Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860
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Antebellum Idealism and Re , our ( in tho world , our am all FIGURE The masthead of The Liberator , by Billings in 1850 , highlights the religious aspect of antislavery crusades , The an abolitionist newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison , one of the leaders of the abolitionist movement in the United States . CHAPTER OUTLINE An Awakening of Religion and Individualism Antebellum Communal Experiments Reforms to Human Health Addressing Slavery Women Rights INTRODUCTION This masthead for the abolitionist newspaper The two Americas On the left is the southern version where enslaved people are being sold on the right , free Black people enjoy the blessing of liberty , the role of evangelical Protestantism in reforms such as abolition , the image features Jesus as the central . The caption reads , I come to break the bonds of the oppressor , and below the masthead , Our country is the World , our Countrymen are all The reform efforts of the antebellum years , including abolitionism , aimed to perfect the national destiny and redeem the souls of individual Americans . A great deal of optimism , fueled by evangelical Protestantism revivalism , underwrote the moral crusades of the first half of the nineteenth century . Some reformers targeted what they perceived as the shallow , materialistic , and democratic market culture of the United States and advocated a stronger sense of individualism and . Others dreamed ofa more equal society and established their own idealistic communities . Still others , who viewed slavery as the most serious in American life , labored to end the institution . Women rights , temperance , health reforms , and a host of other efforts also came to the forefront during the heyday of reform in the and ,
326 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , An Awakening of Religion and Individualism LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end ofthis section , you will be able to Explain the connection between evangelical Protestantism and the Second Great Awakening Describe the message of the Joseph Smith Lloyd found Garrison Henry David Church founds Ralph Waldo Thoreau of the American Emerson publishes Latter Day publishes Walden Or , Life Saints Society ' in the Woods 1830 1833 1841 1854 1827 1831 I 1848 1855 American Nat Supporters of women ?
Most Temperance rights gather at northeastern Society leads I ' Seneca Falls states go dry is a slave , by I rebellion alcohol FIGURE Protestantism shaped the views of the vast majority of Americans in the antebellum years . The of religion only during the decades before the Civil War , as religious camp meetings spread the word that people could bring about their own salvation , a direct contradiction to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination . Alongside this religious fervor , advocated a more direct knowledge of the self and an emphasis on individualism . The writers and thinkers devoted to transcendentalism , as well as the reactions against it , created a trove of writings , an outpouring that has been termed the American Renaissance . THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING The reform efforts of the antebellum era sprang from the Protestant revival fervor that found expression in what historians refer to as the Second Great Awakening . The First Great Awakening of evangelical Protestantism had taken place in the and . The Second Great Awakening emphasized an emotional religious style in which sinners grappled with their unworthy nature before concluding that they were born again , that is , turning away from their sinful past and devoting themselves to living a righteous , life . This emphasis on personal salvation , with its rejection of predestination ( the Calvinist concept that God selected only a chosen few for salvation ) was the religious embodiment of the celebration of the individual . Itinerant ministers preached the message of the awakening to hundreds of listeners at outdoors revival meetings ( Figure 133 ) Access for free at .
An Awakening of Religion and Individualism 327 FIGURE This 1819 engraving by Jacques Gerard shows a Methodist camp meeting . Revivalist camp meetings held by itinerant Protestant ministers became a feature of American life . The burst of religious enthusiasm that began in Kentucky and Tennessee in the and early among Baptists , Methodists , and Presbyterians owed much to the uniqueness of the early decades of the republic . These years saw swift population growth , broad western expansion , and the rise of participatory democracy . These political and social changes made many people anxious , and the more egalitarian , emotional , and individualistic religious practices of the Second Great Awakening provided relief and comfort for Americans experiencing rapid change . The awakening soon spread to the East , where it had a profound impact on and Presbyterians . The thousands swept up in the movement believed in the possibility of creating a much better world . Many adopted millennialism , the fervent belief that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth and that God would reign on earth for a thousand years , characterized by harmony and Christian morality . Those drawn to the message of the Second Great Awakening yearned for stability , decency , and goodness in the new and turbulent American republic . The Second Great Awakening also brought changes to American culture . Church membership doubled in the years between 1800 and 1835 . Several new groups formed to promote and strengthen the message of religious revival . The American Bible Society , founded in 1816 , distributed Bibles in an effort to ensure that every family had access to the sacred text , while the American Sunday School Union , established in 1824 , focused on the religious education of children and published religious materials for young readers . In 1825 , the American Tract Society formed with the goal of disseminating the Protestant revival message in a of publications . Missionaries and circuit riders ( ministers without a congregation ) brought the message of the awakening across the United States , including into the lives of the enslaved . The revival spurred many slaveholders to begin encouraging the people they enslaved to become Christians . Previously , many slaveholders feared allowing the enslaved to convert , due to a belief that Christians could not be enslaved and because of the fear that enslaved people might use Christian principles to oppose their enslavement . However , by the , Americans established a legal foundation for the enslavement of Christians . Also , by this time , slaveholders had come to believe that if enslaved people learned the right ( that is , White ) form of Christianity , then they would be more obedient and hardworking . Allowing enslaved people access to Christianity also served to ease the consciences of Christian slaveholders , who argued that slavery was divinely ordained , yet it was a faith that also required slaveholders to bring enslaved people to the truth . Also important to this era was the creation of African American forms of worship as well as African American churches such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church , the independent Black Protestant church in the United States . Formed in the by Richard Allen , the African Methodist Episcopal Church advanced the African American effort to express their faith apart from White Methodists ( Figure .
328 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , FIGURE Charles Finney ( a ) was one of the ministers ofthe Second Great Awakening . Richard Allen ( created the first separate African American church , the African Methodist Episcopal Church , in the . In the Northeast , Presbyterian minister Charles Finney rose to prominence as one of the most important evangelicals in the movement Figure . Born in 1792 in western New York , Finney studied to be a lawyer until 1821 , when he experienced a religious conversion and thereafter devoted himself to revivals . He led revival meetings in New York and Pennsylvania , but his greatest success occurred after he accepted a ministry in Rochester , New York , in 1830 . At the time , Rochester was a boomtown because the Erie Canal had brought a lively shipping business . The new middle outgrowth of the Industrial Finney message . It perfectly with their understanding of themselves as people shaping their own destiny . Workers also latched onto the message that they too could control their salvation , spiritually and perhaps as well . Western New York gained a reputation as the burned over district , a reference to the intense of religious fervor that swept the area during the Second Great Awakening . TRANSCENDENTALISM Beginning in the 18203 , a new intellectual movement known as transcendentalism began to grow in the Northeast . In this context , to transcend means to go beyond the ordinary sensory world to grasp personal insights and gain appreciation of a deeper reality , and believed that all people could attain an understanding of the world that surpassed rational , sensory experience . were critical of mainstream American culture . They reacted against the age of mass democracy in called the tyranny of majority arguing for greater individualism against conformity . European romanticism , a movement in literature and art that stressed emotion over cold , calculating reason , also in the United States , especially the celebration of the uniqueness of individual feelings . Ralph Waldo Emerson emerged as the leading of this movement ( Figure . Born in Boston in 1803 , Emerson came from a religious family . His father served as a Unitarian minister and , after graduating from Harvard Divinity School in the , Emerson followed in his father footsteps . However , after his wife died in 1831 , he left the clergy . On a trip to Europe in 1832 , he met leading of romanticism who rejected the of the Enlightenment , emphasizing instead emotion and the sublime . Access for free at .
