1. What was Alexander Hamilton’s financial plan and why was it controversial?

• Hamilton was born in Nevis in 1755/1757 who first came to prominence through service in the Revolutionary War, was a NY delegate to the Constitutional Convention, a Federalist, and was the first Secretary of the Treasury, introducing a new financial plan

• his 5 part financial system included:

  • the establishment of creditworthiness through the purchase of government bonds

  • the creation of a new national debt wherein the old debt was to be replaced by interest bearing bonds

  • the creation of a national bank that would hold public funds, issue bank notes, and loan money to the government

  • a tax on whiskey

  • a tax on foreign goods and government subsidies

• the plan’s controversy arose from the fact that it relied on American relations to Britain with the latter serving as the main trading partner for the nation

• many other delegates believed that America’s future lay in westward expansion, not the cultivation of European ties

• they also believed a central bank would not promote American prosperity or an agricultural economy

• the national bank was also not detailed within the Constitution, leading delegate to decry it as unconstitutional

• the whiskey tax, introduced to pay off accrued national debt, would anger the American public

• ultimately, it tied the states to the federal government through funding, a stark contrast to the Articles of Confederation

2. Why did the French Revolution drive a wedge in American society? How does the image below highlight the growing divide, and growth of political parties in the country?

• initially, Americans universally supported the French Revolution, seeing in it the noble ideals of the American Revolution, liberty and freedom

• however, the 1793 execution of King Louis XVI and other opponents of the revolutionary government, like aristocrats (Reign of Terror), and the outbreak of Franco-British war were seen as far too radical, polarizing the American public’s stance on the Revolution

• as usual, the two primary schools of thought followed either Jefferson or Hamilton

• Jefferson believed that regardless of its more distasteful aspects, the Revolution’s core was a victory for popular sovereignty, an ideal to be defended regardless of anything else; proponents displayed liberty poles and caps in support of the French Revolution

• Hamilton and Washington viewed the excessive violence of the Revolution as a marker of the drift of France towards anarchy, believing that America had to strengthen its ties to Britain to avoid a similar fate

• while Americans feared internal division over European politics, the Franco-British divide heavily influenced the early American political landscape

• America’s “permanent” alliance with France following the Revolutionary War, dating back to 1778, complicated things, but Washington declared American neutrality in April 1793 in the War of the First Coalition

• Edmond Genet, a French envoy who arrived in America spring 1793, was received by pro-French Americans, and began to commission American ships to fight the British navy under the French flag; Genet’s recall to France was asked by America following this

• on the other hand, the British seized hundreds of American ships conducting trade with the French West Indies, and enforced impressment, a policy of kidnapping sailors (which included American citizens with British origins) and forcing them to serve in the navy

• John Jay was sent to London in 1794 regarding these transgressions of trade violations and impressment, but his negotiations produced Jay’s Treaty, the most controversial action of Washington’s administration

• Jay’s Treaty contained no agreements on the British violations of Franco-American trade, nor impressment of American sailors, with the only positive for America being that Britain agreed to abandon its outposts on the western frontier, which they had promised to do back in 1783

• Jay’s Treaty, in return for British abandonment of their American outposts, guaranteed American special preference towards British imported goods, effectively canceling the “permanent” Franco-American alliance and recognizing British superiority in naval control and economic prowess

• those opposed to Jay’s Treaty criticized the American alignment with monarchic Britain over republican France, a violation of American ideals that caused a clear divide in American politics and laid the groundwork for the creation of an opposition party

• the image above, an 1807 Federalist cartoon titled Infant Liberty Nursed by Mother Mob, shows the Federalist fear that the ideals of liberty and individualism were going too far, straying into the territory of anarchy

• in the background of the cartoon, a mob is attacking a building representative of the government, and a pile of books representing the Constitution burns in the foreground, illustrating the perceived decay of liberty

• the baby is being nursed with whiskey and rum, standing for the Whiskey Rebellion as Democratic-Republicans opposed Hamilton’s whiskey tax

• ultimately, it shows that Federalists are growing away from the Anti-Federalists (later Democratic-Republicans), believing that they need to distance themselves from French liberty and go back towards British authoritarianism, at least somewhat, to maintain order and rule of law

3. Complete the Voices of Freedom questions.

• 1. Why does the Democratic-Republican society insist on the centrality of “free communication of opinions” in preserving American liberty?

