Studied by 0 peopleThomas Paine's "The Age of Reason"
1794-claimed that all churches were "set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit"
Deism
A popular Enlightenment era belief that there is a God, but that God isn't involved in people's lives or in revealing truths to prophets; believed by founding fathers like Franklin, Jefferson, and Paine; based on reason and a belief in a supreme being
Second Great Awakening
A second religious fervor that swept the nation due to the growing transportation (separation from churches/preachers travel) and overpopulating cities (community bonds breaking). It converted more than the first. It also had an effect on moral movements such as prison reform, the temperance movement, and moral reasoning against slavery.
camp meetings
a tool of the Second Great Awakening where people would gather to hear hellfire speeches (methodists and baptists-personal conversion, emotionalism)
Peter Cartwright
Best known of the Methodist "circuit riders" (traveling frontier preachers). Sinewy servant of the Lord ranged for half-century from Tennessee to Illinois, calling upon sinners to repent.
Charles Grandison Finney
An evangelist who was one of the greatest preachers of all time (spoke in New York City and Rochester-1830). He also made the "anxious bench" for sinners to depend in front of everyone; encouraged older women to pray in public; was against slavery and alcohol; president of Oberlin College
Burned-Over District
area of West New York State along the Erie Canal that was constantly aflame with revivalism and reform (hellfire preaching); as wave after wave to fervor broke over the region, groups such as the Mormons, Shakers, and Millerites found support among the residents.
William Miller and Millerites (Adventists)
This was a religious movement started by William Miller in the Burned-Over District in the 1830s. He said the Christ was coming to Earth on October 22, 1844, and in order to save one's soul, one would have to renounce all worldly things.
Joseph Smith and the Mormons
He reported to being visited by an angel and given golden plates in 1840; Church of Latter Day Saints and the Book of Mormon.
Brigham Young
Successor to the Mormons after the death of Joseph Smith; stern, with only 8 days of formal education; responsible for the survival of the sect and its establishment in Salt Lake City, Utah
Horace Mann
Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education; "Father of the public school system"; a prominent proponent of public school reform, & set the standard for public schools throughout the nation; lengthened academic year (better schoolhouses, more schoolhouses, larger curriculum); pro training & higher salaries to teachers
Noah Webster
Yale-educated Connecticut Yankee/American writer who wrote textbooks to help the advancement of education. "Schoolmaster of the republic." His "reading lessons" for kids promoted patriotism. He also wrote a dictionary (1828) which helped standardize the American language.
William H. McGuffey/McGuffey's Readers
the Ohio-born educator of the early 1800s whose 1830s readers sold 122 million copies in the following decades; taught patriotism, morality, and idealism
North Carolina University (1795)
first state-supported university
University of Virginia
One of the earliest state-supported universities, founded in 1819; founded by Thomas Jefferson, who designed its architecture and separated it from religion and politics; focused on modern languages and the sciences.
Emma Willard and the Troy (New York) Female Seminary
this woman established this for females in 1821; women in education
Mary Lyon and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary
this woman established this for females in 1837; women in education; South Hadley, Massachusetts
Lyceum lecture associations
traveling lecturers spoke to masses of adults, and by 1835, the number of associations reached to three thousand people. speakers spoke on topics of science, literature, and moral philosphy, and journeyed thousands of miles to speak on civilization to adults who supported the topic; Ralph Waldo Emerson was a member of these associations.
Godey's Lady's Book
popular magazine marketed specifically for women which contained art, poetry and articles; a place where women could get their works published and important topics could be discussed
Dorothea Dix
A reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, beginning in the 1820's, she was responsible for improving conditions in jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada. She succeeded in persuading many states to assume responsibility for the care of the mentally ill (petitioned to Massachusetts in 1843).
William Ladd and the American Peace Society
this man founded this organization in 1828; declared war on war; contributed to international security; protested against hurting Indians
American Temperance Society
Founded in Boston in 1826 as part of a growing effort of nineteenth-century reformers to limit alcohol consumption. Signed pledges, organized children clubs, "Cold Water Army"
T.S Arthur's Ten Nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There
melodramatic temperance novel of 1854; a once-happy village is ruined by Sam Spade's tavern; second in popularity on to Uncle Tom's Cabin
Neal S. Dow (1804-1897)
Nineteenth century temperance activist, dubbed the "Father of Prohibition" for his sponsorship of the Main Law of 1851, which prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the state.
Maine Law of 1851
Prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol. A dozen other states followed Maine's lead, though most statutes proved ineffective and were repealed within a decade.
