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SOCIETY, CULTURE, REFORM AND TERRITORIAL AND ECONOMIC EXPANSION CHAPTERS 11-12

DeLayHUSH

Society, Culture and Reform

Religious Reform

The Second Great Awakening

The Second Great Awakening

Spectacular religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening reversed a trend toward secular nationalism in American culture, and helped to fuel a spirit of social reform

Religious Revival

Began during the early decades of the 19th century Partly a reaction against the rationalism (belief in

human reason) that had been the fashion during the Enlightenment and the American Revolution

Calvinist (Puritan) teachings were rejected in favor of more liberal and forgiving doctrines

In 1795, Rev. Timothy Dwight started a series of Calvinist revivals on the Yale College campus.

A generation of young men were motivated to become evangelical preachers of the Christian gospels

Evangelical Methodists and Baptists challenged the religious establishment and domination of older denominations such as the Episcopalians,

Congregationalists, and Presbyterians, by widespread popular meetings and by services such as this camp meeting in 1819.

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Revivalism in the North & South

Baptists & Methodists in South ministers traveled to their congregations

became the largest Protestant denominations by the 1850s.

Charles Finney (Presbyterian) appealed to the emotions of New Yorkers could be saved through faith & hard work

NY became known as the “burned over district”

Mormons

Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830s

Initially in NY, then OH, MO and IL

In 1844, Smith and his brother were murdered in IL

Brigham Young took followers west to build a “New Zion” in Utah

Social organization helped them to succeed

But hostile relations w/ US Gov’t because of practice of polygamy

Second Great Awakening

Created a difference between older Protestant Churches and newer Evangelical sects (still Protestant though)

Played a role in social reform - but only in the Northern states

Mostly stemmed from personal conversion that then led to widespread religious revival and then led to a desire to reform society

A New American Culture

Changing America’s Image

Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism was the focus of literature from the 1820s through the 1850s Truth could not be

achieved by observation alone but with an inner light

There was to be meaning behind writing

Look to find God in nature

Transcendentalism looked to challenge the materialism that was rapidly overtaking American Society.

Literature

Ralph Waldo Emerson Romanticized the heroes

of the American Revolution

Encouraged self-reliance and independent thinking

Wanted to create an American culture –separate and unique from that in Europe

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Literature

Henry David Thoreau Wrote “Walden; or Life in the Woods” Became recognized as an ecologist and conservationist

Condemned slavery

Wrote “On Civil Disobedience”

Walt Whitman Wrote “Leaves of Grass”

Other Literature of the Era

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – poetry John Greenleaf Whittier – poetry on social influence Oliver Wendell Holmes – “The Last Leaf” Emily Dickinson – poetry Louisa May Alcott (also associated with

Transcendentalism) – “Little Women” Edgar Allen Poe – “The Raven” Nathaniel Hawthorne – “The Scarlet Letter” Herman Melville – “Moby Dick”

Artistic Changes

American artists began imitating European styles Greek Revival styles became

very popular

Portrait artists focused on the heroes of the American Revolution Gilbert Stuart, Wilson Peale

– painted Washington numerous times

John Trumbull painted scenes of the American Revolution

Reforming all areas of Society

Antebellum Reform

Reforming Society

Temperance began with moral exhortation then moved to political

action

Opposed by immigrants (little power)

supported by factory owners

1857 Maine prohibited sale/manufacture of intoxicating substances (13 by the civil war)

Why? 1820 - 5 gals hard liquor per person per year (includes women/children)

Public Asylums

Mental Hospitals Dorthea Dix began crusade to separate mentally ill from

criminals led to state paid care

Blind and Deaf Thomas Gallaudet founded a school for the deaf Samuel Gridley Howe founded a school for the blind by 1850s, similar schools had been established in most

states Prisons

Auburn system (rigid discipline w/ moral instruction) replaced penitentiary (solitary confinement)

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Public Education

Before the 1830s, opportunity was limited Expansion of suffrage led many to think that an

educated populace was necessary for wise voting decisions & participation

Horace Mann (Mass.) led campaign for free elementary schools, better teacher training, new methods, improved books, and compulsory attendance.

