History 15,16,17

Chapter 15

The Ferment of Reform and Culture

1790-1860

Reviving Religion

Thomas Paine promoted the doctrines of Deism.  Deists relied on science rather than the Bible and they denied the divinity of Christ.  They did believe in a Supreme Being who had created a universe and endowed human beings with a capacity for moral behavior.

Unitarianism was derived from Deism.  Unitarians believed that God existed in only one person, and not the Trinity.  It appealed to mostly intellectuals.

The Second Great Awakening began in 1800. A wave of religious fervor swept over the country. Women became more involved in religion during the Second Great Awakening.

Peter Cartwright: a revivalist, traveling preacher who converted thousands to Christianity.

Charles Grandison Finney: one of the greatest revivalist preachers.

Denominational Diversity

The Second Great Awakening widened the gap between the societal classes and regions.  The more prosperous and conservative denominations in the East were little touched by revivalism. Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Unitarians derived its members from the wealthier parts of society, while Methodists and Baptists came from less prosperous communities in the South and West.

The issue of slavery split the churches apart.

A Desert Zion in Utah

Joseph Smith: formed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) in 1830 when he deciphered the Book of Mormon from some golden plates given to him by an angel; led the Mormons to Illinois.

After Joseph Smith was killed 1844, Brigham Young led the Mormons to Utah to avoid persecution.

Free Schools for a Free People

Tax-supported public education came about between 1825-1850.Americans eventually saw they had to educate their children because the children were the future.  The teachers of the schools were mostly men and did not know how to teach.  There were not very many schools in the U.S. because of their high costs to communities.

Horace Mann: campaigned effectively for a better school system.

Higher Goals for Higher Learning

The first state-supported universities showed up in the South in 1795.

The University of Virginia was founded by Thomas Jefferson.

Women's schools at the secondary level came in the 1820s because of Emma Willard. At the time, it was still widely believed that a women's place is in the home.

An Age of Reform

States gradually abolished debtors' prisons due to public demand.  Criminal codes in the states were being softened.  The number of capital offenses was being reduced.  Society began to think that prisons should reform as well as punish.

Dorothy Dix: traveled the country, visiting different asylums; released a report on insanity and asylums; her protests resulted in improved conditions for the mentally ill.

In 1828, the American Peace Society was formed.  It was led by William Ladd. 

Demon Rum - The "Old Deluder"

In the early 1800s, many people developed drinking problems due to social norms and hard/monotonous life. This included women, clergymen, and members of Congress.  The American Temperance Society was formed in 1826.  Its members persuaded people to stop drinking. 

Drinking decreased worker efficiency and threatened the family structure.

Neal S. Dow: thought that alcohol should be outlawed; "Father of Prohibition"; supported the Maine Law of 1851 which banned the manufacture and sale of liquor in Maine.  (The country banned the sale of alcohol with the 18^th amendment in 1918.)

Women in Revolt

In the early 19^th century, the role of women was to stay at home and be subordinate to her husband.  Women could not vote and when married, she could not retain her property.  Because of these things, women actually started to avoid marriage.

Gender differences were emphasized in the 19^th century because the market economy was separating women and men into distinct economic roles (women were viewed as artistic and the keepers of society's conscience, while men were viewed as strong but crude).

Feminists met at Seneca Falls, New York in a Woman's Rights Convention in 1848 to rewrite the Declaration of Independence to include women.

Wilderness Utopians

Several utopian communities were created in the early 1800s, but all of them ultimately failed.

Robert Owen: foundeda communal society in New Harmony, Indiana in 1825 to seek human betterment.

The Dawn of Scientific Achievement

Americans were more interested in practical gadgets than in pure science.  Americans invented practical gadgets, but they borrowed and adapted scientific findings from the Europeans.

Medicine in America was still primitive by modern standards.  In the early 1840s, several American doctors and dentists successfully used laughing gas and ether as anaesthetics.