An Awakening of Religion and Individualism 329 . mi . II , luv a , FIGURE Ralph Waldo Emerson ( a ) shown here circa 1857 , is considered the father of transcendentalism . This letter ( from Emerson to Walt Whitman , another brilliant writer of the transcendentalist movement , demonstrates the closeness of a number ofthese writers . When Emerson returned home the following year , he began giving lectures on his ideas . In 1836 , he published Nature , an essay arguing that humans can their true spirituality in nature , not in the everyday bustling working world of democracy and industrial transformation . In 1841 , Emerson published his essay , which urged readers to think for themselves and reject the mass conformity and mediocrity he believed had taken root in American life . In this essay , he wrote , Whose would be a man must be a nonconformist , demanding that his readers be true to themselves and not blindly follow a herd mentality . Emerson ideas dovetailed with those of the French aristocrat , Alexis de , who wrote about the tyranny of the majority in his America . like Emerson , expressed concern that a powerful majority could overpower the will of individuals . CLICK AND EXPLORE Visit Emerson Central ( to read the full text of Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson . How have Emerson ideas American society ?
Emerson ideas struck a chord with a class adults who also were with mainstream American life and searching for greater spiritual meaning . Many writers were drawn to transcendentalism , and they started to express its ideas through new stories , poems , essays , and articles . The ideas of transcendentalism were able to permeate American thought and culture through a print culture , which allowed magazines and journals to be widely disseminated . Among those attracted to Emerson ideas was his friend Henry David Thoreau , whom he encouraged to write about his own ideas . Thoreau placed a special emphasis on the role of nature as a gateway to the transcendentalist goal of greater individualism . In 1848 , Thoreau gave a lecture in which he argued that individuals must stand up to governmental injustice , a topic he chose because of his disgust over the American War and slavery . In 1849 , he published his lecture Civil Disobedience and urged readers to refuse to support a government that was immoral . In 1854 , he published Walden Or , Life in the Woods , a book about the two years he spent in a small cabin on Walden Pond near Concord , Massachusetts Figure . Thoreau
330 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , had lived there as an experiment in living apart , but not too far apart , from his conformist neighbors . WALDEN LIFE IN WOODS . lI ( I ( FIGURE Henry David Thoreau ( a ) argued that men had the right to resist authority ifthey deemed it unjust . All men recognize the right of revolution that is , the right to refuse allegiance to , and to resist , the government , when its tyranny or its are great and Thoreau Walden or , Life in the Woods ( articulated his emphasis on the importance of nature as a gateway to greater individuality . Margaret Fuller also came to prominence as a leading transcendentalist and advocate for women equality . Fuller was a friend of Emerson and Thoreau , and other intellectuals of her day . Because she was a woman , she could not attend Harvard , as it was a institution for undergraduate students until 1973 . However , she was later granted the use of the library there because of her towering intellect . In 1840 , she became the editor of The Dial , a transcendentalist journal , and she later found employment as a book reviewer for the New York Tribune newspaper . Tragically , in 1850 , she died at the age of forty in a shipwreck off Fire Island , New York . Walt Whitman also added to the transcendentalist movement , most notably with his 1855 publication of twelve poems , entitled Leaves of Grass , which celebrated the subjective experience of the individual . One of the poems , Song of Myself , the message of individualism , but by uniting the individual with all other people through a transcendent bond . AMERICANA Walt Whitman Song of Myself Walt Whitman Figure was a poet associated with the . His 1855 poem , Song of Myself , shocked many when it was published , but it has been called one of the most influential poems in American literature . Access for free at .
An Awakening of Religion and Individualism 331 FIGURE This steel engraving of Walt Whitman by Samuel is from a lost daguerreotype by Gabriel Harrison , taken in 1854 . I CELEBRATE myself , and sing myself , And what I assume you shall assume , For every atom me as good belongs to you . I and invite my soul , I lean and at my ease observing a spear of summer grass . My tongue , every atom of my blood , form from this soil , this air , Born here of parents born here from parents the same , and their parents the same , I , now years old in perfect health begin , Hoping to cease not till death . And I say to mankind , Be not curious about God , For I who am curious about each am not curious about God , No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death . I hear and behold God in every object , yet understand God not in the least , Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself . am not a bit tamed , I too am untranslatable , I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world . You will hardly know who I am or what I mean , But I shall be good health to you nevertheless , And and your blood . Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged , Missing me one place search another , I stop somewhere waiting for you . What images does Whitman use to describe himself and the world around him ?
What might have been shocking about this poem in 1855 ?
Why do you think it has endured ?
Some critics took issue with transcendentalism emphasis on rampant individualism by pointing out the destructive consequences of compulsive human behavior . Herman novel Moby Dick or , The Whale emphasized the perils of individual obsession by telling the tale of Captain Ahab quest to kill a white whale , Moby Dick , which had destroyed Ahab original ship and caused him to lose one of his legs . Edgar Allan Poe , a popular author , critic , and poet , decried the poetry of the .
