War of 1812:
One of America’s worst fought wars
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2.
Unit 4: Ch. 12 –15
3.
Chapter 12: The Second War
for Independence and the
Upsurge of Nationalism
4.
Washington Burned and
New Orleans Defended
• August 1814, British troops landed in the Chesapeake Bay area & proceeded
to enter & burn Washington D.C., including the White House.
• At Baltimore, British beaten back at Fort McHenry during which Francis
Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.”
• British menaced Mississippi Valley & threatened New Orleans, & Andrew
Jackson, led a mixed force of 7k to defeat 8k British.
• British defeated at Battle of New Orleans & 2 wks later Britain called for
peace.
• Citizens assumed the British wanted peace & no more of “awesome” US.
• US saw an increase in nationalism and self-confidence.
• However, Britain responded with a naval blockade ruining US economic
life; fishing.
Widespread disunity, No burning national
anger; Regular army bad and scattered, old
generals
US didn’t take Montreal; focused on Detroit,
Niagara, and Lake Champlain, all of which were
beaten back.
US, led by Oliver Hazard Perry, built a fleet
manned by inexperienced men, & still managed
to capture a British fleet. His victory, coupled
with Gen.William Henry Harrison’s defeat of
British during the Battle of the Thames, brought
enthusiasm & increased morale.
1814, 10k British troops prepared for the US
along the Lake Champlain route, but on Sep. 11,
1814, Capt. MacDonough challenged & defeated
British forced a British retreat.
The Treaty of Ghent
•The Treat of Ghent, December 24, 1814, was an armistice, ignoring
each others demands. They simply stopped fighting. The main issue of
the war, impressment, was left unmentioned.
Federalist Grievances & the Hartford Convention
1.As the capture of N.O. seemed imminent, MA, CT, N.H., VT, & R.I.
secretly met in Hartford from Dec. 15, 1814 to Jan. 5, 1815, to discuss
their redress of grievances.
•
Few talked about secession, most wanted financial assistance from DC to
compensate for lost trade, & amendment requiring a 2/3 majority for all
declarations of embargos, except during invasion.
2. 3 envoys went to D.C., but their mission failed.
• The Hartford Convention was the death of the Federalist Party as
they lost badly to Monroe in 1816 Pres. election.
1
The Second War for US Independence
The War of 1812 was a small war in comparison to Europe.
• Americans proved they could protect their independence, &
naval officers like Perry & MacDonough gained new
respect; American diplomats treated with more respect.
• The Federalist Party died, & new war heroes, like Andrew
Jackson & William Henry Harrison, emerged.
• Manufacturing also prospered during the British blockade.
• The burning of DC added fuel to the bitter conflict w/
Britain & hatred for yrs.
• Canadians felt betrayed by Treaty of Ghent, did not get an
Indian buffer state, & Indians had to fend for themselves.
• 1817, after a heated naval arms race in the Great Lakes, the
Rush-Bagot Treaty between the U.S. and Britain provided
the world’s longest unfortified boundary (5,527 mi)
• After Napoleon’s final defeat, Europe sank into an
exhaustion of peace, & America looked west.
“The American System”
1. The Tariff of 1816, the first in U.S. history designed for
protection, which put a 20-25% tariff on dutiable imports.
2. 1824, Henry Clay established the American System.
• A strong banking system.
• A protective tariff so eastern manufacturing would
flourish
• A network of roads & canals, especially in the
burgeoning Ohio Valley, to be funded for by the tariffs,
and through which would flow foodstuffs and raw
materials.
• Lack of effective transportation a problem of the War of
1812, & in 1817, Congress sought to distribute $1.5
million to the states for internal improvements, but
Madison vetoed it, saying it was unconstitutional, states
had to look for their own money to build the badly
needed roads.
Nationalism Rising
1. American nationalism increased; authors like
Washington Irving & James Fenimore Cooper
gained international recognition.
2. The North American Review debuted in 1815, and
American painters painted landscapes of America.
3. History books were now being written by
Americans for Americans.
4. Washington D.C. rose from the ashes to be better
than ever, and the navy and army strengthened
themselves.
