Chapter 9

Key Ideas

The Second Great Awakening “Spiritual Reform From Within” [Religious Revivalism] Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality

In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America, I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country… Religion was the foremost of the political institutions of the United States. -- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832 The Rise of Popular Religion

The ranges of tents, the fires, reflecting light…; the candles and lamps illuminating the encampment; hundreds moving to and fro…;the preaching, praying, singing, and shouting,… like the sound of many waters, was enough to swallow up all the powers of contemplation. Charles G. Finney (1792 – 1895) “soul-shaking” conversion Converted had a duty to spread the word about personal salvation  evangelism

Second Great Awakening Revival Meeting

“The Benevolent Empire”

Second Great Awakening

Transcendentalism Philosophical and literary movement Emphasized “Transcend” the limits of intellect and allow the emotions, the SOUL, to create an original relationship with the Universe

Transcendentalist Thinking  Man must acknowledge a body of moral truths that were intuitive and must TRANSCEND more sensational proof:

Transcendentalist Intellectuals/Writers Concord, MA Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau Nature (1832) Walden (1854) Resistance to Civil Disobedience (1849) Self-Reliance (1841) “The American Scholar” (1837)

The Transcendentalist Agenda

Their pursuit of the ideal led to a distorted view of human nature and possibilities: * The Blithedale Romance A Transcendentalist Critic: Nathaniel Hawthorne ( ) One should accept the world as an imperfect place: * Scarlet Letter * House of the Seven Gables

Utopian Communities

The Oneida Community New York, 1848 John Humphrey Noyes ( )  Millenarianism  the 2 nd coming of Christ had already occurred  Humans were no longer obliged to follow the moral rules of the past all residents married to each other carefully regulated “free love”

Robert Owen ( ) Utopian Socialist “Village of Cooperation”

Original Plans for New Harmony, IN Proposal by Owen New Harmony in 1832

New Harmony, IN New Harmony lasted from

Abolitionist Movement Both the Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalist Movement led to the Abolitionist Movement How to end slavery?

Abolitionist Movement Until 1820s most abolitionists advocated resettlement 1816  created Member certificate to American Colonization Society “Here I have dwelt until I am nearly sixty years of age, and have brought up and educated a family…Yet some ingenious gentlemen have recently discovered that I am still an African; that a continent three thousand miles, and more, from the place where I was born, is my native country. And I am advised to go home…Perhaps if I should only be set on the shore of that distant land, I should recognize all I might see there, and run at once to the old hut where my forefathers lived a hundred years ago.”

Anti-Slavery Alphabet

William Lloyd Garrison ( )

The Liberator Premiere issue  January 1, 1831

The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the Sum of All Villanies!

Other White Abolitionists Lewis Tappan Arthur Tappan James Birney Liberty Party Ran for President in 1840 & 1844

Black Abolitionists David Walker ( ) 1829  Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World

Frederick Douglass ( )  The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass  published “The North Star”

Sojourner Truth ( ) or Isabella Baumfree  The Narrative of Sojourner Truth

Harriet Tubman ( ) “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

Turner’s Rebellion Led by Nat Turner Virginia whites killed in the revolt 200+ blacks killed –56 executed (including Turner) – killed by militias and mobs Results: –

Slave Owners Defend Slavery

Penitentiary Reform Dorothea Dix ( ) 1821  first penitentiary founded in Auburn, NY R1-5/7

Dorothea Dix Asylum

Temperance Movement Frances Willard The Beecher Family American Temperance Society “Demon Rum”! R1-6

Annual Consumption of Alcohol

From the first glass to the grave, 1846 “The Drunkard’s Progress”

Educational Reform Religious Training  Secular Education  MA  always on the forefront of public educational reform * 1 st state to establish tax support for local public schools.  By 1860 every state offered free public education to whites. * US had one of the highest literacy rates.

“Father of American Education” Horace Mann ( )  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 teacher- training programs R3-6

The McGuffey Eclectic Readers Used religious parables to teach “American values” Teach middle class morality and respect for order Teach “3 Rs” + “Protestant ethic” (frugality, hard work, sobriety) R3-8

Early 19c Women

Women Educators Troy, NY Female Seminary Curriculum: math, physics, history, geography Train female teachers Emma Willard ( ) Mary Lyons ( ) 1837 Mt. Holyoke (College) first college for women Prudence Crandall ( ) 1831 Opened school for girls 1834 Opened school for African- American girls

“Separate Spheres” Concept “Cult of Domesticity” 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!

Cult of Domesticity = Slavery The 2 nd Great Awakening inspired women to improve society Angelina GrimkéSarah Grimké Southern Abolitionists Ran a school for females Lucy Stone American Women’s Suffrage Assoc. Edited Woman’s Journal

Women’s Rights 1840  split in the abolitionist movement over women’s role in it London  World Anti-Slavery Convention female delegates denied right to attend convention Lucretia Mott Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1848 

Seneca Falls Declaration

What It Would Be Like If Ladies Had Their Own Way!

Industry Changes Work Production moved from home to factory –Cottage industry and artisans  Factory system

Farm to Factory Lowell workforce  almost entirely unmarried farm girls –90% of workers in 1828 –80% under age first strike at Lowell –15% pay cut –Spindles and looms had been tripled, but workers only increased 50% –Workers returned, leaders fired 1836 second strike at Lowell –Boarding rates increased = 12.5% pay cut –Twice as many women went on strike –Company fired leaders –Most workers then returned to jobs

Workers Seek Better Conditions 1830s and 1840s –1-2% of workers were unionized –Dozens of strikes Usually for higher wages/shorter workdays –Workers usually lost Strikebreakers hired –Usually immigrants who had fled even greater poverty

Immigration dramatic increase in immigration –Largest groups were –Faced discrimination