Chapter 12: Antebellum Culture and Reform
I. The Romantic Impulse
 Nation’s cultural leaders began to strive for liberation that would overshadow self-conscious nationalism
 In literature, philosophy, art, politics & economics, American intellectuals committed themselves to the
liberation of human spirit
A. Nationalism and Romanticism in American Painting
 Most popular paintings of first half of 19th century evoked the wonder of the nation’s landscape
 First great school of American painters emerged in NY
 Frederic Church, Thomas Cole, Thomas Doughty, & Asher Durand were known as the Hudson River School
 Like Emerson & Thoreau, they considered nature best source of wisdom & spiritual fulfillment
 Canvases of natural wonders – Yosemite Valley, Yellowstone and the Rocky Mountains
B. Literature and the Quest for Liberation
 First great American Novelist : James Fenimore Cooper; master of adventure and suspense
o Author of over 30 novels, distinguished by evocation of American wilderness
o Most important novels were, “Leatherstocking Tales”
o “Last of the Mohicans” & “The Deerslayer” explored the frontiersman’s experience
 Self-proclaimed poet of American democracy was Walt Whitman
o poems were unrestrained celebration of democracy and of the liberation of the individual
o helped liberate verse from traditional, restrictive convention, also helped express soaring spirit of
individualism that characterized his age
 Herman Melville ran away to sea as a youth and spent years sailing the world
 Returned home to become the greatest American novelist of his era - most important novel: Moby Dick
 Edgar Allen Poe produced stories and poems that were sad and macabre
o His most famous poem, The Raven, established him as a major, if controversial, literary figure
C. Literature in the Antebellum South
 Southern Romanticism: Historical romances or eulogies of plantation system in upper South
 One group of southern writers focused on ordinary people and poor whites
o Instead of romanticizing their subjects, they were painfully realistic
o Southern realists established regional humor that found its most powerful voice in Mark Twain
D. The Transcendentalists
 Embraced theory of the individual that rested on distinction between reason and understanding
o Reason was the individual’s innate capacity to grasp beauty and truth through giving full expression to
the instincts and emotions and it was the highest human faculty
 Understanding was the use of intellect in the narrow, artificial ways imposed by society
o Involved the repression of instinct and the victory of externally imposed learning
o Every person’s goal, therefore, should be liberation from the confines of “understanding” and the
cultivation of “reason”
 Transcendentalist philosophy emerged among a small group of intellectuals in Concord, MA
 Their leader and most eloquent voice was Ralph Waldo Emerson
o Most important intellectual of his age
o Most renowned for his essays and lectures
o In “Nature,” Emerson wrote that in the quest for self-fulfillment, individuals should work for a
communion with the natural world
o “Nothing is at last sacred…but the integrity of your own mind,” he wrote in “Self- Reliance”
 Henry David Thoreau repudiated the repressive forces of society, which he said “lives of quiet desperation”
o Individuals should work for self-realization by resisting pressures to conform to society’s expectations
 Thoreau’s rejection of the artificial constraints of society extended to his relationship with govt.
o In 1846, he went to jail rather than agree to pay a poll tax
o He would not give financial support to a govt. that permitted the existence of slavery
 In his 1849 essay “Resistance to Civil Government,” he explained that the proper response was “civil
disobedience,” or “passive resistance”- a public refusal to obey unjust laws
E. The Defense of Nature
 To the transcendentalists, nature was the source of deep, personal human inspiration – the vehicle through
which individuals could best realize the truth within their own souls
- Genuine spirituality, they argued, did not come from formal religion, but through communion with the
natural world
 In making such claims, the transcendentalists were among the first Americans to anticipate the environment
movement of the 20th century
F. Visions of Utopia
 Brook Farm, which the Boston transcendentalists George Ripley established as an experimental community in
West Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1841
 Individuals would gather to create a new form of social organization
 Permitted every member of the community full opportunity for self-realization
 Leisure was the first necessity for cultivation of the self
 Among the original residents of Brook Farm was Nathaniel Hawthorne, who expressed disillusionment with
the experiment
 In other novels, he wrote passionately about the price individuals pay for cutting themselves off from society
 Egotism was the “serpent” that lay at the heart of the human misery
G. Redefining Gender Roles
 One of those most responsible for drawing issues of the gender into the larger discussion of individual
liberation was Margaret Fuller
 Suggested the important relationship between the discovery of the “self” that was central to antebellum
reform and the questioning of the gender roles
 A redefinition of gender roles was crucial to the Oneida community, established in 1848 in upstate New York
 Rejected traditional notions of family and marriage
 All residents were “married” to all other residents
 Oneida was not an experiment in unrestrained “free love”
 The Shakers made a redefinition of traditional sexuality & gender roles central to their society
 Attracted a large following and established more than 20 communities throughout the NE
 Committed to complete celibacy
 Trying to create a society protected from the chaos & disorder that characterized American life
H. The Mormons
 Mormonism began in upstate NY as a result of the efforts of Joseph Smith
- In 1830, he published The Book of Mormon, which was a translation of a set of golden tablets
 In 1831, the Mormons attempted to establish their “New Jerusalem”
 They were met w/ persecution from surrounding communities for radical religious doctrines
- Practiced polygamy, rigid social organization and particularly damaging, an intense secrecy
 Driven from original settlements in Independence, MO and Kirtland, OH they settled in Nauvoo, IL
 In 1844, Joseph Smith was arrested & charged w/ treason and imprisoned in Carthage, IL
- An angry mob attacked the jail and shot and killed him