“The Era of Good Feelings”
1. James Monroe defeated his Federalist &
ushered in a short period of one-party rule.
2. Straddled generations of the Founding
Fathers & the new Age of Nationalism.
3. Early 1817, Monroe took a goodwill tour
to New England, was warmly welcomed.
4. A Boston newspaper declared an “Era of
Good Feelings” had began.
5. Sectional troubles were present.
•
•
South did not like the tariff, it only benefited
North & made South pay higher prices.
South disliked internal improvements linking
North & West—South saw no benefits in
paying taxes for roads & canals in other states.
2
Growing Pains of the West
The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of
Hard Times
1. 1791 to 1819, 9 frontier states had joined.
2. Explosive expansion of west due to cheap land,
elimination of the Indians, “Ohio Fever,” & need for
land by tobacco farmers.
3. Cumberland Road, 1811, ran from W. Md to Illinois.
4. First steamboat appeared in 1811.
5. West, not populous & politically weak, was forced to
ally itself w/ other sections, & demanded cheap
acreage.
6. Land Act of 1820 authorized 80 acres of land at a
minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash; West demanded &
slowly got cheap transportation as well.
1. 1819, economic panic; deflation, depression,
bankruptcies, bank failures, unemployment,
soup kitchens, & overcrowded debtors’ prisons.
2. Major cause – over speculation in frontier land
prices, where Bank of the United States fell
heavily into debt.
•
An almost predictable chain of panics or recessions began.
An economic panic occurred every 20 years during the
1800s.
3. West was especially hard hit, & Bank of the
U.S. was soon viewed upon as the cause.
Slavery and the Sectional Balance
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2.
3.
4.
Sectional tensions between North & South
rose when Missouri wanted to become a
slave state.
House of Reps. proposed the Tallmadge
Amendment; no more slaves brought into
Missouri & children born to slave parents
already in Missouri gradually became
emancipated (shot down in the Senate)
Southerners saw this as a threat, if
Northerners could wipe out slavery in
Missouri, they might try to do so in all of
the rest of the slave states.
North was becoming more prosperous &
populous than South
The Missouri Compromise
•
•
•
•
Missouri admitted as a slave state & Maine
admitted as a free state maintaining the balance
All new states north of the 36°30’ line would be
free, new states southward would be slave.
No one really happy but compromise worked
for many years.
Monroe won in 1820 by one vote inspite of
Panic & Missouri Compromise.
3
John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism
Chief Justice John Marshall took a “loose construction”
perspective of the constitution. Here’s proof:
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2.
3.
McCulloch vs. Maryland (1819): MD tried to end Bank of
U.S. by taxing its currency. Marshall invoked implied powers
& denied Maryland’s right to tax the bank & gave “loose
construction,” or the elastic clause as its basis.
Cohens vs. Virginia (1821): Marshall asserted right of
Supreme Court to review decisions of state supreme courts in
all ?’s involving powers of federal gov’t.
Gibbons vs. Ogden (1824): Marshall struck it down, saying
only Congress can control interstate commerce, not states.
1. Fletcher vs. Peck (1810): Georgia illegally
granted 35 mil. acres in MS to privateers,
legislature repealed it, but Marshall ruled it
a contract, & states couldn’t impair a
contract.
2. Dartmouth College vs. Woodward
(1819): Dartmouth was granted a charter by
King George III, but NH tried to change it.
Dartmouth appealed & Marshall ruled the
original charter must stand. It was a contract
& Constitution protected those & overruled
state rulings.
3. Marshall’s rulings gave Supreme Court its
powers & greatly strengthened feds, giving
it power to overrule states at times.
Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida
1. Treaty of 1818: N. boundary of LP at
49th parallel & provided for a 10 yr joint
occupation of OR Territory w/ Britain.
2. Spanish w/drew from FL & Indians
attacked.
1. A. Jackson crossed FL border, had little mercy
on Indians & seized parts of FL.
2. Monroe asked cabinet all wanted to punish
Jackson except J.Q. Adams, who demanded
concessions from Spain
3. Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819: Spain
ceded FL & any claims to OR exchanged
for TX. U.S. paid $5 m to Spain for FL.
