Transcript THE AMERICAN PEOPLE CREATING A NATION AND A SOCIETY

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
CREATING A NATION AND A SOCIETY
NASH  JEFFREY
HOWE  FREDERICK  DAVIS  WINKLER  MIRES  PESTANA
7th Edition
Chapter 12: Shaping America in the
Antebellum Age
Pearson Education, Inc, publishing as Longman © 2006
RELIGIOUS REVIVAL AND
REFORM PHILOSOPHY
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Religious rebirth gave some Americans a
mooring in a fast-changing world
Others were inspired to refashion their society
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Worked through new political parties to shape an
agenda through the nation
Worked through reform associations targeting a
particular social evil
FINNEY AND THE SECOND GREAT
AWAKENING
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From the late 1790s to the late 1830s, a wave of religious
revivalism swept through the United States
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Revival took new emphasis with the 1830 arrival of Charles Finney
who shifted revivalism from frontier camps to upstate New York
(especially Rochester) and the Old Northwest
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British religion was becoming more conservative while American
religion was becoming more democratic
Areas had been hit by social and economic changes
Wave of religious enthusiasm led to tremendous growth of Methodists,
Baptists and other evangelical denominations
Revivalists toned down the Calvinist rhetoric and emphasized
emotion over doctrine
Even Catholics caught the revivalist fever
Finney’s revivals, unlike Catholic and southern ones, insisted that
conversion was not the end of the experience but the beginning
THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS
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Transcendentalists were a small but influential group of New
England intellectuals who lived around Ralph Waldo Emerson,
the era’s foremost thinker
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Name came from their belief that truth was found in intuition beyond
the senses
Urged people to look inward and to nature for self-knowledge, selfreliance, and the spark of divinity burning within
They questioned slavery, the pursuit of wealth, and the restrictive
conformity of social life
Margaret Fuller wrote about women’s rights, literature, prison
reform and the moral quality of everyday life
Nathanial Hawthorne and Herman Melville, while not
transcendentalists, were concerned with similar issues and
celebrated virtue over self-interest and emotion over reason
Henry David Thoreau believed in the virtues of a natural life and
the importance of protesting unjust laws
THE POLITICAL RESPONSE TO
CHANGE
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About 40% of Americans were touched by
evangelical Protestantism which, in turn,
effected their views of politics
Concern for continued health of democratic
republican experiment main issue
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New emphasis on voting as franchise extended to
include all white men
Panic of 1819 and Andrew Jackson’s campaign led
to widespread interest in politics
CHANGING POLITICAL CULTURE
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Andrew Jackson’s presidency was instrumental in bringing
politics to the center focus of many American lives
Jackson promised a more democratic system of politics yet was
personally not democratic
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Four times as many voters turned out in 1828 than in 1824 to vote
for Jackson
Jackson supported slavery and forcibly removed southern Indians to
the west
During his administration the rich got richer while the poor struggled
His administration did see the effectual emergence of a
competitive party system that involved conventions, rallies and
parades to encourage voter participation and party identification
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Appealed to popular emotions, religious views and ethnic prejudices
Language became contentious and militaristic
JACKSON’S PATH TO THE
WHITE HOUSE
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Born poor and poorly educated, Jackson became a successful
frontier lawyer, state attorney general and a substantial landowner.
Reputation was gained from military exploits
Having won both the popular and electoral votes in the 1824
election, Jackson lost the presidency to John Quincy Adams when
it went to the House of Representatives as no candidate had a
majority
Jackson organized a political coalition, Democratic party, had the
backing of John C. Calhoun, used newspapers to his advantage
and tactfully waffled on major issues
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The Adams-Clay coalition called themselves the National Republicans.