332 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , These American writers who questioned transcendentalism illustrate the underlying tension between individualism and conformity in American life . Antebellum Communal Experiments LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end ofthis section , you will be able to Identify similarities and differences among utopian groups of the antebellum era Explain how religious utopian communities differed from nonreligious ones Prior to 1815 , in the years before the market and Industrial Revolution , most Americans lived on farms where they produced much of the foods and goods they used . This largely culture centered on large family units whose members all lived in the same towns , counties , and parishes . Economic forces unleashed after 1815 , however , forever altered that world . More and more people now bought their food and goods in the thriving market economy , a shift that opened the door to a new way oflife . These economic transformations generated various reactions some people were nostalgic for what they viewed as simpler , earlier times , whereas others were willing to try new ways of living and working . In the early nineteenth century , experimental communities sprang up , created by men and women who hoped not just to create a better way of life but to recast American civilization , so that greater equality and harmony would prevail . Indeed , some of these reformers envisioned the creation of alternative ways of living , where people could attain perfection in human relations . The exact number of these societies is unknown because many of them were so , but the movement reached its apex in the . RELIGIOUS UTOPIAN SOCIETIES Most of those attracted to utopian communities had been profoundly by evangelical Protestantism , especially the Second Great Awakening . However , their experience of revivalism had left them wanting to further reform society . The communities they formed and joined adhered to various socialist ideas and were considered radical , because members wanted to create a new social order , not reform the old . German Protestant migrants formed several pietistic societies communities that stressed transformative individual religious experience or piety over religious rituals and formality . One of the earliest of these , the Cloister in Pennsylvania , was founded by a charismatic leader named Conrad in the . By the antebellum era , it was the oldest communal experiment in the United States . Its members devoted themselves to spiritual contemplation and a disciplined work regime while they awaited the millennium . They wore homespun rather than buying cloth or premade clothing , and encouraged celibacy . Although the Cloister remained small , it served as an early example of the type of community that antebellum reformers hoped to create . In 1805 , a second German religious society , led by George , took root in Pennsylvania with several hundred members called who encouraged celibacy and adhered to the socialist principle of holding all goods in common ( as opposed to allowing individual ownership ) They not only built the town of Harmony but also produced surplus goods to sell to the outside world . In 1815 , the group sold its Pennsylvanian holdings and moved to Indiana , establishing New Harmony on a plot along the Wabash River . In 1825 , members returned to Pennsylvania , and established themselves in the town called Economy . The Shakers provide another example of a community established with a religious mission . The Shakers started in England as an outgrowth of the Quaker religion in the middle of the eighteenth century . Ann Lee , a leader of the group in England , emigrated to New York in the , having experienced a profound religious awakening that convinced her that she was mother in Christ . She taught that God was both male and female Jesus embodied the male side , while Mother Ann ( as she came to be known by her followers ) represented the female side . To Shakers in both England and the United States , Mother Ann represented the completion of divine revelation and the beginning of the millennium of heaven on earth . Access for free at .
Antebellum Communal Experiments 333 In practice , men and women in Shaker communities were held as radical departure at the women often outnumbered men . Equality extended to the possession of material goods as well no one could hold private property . Shaker communities aimed for , raising food and making all that was necessary , including furniture that emphasized excellent workmanship as a substitute for worldly pleasure . The features of the Shakers were their spiritual mysticism and their prohibition of sexual intercourse , which they held as an example of a lesser spiritual life and a source of between women and men . Rapturous Shaker dances , for which the group gained notoriety , allowed for emotional release ( Figure . The high point of the Shaker movement came in the 18303 , when about six thousand members populated communities in New England , New York , Ohio , Indiana , and Kentucky . FIGURE In this image of a Shaker dance from 1840 , note the raised arms , indicating emotional expression . CLICK AND EXPLORE Learn more about the musical heritage ( of the Shakers , including the song Simple Gifts , which has become part of American culture . Another religious utopian experiment , the Community , began with the teachings of John Humphrey , a who had graduated from Dartmouth , Andover Theological Seminary , and Yale . The Second Great Awakening exerted a powerful effect on him , and he came to believe in perfectionism , the idea that it is possible to be perfect and free of sin . claimed to have achieved this state of perfection in 1834 . applied his idea of perfection to relationships between men and women , earning notoriety for his unorthodox views on marriage and sexuality . Beginning in his home town of Putney , Vermont , he began to advocate what he called complex marriage a form of communal marriage in which women and men who had achieved perfection could engage in sexual intercourse without sin . also promoted male continence , whereby men would not ejaculate , thereby freeing women from pregnancy and the of determining paternity when they had many partners . Intercourse became fused with spiritual power among and his followers . The concept of complex marriage scandalized the townspeople in Putney , so and his followers removed to , New York . Individuals who wanted to join the Community underwent a tough screening process to weed out those who had not reached a state of perfection , which believed promoted control , not behavior . The goal was a balance between individuals in a community of love and respect . The perfectionist community envisioned ultimately dissolved in 1881 , although the Community itself continues to this day ( Figure .
334 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , FIGURE The Community was a utopian experiment located in , New York , from 1848 to 1881 . The most successful religious utopian community to arise in the antebellum years was begun by Joseph Smith . Smith came from a large Vermont family that had not prospered in the new market economy and moved to the town of Palmyra , in the burned over district of western New York . In 1823 , Smith indicated that he had been visited by the angel , who told him the location of a trove of golden plates or tablets . During the late , Smith translated the writing on the golden plates , and in 1830 , he published his as The Book of Mormon . That same year , he organized the Church of Christ , the progenitor of the Church of Jesus Christ of Saints then popularly known as Mormons . He presented himself as a prophet and aimed to recapture what he viewed as the purity of the primitive Christian church , purity that had been lost over the centuries . Smith emphasized the importance of families being led by fathers . His vision of a reinvigorated patriarchy resonated with men and women who had not thrived during the market revolution , and his claims attracted those who hoped for a better future . Smith new church placed great stress on work and discipline . He aimed to create a New Jerusalem where the church exercised oversight of its members . Smith claims of translating the golden plates antagonized his neighbors in New York . with Mormons led him and his followers to move to , Ohio , in 1831 . By 1838 , as the United States experienced continued economic following the Panic of 1837 , Smith and his followers were facing collapse after a series of efforts in banking and ended in disaster They moved to Missouri , but trouble soon developed there as well , as citizens reacted against the Church members beliefs . Actual broke out in 1838 , anc the ten thousand or so members of the Church of Jesus Christ removed to , Illinois , where they founded a new center of . By the , boasted a population of thirty thousand , making it the largest utopian community in the United States . Thanks to some ant conversions among powerful citizens in Illinois , the Church members had virtual autonomy in , which they used to create the largest armed force in the state . Smith also received further revelations there , including one that allowed male church leaders to practice polygamy . He also declared that all of North and South America would be the new Zion and announced that he would run for president in the 1844 ection . Smith and the Church members convictions and practices generated a great deal of opposition from neighbors in surrounding towns . Smi was arrested for treason ( for his role in the destruction of the printing press of a newspaper that criticized ) and while he was in prison , an mob stormed into his cell and killed him . Brigham Young ( Figure then assumed leadership of the group , which he led Access for free at .
