The Ferment of Reform and
Culture
1790-1860
“We (Americans) will walk on our own
feet; we will work with our own hands; we
will speak with our own minds”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American
Scholar,” 1837
*The Second Great Awakening
The early 19th century was a period of immense change as economic, political,
demographic, & territorial transformations altered how Americans viewed
themselves.
• Also a period of optimism= where the possibility of self-government infused
everything from politics to religion.
• Industrialization & democratization created discord over gender, race, and class
issues.
• Influx of new immigrants increased social tensions & class divides.
• Americans looked on these changes with enthusiasm & suspicion. How would the
Moral Fabric of the new nation hold up to these challenges??
1850- ¾ of 23 million Americans attended church regularly
Alexis de Tocqueville noted that there was “ no country in the world where the
Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in
America.”
What was the 2nd Great Awakening: a series of religious revivals known
collectively as the Second Great Awakening; revivalist preachers rode on
horseback, sharing a message of spiritual & moral renewal.
Causes of the 2nd Great Awakening
1. Response to the Rationalism of the 17th Century Enlightenment.
• Enlightenment emphasized reason over belief and emotion.
2. Changes Caused by the Industrial Revolution
• Rapid influx of immigrants= fear & hostility of change
• Changes to families & gender roles
3. New mobility & westward expansion –allowed people freedom to
travel miles from their home for the first time, resettle new areas
(west)
• The Methodists achieved its growth through traveling itinerant
preachers traveling & winning converts by pushing westward
• Revival meetings Gave migrant families & isolated communities
collective purpose.
• To urban centers, evangelical preachers provided moral order &
spiritual solace to an increasing anonymous population swelling
The Second Great Awakening Begins
•reaction against the liberalism that had infiltrated religion began @ 1800
• Effects of the Awakening: converted souls, reorganized or shattered churches,
numerous new sects, evangelicalism that exhibited itself in several areas:
temperance, prison reform, abolition, and the women’s movement.
Characteristics & Adherents of the Awakening
• spread through camp meetings in which itinerant preachers preached to
hundreds or thousands = boosted church membership = increased
humanitarianism
• Baptists & Methodists reaped the most abundant harvest of souls (personal
conversion, democratic control of church affairs, emotionlaism).
Revivalist Preachers
1. Peter Cartwright (1785-1872): best known Methodist “circuit rider”;
preached for 50 years in Tenn. To Illinois.
2. Charles Grandison Finney: greatest of all revivalist preachers; led
revivals in NY City & Rochester in 1830 & 1831.
• Utilized the “anxious bench”
• Appealed to the emotions of believers
• Believers were starting to take responsibility for their own spiritual fates
• encouraged women to pray aloud in public= greater role in church
• Believed that in Christian Kingdom on earth: denounced slavery & alcohol
• became president of Oberlin College in Ohio (which opened its doors to
women & Blacks as well as white males).
Features of the Second Great Awakening
1.
2.
3.
Led to the feminization of religion (middle class women most likely to stay
committed after preachers left town)
Evangelicals preached about: female worth & role in bringing husbands &
children back to God
women played a key role in Reform movements of the 1820’s-1860’s
Charles G.
Finney
(1792 – 1895)
“soul-shaking”
conversion
R1-2
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.
The “Burned Over District” & a New Sect
•Western NY = “Burned over District” because so many revivalist
preachers had sermonized there.
• 1830’s- the “Millerites” or Adventists formed in the region; William
Miller interpreted Bible –Christ would return to earth on Oct. 22,
1844.
Denominational Diversity
• the Awakening widened lines between classes & religions=
Religious groups in NE were conservative & prosperous were less
affected by revivalism
•Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, & Unitarians
continued to rise based on wealthier, better educated classes
•Methodists, Baptists and other sects had swelling membership from
less prosperous, less learned in South & West.
• 1844-1845- Methodists & Baptists split with Northern brothers
over slavery
Unitarianism
Not all Christians were taken with revivals. The 19th century saw a rise in
a group which became the ‘Unitarians”.
• a group of minsters & followers came to reject key aspects of orthodox
Protestant belief…like the divinity of Christ (Unitarians)
• Unitarians believed in God in One Person (not Three), people are born basically
good, one can earn salvation through good deeds, rejected the divinity of Jesus.
• Created a major debate (mostly in NE) between “Trinitarians” & Unitarians;
Harvard taught Unitarianism in its Divinity School.
• Emphasized free conscience & intellectual reasoning
The Transcendental Club (1838)- founded by a group of Unitarian ministers later,
literary figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau joined.
