Era of Reform & Expansion

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The Beginning of the Development of an American Culture

• Much of Amer's early culture reflected that of Brit & other Euro countries from which settlers had come

• With independence assured by early 19th cent, Amers increasingly developed culture of their own, often one w/ strong nationalistic tone

• Hwvr, Amers cont to be influenced by their Euro heritage & to look to Euro for new ideas

• Furthermore, growing national culture emerged at same time regional variations of it became increasingly evident

Cultural Nationalism Origins

• Generation of Amers that became adults in 1st decades of 19th cent had concerns that differed from those of nation's founders

• Young were excited abt prospects of nation expanding westward & had little interest in Euro politics now that Napoleonic wars (& War of 1812) were done

• As fervent nationalists, they believed their young country was entering era of unlimited prosperity

Cultural Nationalism Examples

• Patriotic themes infused every aspect of Amer society, from art to schoolbooks

• Heroes of Revolution were enshrined in paintings by Gilbert Stuart, Charles Wilson Peale, & John Trumbull

• Fictionalized biography extolling virtues of Washington, written by Parson Mason Weems, was widely read

• Expanding public schools embraced Noah Webster's blue-backed speller, which promoted patriotism long b4 his famous dictionary was published

• Basic ideas and ideals of nationalism & patriotism dominated most of 19th cent

Romanticism

• In Euro, during early years of 19th cent, artists & writers shifted away from Enlightenment emphasis on reason, order, and balance toward intuition, feelings, individual acts of heroism, and study of nature

• This new mvmnt, known as romanticism, was most clearly expressed in US by transcendentalists, small grp of NE thinkers

The Transcendentalists

• Writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau questions doctrines of est churches & business practices of merchant class

  • Argued for mystical & intuitive way of thinking as means for discovering one's inner self & looking for the essence of God in nature

• Their views challenged materialism of Amer society by suggesting that artistic expression was more important than pursuit of wealth

• Although transcendentalists valued individualism highly & downplayed importance of organized institutions, they supported variety of reforms, esp antislavery mvmnt

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Very popular Amer writer & speaker

• Essays and lectures expressed individualistic and nationalistic spirit of Amers by urging them not to imitate Euro culture but to create distinctive Amer culture

• Argued for self-reliance, independent thinking, and primacy of spiritual matters over material ones

• Northerner wo lived in Concord, MA

• Became leading critic of slavery in 1850s and then an ardent supporter of Union during Civil War

Henry Davis Thoreau

• Living in Concord & a close friend of Emerson

• To test his transcendentalist philosophy, Thoreau conducted two-year experiment of living simply in a cabin in the woods outside town

• Used observations of nature to help him search for essential truths abt life and universe

• Thoreau's writings from these years were published in book Walden

• Bc of this book, Thoreau is remembered today as pioneer ecologist & conservationist

• Though often detached from politics, Thoreau felt strongly that US war against Mex was immoral

• To express opposition, he refused to pay tax that would support the war

• For breaking tax law, Thoreau was arrested and jailed

  • Stayed only one night- unknown person bid his bail

• Thoreau's reflections on the necessity for disobeying unjust laws & accepting the penalty in his essay known as "On Civil Disobedience" added to his lasting fame

• 20th cent- Thoreau's ideas & actions would inspire nonviolent mvmnt of both Mohandas Gandhi in India and Martin Luther King Jr in US

Brook Farm

• George Ripley, Prot minister, launched communal experiment at Brook Farm in MA

• Goal = achieve "more natural union btwn intellectual & manual labor"

• Living @ Brook Farm at times were some of the leading intellectuals of the period

• Emerson went, as did Margaret Fuller, a feminist writer and editor, Theodore Parker, a theologian and radical reformers, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, a novelist

• A bad fire and heavy debts forced the end of the experiment in 1849

• But Brook Farm was remembered for its atmosphere of artistic creativity, its innovative school, and its appeal to NE intellectual lite and their children

Communal Experiments

• Brook Farm was just one attempt to set up an intentionally organized society

• Idea of withdrawing from conventional society to create an ideal community, or utopia, in fresh setting was not a new idea

• But never before were social experiments so numerous as during the antebellum years

• Open lands of US proved fertile ground for more than 100 experimental communities

• Early members of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints undertook one type of religious communal effort (see Topic 4.10)

• Brook Farm was an example of a humanistic, or secular, experiment

• Although many of communities were short-lived, these "backwoods utopias" reflect diversity of reform ideas

Shakers

• One of earliest religious communal mvmnts

• Shakers had abt 6k members in various communities by 1840s

• Shakers held property in common and kept women and men strictly separate (forbidding marriage and sexual relations)

• For lack of new recruits, Shaker communities virtually died out by mid-1900s

Amana Colonies

• Settlers of Amana Colonies in Iowa were Germans who belonged to religious reform mvmnt known as Pietism

• Like Shakers, emphasized simple, communal living

• Hwvr, they allowed for marriage

• Their communities cont to prosper, although no longer practice their communal ways of living

New Harmony

• Secular (nonreligious) experiment in New Harmony, Indiana, was work of Welsh industrialist & reformer Robert Owen

• Owen hoped his utopian socialist community would provide an answer to problems of inequity and alienation caused by both financial probs and disagreements among members of community

Oneida Community

• After undergoing religious conversation, John Humphrey Noyes started cooperative community in Oneida, NY, in 1848

• Dedicated to an ideal of perf social and economic equality, community members shared property and, later, marriage partners

• Critics attacked Oneida system of planned reproduction and communal child-rearing as sinful experiment in "free love