  • freedom of speech and expression is, in the perception of the Democratic-Republicans, the strongest weapon with which liberty can be defended

  • these are natural liberties acknowledged in the Constitution, and any nation that does not recognize their validity does not know any freedom

  • it is especially important at the time of writing, as the author addresses the growing pervasion of aristocracy that opposes itself to democracy

  • the freedom of opinion naturally progresses into freedom of association and assembly, which are paramount in the defense of every other liberty

• 2. How does Murray answer the argument that offering education to women will lead them to neglect their “domestic employments”?

  • Murray, a Massachusetts playwright, novelist, and poet, was one of the first women to push for equal female educational opportunity

  • she contends that women, belonging to humankind, are equal in the eyes of God to men, and as such are candidates for entrance into Heaven

  • it continues, then, that it is degrading and insulting to relegate every woman to domestic labor, suggesting that despite their intelligence, they are seen as no better than the work that they can do on a pudding or a sewn garment

• 3. How do these documents reflect expanding ideas about who should enjoy the freedom to express one’s ideas in the early republic?

  • the first document argues that the freedoms of speech, expression, opinion, and assembly are inalienable rights, as they are the best tools with which all other liberties can be defended

  • without the freedom of expression, democracy would be overwhelmed by aristocracy

  • the second document argues that by their very divine natures, women are equal to men in all fashions, and as such, they are entitled to education and not being bound to domestic roles only

  • by attaining a higher level of education, women are able to participate in political discourse and properly enjoy their freedoms of speech and expression

  • women are not truly free if they are second-class citizens to men

4. Why were the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1789 viewed as an assault on freedom by Jefferson’s supporters, but justified as a defense of a stable republic by the Federalists?

• the Federalists were an elitist party based upon hierarchy, authority, and the rule of law, while the Democratic-Republicans placed their faith in democratic self-government and liberties and were more opposed to socioeconomic inequality

• the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1789 were four laws passed by Congress in the midst of the fear that war with France was approaching

  • the Alien Act allowed the deportation of any foreigners that the federal government saw as “dangerous”

  • the Sedition Act, which was set to expire in 1801, allowed the government to prosecute any assemblies or publications opposing it

• these acts restricted the activities of foreign agents and domestic publications and people

• the introduction of these acts was the greatest crisis of the Adams administration

• these laws attempted to silence the Democratic-Republicans, as they often supported immigrants against the Federalists

• the Sedition Act especially targeted the Democratic-Republican press whose criticisms could rile rebellion and endanger “genuine liberty”

• the legislatures of VA and KY passed resolutions attacking the Sedition Act as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment

  • Madison wrote VA’s, calling on federal courts to protect the freedom of speech

  • Jefferson wrote KY’s, with his original draft claiming that states had the right to nullify any unconstitutional federal laws; edited out by legislature

  • Jefferson did state that the authority fell to states, not the federal government, to punish seditious expression

• the Alien and Sedition Acts deepened the divide between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, as the latter were infuriated by the clear transgressions of freedom of  expression

5. Discuss if politicians are more or less partisan today than during the founding of the nation?

• as it is today, early American politics were fraught with disagreement and frequently hostile to cooperation

• the Founding Fathers experienced a lot of partisanship and polarization

• in 1800, Jefferson became President, the first Democratic-Republican to hold the office

• the song “Jefferson and Liberty” celebrated Jefferson’s presidency and denounced the Adams administration as a “reign of terror”, referring to the Federalist Alien and Sedition Acts which grossly violated liberty

• Jeffersonians mocked Adams as “hermaphroditical”, lacking the force of a man and the sensibility of a woman

• supporters of Adams claimed Jefferson was the child of a Native American and a mulatto

• political divides on nearly every major topic between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans led to personal attacks

6. What was hypocritical about how Jeffersonians’ decried the Haitian Revolution?

• the Haitian Revolution was a mass slave revolution starting in 1791, seeing the oppressed slaves of Saint Domingue throw off their chains, defeat British and French forces, and establish an independent Haiti in 1804

• Jeffersonians, whose party of the Democratic-Republicans espoused the ideals of liberty and independence and supported the French Revolution as a valiant defense of popular sovereignty, would at first glance support the noble Haitian Revolution