Antebellum Communal Experiments 335 to a permanent home in what is now Salt Lake City , Utah . FIGURE Carl Christian Anton depicts The angel delivering the plates of the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith , circa 1886 ( a ) On the basis ofthese plates , Joseph Smith ( founded the Church of Saints . Following Smith death at the hands of a mob in Illinois , Brigham Young took control of the church and led them west to the Salt Lake Valley , which at that time was still part of Mexico . SECULAR UTOPIAN SOCIETIES Not all utopian communities were prompted by the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening some were outgrowths of the intellectual ideas of the time , such as romanticism with its emphasis on the importance of individualism over conformity . One of these , Brook Farm , took shape in West , Massachusetts , in the . It was founded by George Ripley , a transcendentalist from Massachusetts . In the summer of 1841 , this utopian community gained support from thinkers and writers , an intellectual group that included many important . Brook Farm is best characterized as a community of intensely individualistic personalities who combined manual labor , such as the growing and harvesting food , with intellectual pursuits . They opened a school that specialized in the liberal arts rather than rote memorization and published a weekly journal called The Harbinger , which was Devoted to Social and Political Progress Figure . Members of Brook Farm never totaled more than one hundred , but it won renown largely because of the luminaries , such as Emerson and Thoreau , whose names were attached to it . Nathaniel Hawthorne , a Massachusetts writer who took issue with some of the claims , was a founding member of Brook Farm , and he some of his experiences in his novel The Romance . In 1846 , a destroyed the main building of Brook Farm , and already hampered by problems , the Brook Farm experiment came to an end in 1847 .
336 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , THE ! I ' Pi ( FIGURE Brook Farm printed The Harbinger ( a ) to share its ideals more widely . George Ripley ( who founded the farm , was burdened with a huge debt several years later when the community collapsed . Robert Owen , a British industrialist , helped inspire those who dreamed of a more equitable world in the face of the changes brought about by industrialization . Owen had risen to prominence before he turned thirty by running cotton mills in New , Scotland these were considered the most successful cotton mills in Great Britain . Owen was very uneasy about the conditions of workers , and he devoted both his life and his fortune to trying to create cooperative societies where workers would lead meaningful , lives . Unlike the founders of many utopian communities , he did not gain inspiration from religion his vision derived instead from his faith in human reason to make the world better . When the community in Harmony , Indiana , decided to sell its holdings and relocate to Pennsylvania , Owen seized the opportunity to put his ideas into action . In 1825 , he bought the parcel in Indiana and renamed it New Harmony ( Figure . After only a few years , however , a series of bad decisions by Owen and over issues like the elimination of private property led to the dissolution of the community . But Owen ideas of cooperation and support inspired other communities in the United States , Canada , and Great Britain . FIGURE This 1838 engraving of New Harmony shows the ideal collective community that Robert Owen hoped to build . A French philosopher who advocated the creation of a new type of utopian community , Charles Fourier also inspired American readers , notably Arthur Brisbane , who popularized Fourier ideas in the United States . Fourier emphasized collective effort by groups of people or associations . Members of the association would be housed in large buildings or phalanxes , a type of communal living arrangement . Converts to Access for free at .
Reforms to Human Health 337 ideas about a new science of living published and lectured vigorously . They believed labor was a type of capital , and the more unpleasant the job , the higher the wages should be . in the United States created some communities between 1841 and 1858 , but by the late , the movement had run its course in the United States . Reforms to Human Health LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end ofthis section , you will be able to Explain the different reforms aimed at improving the health ofthe human body Describe the various factions and concerns within the temperance movement Antebellum reform efforts aimed at perfecting the spiritual and social worlds of individuals , and as an outgrowth of those concerns , some reformers moved in the direction of ensuring the health of American citizens . Many Americans viewed drunkenness as a major national problem , and the battle against alcohol and the many problems associated with it led many to join the temperance movement . Other reformers offered plans to increase physical , instituting plans designed to restore vigor . Still others celebrated new sciences that would the mysteries of human behavior and , by doing so , advance American civilization . TEMPERANCE According to many antebellum reformers , intemperance ( drunkenness ) stood as the most troubling problem in the United States , one tiat eroded morality , Christianity , and played a starring role in corrupting American democracy . Americans consumed huge quantities of liquor in the early , including gin , whiskey , rum , and brandy . Indeed , scholars agree that the rate of consumption of these drinks during the first three decades of the reached leve that have never been equaled in American history . A variety of reformers created organizations devoted to temperance , that is , moderation or . Each of these organizations hac its own distinct orientation and target audience . The earliest ones were formed in the in New England . The Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance and the Connecticut Society for the Reformation of Morals were both formed in 1813 . Protestant ministers led both organizations , which enjoyed support from New Englanders who clung to the ideals of the Federalist Party and later the . These ear temperance societies called on individuals to lead pious lives and avoid sin , including the sin of overindulging in alcohol . They called not for the eradication of drinking but for a more restrained and genteel sty of imbibing . AMERICANA The Drunkard Progress This 1840 temperance illustration ( Figure charts the path of destruction forthose who drink . The step progression reads Step . A glass with a friend . Step . A glass to keep the cold out . Step . A glass too much . Step . Drunk and riotous . Step . The summit attained . Jolly companions . A drunkard . Step . Poverty and disease . Step . Forsaken by Friends . Step . Desperation and crime . Step . Death by
338 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , FIGURE This 1846 image , The Drunkards Progress . From the First Glass to the Grave , by Nathaniel Currier , shows the destruction that thought could result from drinking alcoholic beverages . Who do you think was the intended audience for this engraving ?
How do you think different audiences ( children , drinkers , would react to the story it tells ?
Do you think it is an effective piece of propaganda ?
Why or why not ?
In the , temperance gained ground largely through the work of Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher . In 1825 , Beecher delivered six sermons on temperance that were published the follow year as Six Sermons on the Nature , Occasions , Signs , Evils , and Remedy of In temperance . He urged total abstinence from hard liquor and for the formation of voluntary associations to bring forth a new day without spirits ( whiskey , rum , gin , brandy ) Lyman work enjoyed a wide readership and support from leading Protestant ministers as well as the emerging middle class temperance well with the ethic of encouraging hard work and a sober work orce . In 1826 , the American Temperance Society was formed , and by the early , thousands of similar societies had across the country . Members originally pledged to shun only hard liquor . By 1836 , however , leaders of the temperance movement , including Beecher , called for a more comprehensive approach . Thereafter , most temperance societies advocated total abstinence no longer would beer and wine be tolerated . Such abstinence from alcohol is known as teetotalism . led to disagreement within the movement and a loss of momentum for reform after 1836 . However , temperance enjoyed a revival in the , as a new type of reformer took up the cause against alcohol . The engine driving the new burst of enthusiastic temperance reform was the Washington Temperance ( named in deference to George Washington ) which organized in 1840 . The leaders of the Washingtonians came not from the ranks of Protestant ministers but from the working class . They aimed their efforts at alcoholics , unlike the early temperance advocates who mostly targeted the middle class . Washingtonians welcomed the participation of women and children , as they cast alcohol as the destroyer of families , and those who joined the group took a public pledge of teetotalism . Americans to the Washingtonians as many as had taken the pledge by 1844 . The huge surge in membership had much to do with the style of this reform effort . The Washingtonians turned temperance into theater by dramatizing the plight of those who fell into the habit of drunkenness . Perhaps the most famous drama put forward by the temperance movement was Ten Nights in a ( 1853 ) a novel that became the basis for popular theatrical productions . The Washingtonians also sponsored picnics and parades that drew whole families into the movement . The group popularity quickly waned in the late and early , when questions arose about the effectiveness of merely taking a pledge . Many who had done so soon relapsed into alcoholism . Access for free at .