Menace of Monarchies in America
1. Monarchs in Europe want to protect world against
democracy much to the alarm of Americans.
2. Russia’s claims to NA territory were intruding &
making US nervous about territory.
3. August 1823, British foreign secretary, George
Canning, approached American minister in London
proposing U.S. & Britain combine to warn Europe to
keep out of Latin American politics.
4. J. Q. Adams correctly assumed European powers
weren’t going to invade America anytime soon, &
knew that a selfself-denouncing alliance with Britain
would morally tie the hands of the U.S.
4
Monroe Doctrine
1. 1823, Monroe Doctrine, incorporated noncolonization and nonintervention.
2. Primarily for Russia in West, Monroe said
no more colonization in Americas &
European nations could not intervene in
Latin American affairs.
3. U.S. would not interfere in the Greek
democratic revolt against Turkey.
4. Monarchs of Europe were angered, but
couldn’t do anything because of the
British navy.
Ch. 13: Rise of a Mass Democracy
The “Corrupt Bargain” of 1824
- Election of 1824, four towering candidates:
Jackson, Clay, Crawford, & J.Q. Adams.
- All 4 called themselves Republicans.
Clay - a national figure - Speaker of the House &
author of the “American System”.
J.Q. Adams – intelligent, experienced but aloof.
Andrew Jackson – hero of Battle of New Orleans,
“common mans’ man.”
- Results - Jackson got popular vote & most electoral
votes, but failed to get majority in the Electoral
College. Adams was second.
- 12th Amendment - top 3 electoral vote getters to be
voted upon in the House of Representatives.
- Clay was eliminated, andhated Jackson, SO, he
supported Adams, helping him become president.
Monroe Doctrine
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
In Latin America, recognized British navy, not US, was protecting
them, & U.S. doing it only to protect itself.
1845, President Polk revived it.
Russo-American Treaty of 1824, southern boundary of Alaskan
territory set at 54°40’
Self-Defense Doctrine - Monroe concerned with US only.
Doctrine was never law.
An expression of U.S. nationalism, patriotism & gave illusion of
isolationism.
Americans falsely assumed that the US was isolated from European
dangers.
- Clay was appointed Secretary of State to Adams, the
traditional stepping-stone to the presidency.
-Jacksonians said this was corruption. Jackson said he, the
people’s choice, had been swindled out of the presidency
by career politicians in Washington D.C.
- John Randolph publicly assailed the alliance between
Adams and Clay. Evidence against any possible deal has
never been found in this “Corrupt Bargain,” but both men
tarnished their reputations.
- BUT. . .
The big winner was the common white man got universal
white, male suffrage to become common practice.
5
The Presidency of John Quincy Adams
• Adams was aloof, sarcastic, irritable & tactless.
• One of the most successful Sec. of States but a very unsuccessful Pres.
• US’s first Minority President – won with fewer than 1/3 of the vote.
• He refused to use the “patronage” or “the spoils system” – create jobs
for people who helped a politician win office.
• Adams was a Nationalist but country was moving towards sectionalism
& state’s rights.
• Adams proposed a national university & urged Congress to build
roads and canals.
• South saw interference in state’s affairs that could lead to Federal
interference in slavery & continuance of hated tariffs.
• Adams attempted to curb land speculation on public lands & tried to
deal honestly with Native Americans. But westerners & expansionist
hated him for this.
•Governor of Georgia nullified the national will & forces Cherokees off
their land – Trial of Tears.
Tariffs of 1828 – “Tariff of Abominations”
• South were heavy consumers of manufactured goods.
• South against tariffs, goods not protected by tariffs like the North’s.
• South took stand against tariffs due to desire to stop all Federal
encroachments on states.
• South feeling pressure on slavery from Missouri Compromise
debates & an aborted slave rebellion led by Denmark Vesey in
1822.
• John C. Calhoun suggested South nullify the tariffs, & SC agrees to
nullification & nearly causes a civil war.
•Jackson very upset & nearly uses force in SC to fight nullification.
• Compromises – both save face.
• Tariff of 1832, reduced by 10% to 1816 rates.
• Force Bill, president could use force to collect taxes in states.
