4.7 Development of American Culture and Social Movements

Cultural Nationalism

American culture began to expand in the 1900s, further shedding British culture. 

Transcendentalism

a group of thinkers and writers who sprung up in the early 1800s. They believed that the focus during the Enlightenment on logic and reason was misguided; they instead focused on feelings, intuition, acting heroically, and studying nature 

Ralph Waldo Emerson. Henry David Thorough, Brook Farm

Communal Experiments/Utopian societies

New societies founded by religious and/or reform-minded people who were influenced by European intellectuals and ideals of American democracy and equality

What was the Second Great Awakening?

Democratizing revival of religious enthusiasm, affording regional Protestant identities.

Charles Grandison Finney, Mormonism, Southern Baptists

List and describe the social reform movements during this time period.

Temperance - against consumption of alcohol

Abolitionism - end institution of slavery

Women’s Rights - education equality, marriage rights, and suffrage

Garrison’s Liberator, American Anti-Slavery Society

Seneca Falls, Declaration of Sentiments

Asylum movementDorothea Dix

Public educationHorace Mann