 Under the leadership of Brigham Young, the Mormons traveled across the desert and established a new
community in Utah (present-day Salt Lake City)
 Mormonism reflected a belief in human perfectibility
o God was once a man, thus every man or woman could aspire to become a god
 In the new religion, they found genuine faith; in the society it created they found security and order
II. Remaking Society
 Women formed the real rank and file and often the leadership as well
 Exposed the simultaneous attraction of Americans to the ideas of personal liberty and social order
A. Revivalism, Morality and Order
 Charles Grandison Finney - each person had the capacity to experience spiritual rebirth and achieve salvation
 Revival of faith need not depend on a miracle from God; it could be created by individual effort
 Revivalism became a means of personal salvation and a mandate of reform for society
B. The Temperance Crusade
 One of the most influential reform movements of the era; the crusade against drunkenness
 Responsible for crime, disorder and poverty that placed a special burden on wives
 Men spent family money on alcohol; drunk husbands often abused their wives and children
 The average male drank nearly 3x as much alcohol as the average person does today
 The movement gained in strength, but was divided in purpose; some urged abstinence
 Some demanded legislation to restrict the sale and consumption of alcohol (Maine passed a law in 1851)
 Others insisted that temperance rely on the conscience of the individual
C. Health Fads and Phrenology
 Individual & social perfection led to interest in new theories of health & knowledge
 Terrible cholera epidemics in 1830s & 1840s
 Medical profession of the time had no answers & Americans turned to nonscientific theories for improving
health
 Phrenologists argued that the shape of an individual’s skull was an important indicator of his/her character &
intelligence
D. Medical Science
 Biggest problem facing American medicine was absence of knowledge about disease
 Great medical achievement of 18th century: development of vaccination against smallpox by Edward Jenner
 Oliver Wendell Holmes concluded that disease could be transmitted from one person to another
i. Contagion was vindicated, so he required his students to wash hands and disinfect instruments
E. Reforming Education
 Greatest educational reformer: Horace Mann, first secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education
 To protect democracy, an educated electorate was essential to the workings of a free political system
 Mann reorganized Massachusetts school system, lengthened academic year, doubled teachers’ salaries,
enriched curriculum, & introduced new professional teacher training
 Rapid growth of public education: other states experienced expansion & development
 Achievements of educational reform: by beginning of Civil War, U.S had one of highest literacy rates of any
nation of the world
 The Benevolent Empire: new institutions to help the handicapped
 Schools were used to impose a set of social values on children
i. Values included thrift, order, discipline, punctuality and respect for authority
F. Rehabilitation
 Another powerful movement of reform included creation of “asylums” for criminals & mentally ill
 Criminals of all kinds, debtors unable to pay debts, mentally ill, senile paupers all crowded together
indiscriminately into prisons & jails
 New York built first penitentiary at Auburn in 1821
 Dorothea Dix began national movement for new methods of treating mentally ill in Massachusetts
 Asylum movement was an attempt to reform and rehabilitate inmates
 Penitentiaries & prisons fell victim to overcrowding
 The “asylum” movement helped spawn orphanages as educational institutions
G. The Indian Reservation
 Among some whites, a secondary intent was to move the Indians to a place where they would be protected
among whites & allowed to develop where assimilation was possible
 Reservations would provide a way to undertake “the great work of regenerating the Indian race”
 Reformers argued that natives on reservations would learn the ways of civilization in a protected setting
H. The Rise of Feminism
 Women in 1830s & 1840s suffered traditional restrictions & a new set of barriers that emerged from “separate
spheres” & transformation of family
 Sarah & Angela Grimke, two sisters born in SC were outspoken abolitionists & began to defy restrictions
 Other reformers included Catharine Beecher, Harriet Beecher-Stowe, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady-Stanton
& Dorothea Dix chafed at the restrictions placed on them by men

In 1840, a group of female delegates arrived at world antislavery convention in London and turned away by
men
 Over next several years, Mott, Stanton, Susan B. Anthony & others organized a convention in Seneca Falls to
discuss question of women’s rights
o Meeting resulted with “Declaration of Sentiments & Resolutions” & stated that all men & women were
created equal
o Most prominent demand was for the right to vote
 Many women involved in feminist reforms were Quakers
 Limited progress for women: Feminists benefited from their association with other reform movements but
they also suffered from them
III. The Crusade against Slavery
 Powerful antislavery forces in Europe cried out forcefully against human bondage
A. Early Opposition to Slavery
 Organized antislavery movement centered on colonization: effort to encourage resettlement of African
Americans in Africa or Caribbean
 In 1817, American Colonization Society worked carefully to challenge slavery without challenging property
rights or southern sensibilities
 ACS proposed gradual freeing of slaves with masters receiving compensation through funds raised by private
donors or state legislatures (VA & MD)
o Transported liberated slaves out of country & helped them establish new society of their own
elsewhere
 Failure of colonization: Neither private nor public funds was nearly enough to carry out vast projects
 Antislavery movement rapidly losing strength & colonization proved not to be a viable method of attacking
institution
B. Garrison and Abolitionism
 In 1831, he found his own weekly newspaper The Liberator
 Believed that opposition of slavery should view the institution from the point of view of a black man, not the
white slave owner
 They should reject gradualism and demand the immediate, unconditional, universal abolition of slavery
 The true aim must be to extend to African Americans all the rights of American citizenship
 “I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice...”