•Tariff of 1833, reduced tariffs and repealed Jackson’s Force Bill.
• But fundamental issue of Federal encroachment not resolved.
The Election of 1828
• A very ugly election. Saw mudslinging by supporters of both
Adams & Jackson.
• Ultimately Jackson won a decided victory of 178 to 83 Electoral
votes.
• Political Machines of the cities and rise in power of western states
gave Jackson the presidency.
The Jackson Presidency – “Old Hickory”
• 1st president from the west.
• 2nd w/o a college education.
• Rose from the masses but was not one of them.
• His presidency symbolized the rise of the masses in US politics.
• Supporters mobbed DC in hopes of gaining positions in the gov’t.
• Spoils System was used on a larger scale then in the past.
•Jackson said spoils system good for democracy, new & more
people involved.
•Brought corruption but also solidified the party system.
Trail of Tears
• US signed treaties to deal with Native Americans but routinely
violated these treaties as settlers moved into Native lands.
• Many white Americans wanted to assimilate Native Americans into
American society. Through education, religion, agriculture, etc.
• “Five Civilized Tribes” - Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminoles &
Chickasaw.
•Cherokee created an alphabet, a constitution, laws, started
farming
BUT…
• Indian Removal Act of 1830 – exchanged 100 million acres of
Indian land east of Mississippi for 32 million acres of land in
Oklahoma & $68 million dollars cash, 100k Indians removed.
• 45k Native American were transported to the Oklahoma Territory.
• 1838 - largest loss of life by the Cherokee Indians, Trail of Tears.
6
The Bank of the United States War
• Jackson distrusted monopolistic banks & too big business.
• Jackson’s problem with Bank of US
• Private banks printed paper $ which gave lots of power to banks
over the economy. Bank of US was the most powerful.
• Bank acted as arm of gov’t.
• Gov’t primary depositor.
• Controlled nations gold & silver.
• Source of credit and stability of nation’s economy.
• Bank was privately run by wealthy investors not gov’t.
• The Bank War
• Clay wanted to renew Bank charter in 1832, 4yrs early, to make it
part of election and hurt Jackson’s reelection bid.
• Jackson vetoed recharter bill, squashing the bill & increasing
presidential power. Essentially deeming the Bank unconstitutional.
• McCulloch v. Maryland – Supreme Court ruled it legal (1819)
• Jackson won 1832 election by a landslide.
Panic of 1837
• Causes –
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Land speculation with borrowed money
Bank War & Specie Circular – land paid w/ “hard currency”
Rising grain prices
European economic problems – British bank calling in
loans.
• Every US economic problem has been affected by
Europe.
Results –
• Bank closures, unemployment, business failures, sales of
public land fell, import revenues dropped.
• “Divorce Bill” – Van Buren wanted to separate banks &
gov’t.
• Independent Treasury Bill 1840 passed, repealed by Whigs
in 1841, reenacted in 1846 by Democrats until the Civil War.
Death of the Bank of the United States
• Jackson took out $ from Bank and gave it to “pet-banks.”
Result?
• Jackson inadvertently contributed to the Panic of 1837.
Rise of the Whig Party
• Whig Party grew out of peoples’ idea that Jackson ruled like king.
•Clay, Calhoun, Webster were its first members.
• Progressive in nature. Wanted to improve society & reform gov’t with
internal improvements, education, prisons & asylums.
• Supported the emerging market economy
The Election of 1836
• Martin Van Buren hand picked by Jackson, which ruined his
presidency.
• 1st President born in the United States.
• Van Buren got all Jackson’s enemies & problems – Panic of 1837.
Texas
• Mexico continued Spain’s plan to populate Texas by giving land grants to
Stephen Austin with an understanding . . .
• 300 families, Roman Catholics, become Mexicanized. (All mostly
ignored)
• Texan pioneers’ & problems –
1. Davy Crockett, David Bowie and Sam Houston
2. Mexicans & Texans fought over slavery, immigration & local rights
• Many Texans were southerners.
3. 1835, Santa Anna got rid of all local rights & built an army.
• 1836, Texans Declare Independence
1. The Alamo – Santa Anna killed all but 1 person. Crockett & Bowie
were killed also & new rallying cry, “Remember the Alamo” swept
into US & Americans reinforced Texans.