By mid 1800s, nearly all states offered some form of free elementary education

Secondary Education

Secondary education was slower to develop

First public high school was founded in Boston in 1821

Few high schools even by 1860 (New York only had 41)

High schools were primarily meant for boys, especially those going on to college

Education for Females

They could (and did) attend public elementary schools Private high schools known as academies or female

seminaries provided secondary education A few colleges (Oberlin and Antioch) admitted men

and women Some all women’s colleges were established

(Wesleyan College in Georgia; Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts)

Notables in Education

Noah Webster wrote a series of spellers, grammars and readers that would help to standardize the educational materials

Horace Mann helped establish many schools, and founded the first school for the training of teachers

Moral Education

Morals were a part of the education received at public schools (essentially basic religious beliefs)

These morals were based on the various Protestant religions, and found in textbooks such as the McGuffey Readers

This led to the development of a system of Catholic schools throughout the US So that Catholic children would not be subjected to

Protestant moral teaching and Protestant prayers in school

Women’s Rights Movement

Industrialization had driven down the economic importance of children so family size was dropping

Led to an increased focus on the children that were born and an idea that men and women had two separate spheres of influence Women in the home and over children Men in business and politics

This is known as the “cult of domesticity” But was this accurate? Many women did work

outside of the home (at some point in their lives)

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Women’s Rights (cont.)

Women began to demand equal rights to property, employment, education, and participation in government

Led by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848 Adopted a declaration demanding that women “have immediate

admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the US.”

Also that “all men and women are created equal”

To some extent, they were successful – more chance for higher education, western states granted the vote first

But the antislavery movement and the civil war would overshadow their efforts for the remainder of the century

Anti Slavery Movement

In 1817, the American Colonization Society was founded to free slaves and return them to settlements in Monrovia and Liberia 12,000 were eventually returned

but it proved to not be very practical (since slavery was growing in the US)

In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison began an anti-slavery newspaper called The Liberator, which denounced slavery as a sin and demanded the immediate freeing of all slaves

This led to the founding of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833

Anti-Slavery (cont)

The Liberty Party was founded because many felt that Garrison was too radical

They wanted to do away with slavery by legal means (within the system)

Nominated James Birney for President in 1840 and 1844

Abolitionists

Frederick Douglas Gave first hand accounts of

his experiences in slavery

Born into slavery in MD and escaped to Mass in 1838

Was a newspaper editor and speaker

Demanded an end to slavery in the South AND an end to racial discrimination in the North

Abolitionists

Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth Helped to organize the

effort to lead escaped slaves to the safety of Canada (where slavery was illegal and they would not return escaped slaves)

Lucretia Mott An active member of the

Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society who turned her experience there (she was

denied the chance to attend an international conference because she was a woman) into a crusade for women’s rights Manifest Destiny

Territorial and Economic Expansion

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Texas, Oregon, and Maine

Manifest Destiny

Texas

Settlement Mexico, independent from Spain in 1823, invited

settlement by Americans, including Moses Austin

Revolt and Independence Mexico outlawed slavery and required religious

conversion General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna established

dictatorship Sam Houston declared Texas an independent republic in

March 1836 - “Lone Star Republic”

The Alamo

Texas

The Alamo and Goliad The Alamo

Sieged for almost 2 weeks before Mexico declared “no quarter”

All defenders (182-257) killed including James Bowie and Davy Crockett

Goliad Massacre

About 340 troops executed after having surrendered

Texas

Battle of San Jacinto Texan army under Sam

Houston surprised and captured Santa Anna

Forced to sign a treaty ending the war and acknowledging Texas’ independence

Annexation Jackson and Van Buren

Tyler

Maine

Border dispute between rival lumber men Resulted in the Aroostook War (between the lumbermen)

Lord Alexander Ashburton and Daniel Webster negotiated the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842) to settle the issue They split the disputed land, roughly in half

Canada got land for a road connecting Halifax to Quebec

The US got the iron-rich Mesabi range in Minnesota since this treaty also addressed a boundary dispute in the Great Lakes region

Oregon

Claimed by 4 countries Great Britain

Claimed by virtue of fur trade and 1000 settlers

United States Claimed by virtue of John Jacob Astor’s fur trade, exploration by Lewis and

Clark (and others), and by over 5000 settlers

Spain Relinquished claim to the US in 1819

Russia Not settled – actual influence only in Alaska

Dispute with Britain Not truly a boundary dispute but a dispute over who actually claimed

the Oregon territory

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Oregon Fever

Protestant missionaries settled the Willamette Valley in the 1840s (right).

