Transcript 5_-_Social_Changes_1800-1850

Social Changes in the US
1800-1850
HUSH
Unit 4
Second Great Awakening
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Second Great Awakening continuedrejection of Puritan beliefs and more
emphasis on the idea that God allowed
people to make own decisions.
Charles Grandison Finney- NY Presbyterian
minister/lawyer- “common sense” religion
Lyman Beecher- revivalist- reformistabolitionist
father of Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Transcendentalists
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The Transcendentalists- “to rise above”- humans
are naturally good- moral lives can make society
better- good works can defeat evil
Ralph Waldo Emerson- leader of movementUnitarian pastor
Character is higher than intellect... A great soul will
be strong to live, as well as to think.
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead
where there is no path and leave a trail.
Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild
air…
Transcendentalism
(European Romanticism)
“Liberation from understanding and
the cultivation of reasoning.”
“Transcend” the limits of intellect
and allow the emotions, the soul,
to create an original relationship
with the Universe.
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau- student of
Emerson- author, poet, philosopher,
and abolitionist best known for Walden
or Life in the Woods and 18 essays
about his life in the wilderness of
Concord MA. Also known for Civil
Disobedience, an essay recalling his
revolt against paying taxes for the
Mexican War.
Transcendentalist
Intellectuals/Writers
Concord, MA
Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Nature
(1832)
Self-Reliance
(1841)
Henry David
Thoreau
Walden
(1854)
Resistance to Civil
Disobedience
(1849)
“The American
Scholar” (1837)
R3-1/3/4/5
Thoreau Quotations
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Go confidently in the direction of your
dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As
you simplify your life, the laws of the
universe will be simpler.
Do not be too moral. You may cheat
yourself out of much life. Aim above
morality. Be not simply good; be good for
something.
If you would convince a man that he
does wrong, do right. Men will believe
what they see.
Men are born to succeed, not fail.
I know of no more encouraging fact than
the unquestioned ability of a man to
elevate his life by conscious endeavor.
Public Education
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Public education was better in the North
than South and middle states
Reformers wanted working class children
educated by tax-supported public schools
Differentiated grade levels became
widespread
Free public schools became norm in North
Horace Mann (1796-1859)
“Father of
American Education”
 children were clay in the
hands
of teachers and school officials
 children should be “molded”
into a state of perfection
 discouraged corporal
punishment
 established state teachertraining programs
R3-6
Prison Reform
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Dorothea Dix
Reformer
wanted prisons
cleaned up and
regulated
Homes for mentally ill
established in north
Utopian Communities
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Utopia is a pun
meaning both "good
place" and "no place.“
Based on book by the
British author- Sir
Thomas More.
19th century utopian
communities tried to
change the way man
lived and create a
perfect society
The Oneida Community
New York, 1848
 Millenarianism --> the
2nd
coming of Christ had
already occurred.
 Humans were no longer
obliged to follow the moral
rules of the past.
• all residents married
John Humphrey Noyes
(1811-1886)
•
to each other.
carefully regulated
“free love.”
New Harmony, Indiana
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Robert Owen established a
communistic colony in New
Harmony, IN that gained
prominence as a cultural
and scientific center and
attracted many noted
scientists, educators, and
writers.
Dissension arose, and in
1828 the community
ceased to exist as a
distinct enterprise,
although the town
remained an intellectual
center.
Original Plans for New Harmony, IN
The Actual New Harmony in 1832
Brook Farm
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An experimental farm at West
Roxbury, Mass., based on
cooperative living.
The members of Brook Farm
believed that they could create a
utopian microcosm of society that
would eventually serve as a model
for and inaugurate the social
macrocosm.
Physical labor was perceived as a
condition of mental well-being and
health.
They believed that manual labor
was uplifting, and thus, every
member, even the writers and
poets, spent at least a few hours a
day in physical effort.
The Shakers
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The name Shakers comes
from “Shaking Quakers”
was originally applied as a
mocking description of their
rituals of trembling,
shouting, dancing, shaking,
singing
The Shakers established
several communities in the
US
The first in 1776 at
Nikayuna near Albany, NY
The governing principals of
the Shaker life included
celibacy and agrarian
communal living
The Shakers
Shaker Hymn
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'Tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
'Till by turning, turning we come round right.