2. Houston defeats Santa Anna and is forced to sign 2 treaties –
removal of Mexican soldiers & Rio Grande becomes border.
• Many Texans wanted US to annex Texas but the “slave” issue prevented
this action.
7
Election of 1840
• Whig – William Henry Harrison wins a close popular vote but a large
electoral college vote.
• Two Changes in American Politics –
1. Rise of the populist democratic style of politics – aristocracy was
now looked down upon & politicians now had to court the
masses.
2. Creation of the two-party system – Democrats & Whigs
1. Democrats = individual liberties, state’s rights, less gov’t
interference, guarded against “privilege” in gov’t.
2. Whigs = willing to use gov’t to bring harmony to society and
valued the community.
3. Commonality – both appealed to the “masses”, and were
catchall parties. Neither was extreme and neither wanted to
deal with slavery.
Ch. 14: Forging the National Economy
The Westward Movement & Urbanization
1. Westward movement molded the
environment.
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2.
Tobacco overuse exhausted land forced settlers west.
Trapped beavers, sea otters, & bison for fur shipped
East.
Nationalism led to appreciation of US
wilderness.
-
Creation of national parks; Yellowstone in 1872.
The Emerald Isle Moves West
5. In mid-1800s, population double every 25 yrs.
- 1860, 33 states; US pop. 4th in world
- Urbanization continued, 1790, only NY & Philly had 20k + people,
by 1860, 43 cities had.
- Growth = poor sanitation: later, indoor plumbing
6. High birthrate cause of pop. growth, but in 1850s, millions of Irish
& German immigrated.
- Surplus population in Europe, but not all came to the U.S.
- U.S. had land, freedom of religion, no aristocracy, 3 meat meals a
day.
- Transoceanic steamships, travel time dropped to 12 days & was
safer.
Irish potato famine, 1840s, 2 million deaths & many fled to t U.S.
•“Black Forties”—mainly came to cities like Boston & NY
(biggest Irish city).
•Illiterate, discriminated, & received lowest-paying jobs
(railroad building).
•Hated by Protestants
•Americans hated the Irish (“NINA”—No Irish Need
Apply);
•Irish hated competition with blacks for low-paying jobs.
•Ancient Order of Hibernians established to aid the Irish.
•Gradual property ownership education.
•Irish were attracted to politics, & often filled police depts.
as officers.
•Politicians tried to appeal to the Irish by yelling at
London (“Twisting the Lion’s Tail”).
8
The German FortyForty-Eighters
1. 1 m. Germans immigrated,1830s-1860s, due
to crop failures & revolution/war of 1848.
– Liberals, Carl Schurz, contributed to
elevation of the U.S. political scene.
– Had $, bought land in West, WI.
– Votes crucial & wooed by politicians, but too
spread out to be effective.
– Germans contributed to US culture (i.e.
Christmas tree) & isolationism.
– Urged public education (kindergarten) &
freedom (enemies of slavery).
– Resented because Germans grouped
themselves together, were aloof, clung to old
ways; spoke German, religion, & beer.
Flare--ups of Antiforeignism
Flare
1.
“nativists” – America for Americans, were prejudiced against
immigrants in jobs, politics, and religion
Nativists feared Catholicism, so, they formed the “Order of
Star-Spangled Banner” AKA, “The Know-Nothings”
2.
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Wanted restrictions on immigration, naturalization & deportation of
alien paupers
Wrote fiction books about corruption of churches
There was mass violence, i.e. Philadelphia in 1844, which burnt
churches, schools & people killed
Made US a pluralistic society through diversity
Immigrants became less disliked, became crucial to economic
expansion & more jobs were available (although low-paying)
Marvels in Manufacturing
Creeping Mechanization
1. Industrial revolution spread to U.S. & was destined to become an
industrial giant because…
• land cheap, investment $, raw materials; all plentiful
• Britain’s factory system in competition w/ infant U.S.
industries.