• Despite controversy, community managed to prosper economically by producing and selling silverware of great quality

Fourier Phalanxes

• In 1840s, theories of French socialist Charles Fourier attracted interest of many Amers

• In response to probs of fiercely competitive society, Fourier advocated that ppl share work & housing in communities known as Fourier Phalanxes

• This mvmnt died out quickly as Amers proved too individualistic to live communally

Painting

• Genre painting- portraying everyday life of ordinary ppl doing ordinary things such as riding riverboats and voting on election day- became popular among artists in 1830s

• For example, George Caleb Bingham depicted common ppl in various settings and carrying out domestic chores

• William S Mount won popularity for lively rule compositions

• Thomas Cole & Frederick Church emphasized heroic beauty of Amer landscapes, esp in dramatic scenes along Hudson Rvr in NY state and western frontier wilderness

• Hudson Rvr School, as it was called, expressed Romantic Age's fascination w/ natural world

Architecture

• Inspired by democracy of classical Athens, Amer architects adapted Greek styles to glorify the democratic spirit of the republic

• Columned facades like those of ancient Greek temples graced the entryways to public buildings, banks, hotels, and even some private homes

Literature

• In addition to transcendentalist authors (like Emerson and Thoreau), other writers helped create literature that was Romantic and distinctively Amer

• Partly as result of War of !812, Amer ppl became more nationalistic and eager to read works abt Amer themes by Amer writers

• Most prominent writers came from NE or Mid-Atlantic states

  • Washington Irving wrote fiction, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," using Amer settings

  • James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales were serious of novels written from 1824 to 1841 that glorified nobility of scouts and settlers on Amer frontier

  • Nathaniel Hawthorne questioned intolerance and conformity in Amer life in short stories and novels, like The Scarlett Letter

  • Herman Melville's innovative novel Moby-Dick reflected theological and cultural conflicts of the era as it told the story of Cptn Ahab's pursuit of white whale

  • Edgar Allen Poe, like many Romantic writers, focused on irrational aspects of human behavior

  • Poems such as "The Raven" and short stories like "Tell Tale Heart" portrayed mysterious or even horrifying events

Causes of Religious Reform

• Growing emphasis on democracy and the indiv that influenced politics & arts also affected how ppl viewed religion. Worshippers were attracted to services that were more participatory & less formal

• Rational approach to religion favored by Deists & Unitarians prompted reaction toward more emotional expressions of beliefs in worship services

• Market revolution caused ppl to fear that growing industrialization & commercialization were leading to inc greed & sin

• Disruptions caused by market rev & mobility of ppl led them to look for worship settings that were outside formal churches based in urban areas

Revivals

• 2nd Grt Awak began among highly educated ppl such as Reverend Timothy Dwight, prez of Yale

  • Dwight's campus revivals motivated generation of young men to become evangelical preachers

• In rivals of early 1800s, successful preachers were audience-centered & easily understood by the uneducated

  • Spoke abt opportunity for salvation to all

  • These populist movements seemed attuned to the democratization of Amer society

Revivalism in NY

• 1823: Presbyterian minister Charles G. Finney started series of revivals in upstate NY, where many New Englanders had settled

• Instead of delivering sermons based on rational argument, Finney appealed to ppl's emotions & fear of damnation

• He prompted thousands to publicly declare their revived faith

  • Preached that every individual could be saved thru faith & hard work- ideas that strongly appealed to rising middle class

• b/c of Finney's influence, western NY became known as "burned-over-district" for its frequent "hell-and-brimstone" revivals

Baptists & Methodists

• In South & on western frontier, Baptist & Methodist circuit preachers, such as Peter Cartwright, would travel from one location to another & attract thousands to hear their dramatic preaching at outdoor revivals, or campaign meetings

• These preachers activated faith of many who had never belonged to church

• 1850 -> Baptists & Methodists were largest Protestant denomination in country

Millennialism

• Much of religious enthusiasm of time was based on widespread belief that world was abt to end w/ second coming of Jesus

• One preacher, William Miller, gained tens of thousands of followers by predicting a specific date (Oct 21, 1844) for second coming

• Nothing happened on appointed day, but Millerites cont as new Christian denomination, the Seventh-Day Adventists

Origins of Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints

• Formerly called Mormon Church

• Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 in NY

• Smith based beliefs on book of Scripture- The Book of Mormon- that traced a connection btwn Amer Indians & lost tribes of Israel

• Smith & his followers, facing persecution, moved to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois

  • There, Smith was murdered by local mob

Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints After Death of Leader

• To survive, Church members, led by Brigham Young, migrated to western frontier

• Settled on banks of Great Salt Lake in Utah & named community New Zion

• Cooperative social organization helped them prosper in wilderness

• Hwvr, Church faced strong opposition b/c Smith approved practice of polygamy, allowing a man to have more than one wife

  • The Church officially prohibited polygamy in 1890

  • No longer affiliated w/ any grp that allows it

Reforms Backed by Religion

• 2nd Grt Awak, much like 1st, caused divisions btwn never evangelical sects & older Protestant churches throughout country

• Also touched off several social reform mvmnts, including efforts to reduce drinking, end slavery, & provide better treatment for ppl w/ mental illness

• Activist religious grps provided both leadership & well-organized voluntary societies that drove many reform mvmnts during antebellum era

Reformers advocated for causes such as…

• Est free (tax-supported) public schools

• Improving treatment of mentally ill

• Controlling/abolishing sale of alcohol

• Wining equal rights for women

• Abolishing slavery

Enthusiasm for reform had many sources, including…

• Puritan sense of mission

• Enlightenment belief in human goodness

• Politics of Jacksonian democracy

• Changing relationships among men & women, social classes, & ethnic groups

• The most important source may have been religious beliefs

Temperance Movement Origins

• High rate of alcohol consumption (five gallons of hard liquor per person in 1820) prompted reforms to target alcohol as cause of crime, poverty, abuse of women, and other social ills