• however, Jeffersonians reacted with disgust and fear to an independent Haiti, with Jefferson’s terms of presidency seeing efforts to isolate and ultimately end the free, democratic Haiti - stemmed from racism and xenophobia

• the US did not recognize Haitian independence until 1862

• ironically, the Haitian Revolution was inspired in part by the American Revolution, with Haitians striving to attain the ideals of liberty and freedom exemplified in the Revolutionary War

• due to the violence of the Haitian Revolution, many Haitian refugees fled into the United States, regaling white Americans with stories of the killing of slaveowners and destruction of plantations

• these white Americans, many of whom were slaveowning Democratic-Republicans in the South, had their fears of a slave revolt bolstered by these stories

• despite the party’s opposition to the French Revolution, the Federalists were actually in strong support of an independent Haiti, as they saw a replacement for the French in the sugar trade

7. What political vision did Jefferson articulate in the first 100 days in office and was it consistent with his political principles (provide examples)?

• Jefferson assumed office on March 4th, 1801, with Washington, D.C. in poor shape, possibly a manifestation of his vision to deemphasize the importance of the national capital

• important policies included economy in government, unrestricted trade, freedom of religion and the press, and friendship, but not alliances, with all nations

• as a Democratic-Republican, Jefferson supported an agrarian economy, opposed a national bank, supported low tariffs, wanted to reduce the power of the federal government, and was a strict constructionist (not open to interpretation of the wording of the Constitution)

• Jefferson sought to dismantle the Federalist system

  • pardoned everyone who was imprisoned due to the Sedition Act

  • abolished all taxes, excluding tariffs

  • reduced government oversight of the economy

  • did not want to see the US become a centralized state, like one of Europe

  • reduced employment in the army, navy, and the government

  • distrusted the unelected judiciary, as he believed power lied in the people

• while he did support a decentralized government, some of his actions did not align with his principles, such as the Louisiana Purchase

  • Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory for $15m, which Federalists opposed due to the excess of American land and the little wealth they had

  • while Jefferson conceded he bypassed the Constitution, he believed that the benefits of the purchase were worth it, as the American economy should revolve around the farmer

8. Complete the Vision of Freedom questions.

• image highlights the assimilation of Native Americans into the US through trade and spread of cultural customs

• Native Americans are pictured wearing American clothing, and their poses imply inferiority to the white American, who is at the center of the image and stands straight

• American houses dot the background landscape

• Native Americans are holding agricultural tools

• however, the abundance of corn, a signature crop of the Native Americans pre-Columbian exchange, suggests they still retain some aspects of their traditional way of life

• indigenous man in shirt and pants, but wearing a headdress, also suggests a synthesis of traditional and American culture

• woman nursing the child while the men trade implies a shift to European gender roles

9. What arguments can be made to support the thesis that America won the War of 1812?  What arguments can be made to support the thesis that the British won the War of 1812?  Who do you think won the war and why?

• the impressment of American merchant sailors by the British angered the Warhawks of the US, who pushed for war against Britain

• Americans wanted to expel the British presence in Canada, who had set up a number of forts along the Great Lakes bordering America

• Native Americans, aligned with the British, also posed a threat to the US

• the War of 1812, with the restoration of the status quo with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent and the inconsistent victories on both sides, is a nuanced affair that has no clear victor

• American victory

  • asserted American independence and its ability to defend republican institutions in the face of war

  • made American control east of the Mississippi concrete, reducing any substantial British or Native American presence that threatened American expansion, specifically in the Northwest and the South

  • in spite of the overwhelming British military superiority, American forces still managed to win some important engagements (New Orleans and the Great Lakes) and defeat Tecumseh, a major victory for American endeavors

  • fostered a stronger sense of national pride and identity (the war birthed the national anthem), as the US detached itself from European affairs and saw itself as a formidable nation

• British victory

  • managed a victory in the Napoleonic Wars while simultaneously suffering no severe consequences from the War of 1812

  • imposed an intense naval blockade on the US that crippled its economy

  • successfully repelled multiple American invasion attempts of Canada

  • burned down the White House in an overwhelming victory at Washington, D.C.

