Unit 8, Notes 1
Cultural Movements of the Mid-1800’s
A Culture of Diversity: “The Melting Pot Stirs”
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5 million immigrants entered the U.S. between 1815 and 1860
2 million of these immigrants came from Ireland (potato famine)- they generally settled
in the industrialized cities of the Northeast, where many worked as unskilled
laborers and servants.
1.5 million came from Germany
nativism: hostility towards foreigners
o Different cultures, languages, and religious beliefs (Roman Catholic) led many
Americans to despise and discriminate immigrants
o Anti-Catholic publications, sermons, and riots – Prominent minister preached
anti-Catholic sermons
o Rise of nativist organizations
 Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner - founded in 1849 – later
formed the American Party
 Know-Nothings: members of the secretive American Party that pledged to
never elect a Catholic to office, push for laws banning immigrants and
Catholics from holding office, and limit immigration into this country
A Culture of Religion: “Second Great Awakening”
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The growing sense of rationalism created by the Enlightenment and the discoveries
made during the Scientific Revolution left many to question their religious faith in the
18th century
Ministers, aware of the spiritual deterioration, sought new ways to bring people back to
the fold – church leaders sensed that Americans’ commitment to organized religion
was weakening
Second Great Awakening: widespread religious revival during the early 1800’s
organized for the purpose of reviving America’s commitment to religion
o Originated along frontier settlements in Kentucky
o Driven by Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian camp meetings designed to trigger
emotional and dramatic outpourings of faith – the camps attracted thousands of
followers for days of song, prayer, and emotional outpourings of faith…The basic
message of the Second Great Awakening was that individuals must readmit God
and Christ into their daily lives…They new revivalism rejected the traditional
Calvinist idea that only a chosen few were predestined for salvation. Instead,
ministers preached that all people could attain grace through faith
o Charles Grandison Finney: prominent Presbyterian minister of the 2nd Great
Awakening – he preached that each person contained within himself or herself
the capacity for spiritual rebirth and salvation
 Preached a “spiritual rebirth” based on revivalism and reforming society
from within
 Carefully planned and rehearsed his sermons to maximize emotions – he
compared his methods to those used by politicians and salespeople
 President of Oberlin College (first college in the U.S. to admit African
Americans and women) – Oberlin became a center for social reform
movements in the United States, Finney warned against using politics to
change society. He believed that if Christian ideas reformed people from
within, society would become better, but if people remained selfish and
immoral, political reforms would not make any difference
Emergence of New Religious Groups
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Religious fervor of the 2nd Great Awakening led to the establishment of new religious
groups
New Religious Sects – U and U broke away from the New England Congregational
Church
o Unitarians: believed in the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…not a
trinity; did not accept Jesus as the Son of God – Said Jesus was a great
teacher…Their name comes from the belief that God is a unity, not a trinity of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
o Universalists: believed in the universal salvation of souls, no hell exists – Argues
that God intends to save everyone
o Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints): founded by Joseph Smith
who published the Book of Mormon; believed that Smith had received a revelation
from God through an angel commanding the people to prepare a kingdom on Earth
for God’s coming – the Book of Mormon was inscribe on golden plates that he
had received from an angel. The Mormons moved from Ohio, Missouri, and final
settle in Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo had a population of 15,000 people but
persecution continued….Smith killed, Brigham Young leads the Mormons to
Utah
A Literary Culture: Birth of American Literature
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Romanticism: literary and cultural genre of the 19th Century advocating…
o feeling over reason
o inner spirituality over external rules
o individualism over society
o nature appreciation
Transcendentalism: popular philosophy from the 19th Century urging people to
transcend (overcome) the limits of their minds and let their souls reach out to embrace
the beauty of the universe
American Writers of the 19th Century
o Transcendentalists
 Ralph Waldo Emerson (Nature) – Emerson wrote that those who wanted
fulfillment should work for communion with natural world
 Henry David Thoreau (Walden Pond, Civil Disobedience) – individuals should
fight the pressures to conform
o American Literary Masters
 James Fennimore Cooper (Last of the Mohicans) - romanticized Native
Americans and frontier explorers
 Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter) – explored the persecution and
psychological suffering that results from sin
 Herman Melville (Moby Dick)
 Edgar Allan Poe (The Tell-Tale Heart)
 Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass)
 Emily Dickinson (poet)
A Literary Culture, Continued….
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America's first mass newspapers emerged during the early 1800's but were too expensive
for many Americans (6 cents a paper)
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Penny papers: inexpensive newspapers produced to accommodate a growing democratic
society that saw an increased number of literate Americans and eligible voters –
Reported on fires, crime, marriages, gossip, politics and local news
Early American magazines
 Atlantic Monthly
 Harper's Weekly
Utopian Communities: Escaping Reality
 While some people struggled to redefine their lives through a spiritual awakening or literary
quest, others believed that life could only be improved by separating from society and
forming their own utopia (ideal society) – These people who formed these
communities believed that society tended to corrupt human nature
 Common characteristics of Utopian societies
 cooperative (communal) living
 absence of private property
 absence of legal or economic authorities
 Brook Farm
 utopian community established by George Ripley (a transcendentalist) in
West Roxbury, Massachusetts – Ultimately the farm collapsed after a large
fire left the group with huge debts
 Shakers
 religious group that established several utopian communities – located from
Maine to Kentucky – reached a peak of 6,000 members by the mid1800’s
 member took part in a ritual "shaking" dance
 did not believe in marriage or having children – the group could only
expand by converting people
 Other Utopian Communities
 Amish – used horses for farming and transportation, can not join the
military, apply for social security benefits, take out life insurance or
accept any form of assistance from the federal government - they
don’t have churches but hold prayer services in their private homes
(German-Dutch)
 Mennonites
Educational Reform
 As voter eligibility increased, many felt that our democratic republic would only survive if the
government funded public education programs for all citizens
 Horace Mann
 major leader of the public education movement
 backed a Massachusetts bill creating the nation's first state board of education
 opened 50 new high schools and doubled teachers' salaries – also started
“normal schools” which were teacher education programs
 nation's first mandatory attendance law was passed in Massachusetts in 1852 –
New York soon followed - Massachusetts quickly became the model
for other northern states
 Elementary schools began to spring up in the 1850's
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Rural areas responded more slowly to education reform because the children were needed to
help on the farm
Calvin Wiley played a prominent role in reforming public education in the South but only
1/3 of southern white children were enrolled by 1860
Emma Willard and Mary Lyon were early pioneers for women's educational reform that
finally began teaching basic subjects to girls – Willard’s school covered the usual subject
for young women…such as cooking and etiquette, but also subjects such as
history, math, and literature (which was rare for women)
Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S. in the mid
1800's
Prison and Mental Health Reform
 Prisons were in horrible condition during the early 1800's and contained both criminals and
the mentally ill
 Dorothea Dix worked to improve the conditions of prisons and create the nation's first
institutions for the mentally ill so they would be separated from criminals
 Several new penitentiaries (places where individuals would work to receive penitence or
remorse) were created throughout the country – Officials designed forms of rigid
discipline to rid criminals of the “laxness” that ad led them astray…Solitary
confinement was meant to give prisoners the change to meditate and think about
their wrong doing