• Temperance became most popular of reform mvmnts

• Temperance mvmnt began by using moral exhortation

• By 1826, Prot ministers and others concerned with drinking and its effects founded Amer Temperance Society

• Society tried to persuade drinkers to take pledge of total abstinence

• In 1840, grp of recovering alcoholics formed Washingtonians and argued that alcoholism was disease that needed practical, helpful treatment

• By 1840s, various temperance societies together had more than a million members

Temperance Movement Viewpoints

• By 1840s, various temperance societies together had more than a million members

• German and Irish immigrants were largely opposed to temperance campaign

• But they lacked the political pwr to prevent state and city govts from passing reforms

• Factory owners and politicians joined w/ reformers when it became clear that temperance measures could inc workers' output of job

Temperance Movement Results

• 1851, state of MN went beyond simply placing taxes on sale of liquor and become first state to prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxication liquors

• 12 states followed within a decade

• Hwvr, in 1850s, issue of slavery came to overshadow temperance mvmnt

• Mvment would gain strength again in late 1870s with strong support from Women's Christian Temperance Union

• It could achieve national success w/ passage of 28th amendment in 1919, which banned sale of intoxicating liquors

Mental Hospitals

• Dorothea Dix, former schoolteacher from MA, was horrified to find mentally ill persons locked up w/ convicted criminals in unsanitary cells

• Launched cross-country crusade, publicizing awful treatment she witnessed

• In 1840s, one state legislature after another built new mental hospitals or improved existing institutions and mental patients began receiving professional treatment

Schools for Blind and Deaf Persons

• Two other reformers founded special institutions to help ppl w/ physical disabilities

• Thomas Gallaudet opened school for deaf

• Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe started school for blind

• By 1850s, special schools modeled after work of these reformers had been est in many states of Union

Prisons

• PA took lead in prison reform, building new prisons called penitentiaries to take paced of crude jails

• Reformers placed prisoners in solitary confinement to force them to reflect on sins and repent

• Experiment dropped bc of high rate of prisoner suicides

• These prison reforms reflected major doctrine of asylum mvmnt: structure and discipline would bring abt moral reform

• Similar penal experiment, the Auburn system in NY, enforced rigid rules of discipline while also providing moral instruction and work programs

Reforms in Public Education (Overview)

• Another reform mvmnt started in Jacksonian era focused don need for est free public schools for children of all classes

• Middle-class reformers motivated in part by fears for future of republic posed by growing #s of uneducated poor- both immigrant and native born

• Workers' grps in cities generally supported reformers' campaign for free (tax-supported) schools

Free Common Schools and Horace Mann

• Leading advocate of common (public) school mvmnt

• As secretary of newly founded MA Board of Ed, Mann worked for compulsory attendance for all children, a longer school yr, and inc teacher preparation

• In 1840s, mvmnt for public schools spread rapidly to other states

Moral Education

• Mann and other educational reformers wanted children to learn not only basic literacy, but also moral principles

• Toward this end, William Holmes McGuffey, a PA teacher, created series of elementary textbooks that became widely used to tach reading and morality

• McGuffey readers extolled virtues of hard work, punctuality, and sobriety-- the kinds of behaviors needed in an emerging industrial society

• Many public schools reflected Prot beliefs of majority of community residents

• In response, Roman Catholics est private schools for instruction of Catholic children

Higher Education

• Religious enthusiasm of Second Great Awakening helped fuel growth of priv colleges

• Beginning of 1830s, various Prot denominations est small denominational colleges, eps in newer western states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa)

• Several new colleges, inc Mount Holyoke College in MA and Oberlin College in Ohio began to admit women

• Adult education further by lyceum lecture societies, which brought speakers like Emerson to small-town audiences

Changes in Families and Roles for Women (Overview)

• Amer society was still overwhelmingly rural in mid-19th cent

• But in growing cities, impact of Indus Rev was redefining the fam

• Industrialization reduced economic value of children

• In middle-class fams, birth control was used to reduce average fam size, which declines from 7.04 fam members in 1800 to 5.42 in 1830

• Affluent women now had leisure time to devote to orgs based on religion or moral uplift

  • NY Female Moral Reform Society, for ex, helped impoverished young women avoid being forced into lives of prostitution

Cult of Domesticity

• Industrialization also changed roles within fams

• Traditional farm fams, men were moral leaders

• Hwvr, when men took jobs outside home to work for salaries or wages in an office or factory, they were absent most of the time

• As result, women in these households who remained at home took charge of household and children

• Idealized view of women as moral leaders in home is called cult of domesticity

Women’s Rights

• Women reformers, esp those involved in antislavery mvmnt, resent way men regulate them to secondary roles in the mvmnt

  • Ex, men prevent women from taking part fully in policy discussions

• Among women who spoke out against discrimination was Sarah Grimke in Letters on Equality of the Sexes, and the Condition of Women

• Sarah & her sis, Angelina Grimke, were among the leaders opposing slavery

• Another pair of reformers, Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton, began campaign for women's rights after they had been barred from speaking at an antislavery convention

Seneca Falls Convention

• Leading feminists met at Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848

• At conclusion of convention-first women's rights convention in Amer history- they issued doc closely modeled after Dec of Independence

  • Dec of Sentiments

  • "all men and women created equal"