Their success in farming led thousands of Americans to travel over 2000 miles across the Oregon Trail to settle this area south of the Columbia River

The Oregon Trail Election of 1844

Democrats Main Contenders

Martin Van Buren - Former president, led northern wing of party, opposed immediate annexation of Texas

John C. Calhoun - Southern Senator, proslavery, and pro annexation

The Dark Horse: James K. Polk (**song**) From Tennessee and a protégé of Andrew Jackson Committed to expansion and manifest destiny

Annexation of Texas Reoccupation of ALL of Oregon – “54°40’ or Fight” was his campaign rallying cry The acquisition of California from Mexico (purchase or otherwise)

Whigs Henry Clay – tried to straddle the issue of Texas, first against then later in

favor of annexation

Liberty Party James Birney drew the support of a large group of NY voters abandoned the

Whigs (and their flip-flopping candidate). The loss of these voters allowed Polk to win NY and the election

Annex Texas

Democratic victory was interpreted as a mandate to add Texas to the Union

Outgoing President John Tyler annexed with a simple joint resolution of Congress (only needed a 50% majority not a 2/3 majority of the Senate like a treaty would)

War with Mexico might be inevitable But Polk was left the problem of dealing with Mexican

reaction

Divide Oregon

Compromise reached with Britain over Oregon divided at the 49th parallel

Compromise was necessary (despite the campaign promise of “54°40’ or Fight”) because of impending war with Mexico

US was unable to fight two major wars on different borders simultaneously

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The Mexican War 1846-1848

Outbreak of War

War with Mexico

Polk’s attempt to appease Mexico Sent John Slidell as a special envoy to Persuade Mexico to sell California and the New Mexico

territories

Settle a border dispute concerning the Mexico-Texas border

Mexico refused to sell and insisted the border was the Nueces River

The US insisted it was the Rio Grande River

Texas

Causes of the War

Causes of the War General Zachary Taylor was sent to the disputed area to

patrol The Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande on April 24,

1846 and captured an American army patrol (killing 11) “American blood spilled on American soil” Polk used the incident to send a pre-prepared war message

to Congress Northern Whigs opposed (not believing the American soil

claim) including A. Lincoln.

Campaigns

**Most of the war would be fought in Mexican territory**

Stephen Kearney With a small army

(never over 1500), he took Santa Fe, the New Mexico Territory, and southern California

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Campaigns

John C. Fremont Backed by only a few

dozen soldiers, a few naval officers and civilians recently settled in CA, in June of 1846, he overthrew Mexican rule in northern CA and proclaimed California to be an independent republic (like Texas)

This independent republic of California would be nicknamed the “Bear Flag Republic” because of its flag

Campaigns

Zachary Taylor His was a large army of some 6000 men and succeeded in driving

the Mexican Army from Texas and across the Rio Grande

In September, 1846, Taylor's army fought General Ampudia's forces for control of the northern Mexican city of Monterey in a bloody three-day battle. Following the capture of the city by the Americans, a temporary truce ensued which enabled both armies to recover from the exhausting Battle of Monterey.

During this time, former President Santa Anna returned to Mexico from exile and raised and trained a new army of over 20,000 men to oppose the invaders. Despite the losses of huge tracts of land, and defeat in several major battles, the Mexican government refused to make peace.

Campaigns

Zachary Taylor His was a large army of some

6000 men and succeeded in driving the Mexican Army from Texas and across the Rio Grande

In September, 1846, Taylor's army fought General Ampudia's forces for control of the northern Mexican city of Monterrey in a bloody three-day battle.

Following the capture of the city by the Americans, a temporary truce ensued which enabled both armies to recover from the exhausting Battle of Monterrey.

