Ferment of Reform and Culture Chapter 15
Reviving Religion Religion was still popular, but not as strict as colonial churches Rationalist ideas soften religious zeal; question orthodoxy The Age of Reason Thomas Paine Argued churches enslave mankind and are run for profit (Marx?) Deism Emphasized reason and science to understand universe and Supreme Being s relationship with it Knowable universe and human capacity for morality Unitarianism Spun off from Deism Denied divinity of God; believe in free will; salvation through good works; God is loving creator not vengeful, stern God
Second Great Awakening Americans saw themselves as an example for the world to follow Wanted to create ideal society Conservative response to liberal reforms Relied on emotional evangelical spirit. Camp revival meetings Mass meetings where people found Jesus. Inspired missionary and reform movements Fire and brimstone speeches Peter Cartwright led Methodist revival Charles Finney Had huge crowds and brought back traditional views of religion Denounced alcohol and slavery encouraged women to pray and participate in church Women formed backbone of reform movements Millerites predicted end of world inspiring reform Second Great Awakening increased class and social divisions Charles Finney
Mormons Church of Latter Day Saints Founder: Joseph Smith Joseph Smith claimed to find secret writings of Bible in upstate New York (Book of Mormon) Challenged traditional beliefs with polygamy, economic cooperation, shared property Mormons were persecuted for beliefs forced to move to Illinois Voted as a bloc and formed militia to defend selves Smith was killed by a mob in 1844 Brigham Young Led Mormons to Salt Lake City Utah to avoid persecution Developed successful theocracy Encouraged to marry young and have lots of kids Utah becomes state in 1896 HILL CUMORAH AND MANCHESTER
Education Wealthy conservative Americans opposed free public education because it might increase poor influence over political system Eventually taxes were used to fund education to help insure stability of democracy Thomas Jefferson a civilized nation that was both ignorant and free never was and never will be Early education was weak and focused on obedience and discipline Universities Land grant state universities created in early 1800s (UNC, UVA) Coeducational universities were rare belief men and women thought differently Attracted people to towns Technical schools also developed Libraries, magazines and lectures also spread education
Education Believed literacy was key to democracy Public Education Horace Mann Horace Mann Leader of education reform movement Argued for free public education Educational reformer campaigned for effective education, paying teachers and better curriculum Noah Webster Wrote a definitive reading textbook and the first American dictionary William McGuffey Published elementary school reader that emphasized morality, patriotism and idealism
Education of Women Many were only taught household skills Some feared too much learning could hurt women or make them not feminine By 1840 most women could read and write 1821 Troy Female Seminary created by Emma Willard 1925 1836 Wesleyan College in Georgia first women s college 1837 Oberlin College in Ohio first coeducational college 1837 Mount Holyoke College Oberlin College
Reformer Movements Inspired by Second Great Awakening and rise of middle class. Women played major role in reforms Many reforms sought to protect traditional values Prison reform First national leader was Louis Dwight, also Francis Lieber, Samuel Gridley Howe and Dorothea Dix were also influential Push for prisons to reform, not just punish Debtors prisons gradually disappeared as laborers won right to vote Mentally Ill Many prisoned and chained; treated like animals or as possessed Dorothea Dix Argued for people to treat mentally ill medically and humanely Dr. John Galt 1841 Eastern Lunatic Asylum first psychiatric hospital Anti War Movements American Peace Society (1828) by William Ladd
Temperance American Temperance Society 1826 created to stop people from drinking Used pictures, postcards, lectures to spread message Ten Nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There (1854) novel that described problems with alcohol abuse Maine Law of 1851 Neal Dow First law to prohibit manufacture or sale of liquor Other states followed
Women s Rights Women denied legal rights, were treated as minors, could be beaten, but treated better than in Europe Women seen as artistic, refined, moral, keepers of society, responsible for instilling republican virtue Home was focal point of woman s world (cult of domesticity) Industrial Revolution allowed women to work and interact outside of home Women became active leaders in education and reform movements Seneca Falls Convention 1848 Led by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton Demanded equal rights and right to vote (suffrage) Declared all men and women are equal Susan B Anthony Sojourner Truth (former slave) and Susan B Anthony were leaders of women s movement as well Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was first female doctor Sara and Angelina Grimke led abolition movement Sojourner Truth
Utopians Communities where work and property was shared (communitarian, communist, cooperative) Eliminate divisions of wealth, therefore eliminate cause of conflict Robert Owens, factory owner Created Harmony Indiana in 1825 Tried to prove can make a profit while treating workers well Brook Farm Massachusetts 1841 Focused on transcendentalism Oneida Community New York in 1848 Founded by John Humphrey Noyes Focus on suppression of selfishness to lead to happiness Practiced free love, birth control and eugenics (superior breeding) Most societies eventually fail
Science and Art Early American scientific advancements were improvements on European ideas Famous scientists: Benjamin Sillman Chemistry Louis Agassiz Biology Asa Gray Botany John Audubon Birds of America. Audubon Society created for protection of birds Medical knowledge was primitive; home remedies and fads popular Greek revival architecture became popular in 1820s Painting was limited by lack of supporters and Puritan ideals Gilbert Stuart became famous for portraits Charles Willson Peale painted portraits of Washington John Trumbull painted Revolutionary war themes Literature Most early writing was practical or political ideology Literature spawns from nationalism of War of 1812 Washington Irving Knickerbockers History of New York (1809) Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow James Fenimore Cooper Last of the Mohicans Leatherstocking Tales with Natty Bummpo
Ralph Waldo Emerson Transcendentalists Believed people needed to understand themselves Truths transcend human understanding and senses Cannot be discovered through observation alone Strong emphasis on individualism and self reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian minister, poet and philosopher American Scholar Emerson argued for unique American advancements in literature and philosophy Henry David Thoreau Lived on Walden Pond Wrote Walden: Or Life in the Woods (1854) and Essay on the Duty of Civil Disobedience Inspired Gandhi, MLK and others Believed in importance of meditation and self reflection Argued against slavery Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass (1855) Became known as Poet Laureate for Democracy for his unconventional styles and subjects
Literature Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Popular American poet Evangeline, The Song of Hiawatha John Greenleaf Whittier Used poetry to argue against slavery Poet of human freedom and morality James Russell Lowell Poet, essayist, critic, editor Wrote Biglow Papers political satire about Mexican War Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Medical professor and poet Emily Dickinson Poet focused on spare language on themes of nature, death, love and immortality Edgar Allen Poe Father of detective and horror novels The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher Nathaniel Hawthorne Scarlet Letter Examines psychological effects of sin Herman Melville Moby Dick allegory of good and evil Louisa may Alcott Wrote Little Women