HIST 1311 1st Edition Lecture 15Responses to the Great Transformation, 1815-1840I. 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 andmiddle 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 toimpart 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.- Break your tools - Cut off your fingers or toes1. 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. E. 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. II. 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. George Caleb Bingham painted the common man. B. 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. III. 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, bycutting 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