Artistic Achievements

Early American architects used a Federal Style that emphasized symmetry, balance, and restraint (columns, domes, pediments).

Between 1820 and 1850, a Greek revival in architecture came to America.  Most of the ideas of art and painting were taken from Europe.

"Dixie" was the battle hymn of the Confederates and was written in 1859.

The Blossoming of a National Literature

Before the mid-1800s, most literature in America was imported from Britain.

Following the War of 1812, American literature received a boost from the wave of nationalism and the arrival of romanticism to America.

Washington Irving: the first American to win international recognition as a literary figure.

James Fenimore Cooper: the first American novelist to gain world fame.

Trumpeters of Transcendentalism

The transcendentalist movement came about in the 1830s. The transcendentalists believed that knowledge transcends the senses and can't be found just by observation; knowledge comes from within the person.  Associated traits included self-reliance, self-culture, and self-discipline.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: transcendentalist poet and philosopher; urged American writers to forget European traditions and write about American interests; wrote "The American Scholar," which was an intellectual declaration of independence.

Henry David Thoreau: transcendentalist who believed that people should ignore bodily desires and pursue truth through study and meditation.

Glowing Literary Lights

Not all poets and writers of the time were transcendentalists.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: one of the most famous poets to come from America; wrote for the wealthy class; was adopted by the less-cultured class.

Literary Individuals and Dissenters

Edgar Allan Poe: wrote with a pessimistic tone, unlike the literature at the time.

Herman Melville: wrote the novel Moby Dick. 

Portrayers of the Past

In the mid-1800s, American historians began to emerge.

Chapter 16

The South and the Slavery Controversy - show #1, and note the road to the Civil War, image #2 Slaves returning from the cotton field and the looming issue of slavery, and #3 1st Virginia regiment viewing the execution of John Brown.

1793-1860

In the late 1700s, slavery was starting to die out, but the invention of the cotton gin prompted plantation owners to keep their slaves to support the larger cotton harvests.

"Cotton is King!" - show image #4 of the Cotton bureau in New Orleans

Cotton accounted for half the value of all American exports after 1840. In the 1850s, Britain's most important manufactured item was cotton cloth. Britain imported 75% of its raw cotton from the South. Because of this, the South had a significant influence in Britain.

The Planter "Aristocracy"

The South was more of an oligarchy, a government ran by a few.  The government was heavily affected by the planter aristocracy. Southern aristocracy widened the gap between the rich and poor because the aristocrats made governmental decisions in their favor. One major decision was cutting public education, which impacted most southerners.

The Southern plantation wife commanded the female slaves. Depending on the mistress some were sympathetic and might teach reading and writing, and some were atrocious as they beat and tortured their slaves. Show image #5 harvesting cotton.

Slaves of the Slave System

The economic structure in the South became increasingly monopolistic.  The Southern economy was very dependent on cotton, which made the economy unstable. Many plantation owners over-speculated in land and slaves, causing them fall into debt. There was a mentality that southerners felt that northerners grew fat off their expense. There was also very little immigration when compared with the north.

The White Majority - show chart #6 of slave owning families

The white population of the South was as follows (from smallest to largest): a) Wealthy slave owners. b) Less wealthy slave owners. These people didn't own a majority of the slaves, but they made up a majority of the masters. c) Non-slave-holding whites (3/4 of South white population). These whites supported slavery because they wanted to eventually own slaves and achieve the "American dream" of moving up in society, show map #7 Southern cotton production, show map #8 and distribution of slaves. The less prosperous non-slave-holding whites were known as "poor white trash" and "hillbillies." Civilization hadn't reached mountain whites who lived in the valley of the Appalachian range. They supported Abraham Lincoln's Union party.

Free Blacks:  Slaves Without Masters -

Many free blacks settled in New Orleans. There were about 250,000 free blacks living in the South, and mostly in New Orleans.  

