SOCIETY AND CULTURE OF THE 1800S

SOCIETY  Social structure –Favorable social mobility –Three classes; Elite, Middle, Poor  Families –Change in marriage –Change in parenting –“Cult of Domesticity”  Emphasized gender roles, especially in Middle Class homes  Men work outside the home, Women work inside the home –“Republican Motherhood”  Women show their patriotism and political values by raising sons to be good citizens

ARTS & LITERATURE  Painting –Hudson River School-fascination with natural world, landscapes  Architecture –Greek style columns  Literature –Nationalism-American authors & themes –Washington Irving wrote? –James Fennimore Cooper wrote ? –Nathaniel Hawthorn wrote? –Herman Melville wrote?

ENTERTAINMENT  Museums –Charles Wilson Peale  American Lyceum Movement –Traveling “lecture” program  “Bowery Boys & Gals” –Urban underground city life  Minstrel Shows –Comedic, racist, nativist

RELIGION  1820s-1830s-2 nd Great Awakening  North-”Burned-over District” (NY) –Groups played major role in social reforms  Revivals  Charles Finney-Perfection and helping society  South-increase in Baptists & Methodists, by 1850 largest protestant groups in US

RELIGION  Examples of new religions –Millennialism  Also called “Millerites”  Prominent belief- world would end on Oct. 21, 1844  After the date- religion declined  Led to Seventh-Day Adventists

RELIGION –Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints  Known as Mormons  Established in Burned-over district  Utopian community –Common property –Polygamy  Helped to settle the west

RELIGION  Shakers –6000 in 1840s –Believed in common property –Separated men & women –Women equal to men –Financially stable due to furniture making –Died out in the mid 1900s-no new recruits

TRANSCENDENTALISTS  Movement in Literature that led to change in society  Famous authors –Ralph Waldo Emerson-Leaves of Grass –Henry David Thoreau-Walden  Essay-”On Civil Disobedience” influenced Gandhi & MLK jr.  Questioned established religions  Believed artistic expression more important then the pursuit of wealth  Supported variety of reforms-especially abolition of slavery

TRANSCENDENTALISTS

TRANSCENDENTALISTS  Formed 1 st Utopian experiment –1841 –Brook farm in Massachusetts –Led by George Ripley –Study the natural union between intelligence & manual labor –Most famous member- Nathaniel Hawthorn –Attracted the New England elite –Ended in 1849-due to debts and a fire

COMMUNAL EXPERIMENTS  New Harmony –Indiana –Robert Owen –Political-Socialists  Common property –Failed due to finances & arguments

COMMUNAL EXPERIMENTS  Grahamanites –Sylvester Graham –1830s in Massachusetts –Purity of body –First vegetarian –Believed in whole wheat “graham” bread, fruits, vegetables, cold water, & exercise –Condemned tobacco, coffee, tea, alcohol, & white flour

COMMUNAL EXPERIMENTS  Oneida –Highly Controversial –John Noyes –New York (1848) –Common property-included partners  Religious belief-marriage interfered with love of God –Planned reproduction & child- rearing –Equality to women –Economically prosperous due to production of high quality silverware

REFORMS  All began as persuasion through sermons & pamphlets, then moved to political action  Temperance-prohibit alcohol –1826-American Termperance Society –1840s-water served during parties in middle class households –Immigrants largely opposed-no political power –Factory Owners & politicians joined with reformers- Why? –1851; Maine becomes 1 st state to prohibit the manufacture & sale of alcohol –Late 1850s, overshadowed by anti-slavery reforms

REFORMS  Mental Hospitals –Dorothea Dix –Professional treatment at state expense  Prisons –Structure & discipline would bring moral reform –Auburn System (NY)-discipline but also moral instruction and work programs  Education –Horace Mann –1840s-tax supported public school system –Compulsory attendance –Longer school year –Teacher Preparation Academies –McGuffey Reader-virtues of hard work & sobriety

REFORMS  Women’s Rights Movement –Many women participated in reform movements –Sarah & Angelina Grimke-”Letter on the Condition of Women & the Equity of the Sexes” (1837) –Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton –Seneca Fall Convention (1848) in NY  Wrote document modeled after Declaration of Independence  “Declaration of Sentiments”  Listed women’s grievances against the government  Stanton & Susan B. Anthony begin the campaign for voting rights –1850s overshadowed by Abolitionists