Antebellum Cultural Movements
Unit 5, Lesson 2
Essential Idea
• During the Antebellum Period, there were
many social, religious, and philosophical
changes.
Immigration
• Immigration:
• “Old” Immigrants—immigrants that came during the
Antebellum Period
• Most immigrants came from Germany and Ireland
(Britain too)
German Immigrants
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Country of Origin:
Germany
Reason for Coming:
Political unrest in Germany
(failed revolutions)
Destination:
Midwest
Social Status:
Many were middle class and
skilled
Jobs:
Bought land and started farms or
businesses
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Irish Immigrants
Country of Origin:
Ireland
Reason for Coming:
The Potato Famine left the Irish starving and desperate
Destination:
Cities in the Northeast, in tenements (apartments, too poor to buy their own land)
Social Status:
Many were poor and unskilled
Jobs:
Worked unskilled jobs in factories
Nativism
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reaction of Americans:
Nativism—feeling hostility toward immigrants
Reasons for Nativism:
Germans spoke a different language
Both groups were more liberal about drinking alcohol
Nativism was stronger toward the Irish
Americans accused Irish of stealing factory jobs
Irish (and many Germans) were Catholic Christian; most Americans were Protestant
Christian
•
The “Know-Nothing” Party
• American/Know-Nothing Party:
• This secret party formed over fear of immigrants gaining too much
influence
• The “Know-Nothing” party was anti-immigrant, especially anti-Catholic
Second Great Awakening
• Second Great
Awakening:
• Second Great
Awakening—religious
revival that emphasized
PERSONAL salvation
through an INDIVIDUAL’S
relationship with God
(getting “saved”)
• Charles Finney—major
leader of Second Great
Awakening, gave
emotional “hellfire and
brimstone” sermons
Second Great Awakening
• Camp meetings—thousands gathered in emotional meetings to be “saved”
• Burned-Over District- area of western New York where revival was strongest
Second Great Awakening
• Effects of the Second Great
Awakening:
• Churches grew, especially
Baptist and Methodist
• People looked to
THEMSELVES to be saved,
not church authority (a
“common man” religion)
• Many people were
motivated by their beliefs to
reform society, including
abolishing slavery
• Northern and southern
churches split over slavery
• The Second Great
Awakening had little
influence in the South
The Mormon
Movement
• The Mormons:
• Joseph Smith—from
“burned-over district,”
claimed God told him to
restore the true church
• Reactions:
• The Mormon church
grew but was
persecuted (claiming
“true” Christianity,
polygamy, etc.)
Brigham Young
• New Leadership:
• Brigham Young—took over after Smith
was killed by a mob
• Fate:
• Young led Mormons west to what is
now Utah to escape persecution,
where they prospered
• The Mormons
Transcendentalism
• New Philosophy:
• Transcendentalism—
philosophy that stressed
the relationship between
humans and nature,
following one’s intuition,
and spiritual matters over
material things
• Major Transcendentalists:
• 1. Ralph Waldo Emerson—
his writing emphasized
nature and individualism
Civil Disobedience
• 2. Henry David
Thoreau—his writing
emphasized nature
• “Civil Disobedience”–
Thoreau wrote that
non-violent protest
could be used to
create changes
Utopian Communities
• Utopian Communities:
• Some thought society as a whole was too corrupt to be reformed
• Utopian communities—communities in which people lived
according to their ideals of a perfect society
• Some were based on philosophy and some were based on religion
(Second Great Awakening)
Utopian Communities
• Major Utopian Communities:
• 1. Brook Farm:
• Group of transcendentalists who ran a farming community, believed in
pacifism and more equality for women
• 2. Shakers:
• Religious community that believed in equality of the sexes, sexes were
segregated and celibate
Utopian Communities
• 3. Oneida:
• Believed in communal living, shared all property, controversial for
practicing “complex marriage” (sharing spouses)
• Fate of Utopian Communities:
• Most failed due to financial problems or the inability to recruit
members
Limits of Cultural Movements
• Limits of Cultural Movements:
• 1. Most movements were limited to the North and West
• 2. The South had very little change in terms of immigration,
religion, philosophy, and utopian communities
• 3. Southern society continued to be dominated by slavery, cotton,
racism, and wealthy planters who did not want change