Reforms to Human Health 339 Still , by that time , temperance had risen to a major political issue . Reformers lobbied for laws limiting or prohibiting alcohol , and states began to pass the temperance laws . The earliest , an 1838 law in Massachusetts , prohibited the sale of liquor in quantities less than gallons , a move designed to make it for ordinary workmen of modest means to buy spirits . The law was repealed in 1840 , but Massachusetts towns then took the initiative by passing local laws banning alcohol . In 1845 , close to one hundred towns in the state went An 1839 Mississippi law , similar to Massachusetts original law , outlawed the sale than a gallon . Mississippi law illustrates the national popularity of temperance regional differences notwithstanding , citizens in northern and southern states agreed on the issue of alcohol . Nonetheless , northern states pushed hardest for outlawing alcohol . Maine enacted the statewide prohibition law in 1851 . New England , New York , and states in the Midwest passed local laws in the , prohibiting the sale and manufacture of intoxicating beverages . REFORMS FOR THE BODY AND THE MIND Beyond temperance , other reformers looked to ways to maintain and improve health in a rapidly changing world . Without professional medical organizations or standards , health reform went in many different directions although the American Medical Association was formed in 1847 , it did not have much power to oversee medical practices . Too often , quack doctors prescribed regimens and medicines that did far more harm that good . Sylvester Graham stands out as a leading light among the health reformers in the antebellum years . A Presbyterian minister , Graham began his career as a reformer , lecturing against the evils of strong drink . He combined an interest in temperance with vegetarianism and sexuality into what he called a Science of Human Life , calling for a regimented diet of more vegetables , fruits , and grain , and no alcohol , meat , or spices . Graham advocated baths and cleanliness in general to preserve health hydropathy , or water cures for various ailments , became popular in the United States in the and . He also viewed masturbation and excessive sex as a cause of disease and debility . His ideas led him to create what he believed to be a perfect food that would maintain health the Graham cracker , which he invented in 1829 . Followers of Graham , known as , established where lodgers followed the recommended strict diet and sexual regimen . During the early nineteenth century , reformers also interested themselves in the workings of the mind in an effort to better understand the effects of a rapidly changing world awash with religious revivals and democratic movements . mapping of the cranium to human as an early type of science , related to what would become psychology and devoted to understanding how the mind worked . Although their theories would ultimately be proven wrong , believed that the mind contained faculties , the strengths or weaknesses of which could be determined by a close examination of the size and shape of the cranium ( Figure 1314 .
340 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , gnu vuI , FIGURE This March 1848 cover of the American Phrenological Journal illustrates the different faculties of the mind as envisioned by . Initially developed in Europe by Franz Joseph Gall , a German doctor , phrenology came to the United States in the . In the and , it grew in popularity as lecturers crisscrossed the republic . It was sometimes used as an educational test , and like temperance , it also became a form of popular entertainment . While phrenology is now considered pseudoscience , Gall assertion that different parts of the brain were responsible for different functions is viewed as an important advance . CLICK AND EXPLORE Map the brain ! Check out all of purported faculties ( of the mind . The popularity of phrenology offers us some insight into the emotional world of the antebellum United States . Its popularity speaks to the desire of those living in a rapidly changing society , where older ties to community and family were being challenged , to understand one another . It appeared to offer a way to quickly recognize an individual as a readily understood set of human faculties . Addressing Slavery LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end ofthis section , you will be able to different approaches to institution of slavery Describe the abolitionist movement in the early to century The issue of slavery proved especially combustible in the antebellum United States . Those who hoped to end slavery had different ideas about how to do it . Some could not envision a biracial society and advocated sending Black people to Africa or the Caribbean . Others promoted the use of violence as the best method to bring American slavery to an end . Abolitionists , by contrast , worked to end slavery and to create a multiracial society of equals using moral highlight the immorality of slavery . In keeping with the religious fervor of the era , abolitionists hoped to bring about a mass conversion in public opinion to end slavery . REFORMS TO SLAVERY An early and popular reform to slavery was colonization , or a movement advocating the displacement of Access for free at .
Addressing Slavery 341 African Americans out of the country , usually to Africa . In 1816 , the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Co or of America ( also called the American Colonization Society or ACS ) was founded with this goal . Leading statesmen including Thomas Jefferson endorsed the idea of colonization . of the ACS did not believe that Black and White people could live as equals , so they targeted the roughly free Black people in the United States for relocation to Africa . For several years after the ACS ing , they raised money and pushed Congress for funds . In 1819 , they succeeded in getting from he federal government to further the colonization project . The ACS played a major role in the creation of the colony of , on the west coast of Africa . The country capital , was named in honor of President James Monroe . The ACS stands as an example of how White reformers , especially men of property and , addressed the issue of slavery . Their efforts stand in stark contrast with other reformers efforts to deal with slavery in the United States . Although rebellion stretches the of reform , another potential solution to slavery was its violent overt . Nat Turner Rebellion , one of the largest slave uprisings in American history , took place in 1831 , in Southampton County , Virginia . Like many enslaved people , Nat Turner was inspired by the evangelical Protestant fervor sweeping the republic . He preached to other enslaved people in Southampton County , gaining a reputation among them as a prophet . He organized them for rebellion , awaiting a sign to begin , until an ec ipse in August signaled that the appointed time had come . Turner and as many as seventy other enslaved people killed their enslavers and their families , a total of around people ( Figure 1315 . Turner eluded capture until late October , when he was tried , hanged , and then beheaded and quartered . Virginia put to death others whom they believed to have taken part in the rebellion . White vigilantes and organized militias killed two hundred more as panic swept through Virginia and the rest of the South . IN FIGURE In Horrid Massacre in Virginia , circa 1831 , the text on the bottom reads , The Scenes which the above plate is designed to represent are Fig a mother for the lives of her children . Travis , cruelly murdered by his own Slaves . Barrow , who bravely defended himself until his wife escaped . A comp . of mounted Dragoons in pursuit ofthe Blacks . From whose side do you think the illustrator is story ?