• Transcendentalist believed in a higher spiritual principle found in each person;
“Truth” transcends the senses…cannot be found by observation alone.
**Ties to Unitarianism—”Every person possesses an inner light that connects them to
God.
Key Concepts: individualism “self reliance”, self “culture” (self discipline)
Dignity of the individual, rational optimism vs. hell fire & brimstone of 2nd Great Awakening.
The Transcendentalists
•
•
centered in NE (Boston)
influenced by German Romantic philosophers &
religions of Asia
• major idea: truth transcends the senses-it cannot be
observed alone= individualism (self reliance, self culture)
• every person has an “inner light” that illuminates truth
to put him/her in touch with God= dignity of the
individual.
1. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882): “Self Reliance”
essay; speech at HARVARD “The American Scholar”
• Outspoken critic of slavery; supporter of the Union
• 2. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862): “Walden”; “On Civil
Disobedience”– influenced Gandhi & MLK.
“The Benevolent Empire”:
1825 - 1846
The “Burned-Over” District
in Upstate New York
Second Great Awakening
Revival Meeting
The Mormons- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints
*rose from the “Burned Over District”- western NY
• 1830 Joseph Smith founded the faith; based on the Book of
Mormon.
• faced opposition in Ohio, Missouri, & Illinois
• 1844- Joseph Smith & his brother were killed by a mob in Illinois
• 1846-1847- Brigham Young led Mormons to Utah (Mormon
Trail)
• 1848- 5,000 settlers had arrived; made oasis of Utah based on
cooperation
• 1850 Brigham Young named territorial governor by US
Government
• 1857- US Army marched against Mormons in Utah
• Congress passed a series of anti-polygamy laws 1862 & 1882
• 1896- Utah made a state
The Mormons
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
 1823  Golden
Tablets
 1830  Book of
Mormon
 1844  Murdered in
Carthage, IL
Joseph Smith
(1805-1844)
Violence Against Mormons
The Mormons
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
 Deseret
community.
 Salt Lake City,
Utah
Brigham Young
(1801-1877)
The Mormon “Trek”
Reform Movements
“Spiritual Reform From Within”
[Religious Revivalism]
Social Reforms & Redefining the
Ideal of Equality
Temperance
Education
Abolitionism
Asylum &
Penal Reform
Women’s
Suffrage
The Rise of Popular Religion
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
R1-1
Reform Movements
Reform movements were not just an American invention. Both
European reformers & US reformers faced similar problems of
urbanization (growth of cities), industrialization, and class
struggle.
• Transportation innovations: steamboats, canals, & railroads connected
people not just across the US, but these innovations in Europe did too.
• Mission work—US & Europeans worked in joint effort in domestic &
foreign missions.
• Women became an impetus for many of the reform movements
• Transportation & print revolutions mean news of British missionary
efforts in India & Tahiti reached the US= US efforts to Christianize
Native Americans, frontier settlers, & overseas increased.
• Reform movements gave Americans a chance to escape confines of
the home & enter the public arena
• Encouraged by Second Great Awakening & Transcendentalism
The Abolitionist Movement
American Quakers began to question slavery in the late 17th century and worked with
British reformers to end the slave trade and slavery itself in the 19th century.
• American antislavery advocates developed close
relationships with British abolitionists after the American
revolution (American abolitionists: Theodore Weld, Lucretia
Mott, & William Lloyd Garrison)
• Second Great Awakening teachings that slavery is a moral
evil or SIN.
• The Abolitionist Movement will build momentum in the
Antebellum period.
• Early 1800’s—efforts were restricted to gradual emancipation
(seen in some northern states after the Revolution) &
Colonization efforts.
• 1830’s Northern free blacks & American abolitionists began
to push for IMMEDIATE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY!
Education Reform
Tax- supported public schools were scarce in early US history
• had the “odor of pauperism” = existed chiefly to educate the children of the
poor
WHAT CHANGED??
1. Well to do citizens changed attitude= taxation for education was essential for
stability & democracy
2. universal manhood suffrage= voters demanded free education
•
1825-1850- tax-supported public schools cropped up in the North = little red
schoolhouse was centerpiece
•
early schools: stayed open only a few months per year, school teachers were
mostly men who were ill trained & poorly paid (more “licken” than “larnin”),
focused mainly on the three R’s.
Education Innovators
1. Horace Mann (1796- 1859): Sec of Mass Board of Education; called for
better teacher pay, longer school year, more & better school houses,
mandatory attendance.= most states initiated his reforms.