During this time, former President Santa Anna returned to Mexico from exile and raised and trained a new army of over 20,000 men to oppose the invaders. Despite the losses of huge tracts of land, and defeat in several major battles, the Mexican government refused to make peace.

Campaigns

Winfield Scott On March 9, 1847, General Scott landed with an army of

12,000 men on the beaches near Veracruz, Mexico's most important eastern port city.

From this point, from March to August, Scott and Santa Anna fought several bloody, hard-fought battles from the coast toward Mexico City.

Campaigns

Winfield Scott Finally, on September

14, the American army entered Mexico City. Following the city's occupation, Santa Anna resigned the presidency but retained command of his army.

He attempted to continue military operations, but his troops, refused to fight.

Ending the War

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (aka Mexican Cession) Texas border recognized at the Rio Grande

California and New Mexico Territory purchased for $15 million plus the U.S. will assume damage claims by American citizens against the Mexican government in the amount of about $3 million (~$18 million total)

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Ending the War

Some Whigs opposed the treaty because they saw the war as an immoral effort to expand slavery.

Some southern Democrats also disliked the treaty because they wanted the US to take all of Mexico (they were expansionists)

But the treaty was eventually ratified as it was written

Ending the War

Wilmot Proviso This was an amendment to a piece of legislation

introduced into Congress in 1846 – right after the start of the war

Introduced by PA congressman David Wilmot

It would forbid slavery in any of the new territories that would be acquired from Mexico

Passed the House (twice) but was defeated in the Senate

Illustrates the growing tensions between North and South

Expansion and the Economy

The March Westward

“Europe stretches to the Alleghenies, America lies beyond” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The young America (half of all Americans were under the age of 30) was expanding westward at a rapid pace. The geographic center of population is the point at which half of the population is east, half west, half north and half south. In 1790, this point was in Maryland (near Baltimore). By 1820, it had moved to what is today West Virginia (along 39°N). By 1840, the center of West Virginia, and by 1860 it was in the center of southern Ohio.

Population Growth 1790-1860

0

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

30,000,000

1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860

WhiteNon-White

Growth of the Cities

In 1790, there were only 2 cities with populations over 20,000 - New York and Philadelphia. By 1860, there were forty-three and about 300 other cities had populations of at least 5,000 inhabitants.

Broadway, looking North, in New York City, 1834. These walk-up buildings held the workshops and boarding houses for Irish and German immigrants who provided mostly semi-skilled labor.

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Changing Cities

At first the laborers in the textile, garment, and steel mills were of American birth, many of them agricultural laborers who moved into nearby towns looking for work as soil exhaustion and a series of

economic crises pushed them off the land. But in the two decades after a serious blight destroyed Ireland's potato crop in 1845, two million Irishmen left their island for jobs in England and the U.S.

The Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney, a Yale College graduate who was tutoring in the South, designed an “engine” that would speed up seed removal. This simple machine was 50 times faster than hand-picking the seeds and soon spread throughout the south, making cotton a very profitable crop

By 1860, more than 400 million pounds of cotton poured into more than 1000 northern mills annually. But just who was working in these mills?

In 1820, half of the nation’s industrial workers (not just in the mills) were UNDER 10 years of age.

There were few opportunities for women to be self-supporting (mostly nursing, domestic service, and teaching) but eventually, significant numbers of industrial workers were women. About 10 % of white women worked for pay outside of the home in 1850 and about 20% of all women had been employed at some point before they married.

The Lowell Mills

The textile mills, concentrated in New Englandemployed mostly young farm girls who were seeking to raise money before they were married.

The BostonAssociates’ mill at Lowell, Massachusetts was a prime example. Girls would work for a number of years in a rigidly controlled environment to save up money for a dowry.

The mills were a model of efficiency. The great water wheels located in the basements powered machinery that processed raw cotton on the first floor, spun it into thread on the second, wove it

into cloth on the third, and finished and printed it on the fourth. These cotton mills were the height of American inventive creativity: filled with machinery built for the specific type of cloth being woven, and therefore relatively simple to operate, the mill was itself a kind of giant machine.