MY STORY Nat Turner on His Battle against Slavery Thomas Gray was a lawyer in Southampton , Virginia , where he visited Nat Turner in jail . He published The Confessions of Nat Turner , the leader of the late insurrection in Southampton , as fully and voluntarily made
342 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , to Thomas November 1831 , after Turner had been executed . For as the blood of Christ had been shed on this earth , and had ascended to heaven forthe salvation of sinners , and was now earth again in the form of dew . it was plain to me that the Saviour was about to lay down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men , and the great day ofjudgment was at hand . And on the of May , 1828 , I heard a loud noise in the heavens , and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened , and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men , and that I should take it on and against the Serpent , Do you not yourself mistaken now ?
Ans . Was not Christ . And by signs in the heavens that it would make known to me when I should commence the great on the appearance of the sign , the eclipse of the sun last February ) I should arise and prepare myself , and slay my enemies with their own How did Turner interpret his against slavery ?
What did he mean by the serpent ?
Nat Turner Rebellion provoked a heated discussion in Virginia over slavery . The Virginia legislature was already in the process of revising the state constitution , and some delegates advocated for an easier manumission process . The rebellion , however , rendered that reform impossible . Virginia and other slave states recommitted themselves to the institution of slavery , and defenders of slavery in the South increasingly blamed northerners for provoking the enslaved to rebel . Literate , educated Black people , including David Walker , also favored rebellion . Walker was born a free Black man in North Carolina in 1796 . He moved to Boston in the , lectured on slavery , and promoted the African American newspaper , Freedom Journal . He called for Black people to actively resist slavery and to use violence if needed . He published An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World in 1829 , denouncing the scheme of colonization and urging Black people to for equality in the United States , to take action against racism . Walker died months after the publication of his Appeal , and debate continues to this day over the cause of his death . Many believe he was murdered . Walker became a symbol of hope to free people in the North and a symbol of the terrors of literate , educated Black people to the slaveholders of the South . ABOLITIONISM Abolitionists took a far more radical approach to the issue of the slavery by using moral arguments to advocate its immediate elimination . They publicized the atrocities committed under slavery and aimed to create a society characterized by equality of Black and White people . In a world of intense religious fervor , they hoped to bring about a mass awakening in the United States of the sin of slavery , that they could transform the national conscience against the South peculiar institution . William Lloyd Garrison and Antislavery Societies William Lloyd Garrison of Massachusetts distinguished himself as the leader of the abolitionist movement . Although he had once been in favor of colonization , he came to believe that such a scheme only deepened racism and perpetuated the sinful practices of his fellow Americans . In 1831 , he founded the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator , whose edition declared I am aware that many object to the severity of my language but is there not cause for severity ?
I will be as harsh as truth , and as uncompromising as justice . On this subject , I do not wish to think , or speak , or write , with moderation . No ! No ! Tell a man whose house is on to give a moderate alarm tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the into which it has fallen urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present . I am in will not will not will not retreat a single I WILL BE HEARD . White Virginians blamed Garrison for stirring up enslaved people and instigating slave rebellions like Nat Access for free at .
Addressing Slavery 343 Turner . Garrison founded the New England Society in 1831 , and the American Society ( in 1833 . By 1838 , the had members , sometimes called . They rejected colonization as a racist scheme and opposed the use of violence to end slavery . by evangelical Protestantism , Garrison and other abolitionists believed in moral suasion , a technique of appealing to the conscience of the public , especially slaveholders . Moral suasion relied on dramatic narratives , often from formerly enslaved people , about the horrors of slavery , arguing that slavery destroyed families , as children were sold and taken away from their mothers and fathers ( Figure 1316 . Moral suasion resonated with many women , who condemned the sexual violence against enslaved women and the victimization of southern White women by adulterous husbands . FIGURE These woodcuts of a chained and pleading enslaved person , Am I Not a Man and a Brother ?
a ) and Am I Not a Woman and a Sister ?
accompanied abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier antislavery poem , Our Countrymen in Chains . Such images moral suasion showing with pathos and humanity the moral wrongness of slavery . CLICK AND EXPLORE Read the full text ofJohn Greenleaf antislavery poem ( Our Countrymen in Chains . What imagery and rhetoric does Whittier use to advance the cause of abolitionism ?
Garrison also preached immediatism the moral demand to take immediate action to end slavery . He wrote of equal rights and demanded that Black people be treated as equal to White people . He appealed to women and men , Black and White , to join the . The abolition press , which produced hundreds of tracts , helped to circulate moral suasion . Garrison and other abolitionists also used the power of petitions , sending hundreds of petitions to Congress in the early , demanding an end to slavery . Since most newspapers published congressional proceedings , the debate over abolition petitions reached readers throughout the nation . Although Garrison rejected the political system as a tool of slaveholders , other abolitionists believed mainstream politics could bring about their goal , and they helped create the Liberty Party in 1840 . Its candidate was James , who ran for president that year . epitomized the ideal and goals of the abolitionist movement . Born in Kentucky in 1792 , was an enslaver and , searching for a solution to what he eventually condemned as the immorality of slavery , initially endorsed colonization . In the , however , he rejected colonization , released the people he enslaved , and began to advocate the immediate end of slavery . The Liberty Party did not generate much support and remained a fringe third party . Many of its supporters turned to the Party in the aftermath of the Mexican Cession . The vast majority of northerners rejected abolition entirely . Indeed , abolition generated a backlash in
344 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , the United States , especially during the Age of Jackson , when racism saturated American culture . abolitionists in the North saw Garrison and other abolitionists as the worst of the worst , a threat to the republic that might destroy all decency and order by upending distinctions between Black and White people , and between women and men . Northern feared that if slavery ended , the North would be with Black people who would take jobs from White people . Opponents made clear their resistance to Garrison and others of his ilk Garrison nearly lost his life in 1835 , when a Boston mob dragged him through the city streets . tried to pass federal laws that made the distribution of abolitionist literature a criminal offense , fearing that such literature , with its engravings and simple language , could spark rebellious Black people to action . Their sympathizers in Congress passed a gag rule that forbade the consideration of the many hundreds of petitions sent to Washington by abolitionists . A mob in Illinois killed an abolitionist named Elijah Lovejoy in 1837 , and the following year , ten thousand protestors destroyed the abolitionists ' newly built Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia , burning it to the ground . Frederick Many escaped enslaved people joined the abolitionist movement , including Frederick . was born in Maryland in 1818 , escaping to New York in 1838 . He later moved to New Bedford , Massachusetts , with his wife . commanding presence and powerful speaking skills his listeners when he began to provide public lectures on slavery . He came to the attention of Garrison and others , who encouraged him to publish his story . In 1845 , published Narrative of the Life of Frederick , An American Slave Written by Himself , in which he told about his life of slavery in Maryland ( Figure . He by name the White people who had brutalized him , and for that reason , along with the mere act of publishing his story , had to the United States to avoid being murdered . I ) AV nu , FIGURE This 1856 ambrotype of Frederick ( a ) demonstrates an early type of photography developed on glass . was an escaped enslaved person who was instrumental in the abolitionism movement . His slave narrative , told in Narrative of the Life of Frederick , An American Slave Written by Himself ( followed a long line of similar narratives that demonstrated the brutality of slavery for northerners unfamiliar with the institution . British abolitionist friends bought his freedom from his Maryland owner , and returned to the United Access for free at .