  • Listed women' grievances against laws and customs that discriminated against them

• Following Convention, Liz Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony led campaign for equal voting, legal, and property rights for women

• In 1850s, hwvr, issue of women's rights was overshadowed by crisis over slavery

American Colonization Society

• Idea of transporting those ppl freed from slavery to an Afr colony was first tried in 1817 w/ founding of the Amer Colonization Society

• Appealed to some opponents of slavery

• Also appealed to many White Amers who wanted to remove all free Black Amers from US society

• In 1822, Amer Colonization Society est Afr settlement in Monrovia, Liberia

• Colonization never proved practical

• For most part, free Afr Amer didn't want to leave land where they and their ancestors had been born

• Btwn 1820 and 1860, only abt 12k Afr Amers moved to Afr, while enslaved population grew by 2.5 mill

American Antislavery Society

• 1831 -> William Lloyd Garrison began publication of abolitionist paper, The Liberator, an event that marks beginning of radical abolitionist mvmnt

• Uncompromising Garrison advocated immediate abolition of slavery in every state and territory w/o compensating slave owners

• 1833 -> Garrison and other abolitionists founded Amer Anti-Slavery Society

• Garrison stepped up his attacks by condemning and burning Constitution as proslavery doc

• Argued for "no Union with slaveholders" til they repented for their sins by freeing slaves

Liberty Party

• Garrison's radicalism soon led to split in abolitionist mvmnt

• Believing that political action was more practical route to reform than Garrison's moral crusade, grp of northerners formed Liberty Party in 1840

• Ran James Birney as candidate for president in 1840 and 1844

• Party's one campaign pledge was to bring abt end of slavery by political and legal means

Black Abolitionists

• Indivs who had escaped enslavement and free Afr Amers were among the most outspoken and convincing critics of slavery

• One who was formerly enslaved, such as Frederick Douglass, could speak abt brutality and degradation of slavery from firsthand experience

• An early follower of Garrison, Douglass later advocated both political and direct action to end slavery and racial prejudice

• In 1847, he started the antislavery journal The North Star

• Other Afr Amer leaders, such as Harriet Tubman, David Ruggles, Sojourner Truth, and William Still, helped organize effort to assist fugitive slaves escape free territory in North or to Canada, where slavery was prohibited

Violent Abolitionism

• David Walker and Henry Highland Garnet were two northern Afr Amer who advocated most radical solution to slavery question

• Argued that those enslaved should take action themselves by rising up in revolt against owners

• 1831 -> enslaved VA, Nat Turner, led revolt in which 55 whites were killed

• In retaliation, Whites killed hundreds of Afr Amers in brutal fashion and put down revolt

• Before this event, there had been some antislavery sentiment and discussion in South

• After revolt, fear of future uprisings as well as Garrison's inflame rhetoric put an end to antislavery talk in South

Smaller reform movements

• Amer Peace Society, founded in 1828, had objective of abolishing war. Actively protested war w/ Mex in 1846

• Some reformers fought for laws to protect sailors from being flogged

• Advocates of dietary reforms, such as eating whole wheat bread or Sylvester Graham's crackers, wanted to promote good digestion

• Several women called for dress reform so they could move abt more easily. For ex, Amelia Bloomer called for women to wear pantalettes instead of long skirts

• One unusual reform was phrenology, a pseudoscience that studied bumps on person's skull to assess person's character and ability

Context of Slavery in 19th Cent

• At the outset of 19th cent, many ppl throughout nation believed and hoped that slavery would gradually disappear

• They thought exhaustion of soil in coastal lands of VA & Carolina and constitutional ban on importation and enslaving Afrs after 1808 would make slavery economically unfeasible

• Hwvr, rapid growth of cotton industry & expansion of slavery into new states like Alabama and MS ended hopes for quiet end to slavery

• As arguments over Missouri Comp suggested, slavery issue defied easy answers

Free African Americans in the North

• 250k Afr Amers who lived in North in 1860 constituted only 1% of northerners

• Hwvr, they represented 50% of all free Afr Amers in country

• Freedom enabled them to maintain a fam and, in some instances, own land

• In response to discrimination in White-dominated churches, many free Afr Amers formed their own Christian congregations

• Some of these congregations joined together as Afr Methodist Episcopal Church

• Hwvr, freedom didn't mean economic or political equality for Afr Amers, since strong racial prejudices kept them from voting and holding jobs in most skilled occupations and jobs that they had held since the time of the Rev

• Denied membership in unions, Afr Amers often hired as strikebreakers-- and often dismissed after strike ended

Free African Americans in the South

• As many as 250k Afr Amers in South weren't enslaved

• They were free citizens (even though, as in North, racial prejudice restricted their liberties)

• A number of those enslaved had been emancipated during Amer Rev

• Some were mulatto children whose White fathers had decided to liberate them

• Others achieved freedom on their own, when permitted, thru self-purchase-- if they were fortunate enough to have been paid wages for extra work, usually as skilled as craftsppl

• Most free southern Blacks lived in cities where they could own property

• By state law, they weren't equal with Whites, weren't permitted to vote, and were barred from entering certain occupations

• Constantly in danger of being kidnapped by slave traders, they had to show legal papers proving their free status

• They remained in South for various reasons

  • Some wanted to be near fam members who were still in bondage

  • Others thought of South as their home and believed North offered no greater opportunities

Conditions of Slavery

• Conditions of slavery varied from one plantation to the next, but all suffered from being deprived of their freedom

• Fams could be separated at any time by owner's decision to sell wife, husband, or child

• Women were vulnerable to sexual exploitation

• Despite hard, nearly hopeless circumstances of their lives, enslaved Afr Amers maintained strong sense of fam and of religious faith