2. U.S. remained very rural and was mostly a farming nation
3. Samuel Slater – “Father of the Factory System”
• British who escaped to U.S., aided by Moses Brown & built
1st cotton thread spinner in U.S., Pawtucket, RI (1791)
4. Eli Whitney built a cotton gin.
• cotton now profitable, saved South with “King Cotton”
• South flourished & expanded the cotton kingdom westward
• Reinvigorated slavery
• Northern factories manufactured textiles (cloth), NE due to
its poor soil, dense labor, access to sea, & fast rivers (power)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Embargo Act encouraged manufacturing
After Treaty of Ghent, British poured in cheap
goods, forcing closure of US factories.
Tariff of 1816 passed to protect economy.
Eli Whitney created machine-made interchangeable parts (on muskets) - 1850
–
basis of assembly line in the North
Elias Howe & Issac Singer (1846) made sewing
machine (foundation of clothing industry)
1860’s had 28k patents, 1800 only had 306
Principle of limited liability in a corporation (can’t
lose more than invested) stimulated economy
Laws of “free incorporation” no need to apply for
charter from legislature to start corp.
Samuel Morse’s telegraph connected the business
world when he asked, “What hath God wrought?”
9
Women and the Economy
Workers and “Wage Slaves”
1.
2.
The factory system led to impersonal relations
Benefit to factory owner; hours long, wages low, conditions
unsafe & unhealthy, & no unions to address these issues
Child labor 50% of the industrial labor force.
Adult working conditions improved in the 1820s & 30s with
mass vote given to workers
3.
4.
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5.
10 hr day, higher wages, tolerable conditions, public education, a ban of
imprisonment for debt
1840s, Pres. Van Buren established 10 hr day for federal employees
Many went on strike, but lost because employers simply imported more
workers (the much-hated immigrants)
Labor unions formed in the 1830s, but were hit by Panic of 1837
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–
Commonwealth v. Hunt in Massachusetts Supreme Court (1842)
legalized unions for peaceful and honorable protest
Effectiveness of unions was small (“scabs undermined threats of strikes)
1.
Trans-Allegheny region (OH-ID-IL) became
nation’s breadbasket
– Planted corn, raised hogs
2. inventions boomed agriculture
– John Deere – steel plow
– Cyrus McCormick – mechanical mowerreaper
3. Led to large-scale production & growth of
cash crops
4. North produced more food than South
(cotton); products flowed from North to
South via sea & rivers, not East to West
which need transportation revolution.
1. Women toiled in factories under poor conditions
2. Lowell, Mass., a model textile mill employed young, single women
under a watchful eye.
3. Opportunities rare & mainly worked in nursing, domestic service,
teaching (encouraged by Catharine Beecher)
4. Women usually worked before marriage, after marriage they became
housewives & mothers
5. Arranged marriages died out; those due to love tied family closer
6. Families grew smaller (average of 6); the fertility rate dropped
sharply; this “domestic feminism” was a crude form of birth control
7. Child
Child--centered families emerged with less children & discipline
8. The home changed from a place of labor, to a place of refuge and
rest from labor at the mill
9. Women were in charge of family: small, affectionate, childchild-centered
families. This was a small arena for talented women
Highways and Steamboats
1. Raw material transport needed improvement
2. Lancaster Turnpike – hard road, Philly to
Lancaster, PA; brought economic expansion
west
3. Feds constructed Cumberland Road AKA The
National Road (MD - IL) w/ state & federal $
4. R. Fulton invented 1st steamboat, 1807;
steamboats were common by 1830s
10
Cables, Clippers, and Pony Riders
“Clinton’s Big Ditch” in New York
1. Gov. Clinton’s Big Ditch, Erie Canal, Lake Erie to Hudson
River
•
•
Shortened expense & time of transportation (to 1/20);
Farmers unable to compete in East, so they went West
The Iron Horse
1. 1st railroad in U.S., 1828; by 1860, 30k miles of railroad
tracks laid in U.S. (3/4 of those were in North)
2. Railroads 1st opposed because financiers were afraid of
losing money from Erie Canal traffic;
1. Foreign exports
– South: cotton was 50% of exports
– North: repeal of British Corn Law of
1846, wheat became an important
commodity in trade with England
2. US imported more than exported
(caused huge debt to foreign creditors)
3. 1858, Cyrus Field laid a telegraph cable
between the U.S. & Europe.
