Chapter 9
The Quest for Republican Society
How did Americans’ pursuit of republican ideals after the
revolution transform the nation into a more egalitarian society?
How did the role of woman change in republican society?
How and when did African Americans create a distinctive society
in the South?
Describe the social order of the South?
How did Protestant Christianity act as a force for social change?
I. Democratic Republicanism
A. Social and Political Equality for White
Men
• Republican Ideology –
– Legal equality for all free men – social
divisions acceptable if
– Some question this
• Voting rights for all free white men
I. Democratic Republicanism
A. Social and Political Equality for White
Men
• Republican Ideology –
• Power white men
• White women and free blacks
I. Democratic Republicanism
B. Republican Marriage
• Republicanism at odds with subordination
of women
• Paternal authority eroded
• “compassionate” marriage
• Divorce -
I. Democratic Republicanism
C. Republican Motherhood
• Birthrate declines –
• Republican wives and republican mothers
I. Democratic Republicanism
D. Raising and Educating Republican
Children
• Probate Law –
• Children – Rich vs. poor
• Schooling
• Webster’s “black blue speller”
• Literature
II. Aristocratic Republicanism and Slavery
B, Toward a new social order
• Profound social differences
• Great Hope
• American Colonization Society?
• Slave Trade –
• Migration – demand high
II. Aristocratic Republicanism and Slavery
A. N and S grow apart
• American Aristocracy?
II. Aristocratic Republicanism and Slavery
C. Slave Society and Culture
• American born slave population
• Cultural differences disappear
II. Aristocratic Republicanism and Slavery
D. Free Black Population
• 13%
II. Aristocratic Republicanism and Slavery
E. Missouri Crisis
Tallamadge Amendment – House blocks
admission
Missouri Compromise
III. Protestant Christianity as a Social Force
A. The Second Great Awakening
• Spiritual Equality, human ability and free
will
• South = Baptist and Methodist
• Black Christianity and Religious
Emotionalism
III. Protestant Christianity as a Social Force
A. The Second Great Awakening
• Individual Salvation become linked with
social reform
– Religious benevolence
III. Protestant Christianity as a Social Force
B. Women’s New Religious roles
• Become active in religious and charitable
work
• Excluded elsewhere
• Education
• School Teachers