Dr. Murray
AP U.S. History, 2008-09
UNIT 5: ANTEBELLUM AMERICA, 1815-1845
Major Issues
In what ways did developments in transportation bring about economic and social change in the United
States in the period 1820 to 1860? What other factors contributed to economic growth? How significant to
the nation's future was the development of "a market economy of national scope"?
What was the significance of the Lowell experiment? What does the experiment's design suggest about the
ambivalence that many Americans felt toward industrialization?
Around the time of the American Revolution, many Americans (including many southerners) spoke
enthusiastically of putting slavery on the path to ultimate extinction. Yet by the 1830s, the slave system
was expanding rapidly, and very few white southerners spoke out in favor of abolition. Indeed, the South
was more devoted to slavery than ever before, and more united in its defense. What had happened?
Many historians would argue that relatively few whites in the South benefited economically from the
institution of slavery. Yet the overwhelming majority of white southerners enthusiastically supported it.
How do you explain this apparent anomaly?
How did politics and the political culture become more democratic during the antebellum period? How did
the presidential election of 1828 reflect these changes?
Was Andrew Jackson a staunch nationalist, a typical states’ rights southerner, or both? How were
Jackson's values and outlook reflected in the controversies surrounding Indian removal, the Bank, the tariff,
internal improvements, and nullification?
How did the beliefs and policies of the Whigs differ from those of the Democrats?
To what extent were the various reform movements and utopian experiments of the antebellum period a
direct outgrowth of the beliefs and practices of the Second Great Awakening?
How did American culture respond to the extraordinary pace of change in the antebellum period? To what
extent were these responses characterized by optimism? To what extent were they driven by fear?
Nationalism, Expansion, and the Celebration of Nature (Text, Chapter 9, 171-77)
Why were transportation improvements so essential to economic development? Why were roads of limited
value in helping Western farmers? How did steamboats improve the U.S.’s natural system of river
transportation? What gap in the system of river transportation were canals intended to fill? What benefits
resulted from the building of the Erie Canal? Why did the canal-building boom come to an end in the late
1830’s and 1840’s? What factors contributed to the impressive growth of agricultural output between 1800
and 1840? Why were transportation improvements so important? Why did the South’s cotton production
soar during this period? How did the development of new systems of credit and marketing contribute to
economic growth? Why was the credit system so unstable? What were the consequences of its instability?
How was the production of clothing changing in the period between 1800 and 1840? What was happening
to the artisan system of production during this time? What is the significance of Lowell, Massachusetts?
Why did the designers of the mills at Lowell turn to a workforce of young, single women? What had
happened to the designers’ vision by the 1840s? What impact did Lowell and other mill towns have upon
the economy of New England? Why is it misleading to refer to the changes in this period as an “industrial
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revolution”? According to the text, what really occurred? How did the economic changes of this period
create new political issues?
"Hudson River School," The Grove Dictionary of Art
www.groveart.com
What was the "dual focus" of the painters of the early Hudson River School, such as Thomas Cole? After
Cole's death in 1848, how did this focus change, under the leadership of Asher Durand? At this point, what
emerged as the school's "aesthetic"? By the 1850s and 60s, who were the leading figures in the Hudson
River School?
J. F. Kasson, "Civilizing the Machine," American Record, Vol. I, 198-204 only
Why were many Americans in the early nineteenth century both “fascinated” and “repelled” by the English
factory system? How did American industrialists propose to avoid the adverse social developments that
characterized the English factory towns? In addition to ensuring that American industry would not follow
the English model, what other advantages were there to the American approach to industrial development?
What specifically American problems did American industrialists such as Lowell hope to address? Why
did Lowell decide to have a rotating work force of young, single women? How would his mill help to
preserve republican values? In your opinion, were the mill owners motivated by idealism—or greed?
"Timetable of the Lowell Mills," "Title Page," "Editorial Corner," and "Factory Girls," Discovering
the American Past, Vol. I, 151, 153-54, 156-58
Based on the timetable, what can you conclude about the typical workweek in the Lowell mills? To what
extent did their experiences prior to coming to Lowell prepare the young women for mill life? What was
the purpose of The Lowell Offering? Is it significant that it was an official mill publication? What are the
main concerns of the author of "Factory Girls"?