• Those enslaved contested their status thru range of actions, inc restrained resistance, running away, or open rebellion

• Search for freedom was continuous and took many forms

Restrained Actions

• On daily basis, slaves engaged in work slowdowns and equipment sabotage

• What Whites called "laziness" in those enslaves was sin reality a subtle defiance against their situation

Running Away

• For an indiv, escape from enslavement was challenge goal

• It was even more difficult for women caring for their children or pregnant

• All escaping faced organized militia patrols and hunters who were paid a bounty for those they capture

• Those returned to their owners were normally severely physically mistreated

• Growth of the "Underground Railroad" and inc demands of Southerners for stricter fugitive slave laws demonstrate the inc numbers of slaves willing to attempted running away despite the risks

Context of Enslaved Rebellions

• While there were a few large uprisings instigated by those enslaved, their impact on both other enslaved ppl and on White Southerners was considerable

  • In particularly, successful slave revolt and est of an independent nation in Haiti in early 1800s caused consternation among slaveholders in South

  • For years Southerners resisted political recognition or any diplomatic interaction w/ Haiti

• Revolts polarized the country by making slaveholders more defensive abt slavery and no slaveholders more critical of the institution

Enslaved Rebellion near Richmond, VA

• One of the earliest reported organized efforts was on plantation near Richmond, VA, in 1800

• Gabriel Prosser is reputed to have engaged approx. a thousand others enslaved to rise up against their oppressors

• Betrayed before they could take action, Gabriel and a number of his followers were executed

Enslaved Rebellion near Charleston, SC

• Another notable conspiracy for freedom was organized by Denmark Vesey, a free Afr Amer, in 1822, near Charleston, SC

  • Vesey and other fellow congregants of a large Afr Amer Methodist Church that inc many slaves were reputedly inspired by their readings from the Bible and possible discussions of recent Missouri Comp limiting the spread of slavery

  • Forged plan to seize ships in harbor and sail away to freedom, possibly to Haiti

  • These efforts ended by informers before Vesey could act, and he along with over thirty conspirators were hanged

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

• Nat Turner, enslaved in Southampton County, VA, in 1831, and considered a religious zealot by some, organized attack on his surrounding community

• In a single day, over 50 white men, women, and children were killed

• Reaction was swift, and military killed not only Turner and his followers but also many innocent Afr Amers in reprisal for rebellion

• While any efforts at organized rebellions were quickly and violently suppressed, they had a lasting influence

• They gave hope to enslaved Afr Amers, drove southern states to tighten air strict slave codes w/ growing fear, and demonstrated to many the evils of slavery

Context of American Culture

• Initially the Eng colonies had developed as parts of distinct regions: NE, Middle, and Southern

• Combination of geography and cultural differences among immigrants, compounded by limited contact bc of poor transportation, shaped differences among regions

• As colonies became states and as transportation improved in 19th cent, regional distinctions remained, based on combo of geography and economics

Agriculture

• Agriculture was foundation of South's economy, even tho by 1850s, small factories in region were producing approx. 15% of nation's manufactured goods

• Tobacco, rice, and sugarcane were important cash crops, but these were far exceeded by South's chief economic activity: production and sale of cotton

• Development of machined textile mills in Eng, coupled w/ Eli Whitney's cotton gin, made cotton cloth affordable, not just in Euro and Us, but throughout the world

King Cotton

• Before 1860, world depended chiefly on Brit's mills for its supply of cloth, and Brit, in turn, depended chiefly on Amer South for its supply of cotton fiber

• Originally, cotton was grown almost entirely in two states- SC & GA- but as demand and profits inc, planters moved westward in AL, LA, and TX

• New land was constantly in demand bc high cotton yields desired profits quickly depleted the soil

• By 1850s, cotton provided 2/3 of all US exports & linked south and Great Britain

• "Cotton is king" said one southerner of his region's greatest asset

Slavery, the “Peculiar Institution”

• Wealth in South was measure in terms of land and enslaved ppl

• Latter were treated as form of property, subject to being bought and sold

• Hwvr, some Whites were sensitive abt how they treated other humans, so they referred to slavery as "that peculiar institution"

• In colonial times, ppl justified slavery as economic necessity, but in 18th cent, apologists for slavery mustered historical and religious arguments to support claim that it was good for both enslaved and the master

Population & Slavery

• Cotton boom was largely responsible for fourfold inc in # of ppl held in slavery, from 1 mill in 1800 to nearly 4 mill in 1860

• Most of the inc came from natural growth, although thousands of Afrs were also smuggled into South in violation of the 1808 law against importing enslaved ppl

• In parts of Deep South, enslaved Afr Amers made up as much as 75% if total population

• Fearing slave revolts, southern legislatures added inc restrictions on movement and education to their slave codes

Economics & Slavery

• Enslaved workers were employed doing whatever their owners demanded of them

• Most labored in field, but many learned skilled crafts or worked as house servants, in factories, or on construction gangs

• Bc of greater profits to be made on new cotton plantations in the West, many owners in Upper South sold enslaved workers to owners in cotton-rich Deep South of lower MS Valley

• By 1860, value of an enslaved field hand had risen to almost $2,000 at a time when a typical wage for a laborer was $1 a day

• One result of heavy capital investment in slavery was that South had much less capital then North to undertake industrialization

Aristocracy

• Members of South's small elite of wealthy planters owned at least 100 enslaved ppl and at least 1k acres

• Planter aristocracy maintained it pwr by dominating state legislatures of South and enacting laws that favored large landholders' economic interests

