Transcript Introduction - DePaul University

Unit III: The Family in mid-19th
Century America
Robin Burke
GAM 206
Preliminaries
o Antebellum (pre-Civil War)
America
o a country divided
o Slavery
o gradually eliminated in the North
o becomes an economic
powerhouse in the South
o and a defining institution
o Cultural movement, politics,
economic development
o cannot be divorced from this fact
Emancipation in the North
Missouri Compromise, 1820
Political Issues
o Balance of power in House and
Senate
o slave seats vs free seats
o census issues (3/5 rule)
o How to handle new territories
o Status of slaves in free states
o fugitive slave law
o Dredd Scott decision
o Political parties
o had northern and southern wings
o had to try to satisfy both
o (until 1856)
Economic Issues
o Southern states
o agricultural economies
o capital-intensive (in human form)
o enormously profitable
o mono-cultural
o Northern states
o more diversified economy
o quick adoption of mechanization
o railroad networks
o largest arrival point for immigrants
Cultural Issues
o South
o original settlers were businessmen
o maintained connections to England
o economic power
o large-scale agriculture
o tobacco
o colonial conditions very hazardous
o tropical diseases
o organized native resistance
o North
o original settlers were religious refugees
o fleeing persecution in England
o economic power
o commercial fishing (cod)
o colonial conditions difficult
o but families often survived intact
Consequences
o Southern culture
o more hedonistic
o more closely tied to English class
distinctions
o Northern culture
o more straight-laced
o more egalitarian
Two Trends
o Religious Revival
o and reformist repercussions
o Industrialization
Both of which contributed to
o Sectionalization
Religious Revival
o First "Great Awakening"
o outpouring of religious sentiment
o 1720-1750
o originated in New England
o spread by charismatic preachers
o emphasized personal responsibility for
salvation
o taught that Americans were chosen
people
o Second "Great Awakening"
o another wave of religious activity
o 1790s to 1830s
o included North, South and West
o a reaction to "liberal" religious notions
coming from European thinkers
Revival Meeting
Denominational Growth
Offshoots of Religious Revival
o Temperance
o Abolition
o Women's Rights
o Transcendentalism
Temperance Movement
1826 - American Temperance Society
“Demon Rum”!
Frances Willard
R1-6
The Beecher Family
Consumption of Alcohol
The Drunkard’s Progress
From the first glass to the grave, 1846
Abolitionist Movement
 1816  American Colonization
Society created (gradual,
voluntary emancipation.
 Created a free slave state in
Liberia, West Africa.
 No real anti-slavery sentiment
in the North in the 1820s & 1830s.
The Liberator
Premiere issue  January 1, 1831
R2-5
The Tree of Slavery
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
1845  The Narrative of the Life
Of Frederick Douglass
R212
Anti-Slavery Alphabet
Southern Pro-Slavery Propaganda
Industrialization
o The abundant natural resources
of the United States
o Increased labor pools
o due to immigration from Europe
o labor shortages had been common
earlier
o Improved modes of
transportation
o canals
o railroads
Price of Transportation
The Advance of Industrialization
o Home-based manufacture
o common since medieval times
o distributors gave raw materials to workers who
produced at home
o "putting out" system
o Starts to be replaced by factories
o mechanization
o water, then steam power
o standardization
o Eli Whitney applies interchangeable parts to firearms
o specialization of labor
Cotton
o Cotton textiles were the first
factory goods
o plans sneaked out of England by
Samuel Slater in 1789
o Boston Manufacturing Company
o by 1836
o 6,000 workers
o 80% young women
Spread of Textile Mills
Farming Loses Dominance
The Process of Urbanization
o Three types of cities
o Commercial centers
o New York, Philadelphia, Boston
o Mill towns
o Lowell, Waltham, New Haven
o Transportation hubs
o Chicago
o New Orleans
Urbanization by 1850
Class Structure in the Cities
o The inequities of wealth and lifestyle in the
urban areas
o reflected social fluidity and
o the potential for everyone to “make it.”
o Americans believed capitalists deserved
the profits from economic expansion
o The growing inequities
o solidified class lines and
o led to increased social agitation and labor
protests.
Middle-Class Life and Ideals
o The new middle class benefited from
economic growth.
o Furnished houses with the latest
conveniences were the rule
o compared to the inadequate housing of
the working class.
o Genteel behavior and etiquette as
well as specific designations for
gender and age.
Mounting Urban Tensions
o Social tensions led to dramatic
increases in urban violence in the
years before the Civil War
o also during the Civil War
o Large American cities were slow to
establish a professional police force
relying instead on volunteer
constables.
Working-Class Reform
o The reform movement gradually was
adapted to the conditions in factories
o trade unions began to appear.
o Skilled workers
o organized to protect their crafts and
o negotiated better conditions.
o The National Trades Union (1834) was the first
attempt at a nation-wide labor organization
The South
o Did not experience much
industrialization
o remained agrarian
o Inadequate transportation
o except by water
o Poorly-developed financial
system
Southern Society (1850)
6,000,000
“Slavocracy”
[plantation owners]
The “Plain Folk”
[white yeoman farmers]
Black Freemen
250,000
Black Slaves
3,200,000
Total US Population --> 23,000,000
[9,250,000 in the South = 40%]
Slave-Owning Families (1850)
Changes in Cotton Production
1820
1860
Value of Cotton Exports
Includes textiles manufactured
from southern cotton
Westward Expansion
o After the War of 1812
o movement to the Old Northwest began in
earnest
o territory east of the Mississippi ceased to
be "frontier" by 1840s
o Federal land policy
o Homestead act
o land was free if you could make it productive
o Mistaken ideas about agriculture
caused farmers to ignore prairies as
arable land
o until later in the century
Farming in the East
o By mid-century, fertile land in the east
began to run out.
o Irresponsible farming techniques depleted the
soil
o Cities encroached on farmland
o Couldn't compete with western grain farmers
o Switched crops
o cattle farming for meat and milk
o fresh vegetable production for the urban markets
o no refrigeration meant no competition
Jackson’s Indian Policy
o Indians occupied prime land for farming
o in Georgia, Alabama, and other states
o Andrew Jackson favored
o forcible removal
o relocation westward on reservations.
o Supreme Court ruled
o that Indians could occupy but not hold title to
land in the United States
o Military force was used
o forced Indian Nations to march west to presentday Oklahoma
o "trail of tears" 1835-1838
Sectionalization
o After the Mexican-American War
o new territories were added
oTexas, New Mexico, California, Utah,
o Increasingly bitter confrontation
o whether new states would be free
or slave
o neither side could compromise
oNorth saw slavery increasingly as evil
oSouth saw emancipation as a cultural
death sentence
Then
o In 1860
o the country elects a anti-slavery
Northerner as president
o Abraham Lincoln
o Most previous presidents had been
o either Northerners with southern
sympathies
o James Buchanan 1856
o Franklin Pierce 1852
o or southerners
o Zachary Taylor 1848
Civil War
o 1861-1865
o Abraham Lincoln
o Robert E. Lee
o Battles
o Emancipation Proclamation
o Almost 1 million dead
o 3% of the population
o 1/3 civilians
Monday
o Gameplay
o Reading
o 1st chapter Huck's Raft