Societal Change -2 nd Great Awakening -period of religious revival after 1800 Women become leaders, begin to fight against slavery -fewer religious “ pilgrims ” -Charles Finney and tent meetings. Leader “There must be excitement sufficient to wake up the dormant moral powers, and roll back the tide of degradation and sin. And precisely so far as our own land approximates to heathenism, it is impossible for God or man to promote religion in such a state of things but by powerful excitements.—Where mankind are so reluctant to obey God, they will not obey until they are excited…persons will never give up their false shame...till they are so excited that they cannot contain themselves any longer…” ~Charles Finney, “Religious Revival” (1835)

Societal Change -Utopian Communities -communal societies based on everyone working together -most did not work well Human nature -New Harmony “I have already assisted to load twenty or thirty carts of manure, and shall take part in loading nearly three hundred more. Besides, I have planted potatoes and peas, cut straw and hay for the cattle, and done various other mighty works. This very morning, I milked three cows; and I milk two or three every night and morning…I have gained strength wonderfully and can do a day’s work without the slightest inconvenience. In short, I am transformed into a complete farmer.” ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, A Letter from Brook Farm (1841)

Transcendentalism -belief in a simple lifestyle Individualism, self-reliance, and self-motivation -Walt Whitman - ” Leaves of Grass ” -Ralph Waldo Emerson - ” Self-Reliance ” -Henry David Thoreau - ” Civil Disobedience ” Gap between the intellectual and common man Active in anti-slavery movement

Education -one room schools Wanted educated citizens to participate in democracy -few educated beyond age 10 -Horace Mann advocated public schools for everyone Public tax to pay for public schools -Noah Webster development of an American dictionary “If we do not prepare children to become good citizens…if we do not enrich their minds with knowledge, then our republic must go down to destruction, as others have gone down before it.” “An educated people is always a more industrious and productive people. Intelligence is a primary ingredient in the wealth of nations.” ~Horace Mann, 1837

Institution Reform -Dorothea Dix -help for the mentally ill Sane and insane in the same jail cells, wants them separated -helped to start several mental hospitals -prison reform Cleaner facilities and ended brutal punishments -meant to rehabilitate Help inmates learn to become productive members of society “I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens ! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience!” ~Dorothea Dix

American Culture -James Fenimore Cooper “ Last of the Mohicans ” -Nathaniel Hawthorne “ Scarlet Letter ” -Washington Irving “ Sleepy Hollow ” -Herman Melville “ Moby Dick ” -Edgar Allan Poe “ Raven ” -Emily Dickinson reclusive poet Hudson River School -landscape painters All helped to promote nationalism and a new American culture

American Culture -Hudson River School -landscape painters -Alex de Tocqueville “ Democracy in America ”

Life under Slavery -Rural Slavery plantations Large farms with many slaves that grow cash crops field work Large crews and harsh foremen house workers Treated better, but more subject to sexual abuse -urban slavery skilled labor Used in factories more freedoms Still seen as property

Abolitionists -those who opposed slavery -William Lloyd Garrison “ The Liberator ” Abolitionist newspaper -David Walker freedom by force -Frederick Douglas “ North Star ” Escaped slave who purchased his freedom by selling auto- biography Began abolitionist newspaper “I determined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard of emancipation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker Hill and in the birthplace of liberty. That standard is not unfurled; and long may it float, unhurt by the spoilations of time or the missiles of a desperate foe—yea, till every chain be broken, and every bondman set free! Let Southern oppressors tremble—let all the enemies of the persecuted blacks tremble…” ~William Lloyd Garrison, the Liberator (1831)

“The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery…All distinctions founded on complexion ought to be…abolished, and every right, privilege, and immunity, now enjoyed by the white man, ought to be as freely granted to the man of color.” ~Frederick Douglass, The North Star

Rebellion -slaves turn to violent methods -Nat Turner, 1831 led a slave revolt Led 70 slaves in raids on white families in Virginia Killed men, women, and children (no mercy) -scared many slave holders in the south -led to greater control over slaves Passed harsher slave laws and black codes “Now finding I had arrived to man’s estate, and was a slave, and these revelations being made known to me, I began to direct my attention to this great object, to fulfill the purpose for which, by this time, I felt assured I was intended…I now began to prepare [my followers] for my purpose, by telling them something was about to happen that would terminate in fulfilling the great promise that had been made to me--…” ~Nat Turner, “Confession”

Anti-slavery -emancipation The freeing of slaves -gradual (over time) -immediate (now) -religious reasons God created all men equally -moral wrong to have slaves -values of the Constitution “ All men created equal ” “ Unalienable rights ” “There is not a nation on earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.” ~Frederick Douglass, “Independence Day Speech”

Pro-slavery -new fear of revolts Turner ’ s Rebellion -black codes begin Strict laws passed on all black people in the South -religious support Slavery in the Bible - ” happy ” plantation slave myth Blacks need slave live to survive Slavery a “ necessary evil ” “Our Southern slavery has become a benign and protective institution, and our negroes are confessedly better off than any free laboring population in the world.” ~George Fitzhugh, “The Blessings of Slavery”