Alexis de Tocqueville
French political writer noted for his analysis of American institutions; noted that in the case of punishments for rape, American women were better off than French women (1805-1859)
Cult of Domesticity/Republican Motherhood
This idea refers to the idealization of women in their roles as wives and mothers. The concept of "republican mother" suggested that women would be responsible for raising their children to be virtuous citizens of the new American republic.
Lucretia Mott
A Quaker who attended an anti-slavery convention in 1840 and her party of women was not recognized. She and Stanton called the first women's right convention in New York in 1848
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815-1902) Left the "obey" out of her marriage ceremony. A suffragette who, with Lucretia Mott, organized the first convention on women's rights, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Issued the Declaration of Sentiments which declared men and women to be equal and demanded the right to vote for women. Co-founded the National Women's Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony in 1869.
Suzan B. Anthony
A Quaker lecturer for women's rights. She believed that men and women were equal. Wrote vulgar epithets.
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell
first female graduate of a medical college; she and her colleagues formed an infirmary for women and children
Sarah and Angelina Grimke
Quaker sisters from South Carolina who came north and became active in the abolitionist movement; Angelina married Theodore Weld, a leading abolitionist and Sarah wrote and lectured on a variety of reforms including women's rights and abolition.
Lucy Stone
woman reformer who retained her maiden name after marriage, kept her name
Amelia Bloomer
Female reformer who promoted short skirts and trousers as a replacement for highly restrictive women's clothing
Convention at Seneca Falls
First women's rights convention, 1848. Organized by abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Stanton read a "Declaration of Sentiments" (all men and women created equal) - like the Declaration of Independence. One resolution demanded women suffrage.
Robert Owen; New Harmony
A Welsh socialist, Scottish textile manufacturer, and social reformer. He is considered the father of the cooperative movement. He experimented through the New Harmony community, a utopian communal settlement in Indiana lasting from 1825 to 1827. It had 1,000 settlers, but a lack of authority caused it to break up.
Brook Farm
A transcendentalist Utopian experiment, put into practice by transcendentalist former Unitarian minister George Ripley at a farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, at that time nine miles from Boston. The community, in operation from 1841 to 1847, was inspired by the socialist concepts of Charles Fourier. Fourierism was the belief that there could be a utopian society where people could share together to have a better lifestyle. Prospered until 1846 fire; collapsed in debt after.
Oneida Community
One of the more radical utopian communities established in New York in 1848, it advocated "free love," birth control, and eugenics (select parents to produce better offspring). Utopian communities reflected the reformist spirit of the age. Survived more than 30 years because of superior steel traps and sliver plate
Anne Lee and the Shakers
group was originally founded in England in 1747; was brought to America by this woman in 1774 in upstate New York; longest lasting sect; numbered 6000 in the USA in 1850; their prohibition on marriage and sexual relations caused them to die out by 1940
Nathaniel Bowditch and Matthew F. Maury
a) mathematician who wrote on practical navigation
b) oceanographer who wrote on ocean winds and currents
Professor Louis Agassiz
distinguished French-Swiss immigrant; served for 25 years at Harvard College; pathbreaking student of biology; sometimes carried snakes in his pockets; insisted on original research & deplored the overemphasis on memory work
Professor Benjamin Silliman
the most influential american scientist of the first half of the 19th century; a pioneer chemist & geologist who taught & wrote at Yale College for more than 50 years
Professor Asa Gray
professor of Harvard College; the "Columbus of American botany"; published over 350 books, monographs, & papers; his textbooks set new standards for clarity & interest
John J. Audubon
a European artist who came to America in the 1830s and traveled throughout the South and West painting pictures of birds. Illustrated "Birds of America" - the Audubon Society for the protection of birds was named after him
Charles Wilkes
first man to insist that Antarctica was actually a continent; led exhibition from 1838-1842 from Antartica to Fiji Islands to the Pacific Northwest's Puget Sound; scientists with him collected many specimines
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes
said that if all the medicines were thrown into the sea, the people would be better off and the fish worse
George Berkeley
British Philosopher: "westward the course of empire takes its way...time's noblest offspring is its last" (1752)
Federal style of architecture
Early national style of architecture that borrowed from neoclassical models and emphasized symmetry, balance, and restraint. Famous builders associated with this style include Charles Bulfinch and Benjamin Latrobe.
