Mr. Pettit APUSH CHAPTER 11: THE MAKING OF MIDDLE CLASS AMERICA 3 Pillars of the emerging American middle-­‐class: #1: A new and distinctly different view of family. #2: A ”revolutionary” new viewpoint on religion and the church. #3: The introduction of voluntary associations. #1: The American Middle-­‐class Family-­‐ A.) Husbands/fathers begin to take on total “bread-­‐winning” responsibility. -­‐Usually the result of families growing around new more populated cities. -­‐This forced males to surrender a certain level of control to women. B.) Wives/mothers begin to gain more control over certain responsibilities. -­‐instead of the husband’s partner as the lead figures in the family, the women now took on a separate set of tasks in raising the family. (cooking, cleaning, child-­‐rearing, discipline). C.) Children begin to be viewed differently. -­‐Less likely to be viewed as future workers. -­‐more likely to be viewed as in need of nurture and care from the parents. -­‐drastic change from old, Puritanical way of thinking. American Middle class families grew smaller in size, and married people began to have less children. #2: The Church/Religion: The 2nd Great Awakening-­‐ A.) Revivalist approach, much like the 1st Great Awakening (1740s). B.) Charles Grandison Finney -­‐Western New York state (Utica, Rochester, Erie Canal) -­‐“The burned over district” -­‐insistence on people controlling their own fate -­‐church ceremonies became more entertaining, (singing, personal testimony) -­‐church membership grew by 100,000 people in 1831. C.) Oneida County Female Missionary Society -­‐women begin to grow more confident in their religious responsibilities. #3: Voluntary Associations begin to flourish-­‐ A.) Associations were mainly religious organizations that formed around a local cause or idea and ultimately grew. B.) “Unlike the other 2 (pillars) it had neither colonial precedents nor contemporary European equivalents.” NAME LOCATION FOUNDER BELIEFS Albany, NY Mother Ann Celibacy, Shakers segregated sexes, equality of labor, Group singing and dancing at religious ceremonies, caused members to “shake” John Humphrey Complex marriage; Oneida Community New York Noyes everyman married to every woman Utah (by way of Joseph Smith Chosen people, Mormons NY, OH, MO) “celestial marriage”, Book of Mormon Free love, Rappite settlement New Harmony, IA Robert Owen (British) enlightened atheism, socialist Utopia Northern and Charles Fourier Jobs chosen on Fourierism Western states (French) willingness to do (1840s) them, wages paid on repulsiveness of the task. Other than the Mormons, none of these communities held up for long periods of time, but the overall idea of being free to form your own set of beliefs and organize demonstrates an important part of the emerging Middle class of the U.S.A. in the mid 1800’s. THE AGE OF REFORM: “Reformers must of necessity interfere with the affairs of others; thus there is often something if the busy-­‐body and arrogant meddler about them. How they are regarded usually turns on the observer’s own attitude toward their objectives.” A.) Thomas Gallaudet -­‐Hartford, CT -­‐education of deaf people, began in 1817. B.) Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe -­‐Boston, Perkins Institution -­‐education of blind people, and “mentally defective.” C.) Prison system -­‐Philadelphia system vs. Auburn (NY) system -­‐first major emphasis on reforming criminals. D.) Temperance Movement -­‐anti alcohol/ “demon rum” -­‐beliefs that alcohol contributed to crime and lack of morals. -­‐bitterly opposed by Irish and German immigrants. -­‐American Temperance Union, 1826 -­‐support for liquor taxes began to increase. -­‐Maine passed first anti-­‐alcohol law in 1851 (Maine Law) E.) The Abolitionist Movement -­‐anti-­‐slavery. -­‐some believed that the 5th amendment outlawed slavery. -­‐William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator -­‐pushed for immediate emancipation. -­‐Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass -­‐pushed for full social, economic, and political equality of blacks. F.) The Women’s Rights Movement -­‐Lucretia Mott/ Elizabeth Cady Stanton -­‐at first was mainly about right to own property and write their own will, NOT the right to vote. -­‐Seneca Falls Convention, 1848. (New York) “Declaration of Sentiments”