Reforming American Society and Expanding Westward
Religion Sparks Reform
 The impulse toward reform was rooted in the revivals of the board religious
movement that swept the United States after 1790, known as the Second Great
Awakening
 Religious ideas current in the early 19th century promoted individualism and
responsibility, similar to the emphasis on the power of the common citizen and
Jacksonian democracy
Revivalism
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A revival an emotional meeting designed to awaken religious faith through
impassioned preaching and prayer.
Some of the most intense revivals took place in a part of western New York
known as the burned over district because of the religious fires that frequently
burned there
in 1800 1 in 15 Americans belonged to a church
1850 1 in 6 was a member
African-American Church
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Second Great Awakening brought large scale Christianity to enslaved African
Americans.
There was a strong democratic impulse in the new churches and a belief that all
people- black or white- belonged to the same God.
Slaves in the rural South- though they were segregated in pews of their ownworshiped in the same churches, heard the same sermons, and sang the same
hymns as did the slave owners
Transcendentalism
 Ralph Waldo Emerson: a New England writer led a group of transcendentalism- a
philosophical and literary movement that emphasized living a simple life and
celebrated the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and imagination
 Henry David Thoreau: put the idea of self-reliance into practice. He abandoned
community life and he lived on Walden pond alone.
 Utopian communities
Slavery and Abolition
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African Americans increasingly were joined by whites in public criticism of
slavery
White support of abolition- the call to end slavery, was fueled by preachers like
Charles G. Finney, who termed slavery “a great national sin.”
William Lloyd Garrison
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The most radical white abolitionist was an editor named William Lloyd Garrison
Started his own newspaper; The Liberator to deliver his message of immediate
emancipation without paying the slave holder.
Emancipation- the freeing of slaves
Free Blacks
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David Walker, a free black, advised blacks to fight for their freedom rather than to
wait for slave owners to end slavery
Many free blacks, more willing to compromise had joined antislavery societies
Northern free blacks discovered that only the lowest-paying jobs were open to
them “ To drive carriages, carry a market basket after the boss, and brush his
boots… was as high as a colored man could rise”
Frederick Douglass
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Born into slavery in 1817, Frederick Douglass had been taught to read and write
by the wife of one of his owners.
When Douglass realized that knowledge and education could be his “pathway
from slavery to freedom” he studied even harder
Douglass ran away to New York under the false identity of a free black sailor
Started his own abolitionist paper The North Star
Rural Slavery
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On large plantations, men, women, and even children toiled from dawn to dusk in
the fields. The overseer or slave driver compelled them to work faster
By 1850 most slaves lived on plantations or large farms that employed ten or
more slaves.
Many lived on small farms, laboring beside their owners
Urban Slavery
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Slaves who have developed specialized skills on plantations were now in demand
in Southern cities.
Slaves filled skilled occupations such as blacksmithing or carpentry, resulting in a
new class of skilled black laborers
Slave owners “hired out” their slaves to factory owners. In return, the slave
owners collected the pay of their slaves without having to supervise their
activities.
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
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Nat Turner was born into slavery in 1800 in Virginia
A gifted preacher, Turner believed he was chosen to lead his people out of
bondage
Turner thought that a solar eclipse was a divine sign to act
Turner and his followers attacked four plantations and killed almost 60 white
inhabitants before being captured by state and federal troops
Turner’s Rebellion strengthened the resolve of Southern whites to defend slavery
and to control their slaves
Backlash from Revolts
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Most slave owners believed that education and privilege inspired revolts
Slave owners pushed their state legislatures to tighten controls on African
Americans called slave codes
Some pro slavery advocates used the Bible to defend slavery, citing passages that
counseled servants to obey their masters
Most white ministers in the South agreed that slavery and Christianity could
coexist
Congress passes a gag rule preventing debate on the issue
Fugitive Slaves and Underground Railroad
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Fugitive Slave Act- which was a component of the Compromise of 1850
many people were surprised by the harshness of the law
o Under the law alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury
o fugitives could not testify on their own behalf
o slave owners only needed a statement to have a slave returned
o Federal commissioners received $10 for returning a slave and $5 to free
the slave
Underground Railroad
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As time went on, free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a
secret network of people who, at great personal risk, would help slaves in their
escape
The “conductors” hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided
them with food and clothing and directed them to the next “station”
The most famous conductor was Harriet Tubman, she helped over 300 slaves
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
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Uncle Tom’s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
President Lincoln called her “the little women who started this great war”
Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the
second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible. It is credited
with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s
Pottawatomie Massacre
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John Brown, an abolitionist described as “a man made of the stuff of saints”
thought he could speak to God
John Brown and his followers snuck into a proslavery settlement, hacked off their
hands and stabbed them with broadswords
Violence in the Senate
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May 19, 1856 Charles Sumner gave an impassioned anti-slavery speech. Insulting
South Carolina senator Andrew Butler in the process
May 22nd Congressman Preston Brooks (Andrew Butler’s nephew) walked into
Senate chamber and started beating Sumner with his cane repeatedly
Dred Scott Decision
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Was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the
Court held that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could
not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in
federal court, and that the federal government had no power to
regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation
of the United States
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
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Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln are fighting over a seat in the Senate for
the state of Illinois
Lincoln and Douglas had very different speaking styles. Douglas exuded selfconfidence, pacing back and forth on the stage and dramatically using his fists to
pound home his points
Lincoln, on the other hand, delivered his comments solemnly, using direct and
plain language
Douglas won the Senate seat, but Lincoln was now being considered as the next
Republican Presidential Candidate
Harpers Ferry
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John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, and a group of his supporters left their
farmhouse hide-out en route to Harpers Ferry. Descending upon the town
in the early hours of October 17th, Brown and his men captured prominent
citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal. Brown had hopes that
the local slave population would join the raid and through the raid’s
success weapons would be supplied to slaves and freedom fighters
throughout the country
Election of 1860
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Lincoln- Republican candidate
Stephen Douglas- Northern Democrats
John C. Breckinridge- Southern Democrats
John Bell- Constitutional Union Party
WHO WINS?
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Lincoln emerged as the winner, but like Buchanan, he received less than half the
popular vote. In fact, although Lincoln defeated his opponents in the electoral
votes by 180 to 123, he had no Southern votes
Lincoln had sectional support, carrying all the free states but not even appearing
on the ballot in most of the slave states
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Southern Secession
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Lincoln’s victory convinced the Southerners that they had lost their political voice
in the National government
South Carolina led the way, seceding from the Union on December 20, 1860
Other Southern states soon followed
Confederate States of America
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All the secessionist states met in Montgomery, Alabama where they formed the
Confederacy.
Confederate constitution closely resembled that of the USA
Most notable difference, Confederate constitution “protected and recognized”
slavery
Jefferson Davis was elected President of Confederacy
Would the North allow the South to leave the Union
without a fight?