Both sides made slanderous personal attacks
1828 “Tariff of Abominations” was designed to win Jackson support
in key states by protecting New England textiles, Pennsylvania iron
and some agricultural products
Jackson won the election with 56% of the vote
OLD HICKORY’S VIGOROUS
PRESIDENCY
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Jackson’s presidency was guided by a belief in the
limited power of the national government and the
obligation of the government to defend the nation’s
average people against the tyranny of the wealthy
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Aggressively used presidential veto against bills that
conflicted with his political agenda
Favored a rotational system of staffing the government
(though more rhetoric than action)
Opposed internal improvements he saw as infringing on
states’ rights
OLD HICKORY’S VIGOROUS
PRESIDENCY
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Tariff was particularly controversial since northern states favored
as protection for their industries while southern states felt it made
their purchased goods more expensive and might be a prelude to
federal interference with slavery
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Vice President Calhoun pressed nullification as means for southern
states to protect themselves
Daniel Webster and Andrew Jackson believed states had no right to
nullify national laws
When South Carolina nullified the 1832 tariff (and the 1828 tariff)
and threatened to secede, Jackson insisted they abide by federal
law
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Congress passed the Force Bill and modified the tariff
South Carolina repealed the nullification of the tariff and nullified the
Force Bill
JACKSON’S NATIVE AMERICAN
POLICY
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Andrew Jackson favored forcible removal of Native
Americans and relocation westward on reservations
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A Supreme Court decision in 1823 stating that Indians
could occupy but not hold title to land in the United
States made Jackson’s policy easy to implement
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Many of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast
(Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Seminoles)
lost land in the early 19th century
Native Americans responded by restricting land sales to
government agents and assimilating certain aspects of white
culture
Jackson claimed that humanity and states’ rights
justified removing the Indians
JACKSON’S NATIVE AMERICAN
POLICY
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In 1829 Georgia claimed jurisdiction over the Cherokees and
their lands
In 1830 the Cherokees brought their complaints to the Supreme
Court
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Despite Supreme Court ruling that Georgia law did not apply, by
1835 Jackson informed the Cherokees they had to move
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1831: Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
1832: Worcester v. Georgia
1837 and 1838 U.S. Army removed the Cherokee to Oklahoma
Removal cost $6 million (deducted from $9 million paid Cherokee)
and cost one quarter of Cherokees their lives
Between 1821 and 1840, all southeastern tribes and those in the
Old Northwest were forced westward
Native American Removals: Southeast and Midwest
JACKSON’S BANK WAR AND “VAN
RUIN’S” DEPRESSION
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The Second Bank of the United States had been given a twenty
year charter in 1816 and had been under the control of Nicholas
Biddle since 1823
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A responsible organization, the Bank restrained smaller state banks
from making unwise loans by insisting they back their notes with
specie (gold or silver) and by calling in its own loans
Accepted federal deposits, made commercial loans and bought and
sold government bonds
While some supported the bank, while a many others, including
Jackson, found a variety of reasons to distrust it and dislike its
policies
When Biddle asked to renew his charter four years early in 1832,
Jackson vetoed the bill and used the struggle to underscore
differences between social classes
JACKSON’S BANK WAR AND “VAN
RUIN’S” DEPRESSION
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The bank furor clarified party differences
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Whigs (former National Republicans) nominated Henry Clay in 1832
Anti-Masons expressed resentments against the elitist Masonic
order
Jackson won easily
Jackson transferred government funds from B.U.S. to state
banks leading to a wave of speculation in western lands and new
internal improvement schemes which inflated land prices
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Jackson sought to curtail speculation by insisting that only specie be
accepted for land payments (Specie Circular 1836)
The result was the Panic of 1837 (which was probably more closely
related to trade problems with Britain and China) which became a
problem for Jackson’s successor Martin Van Buren
JACKSON’S BANK WAR AND “VAN
RUIN’S” DEPRESSION
Panic of 1837
 $ 6 million was lost on defaulted debts
 By fall of 1837 one-third of America’s workers were
unemployed and thousands had only part-time work
 Those with jobs saw their wages fall 30-50% within
two years
 The price of necessities nearly doubled
 Soup kitchens and bread lines grew
 Destroyed the trade union movement and violence
increased as the depression grew worse
THE SECOND AMERICAN PARTY
SYSTEM
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Democrats: had a sounder claim of representation of the
common man with a broad base of support across the nation
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Whigs: represented majority of wealth and were strongest in New
England and areas settled by New Englanders
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Espoused liberty and local rule
Appealed to persecuted religious minorities
Endorsed American System
Many large Southern planters joined due to position on bank credit
and internal improvement
Religious and moral values often shaped policy and supported a
wide variety of reforms
1840: Whigs nominated William Henry Harrison and John Tyler
(VP) while Democrats nominated Van Buren
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Harrison won but died less than a month after taking office, leaving
Tyler in charge
PERFECTIONIST REFORM AND
UTOPIANISM
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Mid-nineteenth century reformers sought to create a
perfect world
Impulse to reform was rooted in:
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Puritan idea of American mission
Secular examples of founding fathers
Republican ideology
Romantic beliefs in the natural goodness of human nature.