Changes on the Farm

The growth of farms changed the look of America. Initially, farms were self-sufficient for families but as transportation improved, northern trans-Allegheny farms began to produce large amounts of corn. As they moved westward in search of more land to cultivate, their wooden plows failed to cut through the prairie sod.

In 1837, John Deere (IL) produced a steel plow that could handle the tough sod. It was doubly effective because it could be pulled by horses instead of oxen.

In the 1830s, Cyrus McCormick (VA) created the “cotton gin of the west” - the mechanical mower-reaper.

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The mower-reaper was a horse-drawn machine that cut wheat that was ready to be harvested. It’s major advantage was it’s speed. It allowed one man to do the work of five men working with sickles and scythes.

Farmers rushed to cultivate more land so that more product could be brought to market. Essentially, wheat became a “cash crop” of the trans-Allegheny west.

There was still one major disadvantage the farmers in the west had to face - how to get their crops to market.They were still dependent on the North-South river systems to get their goods to the eastern cities.

A transportation revolution was necessary...

The Transportation Revolution

Three Stages: Canals - man made waterways where horses could tow

flat-bottomed barges

Steamboats - ships that relied on the steam engine for power and could be used on rivers, canals or even on ocean-going ships

Railroads - first using horse power then shifting toward steam powered propulsion

Canals

DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York, used state money to build the first canal in America. It would allow western farmers direct access to bustling New York City via both rivers and canals.The Erie Canal promoted the development of routes for commercial trade with, and rapid settlement of, the newly-opened regions of the old Northwest, and the territories beyond the Mississippi.

The Appalachian mountain chain presented a barrier to continental transportation: rivers east of the mountains flowed toward the Atlantic, and those to the west

flowed toward the Mississippi. The best location for a water link was through the Mohawk river valley gap in upstate New York, where a relatively short canal could link the port of New York with the vast water system of the Great Lakes. Clinton convinced the NY legislature to issue bonds for the construction of the Erie Canal in 1818; by 1825 the 364-mile-long canal was finished. Here at Lockport, a deep gorge required a series of locks to move barges to the higher water level.

This system of locks and canals that connected to navigable rivers allowed farm produce from the west to reach consumers in NY by traveling only a few hundred miles rather that a few thousand miles down the Mississippi River and around Florida.

5 of the Erie Canal’s 84 locks were here at Lockport, NY.

But the Erie Canal was not the only one built. Pennsylvania built a 395-mile canal between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; Ohiodeveloped a series of canals which linked the Ohio river to Lake Erie; in the 1840s, Illinois funded a canal to link Chicago and the Great Lakes with the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Although not as profitable as investors wished, all of these canals played important roles in moving manufactured goods and raw materials, and in linking regional economies within the nation.

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Introducing Steam Power

The age of steam-powered travel began in 1807 with the successful voyage up the Hudson River of the Clermont, built by Robert Fulton.

Commercially operated steamboat lines soon made round-trip shipping on the nation’s rivers both faster and cheaper. The ship above, the “Walk-in-the-Water,” operated on the Great Lakes in the 1820s and was typical of early steam ships.

the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; in St. Louis, 3,184 steamboat arrivals were recorded in 1852

The number of steamboats in service continued to grow throughout the 1830s and 1840s. Between 1811 and 1880, nearly 6,000 steamboats were built on

Steam Power on Rails

The need for more efficient systems to move goods over land led to experiments with rails laid on a road bed. The earliest rail cars were pulled by horses. But as others experimented with steam power for boats, others worked to harness steam to land transportation.

In 1830 the Tom Thumbtook part in a famous race with a horse-drawn rail car. Within a year the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, founded in 1827, had switched from horse to steam power.

The Dewitt Clinton, built for the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad by the West Point Foundry, made the 17-

mile trip from Albany to Schenectady on August 9, 1831 in the then-unheard-of time of less than an hour.

Key Notes

Transportation improvements concentrated in the North - roads, canals, and railroads

Factories concentrated in New England with textile mills dominating Massachusetts

Western farms produced cash crops for the commercial markets in the East

Cotton production transformed the South, increasing the need for slaves to work the fields to harvest the crop for overseas sale