Enduring Understanding: Sectionalism both reflected and contributed to changes in the American political system. The Jacksonian Era redefined and expanded.

Enduring Understanding:

Sectionalism both reflected and contributed to changes Sectionalism both reflected and contributed to changes in the American political system.in the American political system.

The Jacksonian Era redefined and expanded American The Jacksonian Era redefined and expanded American democracy and changed political parties and practices.democracy and changed political parties and practices.

Congress and the early administrations made decisions guided by their desire to establish a strong government that would help the nation become unified as well as grow in size and power.

“The Pursuit of Perfection”

In Antebellum

America1820 to 1860

“The Pursuit of Perfection”

In Antebellum

America1820 to 1860

The 2nd Great

Awakening

The 2nd Great

Awakening

Second Great Awakening • As a result of the Second Great Awakening

(a series of revivals in the 1790s-early 1800s), the dominant form of Christianity in America became evangelical Protestantism

– Membership in the major Protestant churches—Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist—soared

The Second Great Awakening

“Spiritual Reform From Within”[Religious Revivalism]

Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality

Temperance

Asylum &Penal Reform

Education

Women’s Rights

Abolitionism

In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America, I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country… Religion was the foremost of the political institutions of the United States.

-- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832

In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America, I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country… Religion was the foremost of the political institutions of the United States.

-- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832

The Rise of Popular Religion

Reform

Motivation of movement

Dominant organizations

Leadership

Goal

Tactics

Troubles

Successes / Failures

• Uniform education materials (McGuffey readers)• State and Local tax support• Teacher training schools• Compulsory education and fixed school terms

• Uniform education materials (McGuffey readers)• State and Local tax support• Teacher training schools• Compulsory education and fixed school terms

Educational Reform Educational Reform What does the future

hold for newly arrived immigrants and native

born?

Under Horace Mann’s leadership in the 1830s, Massachusetts created a state board of education and adopted a minimum-length school year.

Under Horace Mann’s leadership in the 1830s, Massachusetts created a state board of education and adopted a minimum-length school year.

Educational Reform Educational Reform

By the 1850s the number of schools, attendance figures, and school budgets had all increased

sharply School reformers enjoyed their greatest success

in the Northeast and the least in the South

By the 1850s the number of schools, attendance figures, and school budgets had all increased

sharply School reformers enjoyed their greatest success

in the Northeast and the least in the South

Educational Reform Educational Reform

““Children should be children for as long Children should be children for as long as they can…”as they can…”

Temperance Movement

Temperance Movement

• Temperance Movement — undertook to eliminate social problems by curbing drinking, thus improving our moral selves.– Supported by

• Clergy• Factory Owners• Politicians

•Women – first opportunity

to demonstrate civic

Responsibility and power.

• Temperance Movement — undertook to eliminate social problems by curbing drinking, thus improving our moral selves.– Supported by

• Clergy• Factory Owners• Politicians

•Women – first opportunity

to demonstrate civic

Responsibility and power.

From the first glass to the grave, 1846

From the first glass to the grave, 1846

The Drunkard’s Progress

The Temperance Movement

The Temperance Movement

•As the movement gained

momentum, annual per capita consumption of alcohol dropped sharply, despite

the fact that many didn’t want to be

reformed.•IMMIGRANTS

•As the movement gained

momentum, annual per capita consumption of alcohol dropped sharply, despite

the fact that many didn’t want to be

reformed.•IMMIGRANTS

The Asylum Movement(orphanages, jails,

hospitals)

The Asylum Movement(orphanages, jails,

hospitals)

• Asylums isolated and separated the criminal, the insane, the ill, and the dependent from outside society

• “Rehabilitation” – The goal of care in

asylums, which had focused on confinement, shifted to the reform of personal character

• Asylums isolated and separated the criminal, the insane, the ill, and the dependent from outside society

• “Rehabilitation” – The goal of care in

asylums, which had focused on confinement, shifted to the reform of personal character

Utopian CommunitiesUtopian Communities

• Challenged materialism of society; create new ideal community

• The Oneida Community (Noyes)

• Brook Farm

• New Harmony

• The Shakers

Abolitionist Movement

Create a free slave state in Liberia, West Africa.