Social activist tendencies in Whig ideology
Anxiety over shifting class relationships and socioeconomic
change
Family influence and the desire of young people to choose
careers of principled service
Direct influence of revivalism
THE INTERNATIONAL
CHARACTER OF REFORM
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Atlantic Ocean was a highway for reform as
many of the issues confronting the United
States was also being experienced by
Europeans
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American abolitionists traveled to England and
English abolitionists visited the United States
Scottish cotton mill owner Robert Owen came to
U.S. to establish a socialist community, inspiring a
variety of cooperative efforts
THE DILEMMAS OF REFORM
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Was it more effective to change people’s minds in
order to change bad institutions or to change bad
institutions assuming that will cause people’s behavior
to change?
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First path relies on education and moral suasion.
Second path lead to political and institutional activism
Should they seek limited, piecemeal change or
wholesale, utopian change?
Should they use violence or make alliances with
questionable allies or maintain their values at all
costs?
Reformers tended to quarrel with one another
UTOPIAN COMMUNITIES: Oneida
and the Shakers
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Many reformers of the age sought to create the perfect
representation in miniature of what life should be
John Humphrey Noyles founded a society of “free love” and
socialism at Oneida, New York
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Included communal child rearing, sexual equality in work, removal of
competitive spirit, elaborate program of mutual criticism
Invested in modern manufacturing and prospered economically
The Shakers, founded by Mother Ann Lee, believed in communal
property, perfectionism, and celibacy.
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Shaker worship featured a wild dance intended to release sin from
the body
OTHER UTOPIAS
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Over 100 communities like the Shakers and Oneida were
founded during the era but most were small and all collapsed in a
short time.
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Secular communities sought to address social misery by crating
better environments
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The Ephrata colony of Pennsylvania
The Harmonists of Indiana
The Amana Society in Iowa
Robert Owen’s New Harmony lasted three years
Brook Farm lasted less than three years though members produced
some memorable literature
Failure resulted from the fact that most Americans were unwilling
to share either their property or their spouses
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Also suffered unstable leadership, financial bickering, local hostility,
indiscriminate admission of members, and waning enthusiasm
MILLERITES AND MORMONS
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William Miller declared that the Second Coming of Christ was
slated for March 1843
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When nothing happened in 1843, he moved the date and died
discredited in 1848
Millerite sect, Seventh-Day Adventists, decided that Christ was
coming soon
Joseph Smith clamed to be visited by the angel Moroni who led
him to the Book of Mormon which predicted an American prophet
who would form a new kingdom of Christ in the United States
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Founded Church of Latter Day Saints in 1830 and attracted
thousands of followers
Migrated to Ohio, then Missouri then Illinois due to ridicule,
persecution and violence
Mormons prospered though Smith was killed by irate neighbors after
he ran for the presidency in 1844
Leadership passed to Brigham Young who moved the Mormons
westward
REFORMING SOCIETY
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Reformers created and joined all sorts of
social reform societies whose ranks were
swelled by thousands of women, stirred to
action by religious revivals and freed from
domestic burdens by delayed marriage and
smaller families
TEMPERANCE
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Nineteenth century Americans drank to excess
Early efforts at curbing the public’s consumption focused on
moderation
The American Temperance Society (1826) was dedicated to total
abstinence
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The Society successfully used revival techniques of the Second
Great Awakening to motivate “converts”
In 1840, differences in goals fractured the temperance movement
into a variety of separate organizations
Many laboring people joined during hard times
The Washington Temperance Society (1840) saw drink as a
disease and focused on political action
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Others followed political emphasis in 1840s, lobbying for political
option laws
Per capita drinking fell dramatically in the 1850s
HEALTH AND SEXUALITY
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Reformers also attacked too much eating,
stimulants and sex
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Endorsed diet and exercise programs and even
cure-all panaceas
Sylvester Graham focused on sexual purity
Antebellum “health” manuals advocated
abstinence and warned of dangers of
“wasting” semen
HUMANIZING THE ASYLUM
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Some efforts of reform were not aimed at the salvation of the
individual but towards organizations such as hospitals or
asylums
Horace Mann led the struggle for common schools in
Massachusetts
Beginning in the early nineteenth century, states built institutions
to uplift and house social outcasts
Dorothea Dix championed the cause of the mentally ill, believing
adequate facilities and proper living conditions would go far to
produce some sort of a “cure”
Despite attention paid to building the right type of prisons and
other institutions to encourage reform, little really changed
WORKING-CLASS REFORM
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In America, the institution most in need of reform was the factory
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Jacksonian Democrats siphoned votes from workingmen’s
parties while unions advocated practical goals like shorter hours,
improved wages, and prevention of the threat from cheap labor
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Workingmen’s parties—advocating free, tax-supported schools; free
public lands in the West; and elimination of monopolistic privilege—
formed to address these issues
Trade union activity began in 1827 and by 1834 the National Trades
Union was founded
Shared a number of issues with middle class supporters
Workers struck 168 times between 1834 and 1836, mostly over
wages
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In 1835 struck for 10-hour day.