Women Rights 345 States . He began to publish his own abolitionist newspaper , North Star , in Rochester , New York . During the and 18505 , labored to bring about the end of slavery by telling the story of his life and highlighting how slavery destroyed families , both Black and White . MY STORY Frederick on Slavery Most White slaveholders frequently raped enslaved girls and women . In this excerpt , explains the consequences for the children fathered by White men and enslaved women . Slaveholders have ordained , and by law established , that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers . this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts , and make a of their wicked desires as well as pleasurable . the slaveholder , in cases not a few , sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father . Such slaves born of white masters invariably suffer greater hardships . They are . a constant offence to their mistress . she is never better pleased than when she sees them under the lash , The master is frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves , out of deference to the feelings of his white wife and , cruel as the deed may strike any one to be , for a man to sell his own children to human , for , unless he does this , he must not only whip them himself , but must stand by and see one white son tie up his brother , of but few shades darker . and ply the gory lash to his naked back . Narrative of the Life of Frederick , An American Slave Written by Himself ( 1845 ) What moral complications did slavery unleash upon White slaveholders in the South , according to ?
What imagery does he use ?
Women Rights LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end ofthis section , you will be able to Explain the connections between abolition , reform , and antebellum feminism Describe the ways antebellum women movements were both traditional and revolutionary Women took part in all the antebellum reforms , from transcendentalism to temperance to abolition . In many ways , traditional views of women as nurturers played a role in encouraging their participation . Women who the cause of temperance , for example , their accepted role as moral guardians of the home . Some women advocated a much more expansive role for themselves and their peers by educating children and men in solid republican principles . But it was their work in antislavery efforts that served as a springboard for women to take action against gender inequality . Many , especially northern women , came to the conclusion that hey , like enslaved people , were held in shackles in a society dominated by men . Even men who were on some issues , such as abolition , adhered to traditional gender roles , and demanded that their did as well . Women also had very limited rights regarding property ownership and legal authority . Until states began passing property laws in the 18405 , husbands often fully controlled women earnings , collection of debts , and rights regarding inheritance . The laws gave women some additional power , but that was far from universal . Despite the radical nature of their effort to end slavery and create a biracial society , most abolitionist men clung to traditional notions of proper gender roles . White and Black women , as well as free Black men , were from occupying leadership positions in the . Because women were not allowed to join the men in playing leading roles in the organization , they formed separate societies , such as the Boston Female Slavery Society , the Philadelphia Female Society , and similar groups .
346 13 Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses , THE SISTERS Two leading abolitionist women , Sarah and Angelina , played major roles in combining the to end slavery with the struggle to achieve female equality . The sisters had been born into a prosperous slaveholding family in South Carolina . Both were caught up in the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening , and they moved to the North and converted to . In the , the sisters joined the abolitionist movement , and in 1837 , they embarked on a public lecture tour , speaking about immediate abolition to promiscuous assemblies , that is , to audiences of women and men . This public action thoroughly scandalized respectable society , where it was unheard of for women to lecture to men . William Lloyd Garrison endorsed the sisters public lectures , but other abolitionists did not . Their lecture tour served as a turning point the reaction against them propelled the question of proper sphere in society to the forefront of public debate . THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND SENTIMENTS Participation in the abolitionist movement led some women to embrace feminism , the advocacy of rights . Lydia Maria Child , an abolitionist and feminist , observed , The comparison between women and the colored race is striking . both have been kept in subjection by physical force . Other women , including Elizabeth Cady Stanton , Lucy Stone , and Susan Anthony , agreed ( Figure . FIGURE Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( a ) and Lucretia Mott ( both emerged from the abolitionist movement as strong advocates of women rights . In 1848 , about three hundred male and female feminists , many of them veterans of the abolition campaign , gathered at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York for a conference on women rights that was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton . It was the of what became annual meetings that have continued to the present day . Attendees agreed to a Declaration of Rights and Sentiments based on the Declaration of Independence it declared , We hold these truths to be that all men and women are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life , liberty , and the pursuit of The history of mankind , the document continued , is a history of repeated injuries and on the part of man toward woman , having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her . CLICK AND EXPLORE Read the entire text of the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments ( in the Internet Modern History at Fordham University . Access for free at .
Women Rights 347 REPUBLICAN MOTHERHOOD IN THE ANTEBELLUM YEARS Some northern female reformers saw new and vital roles for their sex in the realm of education . They believed in traditional gender roles , viewing women as inherently more moral and nurturing than men . Because of these attributes , the feminists argued , women were uniquely to take up the roles of educators of children . Beecher , the daughter of Lyman Beecher , pushed for women roles as educators . In her 1845 book , The Duty of American Women to Their Country , she argued that the United States had lost its moral compass clue to democratic excess . Both intelligence and virtue were imperiled in an age of riots and disorder . Women , she argued , could restore the moral center by instilling in children a sense of right and wrong . Beecher represented a northern , female sensibility . The home , especially the parlor , became the site of northern female authority . DEFINING AMERICAN , Ai I AWoman ?
Born into slavery with the name Isabella , Sojourner Truth gained her freedom in 1826 and devoted much of the rest of her life to championing the causes of abolition and women rights . She became the Black woman to win a lawsuit against a White person when she sued to gain the freedom of her son . Supported by leaders such as Frederick and William Lloyd Garrison , Truth became a powerful voice in the abolition movement . But she was not afraid to challenge the prevailing notions about the rights and priorities of men and women within the abolition movement , nor did she avoid notions about Black people priority within the women rights movement . While some advocated with a White suffrage , then Black women disagreed . In 1851 , Truth delivered a speech at the Women Rights Convention in Akron , Ohio . Ultimately , it came to be titled Ain I a Woman . One of the most famous transcriptions of this speech was published in an 1851 edition of the Bugle by Reverend Marius Robinson , an Ohio abolitionist who had worked with Truth . Another was published in an 1863 edition of the by Frances Dana Gage , an abolitionist and feminist who presided over the convention at which Truth spoke . I have as much muscle as any man , and can do as much work as any man . I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed , and can any man do more than that ?
