OS Ch 13: Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820-1860

The Second Great Awakening

A religious revival movement that began around 1800 in the West, spreading to the masses through camp meetings and influencing more people than the First Great Awakening, particularly impacting women.

Unitarianism

A rational and optimistic offshoot of deism emphasizing human nature as essentially good, free agency, and salvation through good works, serving as a foundation for reform movements in the 1830s-1850s.

Split in Methodist/Baptist Churches (1844-1845)

Division of Southern Methodist and Baptist churches from their Northern counterparts due to disagreements over slavery.

Split in Presbyterian Churches (1857)

Separation of Northern and Southern Presbyterian churches in 1857 over the issue of slavery, foreshadowing the South's secession.

Charles Grandison Finney

Prominent preacher of the Second Great Awakening, known for bringing numerous converts to the church and advocating for social reform movements like abolition and temperance.

Burned-Over District

Area in western New York known for intense revival activity during the Second Great Awakening, attracting descendants of Puritans with hellfire sermons.

American Transcendentalism

Nineteenth-century literary, political, and philosophical movement emphasizing individualism, self-reliance, and moral values, led by figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Renowned transcendentalist known for advocating individualism and reflecting the ideals of the individualistic republic in his lectures.

Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalist and non-conformist famous for his essay on civil disobedience, influencing figures like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Margaret Fuller

Influential writer and feminist advocating for women's rights and education, known for her work "Woman in the Nineteenth Century."

Walt Whitman

Celebrated poet whose work "Leaves of Grass" embodied a democratic vision and broke from traditional poetic forms.

Edgar Allan Poe

Gifted stylist known for his dark vision in contrast to the optimism of his contemporaries, more popular in Europe than America.

Herman Melville

Author of "Moby Dick," whose complex allegory of good and evil was not appreciated until later.

Utopian Communities

Experimental communities like New Harmony, Brook Farm, and Oneida, aiming for social reform through cooperative living but facing challenges like economic issues and ideological differences.

Shakers

Successful utopian community known for their devotion to simplicity, constant revelation, and egalitarianism, founded by Ann Lee and emphasizing spiritual and physical equality.

Joseph Smith & Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Founder of the Mormon Church in 1830, leading to the migration of Mormons to Utah under Brigham Young.

Brigham Young & Mormon Migration (1846-1847)

Successor to Joseph Smith, leading Mormons to Utah to escape persecution.

Brook Farm

Utopian experiment led by George Ripley, aiming to combine work and intellectual pursuits, attracting members like Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Author exploring morality and the struggle between good and evil in works like "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of the Seven Gables."

Temperance

Movement advocating for moderation or abstinence from alcohol due to its perceived negative societal impacts.

Neal S. Dow

Sponsor of the Maine Law of 1851, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol.

The American Colonization Society (1822)

Formed to send freed slaves back to Africa, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Liberia.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831)

Slave rebellion led by Nat Turner in Virginia, resulting in increased restrictions on slaves and support for fugitive slave laws.

David Walker, An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829)

Free black activist who published an anti-slavery pamphlet advocating for rebellion against slavery.

William Lloyd Garrison & The Liberator (1831)

Abolitionist known for his inflammatory language in "The Liberator," urging for the immediate end of slavery.

American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS)

Activist branch of the Abolition Movement founded by Garrison, rejecting colonization and violence to end slavery, with Phillips as a prominent orator.

Theodore Dwight Weld

Anti-slavery preacher inspired by the Second Great Awakening, spreading the abolitionist message across the North.

American Slavery As It Is

A pamphlet written by Theodore Weld which inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Sojourner Truth

Prominent abolitionist and advocate for women’s rights.

Gag Resolution in House of Representatives (1836)

Resolution requiring antislavery appeals to be tabled without debate.

Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy

Abolitionist editor killed defending his printing press.

Frederick Douglass

Self-educated slave turned abolitionist speaker and advocate for women’s rights.

Grimké Sisters

Southern-born abolitionists advocating for women’s rights and abolitionism.

Suffragists

Advocates for women’s suffrage including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott.

Seneca Falls, NY, Women’s Rights Convention (1848)

Convention advocating for women’s rights and suffrage.

Horace Mann

Educational reformer advocating for improved schools and expanded curriculum.

Noah Webster

Author of famous dictionary standardizing American language.

McGuffey Readers

Popular textbooks emphasizing morality, patriotism, and idealism.

Emma Willard & Troy Female Seminary

Early supporter of women’s education and founder of a girls’ school.

Oberlin College, Ohio

First college to admit women along with blacks.

Mary Lyon & Mount Holyoke Seminary

Founder of women’s school providing college opportunities.

The Lyceum Movement

Educational lectures promoting learning and institutions of higher learning.

Dorothea Dix

Reformer advocating for humane treatment of the mentally ill and abolition of debt imprisonment.

National Identity Expressed in Art and Architecture

Celebration of American wilderness and Neoclassical architecture.

John James Audubon

Naturalist known for The Birds of America, inspiring the environmental movement.

Stephen Foster

White composer of popular African-American minstrel music.

Washington Irving

First American author to gain international recognition.

James Fenimore Cooper

First American novelist known for wilderness-themed books.

Absalom Jones and Richard Allen

Free blacks who objected to segregation and founded new churches.

Denmark Vesey

Former slave who planned a failed slave rebellion in Charleston in 1822.