Panic of 1837 undermined the movement
ABOLITIONISM AND WOMEN’S
RIGHTS
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Arthur and Lewis Tappan financed the Lane
Seminary to train abolitionist leaders
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“Rebels” from the institution fled to Oberlin and
created the first institution open to women and
blacks
TENSIONS WITHIN THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT
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1 January 1831, William Lloyd Garrison published the antislavery
journal The Liberator
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Established first the New England Anti-Slavery Society (1833) then
the American Anti-Slavery Society which called for an immediate
end to slavery rather than gradual emancipation
The American Colonization Society (1816) sought to send blacks
back to Africa
Determination to eliminate slavery was reinforced by victories
elsewhere in the world
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Agitation against the international slave trade in several European
countries
Abolition of slavery in Latin American countries in 1820s and 1830s.
By 1833, British activists had achieved freedom for British
Caribbean slaves
TENSIONS WITHIN THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT
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Activists disagreed about tactics as well as goals
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Primary method was to convince slaveholders that slavery was a sin
Others preferred more direct political and economic measures
More rarely some called for slave rebellions
In 1840 the American Anti-Slavery Society split, one group
staying with Garrison and his advocacy of women’s participation
and the other left to pursue political action and the Liberty party.
Abolitionists were further divided by race and class
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Some black nationalists rejected white society and advocated
emigration to Africa, though most sided with Frederick Douglass and
worked to end slavery in U.S.
Some blacks led vigilance groups that helped slaves escape to
Canada or safe northern communities
National Negro Convention movement (1830) not only discussed
slavery but also discrimination facing northern blacks
FLOOD TIDE OF ABOLITIONISM
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Overall, black and white abolitionists worked well
together at both ending slavery and at addressing
discrimination
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Both had to defend themselves against attacks by mobs
Antiabolitionists were as fervent as abolitionists
By the 1840s the antislavery movement had gained
significant strength and many who many not have
supported goals were upset by mob violence and
attacks on free speech
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Many became convinced of the pernicious influence of the
slave power
WOMEN REFORMERS AND
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
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Religiously motivated women not only joined various reform
causes but struggled for their rights as women, including the right
to speak in public
To achieve greater personal autonomy, antebellum women
pursued several paths
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Working class women went on strike
Some middle class women saw the home as the center of women’s
power and authority
Some used their role as moral guardians to attack the double
standard
Some upper middle-class women denied the attractions of female
domesticity all together and sought more legally protected rights
Inspired by their treatment at an anti-slavery movement in
England, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott held a
convention at Seneca Falls in 1848 to demand equal rights for
women
DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
ONLINE
Women in America
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/FEM/home.
htm
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Godey’s Lady’s Book Online Home Page
http://www.history.rochester.edu/godeys/
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Influence of Prominent Abolitionists
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam006.html
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Transcendentalists
http://www.transcendentalists.com/
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Religion and National Culture in the Nineteenth
Century
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nineteen.htm
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DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
ONLINE
Andrew Jackson
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/ajackson.html
 The Trail of Tears
http://www.ourgeorgiahistory.com/indians/chero
kee/trail_of_tears.html
 Social History of the Antebellum Period
http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/index.html
 Reform Movements
http://womhist.binghamton.edu/
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