•
Instant communication w/ Europe
The Transport Web Binds the Union
1.
US vessels idle due to embargoes & panics;
– Golden age of US merchant marine in 1840s & 50s,
Donald Mckay built clipper ships which dominated seas
for a brief time
– Tea trade w/ British grew & carried many to CA
– US’s brief dominance at sea w/ clipper ships was
crushed by British iron steamers, “Tea kettles” that
were more reliable & could haul heavier loads, though
slower.
2. Speedy communication popped up from MO to CA, in
Pony Express (2k miles in 10 days). Pony Express shortlived, lasting 2 yrs, & replaced by telegraph wire.
1. Steamboat served to bind South & West.
2. More canals = more trade East to West (South left out)
3. NY became queen port of the country, replacing NO,
thanks to the Erie Canal
4. Principle of divided labor emerged w/ each region
specializing in its own economic activity
1. South cotton to NE; W grain & livestock for E &
Europe; East machines, textiles for South & West
5. South thought Mississippi River linked them to upper
valley states; they would overlook manman-made links when
they began to consider secession
6. Transformed the home, was once the center of economics,
but now served as a refuge from work.
11
Reviving Religion
1.
2.
The Market Revolution
1. Era of the self
self--supported farm was changing to a more
modern, specialty driven economy.
2. The times widened the gap between the rich and poor.
3. Cities saw the greatest extremes
• unskilled workers were “drifters” from town to town
looking for jobs (1/2 of industrial population)
• social mobility existed, but ragsrags-toto-riches stories were rare
• the standard of living did rise (helped diffuse any
potential class conflict)
Ch. 15:
Reform
&
Culture
1850, Church attendance regular, 3/4 of pop.
Deism was popular (reason rather
revelation); rejected original sin, denied
Christ’s divinity but believed in supreme
being that created universe w/ an order
(clockmaker).
3. Unitarian faith begins (New England)
– God exists in 1 person, not the trinity;
stressed goodness of human nature
– Free will & salvation thru good works;
God = loving father
– appealed to intellectuals w/ rationalism &
optimism
4. Perversions of Christianity ignited
Christians to “take back their faith” &
oppose these new beliefs
Denominational Diversity
Second Great Awakening
1.
Liberalism in religion started in 1800 spawned 2nd Great
Awakening a tidal wave of spiritual fervor that resulted in
prison reform, church reform, temperance movement (no
alcohol), women’s rights movement, abolition of slavery in
1830s
–
•
•
•
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it spread to the masses through huge “camp meetings”
East went West to Christianize Indians
Methodists & Baptists stressed personal conversion, democracy
in church affairs, emotionalism
Peter Cartwright – was best known of the “circuit riders” or
traveling preachers
Charles Grandison Finney – the greatest revival preacher who
led massive revivals in Rochester, NY
1. Revival furthered divided religious faiths
• NY, w/ its Puritans, preached “hellfire” & known
as the “Burned-Over District”
• Millerites (Adventists) – predicted Christ’s return
Oct 22, 1844. Prophesy failed to materialize,
movement lost credibility.
• The Awakening widened lines between classes &
regions
• Conservatives made up of: propertied
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
Unitarians
• Less-educated of South & West were usually
Methodists or Baptists
2. Religion further split w/ issue of slavery (i.e. the
Methodists and Presbyterians split)
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Free School for a Free People
1. Tax-supported, compulsory, primary
Mormons
schools was opposed as a hand-out to paupers
• support rose because uneducated “brats”
grow up to be rabbles with voting rights
• Free public education, triumphed in
1828 along w/ voting powers in Jackson
election
• largely ill-taught and ill-trained teachers
• Horace Mann, “Father of Public
Education” fought for better schools.
