HIST 1311 1st Edition Lecture 15 Responses to the Great Transformation 1815 1840 I Reactions to Changing Conditions A A Second Great Awakening Baptist Methodist Presbyterian 1 New Protestant ideas in the early nineteenth century emphasized the individual 2 Charles G Finney sparked an intense religious revival that swept the country a Thousands attended revival meetings B The Middle Class and Moral Reform 1 Hundreds of voluntary societies arose in behalf of many reform causes a These organizations provided outlets for members of the new upper and middle classes 2 Religious idealism influenced many of the reform movements a New approaches to the criminal and the insane emerged b Bible societies Sunday schools and Sabbath rest movements developed 3 Many of the reform movements sought to impose middle class standards of behavior 4 Educational reform was one such movement a Horace Mann led the movement for public schooling for the children of all classes b In addition to teaching practical knowledge the public schools sought to impart Protestant religious values c In reaction Catholics established their own schools C The Rise of Abolitionism 1 Slavery as a moral question began to capture national attention after the War of 1812 James Monroe 2 The American Colonization Society proposed to return freed slaves to Africa Liberia 3 More radical opponents of slavery began to call for its complete abolition a The American Anti Slavery Society founded by William Lloyd Garrison advocated immediate abolition and no compensation for owners 4 Abolition was not a popular cause a Mobs attacked abolitionists and broke up their meetings b Congress refused to debate the existence of slavery between 1836 and 1844 D The Beginnings of Working Class Culture and Protest Passive Resistance Fake sickness Slow down your work These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute E II Break your tools Cut off your fingers or toes 1 Drinking was the social distraction of choice among working people and was central to most social activities 2 Violence abounded between individuals as well as between rioting ethnic religious and racial groups 3 Women were worse off than men a Single women earned less than men b Married women were confined to tiny apartments and were barred from many activities available to men Culture Resistance and Rebellion Among Southern Slaves 1 Traces of African heritage were visible in slaves clothing entertainment folkways and religion a The joining of African musical forms with Christian lyrics gave rise to the spiritual 2 Most slaves too restricted themselves to passive resistance rather than open protests 3 The most active and most frightening form of slave resistance was open and armed revolt 4 Turner s Rebellion led to stricter controls Toward an American Culture A Romanticism and Genteel Culture 1 Americans imported Romanticism as a mode of thought from Europe 2 Leading cultural figures in America combined individualism with Romanticism a In so doing they emphasized the positive features of American life and experience and the uniqueness of America 3 In religion the combination of individualism and Romanticism gave rise to Transcendentalism 4 Transcendentalism philosophy of religion that you can understand religion through nature a Ralph Waldo Emerson fashioned the ideas of Transcendentalism 5 Emerson also led the way in the development of an American literature a In The American Scholar he called for independence from European literary models 6 Leading literary figures in American Transcendentalism included a Henry David Thoreau books on civil disobedience nonviolence b James Fenimore Cooper c Herman Melville Moby Dick d Nathaniel Hawthorne Scarlet Letter e Edgar Allan Poe Raven Tale and Tell Heart and House of Usher 7 In the visual arts emphasis on American scenes replaced the neoclassicism of the beginning of the nineteenth century a Thomas Cole painted the American landscape and created the Hudson River School B III b George Caleb Bingham painted the common man Radical Attempts to Regain Community 1 American cultural leaders and their followers who reacted to excesses in individualism established experimental communities 2 Experimental religious communities also arose a The Shakers established communities practicing celibacy single 3 Joseph Smith established the Mormon church influenced by both religion and Romanticism a Smith led his religious community from New York to Ohio from there to Missouri and then to Illinois The Whig Alternative to Jacksonian Democracy A The End of the Old Party Structure 1 Anti Jackson forces were at first unable to unite a Three anti Jackson parties ran in 1832 all going down to defeat B The New Political Coalition 1 Anti Jackson forces Clay s supporters Southern nullifiers Antimasons and Christian reformers coalesced in the Whig party a Whigs beat many Democrats Jackson s party in the 1834 congressional elections C Van Buren in the White House 1 Democrat Van Buren won the presidency in 1836 a Whig strategy force the election into the House of Representatives by having many candidates backfired 2 Van Buren s presidency was plagued by economic turmoil a The Panic of 1837 caused by Biddle s activities against Jackson and by Jackson s Specie Circular initiated a harsh depression b Van Buren added to the problem by adhering to hard money policies by cutting government spending and by establishing regional Treasury offices D Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign of 1840 1 The Whigs won with Harrison because a They united behind one candidate b They nominated a Southern Democrat for vice president c They portrayed Harrison as a common man and Van Buren as an aristocrat The depression ruined Van Buren s chances