Chapter 13
Coming to Terms
With the New Age,
1820s—1850s
“Americans love their country
not as it is but as it will be.”
Foreigner Francis Grund
“Why Lizzie, thee will make us
ridiculous.”
Lucretia Mott, 1848
Introduction
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Lewis Tappin, Roger Baldwin
Angelina and Sarah Grimke, Dwight Weld
John Humphrey Noyes, Oneida
Robert Owen, New Harmony
Karl Marx
Train cities, instant cities, walking cities
Political, economic, social, cultural,
intellectual, environmental, “history”
Chapter Focus Questions
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What impact did the new 1840s & 1850s
immigration have on American cities?
Why did urbanization produce so many
problems?
What motivated the social reformers of
the period? [Were they benevolent
helpers or dictatorial social controllers?
Study several reform causes and discuss
similarities and differences among them.]
Abolitionism differed little from other reforms in
its tactics, but the effects of antislavery
activism were politically explosive. Why was
this so?
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882 -- Transcendentalist philosopher
Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864 The Scarlet Letter [1850]
“The Wayside” at Concord, MA – home to both Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott
Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862
Walden, 1854
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882 -- Paul Revere’s Ride, The Song of Hiawatha,
Evangeline
Longfellow’s home in Cambridge, MA – taught Harvard modern languages, 1836-1854
Noah Webster 1758-1843 -- an ardent Federalist, published 1806 dictionary
Horace Mann 1796-1859 -- Sec. of the MA state board of education, Rep. 1849-1853
A page from McGuffey’s Reader, first published by William Holmes McGuffey 1800-1873
[6 editions, 122 million copies, used until the 1920s]
Prudence Crandell 1803-1889 -- Quaker school teacher who admitted an African
American to her Canterbury, Conn. school – Conn passed new law in 1833 making this
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet 1787-1851
Started first free school for education of the deaf in Philadelphia in 1817
Edward Miner Gallaudet 1837-1918 – Son of Thomas Gallaudet, opened Washington,
D.C. school for the deaf
NY Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb in early 19th century [LA public
hospital of 1930s was free for the poor!]
Samuel Gridley Howe 1801-1876 -- Ran New England Asylum for the Blind for 44 years
Dorothea Lynde Dix 1802-1887 -- Between 1838 & Civil War lobbied to improve
conditions for insane – led to new hospitals and asylums in 15 states and Canada
NY Lunatic Asylum –cure insane through kind treatment and healthful living conditions
Robert Mills 1781-1855 -- South Carolina architect – designed asylum with private
rooms for each inmate, fresh air circulation
“Widows’ and Orphans’ Asylum in Philadelphia -- this publicly funded institution
replaced privately funded ones
Auburn, NY State Prison -- belief that the environment, not character created criminals
University of Virginia at Charlottesville, founded in 1819 – an “academic village”
Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky -- founded in 1780
“Slab Hall” or “Cincinnati Hall,” one of 1st dormitory buildings at Oberlin College, built
in 1835 [Founded when Lane Seminary in Cincinnati refused to endorse the immediate
abolition of slavery -- Theodore Dwight Weld led students to form their own college!]