• school too expensive for many
community; blacks were mostly left out
from education
2. Important educators - Noah Webster
(dictionary and Blueback Speller); William
H. McGuffey — McGuffey’s Readers)
A Desert Zion in Utah
1. Joseph Smith (1830) claimed to have found golden tablets in
NY w/ the Book of Mormon inscribed on them. He came up w/
Mormon or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
• Antagonism toward Mormons emerged due to their
polygamy, drilling militia, and voting as a unit
• Smith was killed, but was succeeded by Brigham Young,
who led followers to Utah
• Grew quickly by birth and immigration from Europe
• Had a federal governor and marched to Utah when Young
became governor
• Issue of polygamy prevented Utah’s entrance to U.S. until
1896
Higher Goals for Higher Learning
1. 2nd Great Awakening built small schools in South &
West
• curriculum mainly on Latin, Greek, Math, moral
philosophy
2. Univ. of North Carolina, in 1795, 1st state
state--supported
university was founded; Jefferson started University of
Virginia shortly afterwards (UVA independent of
religion or politics)
3. Women thought to be corrupted if too educated, so,
excluded
4. Emma Willard — established Troy Female Seminary
(1821) & Mount Holyoke Seminary (1837) was
established by Mary Lyon
5. Libraries, public lectures, and magazines flourished
An Age of Reform
1.
Reformers opposed tobacco, alcohol, profanity, & other
vices, & came out for women’s rights
2. Women very important in motivating these reform
movements
3. Reformers were optimists who sought a perfect society
• Some were naïve & ignored the problems of factories
• Fought imprisonment for debt; was gradually abolished
• Wanted criminal codes softened & reformatories created
• Mentally insane were treated badly. Dorothea Dix fought
for reform for mentally insane in her petition of 1843
• There was agitation for peace (i.e. the American Peace
Society) - William Ladd had an impact until Civil War &
Crimean war
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Demon Rum—
Rum—The “Old Deluder”
1. drunkenness was widespread
2. American Temperance Society formed in
Boston (1826) – the “Cold Water Army”
(children), signed pledges, made
pamphlets, and an antianti-alcohol novel
emerged
3. Attack on rum adopted 2 major lines of
attack…
• stressed temperance (will to resist)
• legislature
legislature--removed temptation - Neal S.
Dow becomes the “Father of Prohibition”
• sponsored Maine Law of 1851 which
prohibited making and sale of liquor
(followed by others)
Women in Revolt
1. Women stayed home, w/out voting rights.
2. “spinsters” - women who avoided marriage altogether
3. Gender differences increased w/ different economic roles
• Perceived as weak physically & emotionally, but ok to teach
• Men perceived as strong, crude & barbaric, guided by purity
of women
4. Joined the movement to abolish of slavery
5. Women’s movement was led by Lucretia Mott, Susan B.
Anthony, Elizabeth Candy Stanton, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell,
Margaret Fuller, the Grimke sisters, & Amelia Bloomer
• Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention (1848) – a major
landmark in women’s rights
• Dec. of Sentiments – “all Men and Women are created equal”
• Demanded ballot for women
• Launched modern women’s rights movement
6. Women’s rights movement temporarily eclipsed by slavery prior
to Civil War, but served as foundation for later.
The Dawn of Scientific Achievement
Wilderness Utopias
1. Robert Owen founded New Harmony, IN (1825)
though it failed in confusion
2. Brook Farm – Mass. experiment (1841)
intellectuals committed to Transcendentalism
(it lasted until ‘46)
3. Oneida Community — practiced free love, birth
control, eugenic selection of parents to produce
superior offspring; it survived ironically as a
capitalistic venture, selling baskets & cutlery.
4. Shakers – communistic community (Mother
Ann Lee); couldn’t marry so became extinct
1. Early Americans interested in practical science
not pure science (i.e., Jefferson & his plow).
• Nathaniel Bowditch – studied practical
navigation and oceanography
• Matthew Maury - ocean winds, currents
2. The most influential U.S. scientists…
• Benjamin Silliman - pioneer in chemistry
geologist.
• Louis Agassiz - served at Harvard, insisted
on original research
• Asa Gray was the Columbus of botany
• John Audubon painted birds w/ exact detail
3. Medicine in the U.S. was primitive.
4. Life expectancy was unsurprisingly low.
5. Self
Self--prescribed patent medicines were common,
usually mostly alcohol & often more harmful.
6. Local surgeons usually a local barber or butcher.
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