Antebellum America 1820s to 1860s WED Nov 12 KEY TERMS Nativism Second Great Awakening Temperance Movement Seneca Falls Convention Antebellum Reference to period of time before a particular war In this lecture the Civil War Population Boom during the Antebellum period 1790 4 million people 1860 31 million people 22 million people in the North 9 million people in the South 4 million enslaved Due to Contributing factors Improvement in public health Higher birth rates and Immigration from Europe Urbanization As population increased so did the size of the cities Cities are also going to grow due to the large number of immigrants coming to the U S The size of cities and European immigrants related because Jobs and for work They stay in the cities that they arrive in because They aren t going to be elites in society They wouldn t have any more money left Irish The largest group of European immigrants Irish Immigration The largest group of EU immigrants 1820s 60 000 immigrants 1830s 235 000 immigrants 1840s 845 000 immigrants Because of Irish culture and practices Americans are going to become suspicious of these immigrants They fit in the category of they stay in whatever land they land in Just like most EU immigrants they take jobs in the cities that aren t necessarily the greatest What the Americans wouldn t take Physical laborious jobs building canals working in mills etc Female immigrants doing laundry domestic servants workers maids etc These EU immigrants would rely on these wages for What distinguished Irish from other white Americans was that they were Catholic Their religion became a target of their culture As prejudices develop between EU and Americans an idea developed Nativism Nativism US A backlash to immigration A backlash to the increased number of immigrants in the Anti Catholic beliefs emerged Prejudices against immigrants primarily from Europe Political cartoon Irish and German immigrants going to run away with take over government Rioting against the foreign More things developing during the Antebellum period An increasing class conscious people becoming more aware Due to the market system linked to the economy The market system is just going to widen the gap between the rich and poor Rich richer poor poorer By the time you get to the 1830s the process for making goods is going to change Going to have an impact on class consciousness This good shoe making process is going to be split up amongst different people Sort of the assembly line but not really yet When labor is split up the roles that each person does is going to be split up The process of making the shoe is going to be more less specialized So how many things do you have to do now that you all have all of these roles I used to know how to do every step but now I only need to know how to do one step Means for workers they get paid less because they don t have to know as much Workers become more interchangeable The process becomes less specialized As the specialization process breaks down class consciousness starting to become Wages are going to become an identifier work with people getting similar wage economic class as you Then you start to see the development of neighborhoods ethnically diverse richer more distinct people here etc Start to identify yourself with people who are similar to you EX class wise New Middle Class emerges as gap between rich and poor increases To fill that widening gap Examples doctors lawyers ministers supervisors clerks tellers editors writers school teachers These distinguishes the jobs that are below them in the lower class are Their education you have to be educated to get these jobs In some instances these jobs are more stable Paid a salary monthly yearly versus a wage hourly Going to rely on intellectual labor vs physical labor As the poor becomes more poor the middle class is going to work harder to distinguish themselves from the poor The families of the middle class may Tell their kids to go to school to get an education Education is going to be a big distinguishes between the lower and middle class Some Americans are going to look back at old societal ways to find stabilization Second Great Awakening may not be proper heading The chaos from uncertainty of development and immigration is going to cause people to look for stability Going to go back to gender spheres Males working outside of the home earn the money Females caretaking cooking stay at home 1820s 1830s During this Second Great Awakening there is going to be a wave of revivalism Similar to the first great awakening this is going to Popular preachers going to hold large outdoor meetings religious camp meetings Going to take place in rural areas places in the south Also served as social events Camp meetings often characterized by a high religious fervor Wouldn t be uncommon to see people leaping or speaking in tongues or convulsions thanks to the religious emotions felt during these camp meetings To the point that it affected them physically One of the most well known camp meetings Cane Ridge in Kentucky Estimated 27k people went People would have had to travel long distances Going to be a much more defined religious movement Going to be several movements to try and improve society Going to be about reactions about the instability going on at this time Most are going to be products of this Second Great Awakening Temperance Movement Temperance Movement 1 A movement to swear off alcohol How is this related to the religious movement Some believed drinking alcohol countered religious beliefs Sinful behaviours happen as a result of drinking alcohol in excess Believed alcohol is the cause of people breaking self control Temperance movement is going to get people to practice piety This movement isn t going to completely remove alcohol in society This is one way that they believed stability can be achieved Prison Reform 2 Up until this point people think crime is a result because of bad laws Not because one individual is inherently bad As a result of this Maybe if good laws were put in place there would be more citizens to follow these laws The flaw is within the laws By the time you get to the 1820s 1830s In urban areas cities primarily on the eastern portion of the city a whole lot of people are going to jail Mindset changed from there are bad laws to maybe people are inherently bad Idea is going to shift where that people are going to need to be helped Special prisons created These prisons are going to separate said