of abolitionist material as a condition forremaining in the Union. Southern postal workersrefused to deliver abolitionist newspapers. In 1836,under Southern pressure the House ofRepresentatives passed a gag rule providing that allabolitionist petitions be shelved without debate.

For all the uproar it caused, the abolitionistmovement remained relatively small. Very few peo-ple before the Civil War ever accepted the idea thatslavery must be immediately eliminated. The cru-sade that William Lloyd Garrison had started, how-ever, and that thousands of men and womenstruggled to keep alive, became a constant and pow-erful reminder of how much slavery was dividingthe nation.

Evaluating How did Northernersand Southerners view abolitionism?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Define: gradualism, abolition,

emancipation.2. Identify: American Colonization

Society, William Lloyd Garrison,American Antislavery Society, FrederickDouglass.

3. Describe how free African Americansworked to end slavery.

Reviewing Themes4. Individual Action Which individuals

helped build support for abolition, andwhat did they do to win that support?

Critical Thinking5. Interpreting Why is William Lloyd

Garrison’s publication of the Liberatorconsidered a turning point in the aboli-tionist movement?

6. Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list the rea-sons why many Northerners opposedextreme abolitionism.

Analyzing Visuals7. Analyzing Maps Study the map on

page 287. In which states did the per-centage of African American populationdecrease by at least 5 percent between1820 and 1860?

8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that youare working for the Liberator in the1830s. Write a letter to a friend describ-ing what you hope to accomplish as amember of the staff of an abolitionistnewspaper. Be sure to explain why youaccepted the job.

Reasons Northerners OpposedExtreme Abolit ionism


Fredrick Douglass (seated at left) at an abolitionist rally in Cazenovia, New York, in 1850

289

Technology

Why Learn This Skill?You want to present a research report on some

aspect of the Second Great Awakening to yourclassmates, and you want to hold their attention.How do you do it? You might try using a variety ofmedia. Using a variety of media in your presenta-tions makes them more interesting and engagingfor your audience.

Learning the SkillA basic multimedia presentation

involves using several types of media.Suppose you wanted to present a report onthe American literary renaissance. To intro-duce the important writers of the era, youmight show photographs of them. You alsocould play a voice recording of a storywritten by one of the writers or present avideo showing a screenplay based on oneof their books.

You can also develop a multimedia pres-entation on a computer. Multimedia, as itrelates to computer technology, is the com-bination of text, video, audio, and anima-tion in an interactive program.

To create multimedia presentations on a com-puter, you need to have certain tools. These mayinclude traditional computer graphics tools, drawprograms, animation programs that make imagesmove, and authoring systems that tie everythingtogether. Your computer manual will tell youwhich tools your computer can support.

Practicing the SkillAsk yourself the following questions when

developing a multimedia presentation:

1 Which forms of media do I want to include?Video? Sound? Animation? Photographs?Graphics?

2 Which of these media forms does my computersupport?

3 What kind of software programs or systems doI need? A paint program? A draw program? Ananimation program? A program to create inter-active, or two-way, communication? An author-ing system that will allow me to change images,sound, and motion?

4 Is there a “do-it-all” program I can use todevelop the kind of presentation I want?

Skills AssessmentComplete the Practicing Skills questions on

page 291 and the Chapter 8 Skill ReinforcementActivity to assess your mastery of this skill.

Developing a Multimedia Presentation

Applying the SkillDeveloping a Multimedia Presentation Using youranswers to the questions under “Practicing the Skill” asguidelines, write a plan describing a multimedia pres-entation on writers of the American literary renaissanceor romanticism. Indicate what tools you will need andwhat you must do for a successful presentation.

Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive WorkbookCD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction andpractice in key social studies skills.

Reviewing Key Facts15. Identify: Tariff of Abominations, Daniel Webster, Trail of

Tears, Second Great Awakening, Joseph Smith, LymanBeecher, Horace Mann, William Lloyd Garrison.

16. In what two ways did President Andrew Jackson expanddemocracy?

17. What were two factors that led to President Jackson’s deci-sion to sign the Indian Removal Act?

18. What main ideas did American romanticists and transcen-dentalists believe?

19. How did reformers improve the public education system inthe early to mid-1800s?

20. Name four groups of people involved in the abolitionistmovement, and list what each did to try to end slavery.

Critical Thinking21. Analyzing Themes: Groups and Institutions Which group

or groups of Americans did not benefit from the reforms ofthe early to mid-1800s? Explain.

22. Synthesizing What were the main themes of American writ-ers, philosophers, and artists during the Second GreatAwakening? Do you think their writings and works of artinfluenced the reform movements in the United States duringthe early to mid-1800s? Explain your answer.

23. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the onebelow to list the areas of life that people in the United Statestried to improve during the early to mid-1800s.

