Notes

CH.11 Outline
SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND REFORM 1820-1860
Antebellum period
-during Civil War
-reformers dedicated to causes that established free public schools, improving treatment of mentally ill, controlling alcohol, winning rights for women, abolishing slavery
Sources of reform
-Puritan sense of mission, Enlightenment belief of human perfectibility, politics of Jacksonian democracy, changing relationships among men and women
-powerful religious motives

I. RELIGION (early 19th century)
-partly against rationalism
-Calvinist (Puritan teachings) were rejected for more forgiving doctrines
Second Great Awakening-->Calvinism counterattacked liberal views, Reverend Timothy Dwight, played great role in Northern states for social reform
New York-->Charles G. Finney started series of revivals, appealed to emotions/fear
Baptists & Methodists--> South/West, outdoor revival camp meetings, largest protestant denominations
Millennialism-->belief that world would end w/second coming of Christ, new religion continued as Seventh-Day Adventists
Mormons--> founded by Joseph Smith, based on Book of Mormon, migrated to Utah (New Zion) under leader Brigham Young, practiced polygamy

II. CULTURE: IDEAS, ARTS, & LIT
-romantic movement in art & lit, stressed intuition/feelings, heroism, nature
A. Transcendentalists-->discover inner self, God in nature, challenged materialism, individualistic, supported antislavery
Ralph Waldo Emerson-->popular lecturer, evoked nationalistic spirit, no imitation of Europe, self-reliance
Henry David Thoreau-->experimented by living in woods for 2 yrs, used nature to discover truths about life, wrote Walden & “On Civil Disobedience” (refused to pay tax for Mexican War)
Brook Farm-->communal experiment by George Ripley, intellectuals of period lived there
B. Communal Experiments (middle 19th century)
-idea of withdrawing from conventional society to create an ideal community, or Utopia
-most failed or died out
Shakers-->one of the earliest communal movements, kept women and men separate
New Harmony--> Indiana, Robert Owen hoped it would answer problems of inequity and alienation
Oneida community-->John Humphrey Noyes, highly controversial, members shared property and marriage partners, planned reproduction and communal child-rearing
Fourier Phalanxes--> Charles Fourier, share work and living arrangements to solve problems of fiercely competitive society
C. Arts and Literature
Painting-->genre painting portraying everyday life or ordinary people, American landscapes
Architecture-->classical Greek styles during Jacksonian era to glorify democratic spirit
Literature-->transcendentalist authors, people more eager to read works of American writers about American themes

III. REFORMING SOCIETY
A. Temperance--> most popular reform movement, American Temperance Society founded to persuade drinkers to take pledge of abstinence, largely opposed by German and Irish
Maine-->first state to prohibit manufacture and sale of liquors before Civil War
B. Public Asylums-->many were neglected or abused, reformers proposed setting up new public institutions to cure inmates of antisocial behavior
Mental Hospitals--> Dorothea Dix, worked to improve conditions for emotionally disturbed persons
Schools for deaf and blind-->many established in Union states
Prisons-->new ones in PA, reflected major doctrine of asylum movement of structure/discipline bringing about moral reform
C. Public Education
-free for children of all classes
Free Common Schools-->Horace Mann advocated public schools, compulsory attendance, longer school year
Moral Education-->wanted kids to be taught morality, McGuffey text books were made, private schools founded for Catholic/foreign kids
Higher Education-->growth of private colleges fueled by 2nd great awakening, some began to admit women
D. Changing American Family and Women’s Rights Movement
-Industrialization reduced value of children, family size decreased
Cult of Domesticity-->men responsible for economic affairs, women were moral leaders at home
Origins of women’s rights movement-->Sarah and Angelina Grimke, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Seneca Falls Convention-->leading feminists met to issue their “Declaration of Sentiments, listing women’s grievances
E. Antislavery Movement
-2nd great awakening made slavery a sin
American Colonization Society-->society with idea of transporting freed slaves to African colony
American Antislavery Society-->William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, advocated immediate abolition of slavery w/out compensation
Liberty party-->northerners, Garrison’s radicalism led them to split with abolitionist movement, bring end to slavery by political means
Black Abolitionists--> most outspoken, Frederick Douglass spoke firsthand about brutality of slavery
Violent abolitionism-->most radical solution to slavery, revolting against “masters”, Nat Turner (VA slave) led revolt in 1831
F. Other Reforms
American peace society, protection of seamen floggings, dietary reforms, dress reform for women, study of skulls shape to asses character (phrenology)
G. Southern Reaction to Reform
-had little impact on many areas of south, more committed to tradition
-viewed social reform as northern conspiracy against southern way of life