Charles Bulfinch and Benjamin Latrobe
architects that led the Greek Revival of the neoclassical Federal Style:
a) Designed Massachusetts State House (1798)
b) Additions to US capital and the president's house
Greek Revival
Inspired by the contemporary Greek independence movement, this building style, popular between 1820 and 1850, imitated ancient Greek structural forms in search of a democratic architectural vernacular; prevalent in burned-over district, old northwest; used gothic forms
Thomas Jefferson architect
one of the most gifted architects in early America. Designed his own home, Monticello (inspired by Venetian Andrea Palladio in the Palladian style), and some of the University of Virginia (neoclassical quadrangle)/Richmond (like the Roman temple Madison Carree)
Gilbert Stuart
A painter from Rhode Island who, upon returning to America from Britain in 1793, painted several portraits of Washington, creating a sort of idealized image of Washington (dollar bill). When Stuart was painting these portraits, the former president had grown old and lost some teeth. Stuart's paintings created an ideal image of him.
Charles Wilson Peale
The Maryland colonial painter (1741-1827) best known for his 60 portraits of George Washington; also ran a museum for stuffed birds and practiced dentistry.
John Trumbull
He was an American artist during the period of the American Revolutionary War famous for his historical paintings including his Declaration of Independence.
Hudson River School
American artistic movement/school (1820s and 1830s) that produced romantic renditions of local landscapes. Thomas Cole and Asher Durand.
Thomas Cole and Asher Durand
leading lights at Hudson River School
-Two American artists who started painting scenes of nature as the focus, rather than the background
a) British born; the canvas the "Oxbow" (1836) - threat of human encroachment on environments
b) New Jersey; the "Course of Empire" (1833-1836) - rise and full of human civilization
Louis Daguerre
improved on earlier technologies to produce successful photographs in 1839; competition for artists
Minstrel Shows
Variety shows performed by white actors in black-face. First popularized in the mid-nineteenth century. Reinforced racial hierarchy; Thomas "Daddy" Rice
Stephen C. Foster
Wrote famous Southern songs ("Camptown Races," Old Folks at Home," and "Oh! Susanna" - white Pennsylvanian who wrote the most famous black songs of the south; went to the south one time in 1852; contributed to American folk music by capturing the painful spirit of slaves; lost his art and popularity and died in a charity ward as a drunkard
Washington Irving (1783-1859)
was the best-known writer of his time in the United States. He was also one of the first American writers to gain recognition in Europe. His stories illustrated the growing American nationalism since the stories were set in America. One if his best known works was The Sketch Book (1819-1820), which included the stories of "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
He was the first American to be recognized in England (and elsewhere) as a writer.
James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)
American novelist most famous for the Leatherstocking Tales, a series of works about Natty Bumppo, the white foundling raised by Indians and trained as a formidable warrior (incl. Last of the Mohicans - 1826). Sold well to Europeans. The novels were praised in Cooper's time for their depiction of a simpler, Edenic American frontier
William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)
"Thanatopsis" (1817); An American romantic poet, helped introduce European romanticism into American poetry. "Graveyard Poet" looks at romantics themes of mortality, death, ordinary people, imagination, etc... - New York Evening Post
Transendentalism
Nineteenth-century movement in which writers and philosophers believed in the innate goodness of man, and that insight was more important than logic when searching for truths; truth not by empiricism alone; forged self-reliance, hostility to authority, and reform
"The American Scholar" (1837)
Ralph Waldo Emerson's address at Harvard College, in which he declared an intellectual independence from Europe, urging American scholars to develop their own traditions. Emerson stressed self-reliance, self-improvement, criticized Jacksonianism, criticized slavery
Henry David Thoreau
American (Massachusetts) transcendentalist and poet who was against a government that supported slavery. He wrote down his beliefs in "Walden: Or life in the Woods" (1854) - romantic quest for isolation He started the movement of civil-disobedience ("On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" - 1849) when he refused to pay the poll-tax.
Margaret Fuller
Social reformer, leader in women's movement and a transcendentalist. Edited "The Dial" which was the publication of the transcendentalists. It appealed to people who wanted "perfect freedom" "progress in philosophy and theology and hope that the future will not always be as the past". Also known for "Women in the 19th Century" (feminism); "Conversations" or elite women, and editing the NY tribune
Walt Whitman
American poet and transcendentalist who was famous for his beliefs on nature, as demonstrated in his book, "Leaves of Grass." Its "Song of Myself" was first person, emotional, and unconventional. Gained him the title "Poet Laureate of the Democracy."He was therefore an important part for the buildup of American literature and breaking the traditional rhyme method in writing poetry.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
American poet that was influenced somewhat by the transcendentalism occurring at the time. Inspired by both European themes and American traditions. He wrote "Evangeline," "The Song of Hiawatha," and the "Courtship of Miles Standish." He was important in building the status of American literature.