• I would ultimately contend that the War of 1812 was slightly more favorable to the Americans, as it massively expedited future expansion by removing the threats of British and Native American resistance and proved the resilience of republican ideals against a significantly stronger foe

IAETSOS

Bank of the US - established under Hamilton’s new national financial plan, funding the federal government via taxes on the states and commerce with Britain; strengthened the govt., but caused the Whiskey Rebellion

Report on Manufactures - words

“Strict constructionist” - Democratic-Republican stance that opposed any loose interpretation of the Constitution that could be used to increase federal power

Impressment - the British policy of kidnapping and forcing sailors into naval service; used on American sailors of British origin during the War of the First Coalition, angering the neutral Americans

Jay’s Treaty - a British-American agreement negotiated by John Jay in 1794 following the American grievances against the British over the latter seizing hundreds of trade ships in the French West Indies and forcing impressment upon American sailors - it confronted neither of these issues and only got the British out of the American western frontier, in exchange for British privilege in American trade, ultimately nullifying the French-American alliance and recognizing Britain as the primary naval and economic superpower of Europe

Whiskey Rebellion - uprising in PA from 1791–1794 over Hamilton’s whiskey tax that was put down by the federal militia; to the Federalists, it was a demonstration of the effectiveness of a strong central gov’t, but the Democratic-Republicans saw it as an overreaction and abuse of power

The Vindication of the Rights of Woman - written by feminist Enlightenment thinker Mary Wollstonecraft, arguing for the equality of women to men, who only appeared less competent due to lack of access to education

Judith Sargent Murray - Murray was a Massachusetts playwright, novelist, and poet who wrote On the Equality of the Sexes, defending the right of women to education, and arguing that men and women were equal in intellect and potential 

XYZ Affair - 3 French agents forced 3 American delegates, who were trying to negotiate through a possibly oncoming US-France war caused by Jay’s Treaty, to pay a bribe to speak to the French Foreign Minister, causing a “quasi-war”; caused the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts

Washington’s Farewell Address - emphasized that he did not want to see the country divided against itself due to the affairs of European states

Federalist Party - right-wing, elitist party led by Hamilton that favored societal hierarchies, believed that freedom lay in submission to authority, and wanted to limit freedoms to prevent the degradation of the “spirit of liberty” into anarchy

Democratic-Republican Party - more left-wing party led by Madison and Jefferson that believed in the far-reaching extents of democracy, supporting poor (and rich, unusually) farmers and the maximum extent of their liberties

Alien and Sedition Act - passed in 1789 due to the fear of war with France, allowing the US govt. to deport “dangerous” foreigners and to prosecute any assemblies or publications that opposed it; a massive violation of liberty that was the greatest crisis of the Adams administration

Virginia and Kentucky Resolution - attacked the Sedition Act as unconstitutional, written by Jefferson and Madison, with Jefferson stating the right to declare laws unconstitutional fell to the states

First Fugitive Slave law - words

Marbury V. Madison - 1803 Supreme Court case that established judicial review in the SCOTUS - made the SCOTUS the final place where the judiciality of laws is dictated, a very important function that still exists today

Louisiana Purchase - the 1801 purchase of the Louisiana Territory from the French under Jefferson’s administration; Federalists opposed the perceived waste of money on unnecessary land, and the purchase went against Jefferson’s strict constructionist stance, but Jefferson justified it by saying it would bolster an agrarian economy

Barbary Wars - American and European conflict in the Mediterranean with pirates of North Africa, specifically Tripoli, who were harassing trade vessels; violated the Jeffersonian principle of avoiding foreign entanglements

Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa - Tecumseh was a Native American leader who fought against American expansion into the Louisiana Territory, but ultimately lost; defeat saw the mass displacement and assimilation of Native Americans

Hartford Convention - a meeting of Federalists in Hartford to discuss their grievances and the topics of secession and war with Britain; highlights the political divisions within the US

Chapter 9: The Market Revolution (1800-1840)

(pgs. 330–366)

1. Describe what innovations brought about the Market Revolution?

• the Market Revolution was a massive economic upheaval in the US due to new technological advances through changes in transportation, and also changed the economy due to higher outputs and a connection to the global economy

• Toll Roads/Turnpikes

  • >900 companies were contracted to build new roads

  • these roads had higher than expected maintenance costs, so many towns built “shunpikes”, which were short detours that avoided the cost

  • while it did overall lower transportation costs, land transportation was still insufficient for large-scale movement of goods and people

• Steamboat

  • made by Robert Fulton - a steam-powered vessel able to move upstream

  • introduced to the Mississippi in 1811, and by 1831, ~200 were on the waters

  • Go against the whim of the current, more mastery over nature. Ease of movement.