I have heard much about the sexes being equal I can carry as much as any man , and can eat as much too , if I can get it . I am strong as any man that is now . As for intellect , allI can say is , if woman have a pint and man a ca she have her little pint full ?
You need not be afraid to give us our rights we will take too we wo take more than our pint The poor men seem to be all in confusion and don know what to do . Why children , if you have woman rights give it to her and you will feel better . You will have your own rights , and they won be so much I ca read , but I can hear . I have heard the Bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin . Well if woman upset the world , do give her a chance to set it right side up What might be the reasons for the different versions of Truth speech ?
Could the different publishers have had different motivations ?
What is Truth theme in this speech ?
348 13 Key Terms Key Terms abolitionist a believer in the complete elimination of slavery colonization the strategy of moving African Americans out of the United States , usually to Africa immediatism the moral demand to take immediate action against slavery to bring about its end millennialism the belief that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth and that God would reign on earth for a thousand years characterized by harmony and Christian morality moral suasion an abolitionist technique of appealing to the consciences of the public , especially slaveholders Mormons members of an American denomination of The Church of Jesus Christ of Saints that emphasized patriarchal leadership phrenology the mapping of the mind to human attributes , later considered pseudoscience pietistic the stressing of stressed transformative individual religious experience or piety over religious rituals and formality Second Great Awakening a revival of evangelical Protestantism in the early nineteenth century Seneca Falls the location of the American conference on women rights and the signing of the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments in 1848 Shakers a religious sect that emphasized communal living and celibacy teetotalism complete abstinence from all alcohol temperance a social movement encouraging moderation or in the consumption of alcoholic beverages transcendentalism the belief that all people can attain an understanding of the world that transcends rational , sensory experience Summary An Awakening of Religion and Individualism Evangelical Protestantism pervaded American culture in the antebellum era and fueled a belief in the possibility of changing society for the better . Leaders of the Second Great Awakening like Charles Finney urged listeners to take charge of their own salvation . This religious message dovetailed with the new economic possibilities created by the market and Industrial Revolution , making the Protestantism of the Second Great Awakening , with its emphasis on individual spiritual success , a of the individualistic , capitalist spirit of the age . took a different approach , but like their religiously oriented brethren , they too looked to create a better existence . These authors , most notably Emerson , a major tension in American life between the effort to be part of the democratic majority and the need to remain true to oneself as an individual . Antebellum Communal Experiments Reformers who engaged in communal experiments aimed to recast economic and social relationships by introducing innovations designed to create a more stable and equitable society . Their ideas found many expressions , from early socialist experiments ( such as by the and the ) to the dreams of the New England intellectual elite ( such as Brook Farm ) The Second Great Awakening also prompted many religious utopias , like those of the and Shakers . By any measure , the Mormons emerged as the most successful of these . Reforms to Human Health Reformers targeted vices that corrupted the human body and society the individual and the national soul . For many , alcohol appeared to be the most destructive and widespread . Indeed , in the years before the Civil War , the United States appeared to be a republic of drunkenness to many . To combat this national substance abuse problem , reformers created a host of temperance organizations that targeted the middle and upper Access for free at .
13 Review Questions 349 classes , and then the working classes . Thanks to Sylvester Graham and other health reformers , exercise and fresh air , combined with a good diet , became fashionable . focused on revealing the secrets of the mind and personality . In a world , phrenology offered the possibility of knowing different human characteristics . Addressing Slavery Contrasting proposals were put forth to deal with slavery . Reformers in the antebellum United States addressed the thorny issue of slavery through contrasting proposals that offered profoundly different solutions to the dilemma of the institution . Many leading American statesmen , including slaveholders , favored colonization , relocating Black Americans to Africa , which abolitionists scorned . Slave rebellions sought the end of the institution through its violent overthrow , a tactic that many in the North and the South . Abolitionists , especially those who followed William Lloyd Garrison , provoked equally strong reactions by envisioning a new United States without slavery , where Black people and White people stood on equal footing . Opponents saw abolition as the worst possible reform , a threat to all order and decency . Slaveholders , in particular , saw slavery as a positive aspect of American society , one that reformed the lives of enslaved people by exposing them to civilization and religion . Women Rights The spirit of religious awakening and reform in the antebellum era impacted women lives by allowing them to think about their lives and their society in new and empowering ways . Of all the various antebellum reforms , however , abolition played a role in generating the early feminist movement in the United States . Although this early phase of American feminism did not lead to political rights for women , it began the long process of overcoming gender inequalities in the republic . Review Questions . Which of the following is nola characteristic of the Second Great Awakening ?
greater emphasis on nature greater emphasis on religious education of children greater church attendance belief in the possibility of a better world . were most concerned with the afterlife predestination the individual democracy . What do the Second Great Awakening and transcendentalism have in common ?
Which religious community focused on the power of patriarchy ?
Shakers Mormons . Which community or movement is associated with transcendentalism ?
the Community the Cloister Brook Farm 350 13 Critical Thinking Questions . How were the reform communities of the antebellum era treated by the general population ?
The first temperance laws were enacted by state governments local governments the federal government temperance organizations . Sylvester Graham reformers targeted the human body nutrition sexuality all of the above . Whom did temperance reformers target ?
10 . In the context of the antebellum era , what does colonization refer to ?
A . Great Britain colonization of North America the relocation of African Americans to Africa American colonization of the Caribbean American colonization of Africa 11 . Which of the following did William Lloyd Garrison not employ in his abolitionist efforts ?
moral suasion immediatism political involvement 12 . Why did William Lloyd Garrison endorsement of the sisters divide the abolitionist movement ?
A . They advocated equal rights for women . They supported colonization . They attended the Seneca Falls Convention . They lectured to audiences . 13 . Which female reformer focused on women roles as the educators of children ?
Lydia Maria Child Sarah Catherine Beecher Susan Anthony 14 . How did the abolitionist movement impact the women movement ?
Critical Thinking Questions 15 . In what ways did the Second Great Awakening and transcendentalism reflect and react to the changes in antebellum American thought and culture ?
16 . What did the antebellum communal projects have in common ?
How did the ones most by religion differ from those that had other ?
17 . In what ways do temperance , health reforms , and phrenology offer reflections on the changes in the United States before the Civil War ?
What needs did these reforms in the lives of antebellum Americans ?
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13 Critical Thinking Questions 351 18 . Of the various approaches to the problem of slavery , which one do you to be the most effective and why ?
19 . In what ways were antebellum feminists radical ?
In what ways were they traditional ?
352 13 Critical Thinking Questions Access for free at .