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, 1836 -- first college for the higher education of
“daughters” in South Hadley, MA
Washington, D.C.’s Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1846 with a legacy from James
Smithsonian of London
One of earliest US Sunday schools in Beverly, MA -- new focus on children, their
education, and “Republican motherhood”
Charles Grandison Finney 1792-1875 – Presbyterian minister by 21, then became
Congregationalist and revivalist – president of Oberlin College, 1851-1865
William Ellery Channing 1780-1842 -- father of American Unitarianism in 1819 –
humanitarianism, rationality, and religious toleration – influenced Transcendentalists
Robert Owen 1771-1858 -- British social reformer, established several model industrial
communities including New Harmony, Indiana -- environment creates the human
society which was perfectible through cooperation
“A Bird’s Eye view of one of the new communities at New Harmony, Indiana, an association of two
thousand persons formed upon the principles advocated by Robert Owen.” Founded in 1825 and
dissolved in 1827, its residents founded the first US kindergarten, the first free public school, and
the first free public library. Drawing of the plan created by architect Stedman Whitwell in 1828
Ann Lee’s “Shakers” – United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing -- 1774
in NY, celibacy, 6,000 members in 1830s
Shaker Village of Alfred, Maine – millenium sect with communal life
Oneida, NY community’s business office, founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 –
corporate marriage of all members to each other – communal care of children
Iowa’s Amana Community, founded in 1855
Joseph Smith 1805-1844, founded Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints based on
visions from God at Palmyra, NY in 1827 and published in Book of Mormon in 1829
Nauvoo, Illinois Mormon Temple -- burned by mob, anti-polygamists and anticommunally owned property
Brigham Young 1801-1877
Mormons emigrating to Utah in 1847
Salt Lake City in 1855
Arthur Tappan 1786-1865 -- he and brother Lewis were NY evangelicals and wealthy
silk merchants – helped fund American Anti-Slavery Society [he became the president],
The Liberator, Lane Seminary, and Oberlin College
Theodore Dwight Weld 1803-1895 -- a disciple of Finney, attempted to radicalize the
Lane Theological Seminary – married Angelina Emily Grimke [1805-1879] in 1838 – his
1839 American Slavery as it Is was a source for Harriet Beecher Stowe
Sarah Moore Grimke 1792-1873 – to Philadelphia from Charleston to protest slavery
James G. Birney 1792-1857 -- founded Kentucky Anti-Slavery Society, co-founder of
1840 Liberty Party, its candidate for president in 1840 and 1844
William Lloyd Garrison 1805-1879 -- first militant white voice for immediate abolition
[Free African Americans had opposed colonization in Africa and gradual emancipation]
Masthead of William Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper on August 13, 1831
Issue #1 on Jan. 1, 1831 reads: “I am in earnest – I will not equivocate – I will
not excuse – I will not retreat a single inch – AND I WILL BE HEARD.”
Frederick Douglass 1817-1895 -- escaped from slavery in 1838, autobiography in 1845,
The North Star newspaper
Elijah P. Lovejoy 1802-1837 – Nov. 7, 1837 in Alton, Illinois, his 4th press was
destroyed and he was killed by proslavery men from Missouri
Wendell Phillips 1811-1884 -- Boston Common speech
Lucretia Mott 1793-1880 -- active in antislavery movement, Society of Friends, denied
opportunity to attend 1840 World’s Anti-slavery Convention in London as woman,
women’s rights leader
Susan B. Anthony 1820-1906 [standing] and Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815-1902 -- first
women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, NY in 1848
Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s home in Seneca Falls, NY [after 1905 restoration]
Sarah Josepha Hale 1788-1879 – accepted “separate spheres” instead of political
equality – 40 year editor of pioneer women’s magazine, Godey’s Lady’s Book and cofounder of Vassar College
Jane Addams 1860 - 1935
Chronology
1820s
1825
1827
1830
1833
1834
1837
1840s
1843
1844
1845
1848
Shaker colonies grow
New Harmony
Public school movement begins in Mass. (Horace Mann)
Joseph Smith founds Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints
(Mormons)
American Anti-Slavery Society founded by Garrison and
Theodore Weld
First Female Moral Reform Society (NY); National Trades
Union
Sarah and Angela Grimké – equality of races and sexes
Boston and NY City complete public water systems
Dorothea Dix spearheads asylum reform movement
Joseph Smith killed; Mormon migration to Great Salt Lake in
1846
NY creates city police force
Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls; John Noyes
founds Oneida Community
Recommended
Degler, Carl N. At Odds: Women and the Family in America from the
Revolution to the Present. (1980)
Douglass, Frederick. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass, An American Slave. (1845)
Gutman, Herbert G. Work, Culture, & Society in Industrializing
America: Essays in American Working-Class History. (1976)
Handlin, Oscar. Boston’s Immigrants: A Study in Acculturation. (Revised
1959) and The Uprooted (1951)
Lerner, Gerda. The Grimké Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for
Women’s Rights and Abolition. (1967)
Nash, Gary B. Forging Freedom: Philadelphia’s Black Community,
1720-1840. (1988)
Mintz, Steven. Moralists and Modernizers: America’s Pre-Civil War
Reformers. (1995)
Pessen, Edward. Most Uncommon Jacksonians: The Radical Leaders of
the Early Labor Movement. (1967)
Sklar, Kathryn. Catharine Beecher: A Study in American Domesticity.
(1973)
A: Seneca Falls
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In 1848, almost 300 male and female reformers
gathered for the Seneca Falls women’s rights
convention.