Farmers

• Vast majority of slaveholders held fewer than 20 ppl in bondage and worked only several hundred acres

• Southern white farmers produced bulk of cotton crop, worked in fields alongside enslaved Afr Amers, and lived as modestly as farmers of North

Poor Whites

• 3/4 of white households in South owned no enslaved ppl

• Couldn't afford the rich river-bottom farmland controlled by planters, and many lived in hills as subsistence farmers

• These "hillbillies" or "poor white trash" as planters called them, defended the system, hoping that someday they, too, could own enslaved ppl

• Further, slave system meant that white farmers, no matter how poor, still felt superior on social scale to black ppl

Mountain People

• Number of small farmers lived in frontier conditions along slopes and valleys of Appalachian and Ozark mtns

• They were somewhat isolated from rest of the South

• Mtn ppl disliked planters and slavery

• During Civil War, many (inc future prez, Andrew Johnson of TN) remained loyal to Union

Cities

• South was agricultural region w/ few large commercial cities

• Largest city in region was New Orleans, w/ population of abt 170k

  • 5th largest city in country, after NY, Philly, Baltimore, and Boston

• Only 3 other southern cities- St. Louis, Louisville, and Charleston- had populations greater than 40k ppl

• South developed unique culture and outlook on life

  • As cotton became basis of its economy, slavery became focus of its political thought

  • White southerners felt inc isolated and defensive abt slavery northerners grew hostile toward it, and as Great Brit, France, Mex, and other Euro and Latin Amer states outlawed it

Code of Chivalry

• Dominated by aristocratic planter class, agricultural South was in some ways a feudal society

• Southern gentlemen ascribed to code of chivalrous conduct, which inc strong sense of personal honor, defense of womanhood, and paternalistic attitudes toward all who were deemed inferior, esp slaves

Education for Different Social Classes

• Upper class valued a college education for their children

• Acceptable professions for gentlemen were limited to farming, law, ministry, and military

• For lower class, schooling beyond early elementary grades was generally not available

• To reduce risk of slave revolts, law strictly prohibited teaching enslaved ppl to read or write

Religion & Slavery

• Slavery question affected churches

• Partly bc they preached biblical support for slavery, both Methodist and Baptist denominations gained members in South

• Hwvr, both grps split into northern and southern branches in 1840s

• Unitarians, who challenged slavery, faced declining membership and hostility

• Even Catholics and Episcopalians, who took neutral stand on slavery, saw their numbers decline in South

Social Reform in North VS South

• Antebellum reform mvmnt of first half of 19th cent was largely found in northern and western states, w/ little impact in South

• While "modernizers" worked to perfect society in North, southerners were more committed to tradition and slower to support public education and humanitarian reforms

• They were alarmed to see northern reformers join forces to support antislavery mvmnt

• Increasingly, they viewed social reform as northern threat against southern way of life

The Idea of Manifest Destiny (Overview)

• Expansionists wanted US to extend westward to Pacific and southward into Mexico, Cuba, & Central America

• By 1890s, expansionists fixed their sights on acquiring islands in Pacific & Caribbean

• Manifest Destiny = popular belief that US had divine mission to extend its pwr & civilization across breadth of North Amer

• Enthusiasm for expansion reached a fever pitch in 1840s

• Not all Amers united behind expansionism

  • Critics argue that root of expansionism = ambition to spread slavery into western lands

Enthusiasm for expansion was driven by…

• Nationalism

• Population inc

• Rapid economic development

• Tech advances

• Reform ideals

Texas and Oregon Territory were originally controlled by…

• Texas = Mex province

• Oregon Territory = claimed by Brit

• US interest in pushing its borders into these lands was result of Amer pioneers migrating into them during 1820s-30s

America & Texas Roots

• 1823  -> after winning national independence from Spain, Mex hope to attract settlers- including Anglos- to farm its sparsely population northern frontier province of TX

• Moses Austin, Missouri banker, obtained large land grant in TX but died before he could recruit Amer settlers for land

• His son, Stephen Austin, brough 300 fams into TX & thereby began steady migration of Amer settlers into vast frontier territory

• By 1830 -> Amers (both white farmers & enslaved black ppl) outnumbered Mex in TX by 3:1

America and Texas Beginning Tensions

• Friction btwn Amers & Mex worsening in 1829 when Mex outlawed slavery & required all immigrant to convert to Roman Catholicism

  • Many settlers refused to obey

• In reaction, Mex closed TX to additional Amer immigrants

• Land-hungry Amers from southern states ignored Mex prohibition & streamed into TX by thousands

America and Texas Intensifying Conflict

• Change in Mex gov't intensified conflict

• 1834 -> General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna made himself dictator of Mex & abolished nation's fed system of gov't

• When Santa Anna attempted to enforce Mex's laws in TX, grp of Amer settlers led by Sam Houston revolted & declared TX an independent republic in March 1836

• In new TX constitution, slavery was legal again

• Mex army led my Santa Anna captured town of Goliad & attacked the Alamo in San Antonio, killing every Amer defender

• Shortly after, hwvr, Battle of San Jacinto Rvr, army under Sam Houston caught Mex by surprise & captured their general, Santa Anna

• Under threat of death, Mex leader was forced to sign treaty that recognized TX as independent & granted the new republic all territory north of Rio Grande

• Hwvr, when news of San Jacinto reached Mex City, Mex legislature rejected treaty & insisted that TX was still part of Mex

Annexation of Texas Denied

• As 1st prez of Republic of TX (or Lone Star republic), Houston applied to US gov't for his country to be annexed (or added to) the US as state