2. Noah Webster (1758-1843): Yale graduate; “Schoolmaster of the
Republic”-developed reading lessons used by millions designed to promote
patriotism.
3. William McGuffey (1800- 1873): developed a grade school reader
(McGuffey Reader) ; sold 122 million copies which taught morality, patriotism,
idealism.
Higher Education
Second Great Awakening led to the creation of many small, denominational,
liberal arts colleges in the South & West-mainly.
• offered a narrow curriculum which taught: Latin, Greek, mathematics, & moral
philosophy= little intellectual vitality= boredom.
• first state supported universities sprang up in the South
1.University of North Carolina (1795): oldest state (PUBLIC) supported university
2.University of Virginia (1819): land grant college- designed by Thomas Jefferson.
Women & Higher Education
•Early part of nineteenth century seen as a waste; too much education was
considered dangerous for women (Susan B. Anthony).
1.Emma Willard (1787-1870): established the Troy (NY) Female Seminary;
secondary schools for girls sprang up in the 1820’s.
2. Mary
Lyon: Mount Holyoke Seminary in Mass
Other Educational Opportunities
• Public libraries or private subscription libraries
• Lyceum lecture associations- by 1835 numbered about 3,000; traveling lecturers
such as Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Magazines: North American Review (1851) read by intellectuals ; Godey’s Lady’s
Book (1830-1898) read mainly by women.
The Prison Reform and Mental Insanity
1.Debtor’s Prisons- hundreds of poor WERE imprisoned; after universal
manhood suffrage= states abolished debtor’s prisons.
•States softened penal codes= number of capital offenses reduced
•Idea of prison as a means of reform became common= “houses of correction”
or “penitentiaries”
2. Mentally Insane: those with insanity treated with cruelty (chained in
jails or poor houses).
•Dorothea Dixx (1802- 1887): NE teacher-author; traveled 60,000 miles in
8 years; assembled reports on treatment of mentally insane= her reports
caused wide spread reform in treatment of mentally ill.
William Ladd: pushed ideas of peace; 1828 American Peace Society
created= forerunner of 20th century peace organizations.
The Temperance Movement (Moderation)
Reformers called for laws & reduction in alcoholic consumption—AMERICANS
DRANK TOO HEAVILY =alcoholism rampant in US IN 1820’S.
• heavy drinking affected productivity & corrupted the sanctity of the home;
cheap whiskey available after the Revolution cheaper than milk or beer & safer
than water.
•Temperance (Moderation)Championed by preachers like Lyman Beecher
•Women formed a substantial membership in these efforts
American Temperance Society (1826) formed in Boston; about 1000
similar groups sprang up.
• members asked to sign temperance pledge; organized children’s clubs “Cold
Water Army”
• Two methods to reduce drinking: strengthen individual’s will & remove
drinking by legislation.
•Within a decade 5000 branches of the organization existed with over 1 million
members.
Neal S. Dow: “ Father of Prohibition”; mayor of Portland, Maine.
• introduced 1851 Maine law prohibited the sale & manufacture of alcohol.
• about a dozen laws passed in various Northern states by 1857--- many were
repealed within ten years.
Women’s Rights Movement
women identified with black slaves: could not vote, legally beaten by a lord (husband),
could not own property once married.
many women avoided marriage (10% were unmarried at start of Civil War)
• market economy was separating men & women into distinct economic roles
• the home was the centerpiece of woman’s sphere= “cult of domesticity”
• Female reformers gained strength at mid-century
Leading women reformers:
• Lucretia Mott (Quaker)
• Elizabeth
Cady Stanton (mother of seven)
• Susan B. Anthony (Quaker) militant lecturer for women's rights
(‘Suzy B’s”)
Other feminists
•Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell- 1st graduate of medical college
• Margaret Fuller- edited a transcendentalist journal The Dial; took part in revolt
in
Italy & died upon her return to the US 1851.
** 1848 Seneca Falls Convention
•led by Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• issued the Declaration of Sentiments- “ all men and women are created equal…”
•Demanded the right to vote
•Beginning of the modern women’s rights movement
Utopian Societies
•
more than 40 communities of a cooperative nature or
“communistic” nature were established
• Encouraged by the transcendentalists & 2ND Great Awakening
idea of PERFECTION
1. New Harmony: set up by Robert Owen, a wealthy Scottish textile
manufacturer in Indiana; hard-working visionaries, radicals,
scoundrels
• 1000 people; little harmony existed
2. Brook Farm: (Mass) community set on 200 acres in 1841
established by 20 transcendentalists.