The participants passed resolutions calling for a
wide range of rights for women, including the right
to vote.
Women’s rights was just one of many reform
movements of the time that emerged to respond
to societal issues raised by the dislocations of the
market revolution
B: Urban America
The Growth of Cities in
Perspective
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The market revolution increased the size cities,
beginning in the seaports.
With one exception, the largest cities in 1800 kept that
status in 1850.
Preindustrial cities were geographically small
"walking cities" that fostered the mingling of
social classes.
Due to the market revolution, urban population rapidly
grew between 1820 and 1860. Tremendous amounts of
commerce passed through the older port cities.
“Instant” cities like Chicago sprang up at critical
transportation points in the interior.
Patterns of Immigration
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Immigration was a key part of urban
growth.
Beginning in 1830 immigration
soared, particularly in the North.
Immigrants came largely from
Ireland, Germany, and China.
Irish, German, and Chinese
Immigration
Irish Immigration:
(1) Potato famine, (2) settlement in east, (3)
discrimination and poor working and living
conditions.
 Chinese Immigration:
(1) Gold Rush, (2) discrimination.
 German immigration:
• (1) Market forces stimulated immigration,
(2)settled in the Midwest.
 All three groups developed strong ethnic communities.
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Irish and German Immigrant
Employment in New York
City,1855
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Irish immigrants were clustered in
laborer and domestic jobs.
German immigrants were clustered
in skilled trades.
Class Structure and Living
Patterns
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The gap between rich and poor grew
rapidly.
Economic class was reflected by residence
as:
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poor people (nearly 70 percent of the
city) lived in cheap rented housing
middle-class residents (25-30 percent)
lived in more comfortable homes
very rich (about 3 percent) built
mansions and large town houses.
Health, Sanitation and
Residence
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In the early nineteenth century, cities had no
adequate sanitation systems, leading to disease
epidemics.
The introduction of sanitation systems
furthered residential segregation as:
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the wealthy clustered in neighborhoods with
these services
the middle-class moved to new suburban areas
the poor became packed in dirty and crime-ridden
slums
Ethnic Neighborhoods and
Urban Popular Culture
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Irish and German immigrants created ethnic
enclaves to maintain cultural tradition and
institutions.
A new urban popular culture emerged
that challenged middle class
respectability centering around:
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the tavern
theaters
the penny press
Civic Order
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Americans grew concerned that the cities
would become centers of disorder.
Prosperous classes were frightened
by the urban poor and by workingclass rowdyism.
Cities began to hire more city watchmen
and to create police forces to keep order.
Urban riots did break out, frequently
against Catholics and African Americans.
The Urban Life of
Free African Americans
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About half of the nation’s free African Americans lived
in the North, mainly in cities, where they encountered:
 residential segregation
 job discrimination
 segregated public schools
 limits on their civil rights
Free African Americans formed community
support networks, newspapers, and churches.
The economic prospects of African American men
deteriorated.
Free African Americans engaged in antislavery
activities, but were frequent targets of urban violence.
C: The Labor
Movement and
Urban Politics
The Tradition and Decline of
Artisanal Politics
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American cities had long been centers of organized artisans
and skilled workers.
Worker associations, parades and celebrations were parts of
the urban community.
By the 1830s, the skilled craft workers were being undercut
by industrialization.
Workers’ associations became increasingly classconscious turning to fellow laborers for support.
Initially, urban worker protest against change focused on
party politics, including the short-lived Workingmen's Party.
Both major parties tried to woo the votes of
organized workers.
The Union Movement
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Workers organized trade unions and formed
city-wide “General Trades Unions.”
The local groups then organized the
National Trades Union.
The trade union movement was met with
hostility and most collapsed during the Panic of
1837.
Early unions included only skilled white
workers.
Big-City Machines
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Competition for the votes of workers shaped urban
politics.
Big-city machines arose reflecting the class
structure of the fat-growing cities.
The machines cultivated feelings of community by:
 appealing directly for working-class votes through
mass organizational activities
 creating organizations that met basic needs of the
urban poor
The machines also had a tight organizational
structure headed by bosses who traded loyalty
and votes for political jobs and services, leading
to charges of corruption.
D: Social Reform
Movements
Evangelism, Reform
and Social Control
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Middle-class Americans responded to the dislocations of the
market revolution by promoting various reform campaigns.
Evangelical religion drove the reform spirit forward.