Free blacks were generally not liked in the North and South. In the South, free blacks were prohibited from having certain jobs and forbidden from testifying against whites in court.  They were known as the "3^rd Race." 

Perceptions - White southerners liked the black as an individual, but they hated the race.  The white northerner professed to like the race, but disliked the individual.

Plantation Slavery - By 1850 there were 4 million black slaves in the American South. A Market in People - show image #9, and focus on image #10, African captive, how Africans were treated as commodities, even towards free slaves, and image #11 of Solomon Northup, a free man, who was kidnapped by slave traders, shipped to New Orleans, and sold at auction. He spent twelve years enslaved on a Louisiana plantation.

Regaining his freedom at last, he wrote a sensational account of his experience, “Twelve Years a Slave” Because the price of "black ivory" (slaves) was so high, slaves were smuggled into the South even though legal importation of African slaves into American ended in 1808. Most slaves were the offspring of slaves already in America. Note the role of the slave auction, show image #12, and focus on image #13 poster of an auction, and #14 of the cruelty and scrutiny of the auction.

Planters regarded slaves as major investments - worth $2 billion in capital by 1860.

Life Under the Lash - show image #15 of the cruelty of slavery - conditions varied, however, lashings, using collars, and beatings were common.

"Black Belt": region of the South where most slaves were concentrated; stretched from South Carolina and Georgia into Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Blacks managed to sustain family life in slavery, however, many were separated at auction.

Blacks formed their own religions from a mixture of Christian and African elements.

Responsorial: style of preaching in which the congregation responds to the preacher with remarks of "amen." This is called a call and response.

The Burdens of Bondage - show image #16 slave nurse and young white master

Slaves were not permitted to read because reading brought ideas and ideas brought discontent.

Slavery in the South was known as the "peculiar institution." Note various forms of slave protest such as work slowdowns, and sabotage.

Nat Turner's Rebellion: southern rebellion against slavery led by Nat Turner; the rebellion was defeated.

Enslaved Africans aboard the slave ship Amistad rebelled and took control of the ship in 1839. The ship landed in Long Island, but the Africans were eventually returned to Sierra Leone.

Slavery affects southern whites, show image #17, - Raised a sense of brutality, siege mentality, constant guard against blacks and abolitionists, and this fear bolstered a sense of racial superiority.  

Early Abolitionism

American Colonization Society: founded in 1817; focused on transporting blacks back to Africa.

Republic of Liberia: founded in 1822 as a place for former slaves.

By 1860, all southern slaves were born in America, and many did not have a desire to return to Africa.

The Second Great Awakening inspired many abolitionists to speak out against the sins of slavery. William Wilberforce - member of English Parliament who pushed to end slavery in the West Indies.

Theodore Dwight Weld: abolitionist who spoke against slavery; wrote the pamphlet American Slavery As It Is (1839) which made arguments against slavery; went to Lane Theological Seminary. This was very effective and would influence the author of another important book of the era.

Radical Abolitionism - show map #18 of Early Emancipation in the North, note image #19 tags identifying free blacks and slaves in Charleston, and #20 and the appeal.

William Lloyd Garrison: wrote a militantly anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator; publicly burned a copy of the Constitution.

Black Abolitionists - American Anti-Slavery Society: founded in 1833 to oppose slavery. Note the work of David Walker and his appeal. Two of the most notable African American abolitionists were, show image #22, Truth and Douglass.

Sojourner Truth:, show image #23, freed black woman who fought for black emancipation and women's rights.

Frederick Douglass:,show image #24, black abolitionist who lectured for abolitionism; looked to politics to end slavery; published his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Garrison and Douglass were close friends, however, they disagreed on the methods of ending slavery. Garrison wanted immediate and violent action, whereas Douglass supported a steady move using non-violence and the law.

The South Lashes Back

There was a small sentiment of anti-slavery that existed in the South. However, from 1831-1832, Virginia defeated numerous emancipation bills. Other states followed suit, prohibiting all forms of emancipation. This series of emancipation setbacks was known as the nullification crisis of 1832. It silenced the voice of white southern abolitionism.