1816 (American Colonization Society)

No real anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the 1820s & 1830s.

Gradualists Immediatists

AbolitionismAbolitionism• William Lloyd Garrison,

publisher of the The Liberator, first appeared in 1831 and sent shock waves across the entire country – He repudiated gradual

emancipation and embraced immediate end to slavery

– SLAVERY IS A MORAL EVIL that should be eradicated immediately.

• William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the The Liberator, first appeared in 1831 and sent shock waves across the entire country – He repudiated gradual

emancipation and embraced immediate end to slavery

– SLAVERY IS A MORAL EVIL that should be eradicated immediately.

The LiberatorThe Liberator

Premiere issue January 1, 1831Premiere issue January 1, 1831

AbolitionismAbolitionism• Free blacks, such as Frederick

Douglass, who had escaped from slavery in Maryland, also joined the abolitionist movement

• Slavery was a moral, not an economic question

• Abolitionists denounced slavery as contrary to Christian teaching

• Free blacks, such as Frederick Douglass, who had escaped from slavery in Maryland, also joined the abolitionist movement

• Slavery was a moral, not an economic question

• Abolitionists denounced slavery as contrary to Christian teaching

Abolitionism: Division and Opposition

Abolitionism: Division and Opposition

Abolitionism forced the churches to face the question of slavery head-on, and in the 1840s the Methodist and Baptist churches each split into northern and

southern organizations over the issue of slavery

More conservative reformers wanted to work within established institutions, using churches and political action to

end slavery

Abolitionism forced the churches to face the question of slavery head-on, and in the 1840s the Methodist and Baptist churches each split into northern and

southern organizations over the issue of slavery

More conservative reformers wanted to work within established institutions, using churches and political action to

end slavery

Early 19c WomenEarly 19c Women

1.Unable to vote.2.Legal status of a minor.3.Single --> could own her own

property.4.Married --> no control over

herproperty or her children.

5.Could not initiate divorce.6.Couldn’t make wills, sign a

contract, or bring suit in court without her husband’s permission.

1.Unable to vote.2.Legal status of a minor.3.Single --> could own her own

property.4.Married --> no control over

herproperty or her children.

5.Could not initiate divorce.6.Couldn’t make wills, sign a

contract, or bring suit in court without her husband’s permission.

“Separate Spheres” Concept

“Separate Spheres” Concept

Republican Motherhood evolved into the “Cult of

Domesticity”

Republican Motherhood evolved into the “Cult of

Domesticity” A woman’s “sphere” was in the home (it was a refuge from the cruel world outside). Her role was to “civilize” her husband and family. An 1830s MA minister:

The power of woman is her dependence. A woman who gives up that dependence on

man to become a reformer yields the power God has given her for her protection, and

her character becomes unnatural!

The first Woman’s rights movement was in Seneca Falls,

New York in 1849……•Educational and professional opportunities•Property rights•Legal equality•repeal of laws awarding the father custody of the children in divorce.•Voting rights

The first Woman’s rights movement was in Seneca Falls,

New York in 1849……•Educational and professional opportunities•Property rights•Legal equality•repeal of laws awarding the father custody of the children in divorce.•Voting rights

We hold these truths to be self-evident 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 happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the

governed……

The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman,

having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be

submitted to a candid world….•He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.•He has taken from all right in property, even to the wages she earns.

The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman,

having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be

submitted to a candid world….•He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.•He has taken from all right in property, even to the wages she earns.

He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can

commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence

of her husband.In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all

intents and purposes, her master; the law giving him power to deprive her

of her liberty, and to administer chastisement.

He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can

commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence

of her husband.In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all

intents and purposes, her master; the law giving him power to deprive her

of her liberty, and to administer chastisement.