Reformers recognized that:
 traditional small-scale methods of reform no longer worked
 the need was for larger-scale institutions
The doctrine of perfectionism combined with a basic belief
in the goodness of people and moralistic dogmatism
characterized reform.
Regional and national reform organizations emerged from local
projects to deal with various social problems.
Reformers mixed political and social activities and tended to seek to
use the power of the state to promote their ends.
Education and Women
Teachers
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Educational reformers changed the traditional ways of
educating children by:
 no longer viewing children seen as sinners whose wills
had to be broken
 seeing children innocents who needed gentle
nurturing.
The work of Horace Mann and others led to taxsupported compulsory public schools.
Women were seen as more nurturing and
encouraged to become teachers, creating the first
real career opportunity for women.
The Saloon and Reform
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Reformers attacked the immigrant saloon
for promoting drinking and being centers
for organizing political machines.
The Drunkard’s Progress
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Temperance tracts painted a lurid picture of
the effects of alcohol.
“The Drunkard’s Progress, from the first glass to the grave.” 1846 lithograph by
Nathaniel Currier
Temperance
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Middle-class reformers sought to change
Americans’ drinking of alcohol habits.
Temperance was seen as a panacea for all
social problems.
Prompted by the Panic of 1837, the
working class joined the temperance
crusade.
By the mid-1840s alcohol
consumption had been cut in half.
Moral Reform, Asylums,
and Prisons
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Reformers also attacked prostitution by
organizing charity for poor women and
through tougher criminal penalties but had
little success.
The asylum movement promoted humane
treatment of the insane and criminals, but
prison often failed to meet their
purposes.
Reform Movements in the
Burned-Over District
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The region of New York most changed by the Erie
Canal was a fertile ground for religious and reform
movements, earning the name Burned-Over
District.
The reform movements originating or thriving
there included:
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the Mormon Church
utopian groups like the Millerites and Fourierites
antislavery sentiment
the women's rights movement;
Utopianism
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Amid the reform fervor some people formed
utopian communities.
Religious utopians like the Millerites and
Shakers saw an apocalyptic end of
history. The Shakers also practiced celibacy
amid a fellowship of equality.
Conversely, John Humphrey Noyes’s Oneida
Community practiced “complex marriage.”
New Harmony and the various Fourier-inspired
communities unsuccessfully attempted a kind of
socialism.
Mormonism
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The most successful communitarian
movement was Mormonism.
Founded by Joseph Smith and harassed by
others, the Mormons migrated to Utah.
E: Antislavery and
Abolitionism
Abolition Before 1820
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Various antislavery steps had been taken
prior to the 1820s.
But they had not addressed the
continuing reality of Southern slavery.
The ineffective American Colonization
Society resettled a small number of free
African Americans in Africa where they
founded Liberia.
African Americans’ Fight
Against Slavery
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Free African Americans rejected
colonization.
They founded abolitionist societies that:
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demanded equal treatment
demanded an end to slavery
encouraged slave rebellions.
Abolitionists
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William Lloyd Garrison headed the bestknown group of antislavery reformers.
Garrison denounced all compromise (including
political action and the Constitution) and called
for immediate emancipation on moral grounds.
The American Anti-Slavery Society drew
on the style of religious revivalists as they tried
to confront slaveholders and lead them to
repentance.
Abolitionist mailed over a million pieces of
propaganda that led to a crackdown by
southern states and a stifling of dissent.
Several abolitionists were violently attacked
and one was killed.
Abolitionism and Politics
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Abolition began as a social movement but soon
became a national political issue. Abolitionists
inundated Congress with petitions calling for
abolition in the District of Columbia.
Congress imposed a “gag rule” tabling all
such petitions, but it was repealed
in1844. [JQA’s position in H of R]
Abolitionist unity splintered along racial and
political lines.
White abolitionists (other than
Garrisonians) founded the Liberty Party.
F: The Women’s
Rights Movement
Women and Reform
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Women were active members of all reform societies
and even formed their own antislavery organizations.
Sarah and Angelina Grimke left their South
Carolina home and traveled north to denounce
slavery, becoming the first female public
speakers in American history.
Two decades of activity culminated with the Seneca
Falls women’s rights convention in 1848 and the
beginnings of the women’s rights movement.
Historians have only recently acknowledged the
central role women played in the various reform
movements of this era.