The Southerners argued that slavery was supported by the Bible, and that slavery was good for the Africans because it introduced them to Christianity.

The Gag Resolution required all anti-slavery appeals to be tabled without debate in the House of Representatives.

In 1835, the government ordered the southern postmasters to destroy abolitionist material due to anti-abolitionist mobbing and rioting at a postal office in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Abolitionist Impact in the North

Abolitionists were, for a long time, unpopular in many parts of the North.  The southern planters owed much money to the northern bankers. If the Union collapsed, these debts would not be repaid. Additionally, New England textile mills were supplied with cotton raised by the slaves. If slavery was abolished, then the cotton supply would be cut off, resulting in unemployment.

"Free soilers" opposed extending slavery to the western territories.

Slavery and the world - show image #25 of the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London, 1840, and #26 chart of comparative abolition of slavery.

In Defense of Slavery - show images #27, and focus on #28 and #29, This pair of illustrations contrasts the supposedly benevolent slave regime of the South with the harshness of working life in England, where starvation wages and unemployment blighted workers’ lives. Apologists for slavery frequently invoked this comparison between allegedly paternalistic slavemasters and the uncaring capitalists who captained the Industrial revolution.

Chapter 17

Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

1841-1848

The Accession of "Tyler Too"

At the beginning of Henry Harrison's presidency, Daniel Webster (secretary of state) and Henry Clay (leader of Whigs in the Senate) expected to control the Presidency because Harrison was not a very commanding figure. Only 4 weeks into Harrison's presidency, though, Harrison died.  This disrupted the plans of Webster and Clay.

John Tyler: Vice President to Henry Harrison; successor as President following Harrison's death; "Tyler too"; a Democrat at heart and contradicted many of the Whig Party's ideas.

John Tyler:  A President without a Party

The Whigs introduced many policy changes when the party won the presidency with Harrison (and then Tyler). The first change was financial reform.  The independent treasury system was ended.  A bill for a "Fiscal Bank," which would establish a new Bank of the United States went through Congress, but President Tyler vetoed it.  The Whigs presented a "Fiscal Corporation," but Tyler again vetoed it.

President Tyler was rejected by his former Whig Party.

Tyler reluctantly signed the Tariff of 1842 because he recognized the government's need for revenue.

A War of Words with Britain

The 19^th Century was marked by periods of public disdain for Britain.  This sparked the "Third War with England."  This war was only fought with editorials in papers.

In 1837, there was a small rebellion in Canada.  Although it was supported by many Americans, the rebellion failed because it was backed by few Canadians.

In 1837, the American ship, the Caroline, was carrying military supplies to the rebelling Canadians when it was sunk by a British ship.  Washington officials made ineffective protests against the attack. 

In 1841, British officials in the Bahamas offered asylum to 130 Virginia slaves who had rebelled and captured the American ship Creole.

Manipulating the Maine Maps

In 1842, the British wanted to build a road linking the seaport of Halifax to Quebec. The proposed road ran through disputed territory in northern Maine, though. Skirmishes between locals broke out and these skirmishes were referred to as the Aroostook War.

To prevent a wider-reaching war, the London Foreign Office sent Lord Ashburton to Washington to settle the dispute.  He and Daniel Webster negotiated and agreed to a new boundary for Maine that put the disputed road in Canadian territory.

The Lone Star of Texas Shines Alone

In the 8 years following 1836, Mexico considered Texas one of their provinces that was in revolt. Mexico refused to recognize Texas's independence. Mexico threatened war if America protected Texas.

Texas made treaties with France, Holland, and Belgium.  Britain was interested in seeing an independent Texas because they hoped it could be used to fragment and weaken America. The British were also interested in having Texas as a trading partner who was more friendly than the Americans.