  • revolutionized trade along waterways (faster and cheaper)

• Erie Canal

  • first man made canal, connecting the Great Lakes and New York City’s Atlantic Ocean 

  • Very few engineers at the time.

  • Over 300 miles long, had to crave through a 60 ft high limestone wall

  • Initiative spearheaded by Dewitt Clinton, he ran New York for 20 years.

  • He wanted to make NY rich

  • People thought it was too dangerous and expensive.

  • Crews full of Irish immigrants seeking more money

  • Hazardous work, blowing up mountains with gunpowder to make space for the canal.

  • Workers drank as a coping mechanism to calm their nerves, which was dangerous considering they were working with explosives.

  • Opened in 1825, after almost a thousand lives lost.

  • Akin to modern day highways

  • helped cities in the Midwest to grow through extensive connections with the established urban centers of the Northeast - the price of goods in the Midwest drops by as much as 95%

  • led to other canals being built

  • New York, especially NYC’s Wall Street, explodes as a financial center

  • The city quadrupled in size. Word millionaire was created then.

• Railroads & the Telegraph

  • first commercial railroad’s operation began in 1828

  • opened up the massive American interior to extensive settlement

  • telegraph used Morse code for instantaneous communication; invented by Samuel F. B. Morse in the 1830s

  • Helpful for trade, sharing information.

2. What unintended impact did Eli Whitney’s cotton gin have on slavery in America? How did the migration of slaves change during this period and why?

• Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin, which aimed to reduce the role of slave labor in cotton production, inadvertently breathed new life into the dying industry of plantation slave labor

• Cotton used to be expensive and luxury, a niche market

• This made it a larger market and then cotton became cheaper and more accessible

• Demand increased and slave labor increased.

• prior to the cotton gin, the labor required in separating cotton seeds from the actual plant limited the output and profit of cotton plantations

• the cotton gin accomplished this task with amazing efficiency and simplicity, reviving slavery as westward expansion and a rising demand for cotton opened up the market for more plantations in the newly opened Deep South, whose climate and soil was particularly friendly to cotton cultivation

• increase in cotton production changed it from a commodity solely for the wealthy to one more for the masses

• the expansion of slavery into the Deep South saw roughly 1m slaves be transported from the older slave states to the new cotton plantations in the nascent territories, most being resold by domestic slave traders (ban on international slave trade)

• cotton became the most important export of the United States, with nearly 170m pounds being produced annually

3. What varying impact did the market system have on the North & South respectively? What problems may one argue arose as a result of these divergent paths?

• South

  • in the South, the market system tied the region into the trans-Atlantic economy through massive cotton exports

  • unfortunately, the economic growth of the South only saw a replication and growth of the simple agrarian economy and social structures of the old South, based upon slaves and nothing else

  • the South saw very little urbanization, with about 80% of Southerners working in agriculture by 1860, a similar percentage to 1800

  • while some developments in transportation and banking occurred too, they primarily existed to further prop up slave-based cotton plantations, transporting cotton and other staple crops, and also financing the purchase of land and slaves for more plantations

• North

  • industrialization and urbanization raised great cities in the Northeast, which provided a massive market for crops, livestock, and other goods cultivated in the Old Northwest

  • settlers in the Old Northwest were bound to the cities of the Northeast through transportation and credit systems, made a living by selling goods in the east, and lived by buying their necessities from stores

  • loans from Northeastern banks allowed for the purchase of land, and later, agricultural machinery, in the Northwest, which grew wheat and corn to feed the urban centers which could not grow extensive grain

  • transportation and financing also led to the growth of large cities on the Western frontier, like Chicago, and urbanization led to an increase in unskilled labor positions filled by mistreated industrial laborers

  • Samuel Slater, an English immigrant, built America’s first powered spinning jenny - from memory, as British law made the exporting of industrial schematics illegal

  • this innovation was one of the first to drive the shift to factory-based manufacturing, which flourished in New England due to the abundance of waterways and the presence of a strong internal market

• Problems

  • the industrial North and the agrarian South were even more divided due to different economic developments

  • while the North didn’t need to rely on slave labor for its massive factories, the institution of slavery thrived in the Deep South, expanding the agricultural plantations and laying the foundations for the core issue of the American Civil War

  • explosion of Northern population through urbanization and immigration also increased the Northern states’ representation in the national legislature, contributing to growing regional tensions

4. Compare and contrast the immigrant experience of the Irish and German. Make sure to address why they came, where they settled, and how they were impacted by nativists.