• Hwvr, presidents Jackson & Van Buren both put off request for annexation primarily b/c of political opposition from anti-slavery Northerners

  • If annexed, TX might be divided into 5 new states, which could mean 10 potentially proslavery members of US Senate

  • Threat of costly war w/ Mex also dampened expansionist zeal

• Next prez, William Harrison, died after 1 month in office

• His successor, John Tyler, was a southern Whig who was worried abt growing influence of Brit in TX

• Worked to annex TX, but US Senate rejected his treaty of annexation in 1844

Boundary Dispute in Maine

• At this time, Canada was still under Brit rule & many Amers regarded Brit as country's most signif enemy (attitude carried from Amer Rev & War of 1812)

• Conflict btwn rival grps of lumber workers on Maine-Canada border erupted into open fighting

• Known as Aroostook War, or "battle of the maps," the conflict was soon resolved in treaty negotiated by US Secretary of State Daniel Webster & Brit ambassador, Lord Alexander Ashburton

• In Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 -> disputed territory split btwn Maine & Brit Canada

  • Treaty also settled boundary of Minnesota territory, leaving what proved to be iron-rich Mesabi Range on US side of border

Boundary Dispute in Oregon (Conext)

• vast territory on Pacific Coast originally stretched as far north as Alaskan border

• At one time, this territory = claimed by 4 diff nations: Spain, Russia, Brit, & US

  • Spain gave up its claim to Oregon in treaty w/ US (Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819)

• Brit based its claim to Oregon on Hudson's Bay Company's profitable fur trade w/Amer Indians of Pacific Northwest

  • Hwvr, by 1846, fewer than a thousand Brit settlers lived north of Columbia Rvr

US based its claims on Oregon on…

1. Exploration of Columbia Rvr by Captain Robert Gray in 1792

2. Overland expedition to Pacific Coast by Merriweather Lewis & William Clark in 1805

3. The fur trading post & fort in Astoria, Oregon, est by John Jacob Astor in 1811

• Protestant missionaries & farmers from US settled in Willamette Valley in 1840s

Boundary Dispute in Oregon (Result)

• Their success in farming this fertile valley caused 5k Amers to catch "Oregon fever" & travel 2,000 miles over Oregon Trail to settle in area south of Columbia Rvr

• By 1844 election, many Amers believed that taking undisputed possession of all of Oregon & annexing Republic of TX was their country's Manifest Destiny

  • Expansionists hoped to persuade Mex to give up its province on West Coast- the huge land of CA

• By 1845, Mex CA had small Spanish-Mex population of some 7,000 along w/ much larger number of Amer Indians, but Amer emigrants were arriving in sufficient numbers "to play the Texas game"

The Election of 1844 - Democratic Party Split

• Possibility of annexing TX & allowing slavery split Democratic Party in 1844

  • Party's northern wing opposed immediate annexation & wanted to nominate former prez Martin Van Buren to run again

  • Southern Whigs ho were proslavery & pro-annexation rallied behind former VP John C. Calhoun of SC as candidate

The Election of 1844 - James Polk

• Van Buren-Calhoun dispute head-locked Democratic convention

  • Dems finally nominated a "dark horse" (lesser known candidate) -> James K. Polk of Tennessee, a protégé of Andrew Jackson, who was firmly committed to

    • Manifest Destiny

    • the annexation of TX,

    • the acquisition of CA,

    • & the "reoccupation" or Oregon Territory all the way to border w/ Russian Alaska at latitude 54deg 40min

  • Democratic slogan of "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!" appealed strongly to expansionist Amer Westerners & Southerners

The Election of 1844 - Result

• Henry Clay or KY, Whig nominee, attempted to straddle controversial issue of TX annexation, opposing it & then supporting it

  • This start alienated grp of voters in NY State who abandoned Whig Party to support antislavery Liberal Party

• In close election, Whig's loss of NY's electoral votes proved decisive & Polk, Dem dark horse, was the victor

• Dems interpreted the election as a mandate to add TX to Union

Annexing Texas

• Outgoing Prez John Tyler took election of Polk as signal to push annexation of TX thru Cong

• Instead of seeking Senate approval of treaty that would have required 2/3 vote, Tyler persuaded both houses of Cong to pass join resolution for annexation

  • His procedure required only a simple majority of each house

• Tyler left Polk w/ problem of dealing w/ Mex's reaction to annexation

Dividing Oregon

• On Oregon question -> Polk back down from his party's bellicose campaign slogan

• Instead of fighting for 54deg 40min, he signed agreement w/ Brit to divide Oregon territory at 49th parallel (parallel that had been est as northern border in 1818 for Louisiana Territory)

• Final settlement of issue submitted to Senate for ratification

• Some Northerners viewed treaty as sellout to southern interests b/c removed Brit Columbia as source of potential free states

• Nevertheless, by this time war had broken out btwn US & Mex

  • Not wanting to fight both Mex & Brits, Senate opponents of treaty reluctantly voted for compromise settlement

Fur Traders’ Frontier

• Fur traders known as mtn men were earliest nonnative indivs to open Far West

• In 1820s, they held yearly rendezvous in Rockies w/ Amer Indians to trade for animal skins

• James Beckwourth, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, & Jebediah Smith were among hardy band of explorers & trappers who provided much of early info abt trails & frontier conditions to later settlers

Overland Trails

• After mtn men, much larger grp of pioneers made hazardous journey west I hopes of clearing forests & farming fertile valleys of CA & Oregon

• By 18600 -> hundreds of thousands had reached westward goal by following OR, CA, Santa Fe, & Mormon trails

