APUSH Unit 8: Antebellum Reforms/Early Reform Movements

What was the Second Great Awakening?

The second great awakening was a revitalization of religion in America that sought to stop the spread of religious rationalism during the 1790s. Leaders of many different denominations including Methodism and Presbyterianism, expressed their efforts to try and combat religious rationalism.

How were African Americans affected by the Great Awakening?

The Second Great Awakening also impacted the African American community, as they began participating in the revival. The increase of Black preachers and their influence on their communities was a result of the Second Great Awakening. 

How were Indigenous Groups affected by the Great Awakening?

Indigenous Groups had their relativism of traditional Native American ways that was heavily influenced by a Seneca man called Handsome Lake who gave up alcohol and urged other Native American men to stop living like the white population (giving up gambling and drinking). 

Why were indigenous groups not able to go back to their traditional way of life?

Despite efforts of trying to let go of white customs and revert back to traditional native american ways, this was not easily achievable due to the lack of land that had been taken by the white population. This did not allow native american men the ability to hunt. 

What marked growing class distinctions?

The Victorian Era marked a turning point in the homes of the middle classes and in growing class distinctions between workers, artisans, and the middle class. Middle-class homes were increasingly better furnished and larger than before. Privacy also began to increase within families due to the rising popularity of separate rooms such as dining rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms for each family member. 

What was the Cult of Domesticity?

The Cult of Domesticity was an ideology that claimed that women are not equal to men and were below men. It was believed that women should only exist in the private world of the home. 

What was the significance of the Cult of Domesticity?

Women were denied equal, political, and legal rights that only men had due to the Cult of Domesticity and the belief that women were below men. This ideology affected women in the public and private world, as they were denied many rights in their own homes. For example, they were not able to divorce their husbands, had to endure rape and domestic violence from their husbands, and almost always lost the custody battle of their kids if they were divorced. 

Who were the working class women?

Domestic service was the main source of employment for working women. Lower-class women tended to be the majority among the working-class of women because they needed to generate income to support their families. They found work in factories and mills which had terrible working conditions, and primarily in middle-class homes. 

What was the Hudson River School?

The Hudson River School was a group of landscape painters from New York that included Frederic Church, Thomas Cole, Thomas Doughty, and Asher Durand. They believed that there is beauty in the wildness of nature and expressed this through their landscape paintings where they captured the ruggedness and beauty of American nature. Their paintings was a form of nationalism.

Who was James Fenimore Cooper?

James Fenimore Cooper was an American novelist who wrote works of adventure and suspense. Some of his famous novels can be found in “Leatherstocking Tales”. He took inspiration from the American Wilderness due to his childhood as he grew up in Central New York. He would explore the lives of American frontiersmen. James Fenimore Cooper played an important role in American literature and wrote about many social problems including the fear of disorder and suggesting the need for social discipline. 

What was Southern Romanticism?

Southern Romanticism was a literary movement of historical romances and romantic eulogies of the plantation system written by popular Southern Authors such as William Caruthers, Beverly Tucker, and John P. Kennedy. 

Who were the Transcendentalists?

The Transcendentalists were a group of writers and philosophers from New England who were influenced by German philosophers and English writers. They believed that reason and understanding had nothing to do with rationalism. 

What did the Transcendentalists support/believe?

Transcendentalists supported and spread individualism by questioning social norms. They were influential in American literature and spread their views on things such as the government and the idea of rationalism. 

What was the Brook Farm community?

Brook Farm was a communal living experiment that was created by George Ripley when he established the community in West Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1841. Residents would work to bridge the gap between intellect/learning and instinct/nature, as well as enjoy leisurely time because Ripley believed that leisure is a key component of the cultivation of self.  It was created by Transcendentalists.

What was the New Harmony community?

Robert Owen was a Scottish philanthropist and industrialist who founded the experimental community of New Harmony in Indiana in 1825. His society failed economically. 

What was the Oneida community?

The Oneida Community was a utopian colony established in Upstate NY in 1848 by Jon Humphrey Noyes. The people of the Oneida community rejected the traditions of marriage and family and believed that it helped liberate women from male lust. Everyone was “married” to each other in the community and the children were raised communally.

Who were the Shakers?

: The Shakers were founded by Ann Lee in the 1770s. They believed in complete celibacy and women had more power in their societies. They continued to grow throughout the Northeast and the Northwest during the 1840s. Women and men had little contact within the Shaker communities. 

What was Temperance?

Temperance is the abstinence from drinking alcohol. Alcoholism was a big problem in Antebellum America, and America in general due to the increasing supply of alcohol in the West (alcohol supply was also increasing in the East). An example of this was seen in the alcohol consumed by the average man in the 1830s, which is nearly three times more than today. 

Who promoted the Temperance Movement?

 The Temperance movement was promoted by the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance, where they achieved this by utilizing revivalism techniques to preach abstinence. 

Who was Horace Mann?

Horace Mann was an educational reformer and Massachusetts Representative. He spoke about schools' role in creating social order and extending democracy and individual opportunity.  

What did Horace Mann achieve?

Horace Mann helped America’s educational system develop by speaking out against it and pushing for schools to become a place that teaches children the integral part of what is needed for the country (democracy and social order). 

Who was Dorothea Dix?

Dorothea Dix was an American nurse and reformer who advocated for a national movement of treating the mentally ill. This was because the mentally ill and criminals were put together under terrible living conditions before the asylum movement. 

What did Dorothea Dix achieve?

With her advocacy, Dorothea Dix was able to fight for the creation of hospitals that would treat the mentally ill and played a crucial role in the medical field of mental illnesses. 

What were the Indian Reservations?

The reform for Indian reservations occurred in the 1840s and 1850s when after only relocating native american tribes people began to have the intent of moving native Americans to places where they were safe from the white population (and for possible assimilation). There were many different intents for Indian reservations, the main ones being potential assimilation to society, more land for the white population, and a place where native Americans would be isolated. 

What was the Seneca Falls Convention?

The Seneca Falls Convention was organized by Susan B. Anthony, Mott, and Stanton to discuss women's rights. The convention portrayed American feminism and created a document that marked the fight for equal rights in the nineteenth century. 

What was the Declaration of Sentiments?

The declaration of sentiments was created at the Seneca Falls Convention and stated that men and women are equal, which meant that women deserved to have the same rights as men. 

What was the effect of the Declaration of Sentiments?

The Declaration of Sentiments increased the fight for women's rights and advocated for them. It was an inspiring document for many American women.