 Abolitionists were calling for an unleashing of the individual human spirit, the elimination of artificial social
barriers to fulfillment.
C. Black Abolitionists
 Northern Blacks were often victimized by mob violence; they had no access to education, could vote in only a
few states, and were barred from all but the most menial of occupations
 Some were kidnapped by whites and forced back into slavery
 Northern blacks were aware of, and fiercely proud of their freedom
 Many in 1830’s came to support Garrison and the majority of the Liberator’s early subscribers were free
blacks
 David Walker published a harsh pamphlet: Walker’s Appeal… to the colored citizens
 He declared slaves should cut their masters throats, should “kill or be killed!”
 Sojourner Truth emerged as a powerful and eloquent spokeswomen for the abolitionists of slavery
 Greatest abolitionist of all- and one of the most electrifying orators of his time was Fredrick Douglass
 Escaped to Massachusetts in 1838 and become an outspoken leader of antislavery sentiment
 On his return to the United States in 1847, Douglass purchased his freedom from his Maryland owner
and founded the North Star
 Achieved wide renown for his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass
 Douglass demanded for African Americans not only freedom but full social and economic equality
 With Douglass’s leadership, they forged alliances with white antislavery leaders such as Garrison
D. Anti-Abolitionism
 White southerners looked on the movement with fear and contempt
 To its critics the abolitionist crusade was a dangerous and frightening threat to the existing social system
 Result was an escalating wave of violence directed against abolitionists in the 1830’s
 A mob in Philadelphia attacked the abolitionist headquarters, the “Temple of Liberty” burned it to the
ground and began a bloody race riot
 Another mob seized Garrison on the streets of Boston in 1835 and threatened to hang him
 Elijah Lovejoy was a repeated victim of mob violence
 In 1837. he defended his press, so attackers burned his building and shot & killed him
 Abolitionists were strong-willed, passionate crusaders, displaying enormous courage & moral strength
 Mobs were the most violent expression of a sentiment that many white American’s shared
E. Abolitionism Divided
 The growing radicalism of Garrison shocked many of his own allies by attacking the govt. itself
 The Constitution was a “covenant with death and an agreement with hell”
 The nation could purge itself of the sin of slavery by expelling the slave states from the Union.
 Garrisonians remained influential, w/ uncompromising moral stance
 Others operated in more moderate ways arguing that abolition could be accomplished only as the result of a
long patient peaceful struggle
 “Immediate abolition gradually accomplished”
 They would appeal to the conscience of the slaveholders and convince them that their institution was
sinful
 Turned to political action, seeking to induce northern states and federal govt. to aide the cause
 They helped fund the legal battle over the Spanish slave vessel, Amistad
 Africans seized the ship from its crew and tried to return it to Africa
 U.S navy had seized the ship and held the Africans as pirates
 With abolitionist support, legal efforts to declare the Africans free finally reached Supreme Court
 Anti-slavery position was argued by former president John Quincy Adams
 Supreme Court declared Africans free in 1841 and antislavery groups funded their passage back to
Africa
 Abolitionists secured the passage of “personal liberty laws” in several northern states
- Forbade state officials to assist in the capture and return of runaway slaves
 Anti-slavery sentiment underlay the formation in 1840 of the Liberty Party
 Never campaigned for outright abolition, but stood instead for “free soil,” for keeping slavery out of
the territories
 Free soil position attracted the support of large numbers of the white population of the North
 Most powerful document of abolitionist propaganda was a work of fiction: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
 It rocked the nation, selling more than 300,000 copies within a year
 Became one of the most remarkable best-sellers in American history
 Stowe combined the emotional conventions of the sentimental novel w/ political ideas of the abolition
movement
 Succeeded in bringing the message of abolitionism to an enormous new audience
 In both regions, her novel helped inflame sectional tensions to a new level of passion
 Few books in American history have had so great an impact on the course of public events
 Abolitionism’s Enduring Influence: abolitionism remained a powerful influence on the life of the nation, but
the institution of slavery was dividing America