Film: New York (Text, Chapter 13, 256-61)
Why did railroads, in the mid-1840s, finally begin to replace canals as the major means of hauling freight?
What natural advantage did railroads have over canals? In addition to providing low-cost transportation
and thus helping to create a national market, how did the development of railroads contribute to economic
growth? Why did mass production, with or without mechanization, lead to greater productivity? How was
American farming changing in the 1840s and 1850s? How did immigration in the 1840s and 1850s
contribute to the shift to factory production? Why did so many Europeans emigrate during these years?
Why did German immigrants, in general, find life in America easier than did the Irish? What impact did
mass immigration have upon American cities? What impact did it have upon factory work and the
American working class? How did immigration undermine attempts by workers to organize themselves
into unions? To what extent did the emergence of a (seemingly) permanent working class clash with
American ideals?
The Rise of a Democratic Culture (Text, Chapter 10, 184-90)
How did the culture of Jacksonian America differ from that of the Founding Fathers some 40 years earlier?
What had happened to the “spirit of deference”? What were the limits of the new equality? How was the
new spirit of democracy and “equality” reflected in American culture—in hotels, ways of dress, domestic
service, licensing requirements, and church life? How did the Romantic Movement in literature reflect this
spirit? When combined with the emergence of the mass market for popular literature, what form did these
romantic themes take? How was the democratic spirit reflected in theater, the visual arts, architecture, and
sculpture? In what sense had politics gotten more democratic? How had opinions regarding political
parties changed? What changes in the method of nominating and electing the president had occurred?
How did these changes affect political parties? What had happened to the level of political participation?
What economic questions dominated politics in the 1830’s and 1840’s? How did the old republican ideas
affect these economic controversies and help shape political debate? How did the two political parties—the
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Jacksonian Democrats and the National Republicans (later, the Whigs)—differ on the issue of the role of
the Federal government? What were the main concerns and goals of the Workingmen’s parties and the
early trade unions? How did these groups challenge the meaning of “equality” in Jacksonian America?
How did abolitionists and women’s rights activists challenge the meaning of “equality”? How successful
were the Workingmen’s parties, trade unions, abolitionists, and women’s rights activists?
“Tocqueville Appreciates American Political Participation, 1831-1832,” American Passages
http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/ext/ap/MainAP/welcome.html
What is the cause of the “bustle and activity” which, Tocqueville says, characterizes democratic societies?
In America, why is everything “in motion”? According to Tocqueville, is this a good thing? Why?
Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. II, 9-13, 104-06
In societies based on equality, where do men naturally seek the sources of truth? Why don't they
automatically embrace the opinions of a superior class, as they do in aristocracies? Why don't they have
faith in the beliefs of any single individual? Why do they have such "unbounded confidence in the
judgment of the public"? What influence do America's political institutions have upon the power of public
opinion? Does Tocqueville seem concerned about the extent of this power?
Why do democratic societies make it more difficult for people to form bonds with others? Why does
Tocqueville refer to "individualism" as a vice?
Indian Removal, the Nullification Crisis, & the Bank War (Text, Chapter 10, 190-95)
What was the “corrupt bargain” that supposedly occurred in the presidential election of 1824? Why was
Adams’ presidency difficult and frustrating? Why can the election of 1828 be seen as “the birth of a new
era of democracy”? How was Jackson portrayed by his supporters? How did his supporters portray his
opponent, J. Q. Adams? To what extent was Jackson’s victory in 1828 a mandate to destroy the economic
policies of Adams and Clay? As a person and as a politician, what were Jackson’s strengths and
weaknesses? How were these reflected in the Peggy Eaton affair? In his defense of the “spoils system”?
On what grounds did Jackson support Indian removal? On what grounds did opponents of the policy reject
it? How did Jackson respond when states violated the Constitution and extended their state laws over the
Indians? How did he respond to Georgia’s defiance of the Supreme Court in the Worcester v. Georgia case
(1832)? What was the ultimate outcome of Jackson’s removal policy? Why had the South, and South
Carolina in particular, become so sensitive to the tariff issue in the 1820s and 1830s? In addition to
economic self-interest, what other factors contributed to their sensitivity? Why had many southerners
expected Jackson to support their positions on states’ rights and the tariff? Why did Jackson refuse to
support Calhoun’s nullification ideas? How did Jackson respond when South Carolina nullified the tariffs
of 1828 and 1832? Why did South Carolina back down? Why is the Nullification Crisis so historically
significant?