• the Market Revolution saw a massive growth in the American economy, creating a proportional demand for labor

• while immigrants only made up a small amount of population growth in the US from 1790 to 1830, over 4 million immigrants entered the country after this period, primarily from Ireland and Germany

• immigrants were pulled by the relative freedom of American government, and pushed out by turmoil in Europe

• Irish refugees were fleeing the Great Famine of 1845-1851; a blight devastated the potato, the primary source of food in Ireland

• ~1 mil. died of starvation, and another ~1 mil. emigrated out of Ireland

• former Irish farmers and agrarian laborers found occupation in low-wage unskilled labor that Americans did not want to take

• Irish men built American railroads and canals, and women worked in domestic life or factories

• 80% of Irish immigrants remained in the Northeast, congregating in overpopulated urban ghettos in industrial cities (Boston, NYC, etc.) infamous for poverty, crime, and disease

• by the end of the 1850s, Lowell textile mills had substituted American farm women in their factories with immigrant Irish workers

• nativists were those who feared the negative effects of immigrants on American social and political life

• they scorned immigrants for taking cheap jobs and therefore undercutting wages, and devaluing American skilled labor

• Irish immigrants faced hostility for their Roman Catholic faith in a majority Protestant country that resented Papal authority

• the influx of Irish immigration visibly increased the power of the Catholic Church in America, which was previously a minor presence at most

• nativists harassed Irish immigrants for undercutting wages, urban crime, political corruption, alcoholism, and threatening American democracy, social reform, and public education due to their submission to the Church

• they faced harmful stereotypes of being childlike, lazy, and slaves to their primal instincts, unfit for American republicanism in the same manner as black Americans

• Germans were the 2nd-largest group of American immigrants, coming to flee economic difficulties and political violence (>1 mil. came to the US)

• few countries besides the US allowed German immigration

• many Germans were able to afford travel to the Midwest in search of farmland and labor, and they often worked skilled jobs back home that translated to American work

• Germans created tight-knit communities in the cities of the East, and many also went west to work as artisans, shopkeeps, and farmers

• Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, known as the “German triangle”, had significant German populations

• German language and culture were strong in these communities

• Germans were also Catholics, like the Irish

• most Germans who had immigrated to urban areas were Democrats, as the party supported the common man

• they also faced some discrimination from nativists for the same reasons as the Irish (starvation wages), but it wasn’t as severe as there were less German immigrants and many had moved west

5. Complete the Voices of Freedom questions.

• seal of Arkansas glorifies the Market Revolution

  • steamboat on crest represents progress, technology, and commerce

  • cornucopias represent the wealth and abundance of the Market Revolution

• Walden’s book cover attacks the Market Revolution

  • idolizes the isolationist life, away from the material conditions of the Market Revolution that impinged upon American life

6. Compare and contrast the First Great Awakening with the Second Great Awakening.  Which Great Awakening do you think had more of an impact on American History and why?

• the First Great Awakening stemmed from the Enlightenment’s de-emphasization of faith, with religious organizations responding with a push to increase faith

• also argued for natural rights and a more republican government

• George Whitefield was a preacher during the First Great Awakening, persuading the faithless into religious adherence and church attendance

• the Second Great Awakening carried the philosophies of self-reliance, self-improvement, and selflessness

• caused the democratization of American Christianity and a growth in faith

• both movements had religion at their cores, and aimed to “awaken” the public to a certain idea

• the First Great Awakening was more radical and focused on utilizing fear to bring people back to faith

• the Second Great Awakening was milder, focusing on liberalism within religion and bringing women’s rights to the forefront

• overall, the Second Great Awakening had a greater impact, pushing people to think and act for themselves, but also submit to their work, in conjunction with the Market Revolution

8. How did the Market Revolution impact a woman’s place in society? 

• the Market Revolution placed the ideals of economic opportunity and liberty on a pedestal, with American freedom and upwards socioeconomic mobility becoming synonymous