24. Interpreting Primary Sources Some people did not sup-port free public education in the early 1800s. The excerptbelow was an editorial written to the members of the legisla-ture. It appeared in the Raleigh Register of November 9,1829. Read the excerpt and answer the questions that follow.

“Common schools indeed! Money is very scarce, andthe times are unusually hard. . . . Gentlemen, it appearsto me that schools are sufficiently plenty, and that thepeople have no desire they should be increased. Those

ReformMovements

Democracy Expanded for Some

Change Was Limited for Others

The Second Great AwakeningInspired Reform

Reform Efforts Led toFurther Division

• Nominating convention replaced caucus system ofchoosing presidential candidates.

• Voting rights were expanded for white males.

• Jackson’s spoils system favored common people.

• Women’s movement gained attention but accomplishedlittle else.

• Native Americans were driven out of the South.

• Nativism led to discrimination against immigrants.

• Commitment to religion swelled church congregations.

• New religions were established.

• American literature blossomed; romanticism andtranscendentalism influenced art.

• Prison reform movement resulted in better facilities.

• Access to education was expanded.

• Abolitionist and temperance movements grew steadily.

• Members of newly established religions were persecuted.

• Many Northerners opposed slavery but saw abolitionas a threat to the existing social system.

• Some publishers of abolitionist literature were attacked.

• Southerners defended slavery as an economic necessity.

• House of Representatives was pressured to impose a gagrule limiting debate on abolitionist petitions.

1. spoils system

2. caucus system

3. secede

4. nullification

5. nativism

6. romanticism

7. transcendentalism

8. utopia

9. benevolent society

10. temperance

11. penitentiary

12. gradualism

13. abolition

14. emancipation

Reviewing Key TermsOn a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence.

now in operation are not all filled, and it is very doubtfulif they are productive or of much real benefit. Would itnot redound as much to the advantage of young per-sons, and to the honour of the State, if they should passtheir days in the cotton patch, or at the plow, or in thecornfield, instead of being [confined] in a school house,where they are earning nothing?”

—from the Raleigh Register, November 9, 1829

a. What reasons does the author give for opposing freepublic education?

b. Are the author’s reasons valid? Explain your answer.

Practicing Skills 25. Developing a Multimedia Presentation Develop a plan for

a presentation on the social and cultural changes in theUnited States discussed in this chapter. Consider the follow-ing points to help guide you.a. What specific examples would you use to show the differ-

ent social and cultural changes taking place in the country?

b. What form of media would you use for each example?

Writing Activity26. Portfolio Writing You read in a Boston newspaper that the

Massachusetts legislature is going to hear statements from citi-zens concerning the care of the mentally ill. Prepare and write apaper that you can read to the committee members on thissubject. In the paper, explain your ideas on caring for the men-tally ill and whether or not you feel society has an obligation todo so. Save the paper in your portfolio.

Chapter Activities27. Research Project Conduct research to learn more about

one reformer discussed in the chapter. Role-play the personby introducing yourself to the class and describing yourbackground, what you want to reform, and how you will goabout making these improvements.

28. American History Primary Source Document Library CD-ROM Read “Women’s Rights” by Sojourner Truth, underThe Growing Nation. Imagine that you are a reporter for anewspaper and your assignment is to cover the OhioWomen’s Convention. Write an article in which you reviewTruth’s speech. In your article, explain her arguments forwomen’s rights and describe how members of the conven-tion reacted to her speech.

Geography and History29. The graph above shows voter participation from 1824 to

1840. Study the graph, and then answer the questions below.a. Interpreting Graphs In which presidential election year

did voter participation increase the most from the previ-ous presidential election year?

b. Applying Graph Skills What do you think accounted forthe increase in voter participation?

Self-Check QuizVisit the American Vision Web site at tav.glencoe.comand click on Self-Check Quizzes—Chapter 8 to assess your knowledge of chapter content.

HISTORY

Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.

Perc

ent o

f Elig

ible

Vot

ers

Who

Vot

ed

1824 1828 1832 1836 1840

70

60

50

40

30

80

20

Election Years

Voter Participation, 1824–1840

26.9%

57.6% 55.4% 57.8%

80.2%


StandardizedTest Practice

Directions: Read the passage below andanswer the question that follows.

Susan B. Anthony, who was raised as a Quaker, was apowerful organizer in the women’s rights movement. Adedicated reformer, she joined the temperance move-ment and worked for the American Antislavery Society.

Sojourner Truth, a former enslaved person, spoke outagainst slavery and in defense of women’s rights. Truthoften attended women’s rights conventions to remindwomen that their African American sisters had a place inthe movement.

Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth both worked forwhich of the following reforms?

A Abolitionism and education

B Education and temperance

C Temperance and women’s rights

D Women’s rights and abolitionism

Test-Taking Tip: The important word in this question isboth. Several reform movements are mentioned, but thequestion asks about the reforms both women supported.


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