Indian Removal, the Nullification Crisis, & the Bank War--continued (Text, Chapter 10, 195-202)
Why were many Americans hostile to the Bank of the U.S.? What were the various reasons for opposing
it? How did the personalities of Jackson and Biddle contribute to the “Bank War”? Why did Biddle decide
to seek recharter in 1832? Why did this prove unwise? Why was Jackson’s veto of the Bank recharter bill
so significant for the evolution of the presidency? What did Jackson do after the election of 1832 to kill the
Bank? What was the result? How did Biddle and the Bank respond to Jackson? What was the result?
What groups came together to form the Whigs, the new party that succeeded the National Republicans in
1834? Who were the “Loco-Focos,” and why did the break away from the Democratic party in the 1836
election? What did Jackson do to solve the “pet bank” problem? What did he do to stop the inflation that
resulted? What was the “species circular” (1836), and what economic problems did it create? What were
the causes of the Panic of 1837? Why was Van Buren unwilling to use subsidies or relief measures to
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ameliorate the situation? What did he propose doing? Why were the Whigs opposed? Why did the Whigs
nominate William Henry Harrison for president in 1840 rather than their true leader, Henry Clay? How did
the Whigs make use of the campaign techniques of the Democrats? How did the ideas and positions of the
Whigs differ from those of the Democrats? What were the main issues? Which groups tended to support
which party—and why? What was Tocqueville’s opinion of American democracy?
Film: Africans in America (Text, Chapter 13, 204-11, 223-24)
In 1860, what percentage of white southerners owned slaves? How have the views of historians and
sociologists changed with regard to the slave family? How did the structure of slave families vary from
region to region? How did the institution of the family help slaves deal with the difficulties of life under
slavery? What were the distinguishing characteristics of slave religion? How did it strengthen and comfort
slaves? What were the various forms of slave resistance? What was the message of the Brer Rabbit
stories? What restrictions did free blacks face both in the North and the in the South? To what extent were
free blacks opposed to the plantation system? In what sense did white plantation mistresses also suffer
from the patriarchal structure of the plantation family? Can their situations be compared with the plight of
the female slave?
“William Harper’s Apology,” American Spirit, Vol. I, 363-64
On what grounds does Harper justify slavery?
White Society in the Antebellum South (Text, Chapter 13, 211-21)
What percentage of white southerners could be classified as “substantial planters” (50 or more slaves)?
How do these figures challenge the conventional image of the antebellum South? To what extent were the
great planters a true ruling elite? What were the social origins of most of these great planters? How did
masters prefer to see their relationships with their slaves? How did they prefer to see themselves? How
true were their claims of paternalism? To what extent were slaves well-treated? If a slave was poorly
treated, what could he do about it? What percentage of slaveholders owned fewer than 20 slaves, and thus
were not true planters? Why did most slaves prefer to live on a plantation, and not on a small farm? Since
the vast majority of southern whites owned few or no slaves, why did so many whites defend the institution
of slavery—despite the fact that the plantation system kept the South’s economy backward and limited their
economic opportunities? Why, in the 1830s, did defenders of slavery turn from representing slavery as a
“necessary evil” to a “positive good”? What did southerners fear? What were the “three main
propositions” of the “positive good” argument? How did slavery’s defenders such as George Fitzhugh
compare the treatment of slaves with that of wage-workers?
How did the economy of the upper South differ from that of lower South? Why was growing and selling
tobacco so difficult? As a result of these difficulties, how was agriculture in the upper South changing?
What impact did this have upon slaves in the upper South? What impact did it have upon the attitudes of
upper-South whites toward the institution of slavery? How did the cotton gin make cotton production
profitable throughout most of the lower South? Why was cotton well suited to the plantation form of
production? As cotton production increased, why did the geographical center of production shift
westward? In the 1850s, on the eve of the Civil War, did the cotton plantation look like a prospering
institution or a dying one? To what extent was slavery profitable for the majority of slaveholders? For the
majority of white southerners? What are the arguments for and against profitability?