Shaker Simplicity & Utility
The Utopian Communities
Clash!
Individual
Freedom
Demands of
Community Life
spontaneity
discipline
self-fulfillment
organizational
hierarchy
The Temperance Movement
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The Temperance
Movement- the
campaign to rid the US
of “demon rum”
Drunken lives wastedlives of families
impacted- Reformers
theorized that all could
be changed if alcohol
was made illegal
ME-passed lawreformers had an
impact in educating
public of dangers
The Temperance Movement
1826 - American Temperance Society
Fought against “Demon Rum”!
Frances Willard
R1-6
The Beecher Family
Annual Consumption of
Alcohol
The Drunkard’s Progress
From the first glass to the grave, 1846
Temperance in song and print
By the late 1820s,
temperance groups were
holding public meetings and
distributing prohibition
pamphlets and songs.
Opposition to temperance
I
Saloon owners, liquor distributors, and other
organizations that opposed the temperance
movement, published their own songs
suggesting that the “prudes” also enjoyed a
drink from time to time.
Abolitionist Movements
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Anti-slavery groups
became mush more
organized and
committed in the
1830’s-1840’s.
Founders of
Abolitionist
movementsMennonites, Quakers,
free blacks,
northerners, women
Anti-Slavery Alphabet
Liberia
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African homeland
established in western
Africa for freed AfricanAmericans
Set up by African
Colonization Society
Not popular among most
blacks
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Only 140,000 emigrated
from US
William Lloyd Garrison
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Famous Boston
abolitionist and publisher
of The Liberator
Slavery was a moral, not
an economic issue
 Slavery undermined
values.
Wanted
 Immediate
emancipation
Helped get attention
started a movement of
radical abolitionists
The Liberator
Premiere issue  January 1, 1831
R2-5
The Tree of Slavery—Loaded
with the Sum of All Villanies!
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
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R212
Former slave who
escaped
Maryland and
became famous
writer and
speaker
Publisher of the
North Star- an
abolitionist
newspaperBecame advisor
to President
Lincoln later in life
Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)
or Isabella Baumfree
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Became religious
reformer who took on
the cause of both
women rights and
abolition
1850 --> The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
R2-10
The Underground Railroad
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A network of escape
routes from the
South to the
North/Canada- secret
stops along the way
made for a safe route
to freedom.
Harriet Tubman led
more than 300 slaves
to freedom and
earned the name
“Moses”
The Underground Railroad
“Conductor” ==== leader of the escape
“Passengers” ==== escaping slaves
“Tracks” ==== routes
“Trains” ==== farm wagons transporting
the escaping slaves
“Depots” ==== safe houses to rest/sleep
Harriet Tubman (1820-1913)
•Tubman suffered
from seizures and
blackouts due to a
childhood injury that
a slave-owner“Moses”
had
inflicted on her•“Let my people go”
•“I never lost a
passenger”
$40,000 bounty on her head.
Served as a Union spy during the Civil War.
Resistance to Abolition
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North- Merchants opposed due to the idea it
would harm business and cause competition for
jobs
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Whites did not want blacks in neighborhoods… 
South- believed that the south should be able
to decide for itself- no federal rules on what they
believed was a states rights issue
Anger and fear at the Nat Turner rebellion;
Powerful Southern leaders invoked the gag
rule in Congress which made it illegal to even
speak or read abolitionist literature in Congress
Even Churches Split over Slavery
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American churches divided over the slavery
issue
The Methodist and Baptist churches split into
two sides creating 2 churches in many towns
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Created Southern Baptists (Pro-slavery)
Created Methodist Episcopal Church (Abolitionists)
The South generally did not change in any large
form by any reform movements
The Northern abolitionists had to wait to Civil
War for changes to happen
The Lack of Women’s Rights
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5.
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Unable to vote.
Legal status of a minor.
Single  could own her own
property.
Married  no control over her
property or her children.
Could not initiate divorce.
Couldn’t make wills, sign a contract,
or bring suit in court without her
husband’s permission.
What It Would Be Like If Ladies
Had Their Own Way!
R2-8
“Separate Spheres” Concept
“Cult of Domesticity”
A woman’s “sphere” was in the home (it was a
refuge from the cruel world outside).
Her role was to “civilize” her husband and
family.
