A New Spirit of Change
Chapter 14
Emigration to the U.S. from Europe
Percent of Total Immigrants
40
1820-1860
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Ireland
Germany
Great Britain
The Americas
Scandinavia
Other
Irish
• Fleeing hunger
(caused by Potato
Famine), poverty, &
English persecution
• Settled in East Coast
cities
• Famine is when people
starve due to lack of food
Germans
• Escaping warfare in
Central Europe
• Settled primarily in
Midwest and some
in Texas like in
Fredericksburg and
New Braunfels
Pull and Push Factors
PULL FACTORS
• Freedom
• Economic opportunity
• Lots of Land
PUSH FACTORS
• High population in Europe
• Crop failures
• Industrial Revolution
• Religious turmoil and warfare
Reforms
• From the 1820’s onward, America
started to change for the better.
These changes are called reforms.
• A Reformer is someone who sees that
something is wrong in our society, so
that person tries to reform or fix the
problem.
• Examples include:
Dorothea Dix – Mental Illness
• People with mental illnesses were not
understood in early America and
were often mistreated and sometimes
even abused.
• Dorothea Dix led the fight for better
treatment of the mentally ill.
• Dorothea Dix reformed the treatment
of the mentally ill by convincing
many that these people should not be
locked away in prisons but treat with
care. Eventually mental hospitals
were opened throughout the country
to help the mentally ill.
Horace Mann- School Reform
• Before the American Revolution
there were very few public schools.
Only wealthy children received an
education.
• Horace Mann wanted to change
that. With his reforms public
schools were opened up all across
the nation that taught all children,
rich and poor, in the same schools.
• Schools would also be free and
children would be forced to receive
an education!
Yes this man is the
reason you are here
right now!
Temperance Movenment – Alcohol
• Alcohol was a serious problem in our countries
early history. Many people especially poorer men
drank way too much.
• Church based Temperance (The avoidance of
Alcohol) Leagues started across the country to
ban alcohol.
• They would fight an almost 100 year battle which
they finally won in 1919 with the passing of the
18th Amendment to the Constitution which
banned the selling of Alcohol until 1933.
Prison Reform – Treatment of Prisoners
• Prisons were truly horrible in early America.
Prisoners often had to remain silent, eat
terrible food, and were beaten by guards.
• Prison reformers like Eliza Farnham want to
change these conditions.
• They wanted prisoners to be reformed. She
allowed prisoners to be educated in the
hopes that they would be rehabilitated or
changed for the better so they could go
back into society.
Second Great Awaking - Religon
• Methodist, Baptist, and other
Protestant religious groups became
popular.
• They often held outdoor services to
recruit new converts.
• These groups were very successful
and attracted large numbers. These
churches also taught and encourage
reforms like the temperance
movement.
Shaping an American Identity
• During the middle part of the 19th century
American artist started giving voice to an
American Identity.
• For example before this period Americans
read English literature along with Greek
tragedies, but now American authors were
publishing important works and an
astonishing rate.
Hudson River School
• A school of painters who influenced early
American art. They focused on landscapes
or paintings of the environment.
Asher Durand … Hudson River School Landscape Painter
• Founder of
Hudson River
School
• Painted
“feeling”
rather than
reality
Thomas Cole … Hudson River School Landscape Painter
• Most famous of the
Hudson River School
artists
• Painted series … like
Voyage of Life and
Course of Empire
The Savage State
Thomas Cole … Pastoral State
The Pastoral State
Thomas Cole …
Consummation of Empire
Thomas Cole …
Destruction
Thomas Cole …
Desolation
John James Audubon
• Nature artist
• Best known for his
sketches of birds
• Audubon Society
named in his honor
Later American Artist – Western Art
• Frederic Remington, Charles Russell,
George Catlin painted art of the American
West.
A lot of these can be found at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth!
Ralph Waldo Emerson – Philosopher
Do not go where
the path may
lead,
go instead where
there is no path
and leave a trail.
• Wrote essays emphasizing need
for Americans to be self-reliant—
independent from European
culture
• Encouraged Americans to learn
about life from nature, selfexamination, and KNOWLEDGE
• Transcendentalism was the
belief that humans were good,
and through knowledge we
achieve individual perfection
Henry David Thoreau
• Walden
• Civil Disobedience
• Suggested that people
should live by their own
standards
• With Emerson, founded
the philosophy of
Transcendentalism …
 Spiritual world more important
than physical world
 Truth can be discovered by
feeling and intuition
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!
Live the life you've imagined.
Walt Whitman - Poet
• Patriotic Poet …
wrote poems praising
ordinary Americans
• Best known for his
poems
• Leaves of Grass
 “I Hear America Singing”
 “Oh Captain, My
Captain”
Emily Dickinson
• A recluse in life, became
extremely famous after her
death.
• Shaped American poetry by
experimenting with language
(with Whitman)
• Poems focused on subjects of
God, Nature, Love, and Death
Hope is the thing with feathers,
that perches in the soul,
and sings the tune without words,
and never stops at all.
James Fenimore Cooper – Author
• Wrote books known as
the Leatherstocking
Tales … 5 books in all
including Last of the
Mohicans
• Featured nature & life on
the frontier along with
the “Noble Savage” an
Indian who behaves with
the morals and bravery
of a white Man.
Washington Irving
• Legend of
Sleepy Hollow
• Rip van Winkle
• Wrote some of the
1st novels describing
America
• Usually set in the
New York
countryside
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Paul Revere’s Ride
• One if by Land, two
if by sea.
• Celebrated America’s
Past by retelling history
through poetry.
• Made Paul Revere famous
as a Revolutionary War
hero, 20 years after his
death,
Edgar Allen Poe
• The Raven
• The Tell-Tale Heart
• Annabel Lee
• Author of stories
that dealt with the
workings of the mind,
horror, and detective
stories.
• The Raven was
extremely popular
Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Wrote stories
set in Puritan
New England
• Like Poe, had a
dark view of
human nature
• The Scarlet Letter
• House of the Seven Gables
Herman Melville
• Melville’s stories, like Moby Dick, were
drawn from his experiences at sea when he
sailed on a whaling expedition.
“Call me
Ishmael.”
Mark Twain
• Mark Twain was born in Missouri
and became probably the most
famous American writer of all
time.
• His novels like Tom Sawyer and
Huckleberry Finn told stories of
ordinary people living along the
Mississippi River.
• He stories were often humorous
and his characters talked in
accents like real people of that
time and place spoke.