• Prospered until 1846- fire destroyed a large building= debt
=collapse
3. Oneida Community: (NY) 1848; practiced “free love” (complex
marriage), birth control, eugenic selection of parents to produce
superior offspring.
• lasted 30 years- due to artisans who made steel traps & Oneida
Community silver plates.
4. The Shakers (1770’s): led by Mother Ann Lee; set up about
20 religious communities= membership of 6,000 by 1840.
• Longest –lived sects- but customs prevented marriage & sexual
Shaker Meeting
Shaker Hymn
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'Tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
'Till by turning, turning we come round right.
Shaker Simplicity & Utility
Scientific Achievement
Early Americans confronted with pioneering problems were more
interested in gadgets than pure science.
• Nathaniel Bowditch (1733-1838) mathematician; wrote about
practical navigation.
• Mathew Maury (1806-1873)- oceanographer
*focused writings on safety, speed, & economy.
**Americans were most known for borrowing & adapting scientific
findings of Europeans.
The Most influential American scientist of the first half of 1800’s:
• Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864)- chemistry & geology (Yale)
Other American Scientists:
• Louis Agazzi (1807-1873)- Harvard; biology
• John Audubon - ornithology; “Birds of America” (Audubon
Society)
Asa Gray (1810-1888)- Harvard; published over 350 books, papers,
on Botany (Plants)
Medicine
• medicines- bleeding, “patent medicines” (still
primitive)
• illnesses: smallpox, yellow fever, illnesses due to
improper diet, bad teeth, poor sanitation
• life expectancy: 1850= 40 years old for white- less
for blacks
• Dentistry- blacksmiths
• EARLY 1840’S- use of laughing gas & ether common
for the 1st time
Art & Literature
1. Architecture- Americans still built shelter hastily; imitated
European designs.
• Public Buildings= Greek & Roman designs
• 1820- 1850- Greek Revival popular
• Mid-century= Gothic (pointed arches-large windows)
2. Art: American artists still went to Europe for training &
patrons.
• Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)- (RI) painted GW ; idealized &
dehumanized GW.
• Charles Wilson Peale (1741-1827) (Maryland) 60 portraits of GW
(GW sat for about 14)
• John Trumbull (1756-1843) fought in Am. Rev; painted scenes
from the war.
Hudson River School: emerged after the War of 1812; nationalistic.
• Focused on landscapes– not merely human forms
Photography- daguerreotype- crude photography invented 1839
by Frenchman.
Thomas Cole- Hudson River School of art
Edgar Allen Poe
“daguerreotype”
Music & Literature
Americans sought to shake off the Puritan admonition not to sing
non-religious songs.
• “darky tunes” were popularized by whites by mid-century; minstrel
shows which featured whites in “blackface”
• Stephen C. Foster (1826-1864) Penn; wrote famous “black” songs
Literature: “Who reads an American book”? 1820’s British critic
Before 1820- Federalist Papers, Common Sense, Franklin’s
Autobiography
After the War of 1812- nationalist spirit= boosted genuine American
literature.
The Knickerbocker Group (NY)
• Washington Irving (1783-1859)NY;1st general writer; used English &
American styles
• did much to explain America to Europe & Europe to America
• James Fennimore Cooper (1789-1851) first American novelist; tales
set in America with American characters.
•
•
•
William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878):
wrote one of the first high quality poems (“Thanatopsis”)
became editor for New York Post.
3. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) Brooklyn; “Leaves of Grass”; unconventional
poet- did away with titles, stanzas, rhymes.
Other Poets-Writers
• Longfellow (popular American poet), John Greenleaf Whittier (anti-slavery
crusader), Lowell , Oliver Wendell Holmes,
•Louisa May Alcott- Little Women, Emily Dickenson (nature, death,
immortality)
• Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) Southern writer; eccentric genius.
•Alcoholic ; wrote the ‘Raven” fascinated by the morbid or ghastly.
•Nathaniel Hawthorn (1804-1864) (Mass) obsessed with ideas of good v. evil=
“Scarlet Letter”
• Herman Melville (1819-1891) (NY) : “Moby Dick”- allegory good v. evil
Historians
A distinguished group of historians emerged:
•George Bancroft (1800-1891)- “Father of American History”; founded Naval
Academy- published super patriotic history of US in 6 volumes
• early American historians: almost exclusively from NE = had an antislaveryanti-southern bent for generations.