George Fitzhugh, "The Blessings of Slavery (1857)" American History Online
http://longman.awl.com/history/
What are various arguments that Fitzhugh uses to justify slavery? On what grounds does Fitzhugh argue
that the black slave is happier and better treated than the "free laborer" (wage-worker)? How does he
represent the type of slavery practiced in the American South? Is there any truth to his statement that
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among Northerners, "hatred of slavery is very generally little more than hatred of negroes"? Why does he
believe that slavery should be spread throughout the Americas?
The Second Great Awakening & Antebellum Reform
(Text, Chapter 12, 225-34)
To what extent did the evangelical revival and reform movements reflect the optimism and democratic faith
of Jacksonian politics? How did separation of church and state—together with fear of the secular ideas of
the Enlightenment—contribute to the Second Great Awakening? How did religious revival in the North
differ from religious revival in the South? What were New Englanders such as Timothy Dwight reacting
against? How did New England theologians reshape the Puritan theology of the 17th and 18th centuries to
make it more acceptable to Americans of the Jacksonian era? How did Charles Finney go beyond the neoCalvinism of Taylor and Beecher? How did northern revivalism spawn a powerful reform movement?
What did these reformers try to accomplish? Why were temperance crusaders so obsessed with “demon
rum”? To what extent was the Second Great Awakening—and the social reform it spawned—a response to
the anxieties created by rapid social and economic change? What impact did the reform movement have
upon the middle class’s perception of itself?
Why did the antebellum period see “an enormous expansion of free public schools”? What beliefs
motivated the public-school advocates? How did Horace Mann’s ideas reflect the optimism of the 2nd
Great Awakening? How did Mann persuade middle- and upper-class Americans that public education was
in their interests? To what extent was the curriculum of the public schools a reflection of an industrializing
society? How did the asylum movement reflect the optimism of the 2 nd Great Awakening—and the social
dissolution brought on by economic growth? How did the reality of the new asylums and penitentiaries
differ from the theory?
To what extent was the white middle-class American family transformed in the years between the
Revolution and the mid-19th century? How did the Second Great Awakening contribute to these changes?
How had the role of women in the family changed? How had the focus of family life changed? What do
historians mean when they refer to the “cult of true womanhood” or the “cult of domesticity”? What is the
“doctrine of two spheres”? To what extent were these ideas and beliefs tied to underlying economic
change? Did the new domestic ideology degrade women, empower them, or both? In what way could it
lead to an extension of the scope of legitimate activity beyond the home? How did attitudes toward
childhood and child-rearing change in the 19th century? How did family size change? Why did it change?
What was the connection between changing views of the family and the new enthusiasm for social reform?
Orestes Brownson Explores the Women Question," American Spirit, Vol. I, 325-26
According to Brownson, what is "the greatest danger to American society"? To what extent does his
thinking reflect "the cult of domesticity"? Given that Brownson was himself a reformer, was it likely that
female emancipation would succeed any time soon?
The “Cult of Domesticity,” Perfectionism, Abolitionism, and the Early Struggle for Women’s Rights
(Text, Chapter 12, 234-42)
What distinguished the “radical” reformers from the moderates? How was this split manifested in the
temperance, antiwar, and antislavery movements? How did Garrison’s American Anti-Slavery Society
(1833) differ from its predecessor, the American Colonization Society (1817)? What factors contributed to
serious tension within the American Anti-Slavery Society? In what sense did the abolitionist movement
fail? In what sense did it succeed? How did abolitionism contribute to the emergence of a women’s rights
movement? What common characteristics united radical movements such as the Owenites, the Fourierists,
the Shakers, and the Oneida community? How was Transcendentalism similar to—and different from—
these movements? Why was American culture in the antebellum period so susceptible to intellectual fads,
quack cures, bizarre spiritualism, and other manifestations of mass idiocy? Why did some Americans, such
as Nathaniel Hawthorne, reject the perfectionist tendencies of his age?
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"The Seneca Falls Manifesto,” "Garrison Launches the Liberator," "Manifesto of the Anti-Slavery
Society," and "Lincoln Appraises Abolitionism," American Spirit, Vol. I, 340-43, 367-70, 372-73
What specific restrictions do the authors of the “Manifesto” address? To what extent does the Manifesto
reject the assumptions of the “cult of domesticity”? To what extent does it reflect these assumptions?
What is Garrison calling for? On what grounds does he support his position? How should abolition be
carried out? What are Lincoln’s opinions on slavery, abolitionism, and equal rights for blacks?