The Belated Texas Nuptials

Texas was a leading issue in the presidential campaign of 1844.  The Democrats were pro-expansion and supported the annexation of Texas, while the Whigs were against it.

The Democrats (James Polk) won the election of 1844, and lame duck (outgoing) President Tyler took that as a sign to acquire Texas before he left the presidency. He signed a resolution in 1845 that invited Texas to become the 28^th state in America.

Oregon Fever Populates Oregon

Four nations claimed parts of the Oregon Country at one time: Spain, Russia, Britain, and the United States.  Spain gave up its American territory with the Florida Treaty of 1819, and Russia gave up its land with the treaties of 1824 and 1825.

Britain controlled the Oregon territory north of the Columbia River, while American controlled the southern territory. Britain had a smaller population in the Oregon territory, but it did not want to give up its claims.  The disputed territory in the Oregon Country became an issue in the election of 1844.

A Mandate (?) for Manifest Destiny

For the election of 1844, the Whigs chose Henry Clay, and the Democrats chose James K. Polk. Polk was the Speaker of the House of Representatives for four years and governor of Tennessee for two terms. He beat Henry Clay to win the election of 1844. He was known as "Young Hickory", he said he would protect Texas, and he avoided the issue of slavery.

In the 1840s and 1850s, the idea of Manifest Destiny spread across America. Many Americans felt that God had destined them to spread their democratic institutions over the entire continent and over South America as well.

Democrats strongly supported the idea of Manifest Destiny.

Polk the Purposeful

Polk had four main goals for his presidency: 1) A lower tariff; 2) Restore the independent treasury, which the Whigs dropped in 1841 because the Whigs won the presidency; 3-4) The acquisition of California and the settlement of the Oregon Country dispute without violence.

Robert J. Walker: Secretary of Treasury to James Polk; devised the Walker Tariff of 1846, a tariff-for-revenue bill that reduced the tariff from 32% to 25%.

The independent treasury was restored in 1846.

Britain presented Polk with the Oregon Country up to the 49th parallel. This offer was approved without a shot fired.

Misunderstandings with Mexico

The population of California in 1845 consisted of Spanish-Mexicans and Indians. 

Polk wanted to buy California (The Bear Flag Republic) from Mexico but relations with Mexico were poor due to the annexation of Texas.

John Slidell: sent by Polk to Mexico City in 1845 to buy California for $25 million; the offer was rejected.

American Blood on American (?) Soil

On January 13, 1846, Polk ordered 4,000 men under General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande.  On May 9, 1846, Polk asked Congress to declare war on Mexico of the basis of unpaid claims and Slidell's rejection of the purchasing of California. Prior to this request, Mexican troops had already attacked American troops. War was subsequently declared.

Many people in Congress accused Polk of provoking war. Mexico was not willing to sell California and war seemed to be the only way that America could get California.

The Mastering of Mexico

Polk wanted California, not war. He hoped that America could pull out of the war with California.

American generals in Mexican-American War:

- General Stephen W. Kearny: led 1,700 troops to Santa Fe.

- General Zachary Taylor: won many victories including a victory over a large Mexican force at Buena Vista; future President

- General Winfield Scott: succeeded in battling his way to Mexico City by September 1847; became President Abraham Lincoln's first choice to lead the Union army in the Civil War.

Fighting Mexico for Peace

Nicholas P. Trist: chief clerk of the State Department; signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded Texas and the area that included California to America for $15 million. This area was about half of Mexico. The antislavery Whigs in Congress ("Conscience Whigs") opposed the treaty because they had originally opposed the war. Expansionists also opposed the treaty because they wanted all of Mexico, not just part of it.

Profit and Loss in Mexico

The Mexican War provided field experience for the officers who became generals in the Civil War, including Captain Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant. 

David Wilmot: proposed an amendment that stated that the territory from Mexico should remain slave-free. This Wilmot Proviso never passed the Senate because the Southern members did not want to remove the possibility of future slave states from this territory.