 An 1830s MA minister:
The power of woman is her dependence. A woman
who gives up that dependence on man to become a
reformer yields the power God has given her for
her protection, and her character becomes
unnatural!
Slow Progress for Women
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Urbanization and industrialization
changed the lives of women
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Many working class women worked outside
the home in factories
Catherine Beecher- daughter of
abolitionist Lyman Beecher became an
advocate for women’s rights
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established a school for women interested in
pursuing an education
Tactics Used for Equal Rights
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The reformists used boycotts, lectures,
demonstrations
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Women reformers became involved in
abolitionist movement because of the many
parallels between the two groups
1840- The first “World Anti-slavery
Convention” was held in London
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Women were not allowed to attend.
This caused the birth of a powerful group of
women who set out to change things
Important Women Reformers
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Sojourner Truth became powerful
speaker for movements as well as
Catherine Beecher, her sister Harriet
Beecher Stowe, and Harriet Tubman
Lucretia Mott- Quaker minister who
housed runaway slaves
Elizabeth Cady Stanton- Lawyer who
fought for women’s rights and abolition
R2-6/7
Women’s Rights
1840 --> split in the abolitionist movement
over women’s role in it.
London --> World Anti-Slavery Convention
Lucretia Mott
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
1848 --> Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments
The Seneca Falls Convention
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In Seneca Falls NY in 1848, a group of
reformers met an presented a
Declaration of Sentiments based on
Declaration of Independence
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12 Resolutions including suffrage for women
Most Americans still believed a women’s
place was in the home
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Congress did not take the Seneca Falls
Resolutions seriously
However, it was step in the right direction
Declaration of Sentiments
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We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all
men and women are created equal; that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights
governments are instituted, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed.
Whenever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the right of those
who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and
to insist upon the institution of a new
government, laying its foundation on such
principles, and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness…
Women’s Rights Take a Back
Seat…For Now
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After Seneca Falls, society became a bit
more accepting of some rights for women
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Girls began to be educated
Colleges accepted women
But men and women reformers put the issue
of slavery on the front burner
Women’s rights had to wait until after the
Civil War and late 19th century-early 20th
Immigration
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Immigration Issues appeared because
of the rising numbers of immigrants
Most came from northern Europe
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Ireland and Germany
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1820’s- 129k
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1830’s-540k
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1840’s- 2.8 million!!!!
Irish Immigrants
In the mid 1840’s the Irish Potato Famine hit
the Emerald Isle and devastated the island’s
crops and way of life
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It was a blight that turned potatoes black
Many Irish fled and moved to Boston and New
York and became naturalized American
citizens
Took labor, working class jobs- and policemenestablished a place in the northeast
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Working class people- no real education or skills
Most became Democrats… It’s that common man
theme again!
A third of the
Potato Crop was
wiped out in Ireland
The Great Hunger
German Immigrants
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Rebellions in Europe as a result of local wars
and the Protestant Reformation scattered many
Germans to England and then to the US
Many Germans settled in the East and Midwest
Most were German Catholics had been
discriminated against in Protestant Europe and
came looking for a new home and new life
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Most were hard-working
Some were working class but others were middle
class
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Different than Irish…blended more quickly
The Fight Gets Political
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Political parties were formed to fight
the influx of too many immigrants
American Republican Party
Tried to pass a law establishing a 21
year old age requirement for
immigrants
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It didn’t pass
The Divisions Widen
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What were
the
two sides of
these
important
issues?
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Economics
Alcohol
Immigration
Women’s rights
Slavery
Religion
Ethnic groups
Social morals
Immigration Issues in US
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Many immigrants faced discrimination by “real
Americans”
Religious and economic differences
Do these sound familiar?
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Are they taking jobs?
Should we be paying to educate their children?
Are they causing the “wrong party” to be elected??
Do they believe the Pope should run the country from
Rome?
2004 Election Headlines
Outreach effort and moral values theme
pays off for Bush with Hispanics
-- Nov. 3, 2004 [FOX News]
Election Reinforces USA’s Religious Schism
-- Nov. 4, 2004 [USA Today]
'It's a Victory for People Like Us'
Bush Emphasis on Values Drew Ohio Evangelicals
-- Nov. 5, 2004 [Washington Post]