• Long 7 treacherous trek usual began in St. Joseph or Independence, Missouri, or in Council Bluffs, Iowa, followed by Rvr valleys thru Great Plains

• Inching along at only 15 miles per day, wagon train needed months to reach foothills of Rockies or face hardships of southwestern deserts

• Final life-or-death challenge was to get thru mtn passes of Sierras & Cascades b4 first heavy snow

• While pioneers feared attacks by Amer Indians, most common & serious dangers were disease & depression from harsh everyday conditions on trail

Mining Frontier

• Discovery of gold in CA in 1848 set off first of many migrations to mineral-rich mtns of West in 1800s

• Gold/silver rushes occurred in CO, NV, & Black Hills of Dakotas, & other western territories

• Mining boom brought tens of thousands of men & some women into western mtns

• Mining camps & towns- many of them short lived- sprang up wherever a strike (discover) was reported

• Largely as result of gold rush, CA population oared from mere 14,000 in 1848 to 380,000 by 1860

• Booms attracted miners from around world

• By 1860s, almost 1/3 of miners in West were Chinese

Farming Frontier

• Most pioneer fams moved west to start homesteads & begin farming

• Cong's Preemption Acts of 1830s & 40s gave squatters right to settle public lands & purchase them for low prices once gov't put them up for sale

  • Gov't also made it easier for settlers by offering parcels of land as small as 40 acres for sale

• Hwvr, moving west was not for the poor

  • Since typical laborer made $1 per day, fam needed at least $200 to $300 to make overland trip

  • Trek to CA & Oregon was largely middle class movement

• Isolation of frontier made life for pioneers especially difficult during 1st yrs, but rural communities soon developed

• Institutions that ppl est (schools, churches, clubs, political parties) were modeled after this they knew in East or, for immigrant from abroad, their native lands

Urban Frontier

• Western cities arose as result of railroads, mineral wealth, & farming attraction a number of professionals & business owners

• Ex. San Francisco & Denver became instant cities created by gold & silver rushes

• Salt Lake City grew bc it offered fresh supplies to travelers on overland trails for balance of westward journey

Foreign Commerce

• Growth in manufactured goods as well as agricultural products (both Wester grains & Southern cotton) caused large growth of exports and imports

• Other factors also played role in expansion of US trade in mid-1800s:

1. Shipping firms encouraged trade & travel across Atlantic by est reg schedule for departures instead of 18th-cent policy of waiting to sail until ship = full

2. Demand for whale oil to light homes of middle-class Amers caused whaling boom btwn 1830 & 1860. New Eng merchants took lead in this industry

3. Improvements in ship design came in time to speed hold seekers on journey to CA gold field. Development of Amer clipper ship cut 6-month trip from NY round the Horn of Southern Amer to San Fran to as little as 89 Day

4. Steamships took place of clipper ships in mid 1850-s bc they had greater storage, could be maintained for lwr coast, & followed schedule more reliably

5. US expanded trade to Asia

How did the US expand trade with Asia?

• NE merchants conducted profitable trade w/ China for tea, silk, porcelain.

• Gov't sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry & small fleet of naval ships to Japan, which had been closed to most foreigners for over 2 cent.

• In 1854, Perry pressured Japan's gov't to sign Kanagawa Treaty, which allowed US vessels to enter two Japanese ports to take on coal

• this treaty soon led to trade agreement.

Context Before Mexican-American War

• Upon taking office in 1845 -> Polk dispatched John Slidell as special envoy to gov't in Mex City

• Polk wanted Slidell to

  1. Persuade Mex to sell California & New Mex territories to US

  2. Settle disputed Mex-Tex border

• Slidell's mission failed on both counts

• Mex gov't refused to sell Cali & insisted that TX's southern border was on Nueces Rvr

• Polk & Slidell asserted that border lay farther south along Rio Grande

Immediate Causes of the Mexican-American War

• While Slidell waiting for Mex's response to US offer, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to move his army toward Rio Grande across territory claimed by Mex

• Mex army crosses Rio Grande & capture Amer army patrol, killing 11

  • Considered this to be invasion of their territory

• Polk used incident to justify sending prepared war message to Cong

• Northern Whigs opposed going to war over incident & doubted Polk's claim that Amer blood had been shed on Amer soil

  • Whig protests were in vain

  • Large majority in both houses approved war resolution

Military Campaigns During Mexican-American War

• Most of war fought in Mex territory by small armies of Amers

• Leading a force that neve exceed 1.5k, Stephen Kearney succeeded in taking New Mex territory and southern CA

• Backed by only a several dozen soldiers, a few navy officers, & Amer civilians who had recently settled in Northern CA, John C. Fermont quickly overthrew Mex rule in region

  • Proclaims CA to be an independent republic

  • b/c new republic's flag included CA grizzly bear, it became known as the Bear Flag Republic

• Meanwhile, Zachary Taylor's force of 6k men drove Mex army from TX, crossed Rio Grande into northern Mex, & won major victory at Buena Vista

• Prez Polk selected General Winfield Scott to invade central Mex

  • Army of 14k under Scott's command succeeded in taking coastal city of Vera Cruz & captured Mex City

Consequences of the Mexican American War

• For Mex, war was military disaster from the start, but Mex gov't unwilling to sue for peace & concede loss of its northern lands

• Finally, after fall of Mex City, gov't had little choice but to agree to US terms

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

• Wilmot Proviso

• Prelude to Civil War?

Terms of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Mex recognized Rio Grande as Southern border of TX

• US took possession of former Mex provinces of CA & New Mex- the Mexican Cession

  • For these territories, US paid $15mill & assumed responsibility for any claims of Amer citizens against Mex