John Greenleaf Whittier
Quaker poet; poet laureate of the antislavery crusade; important in influencing social action; cried out against inhumanity, injustice, and intolerance; was undeterred by insults and stoning; aroused America over slavery; poet of human freedom
James Russell Lowell
Lowell lived from 1819 to 1891. He was an American poet, essayist, diplomat, editor, and literary critic. He is remembered for his political satire, especially in the Biglow Papers ( which condemned president Polk's policy for expanding slavery in the Mexican War). He succeeded professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as teacher of modern languages at Harvard.
Louisa May Alcott
Massachusetts, transcendentalism; American writer and reformer best known for her largely autobiographical novel Little Women (1868-1869).
Emily Dickinson
Reclusive New England poet who wrote about love, death, and immortality; recluse; only a dozen poems published while alive, thousands after death
William Gilmore Simms
known as the "Cooper of the South," this 19th century American writer wrote 82 books. His books were about the South during its early frontier and Revolutionary War days; "Yemasee" and "The Cassique of Kiawah" - reputation fell after civil war
Edgar Allan Poe
American writer known especially for his macabre poems, such as "The Raven" (1845), and short stories, including "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839). Opposed the traditional American optimism in literature at the time. Praised by Europeans.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Originally a transcendentalist; later rejected them and became a leading anti-transcendentalist. He was a descendant of Puritan settlers. The Scarlet Letter shows the hypocrisy and insensitivity of New England puritans by showing their cruelty to a woman who has committed adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet "A".
Herman Melville
American writer whose experiences at sea provided the factual basis of Moby-Dick (1851) and his exotic accounts of the South Seas (cannibals); considered among the greatest American novelists; much of work largely unrecognized until 20th century
George Bancroft
"Father of American History" who helped found the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1845 as secretary of the navy; published a superpatriotic history of the US to 1789 that grew out of vast research in Europe and America
William H. Prescott
He was an historian who lived from 1796-1859. He published classic accounts of the conquest of Mexico (1843) and Peru (1847). Lost sight in one eye during college
Francis Parkman
Historian with defective eyes that forced him to write in darkness with the aid of a guiding machine; chronicled the struggle between France and England in colonial times for mastery of North America (1851)
John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis
two gifted politicians who were both from the South. Educated at Yale and West Point, respectively. Most successful politicians from Virginia and were part of the cottonocracy
Sir Walter Scott
British novelist whose romantic vision of a feudal society made him highly popular in the South; South tried to hold on to feudal society with medieval-style jousting tournaments
Poor White Trash
also known as "crackers" and "hillbillies" who occupied the barren lands and lived in miserable cabins in genuine destitution, many did not own land and supported themselves by hunting and foraging, some worked as common laborers but often found they could not support themselves and resorted to eating clay and suffered from pellagra, hookworm and malaria
Mountain Whites
independent small farmers in the Appalacian Mountain Range, hated plantation owners and blacks, and viewed the impending Civil War as a "rich man's war, but a poor man's fight" - supported the Union
William T. Johnson
(1809-1851) Free New Orleans black, known as the "barber of Natchez," who eventually owned fifteen slaves (2 and a mule in 1848)
Frederick Douglass
United States abolitionist who escaped from slavery (1838) and became an influential writer and lecturer in the North; was beaten by Northerners frequently (1817-1895)
West Africa Squadron
British Royal Navy force formed to enforce the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. It intercepted hundreds of slave ships and freed thousands of Africans.
N.P. Gordon
only slave trader to ever be executed (1862 in NY) for smuggling slaves after importation became illegal
Harriet Beecher Stowe & Uncle Tom's Cabin
In 1852, she wrote this influential book about the conflict between a slave named Tom, and a brutal white slave owner, Simon Legree. It caused a generation of Northerners and many Europeans to regard all slave owners as cruel and inhuman. Southerners believed it to be proof of Northern prejudice against the Southern way of life. (p. 250)
Black Belt
The cotton-growing region that was developed in the early 1800s, stretching from Georgia through Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, named for its rich black soil. Most of the slaves were concentrated here by 1860.
Breakers
Slave drivers who employed the lash to brutally "break" the souls of strong-willed slaves.
William Craft and Ellen Craft
city slave who earned money on the side with carpenter work; used money to help wife escape; disguised his wife as a white plantation owner and pretender to be her slave
Responsorial
African religious practice in which the congregation punctuated a minister's remark with "amens", an adaptation of give-and-take calls in an African ringshout dance
Henry Brown
escaped slave nicknamed "Box" because he packed himself in a crate and mailed himself to freedom (1849 to Philadelphia abolitionists)
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