• the middle class burgeoned, and the idea of a “self-made man” came into the public consciousness, despite its general infeasibility

• however, the opportunities of the Market Revolution were denied to many marginalized groups, including women

• as the center of economic activity moved out of the home and to the factories of urban areas, many women saw an upheaval in their traditional gender roles

• some women found occupation in said factories as menial laborers, while others found solace in a redefined sense of femininity

• the latter saw the value of women in creating a domestic space that was separate from the competitive environment of the market, providing love and companionship to their husbands rather than making material goods

• this was known as the “cult of domesticity”, which evolved from the earlier “republican motherhood”, sharing the crucial value of virtue

• while the 18th century associated virtue with proper political participants (men), it became more linked with women as a moral quality, emphasizing sexual innocence, beauty, frailty, and dependence on men

• many popular magazines targeted at women in the 1820s and 1830s preached the importance of obedience, submission, and a demure and deferring nature

• women did gain more sovereignty within the home, though, as more men left for work; the TFR of women declined from 7 in 1800 to 4 in 1900, a conscious decision made by women to not have as many kids, as their husbands were no longer forcing them to

• the cult of domesticity emphasized that freedom was found in adherence to gender roles - men were rational, aggressive, and authoritative, in contrast to women’s nurturing, selfless, and emotional states that made them unfit for public life

• men were free to move between the public and private spheres, while women were confined to the latter

• women, especially those with little wealth, still entered the workforce despite the cult of domesticity, receiving poor wages and being unable to climb within their careers

• married women couldn’t sign contracts independently, sue on their own behalf, or control their own wages - all involved their husbands

• middle-class women were proud to remain in the home, and were often freed from some of their obligations in the home as poorer women worked as domestic servants

IAETSOS

Erie Canal - connected NYC with the Great Lakes region, allowing the rapid and cheap transportation of goods and people; connected the Midwest to the Northeast financially and demographically and led to the flourishing of both

Telegraph - communication tool that used Morse code to instantaneously communicate

Cotton Kingdom - the massive cotton plantation slave industry that was born from the invention of the cotton gin, expanding cotton production across the extremely fertile Deep South; development caused the region to stagnate as an overwhelmingly agricultural economy

Samuel Slater - English immigrant who built a spinning jenny, a powered industrial machine key in textile manufacturing, from memory in 1790, as Britain outlawed the exporting of industrial schematics; one of the crucial inventions that kicked off the Industrial Revolution in New England

Lowell Mill Girls - one of the first examples of harsh industrial labor, where girls, living in a factory in Lowell, MA,  suffered poor conditions to earn a barebones wage to support their families

Nativism - reactionary response to Irish and German immigration, blaming them for numerous problems in American society and discriminating heavily against

Manifest Destiny - the belief that the US had a divine mission to expand throughout all of North America, with all other occupants of the continent (Native Americans, European colonial powers) seen as nothing more than obstacles to this; deeply associated with the westward expansion and resulting ideas of frontier freedom and white supremacy (in a benevolent sense; white Americans saw themselves as saviors and bastions of progress)

Ralph Waldo Emerson - American transcendentalist philosopher of the early to mid-19th century who believed that the private man’s accession to personal freedom and growth through the Market Revolution was paramount to the very spirit of America; prior trip to Europe and meeting European intellectuals inspired these ideas, as it helped Emerson to realize that these heroes of thinking were just regular people who were no better than the average self-sufficient identity - also naturally followed American nationalism that resulted from the War of 1812

Transcendentalists - a group of New England intellectuals who thought that the individual and his thoughts were superior to long standing social traditions and institutions; sought to immerse themselves in the natural environment to free themselves from social restrictions and properly introspect

Henry David Thoreau - a transcendentalist who lived in isolation on Walden Pond in response to the social changes of the Market Revolution, and stated that “Any man more right than his neighbors is a majority of one.”; believed in civil disobedience, resisting unjust laws, and the importance of spirituality over materialism

Cult of Domesticity - an ideology prolific in the early to mid-19th century, pushing adherence to gender roles, especially for women, who were expected to remain in the home and create a private space separate from the market for their husbands’ comforts

Chapter 10: Democracy in America (1815–1840)

(pgs. 372–406)

1. Who was Alexis de Tocqueville and what were his observations on American Democracy?

• Alexis de Tocqueville was a French historian, politician, and writer born in 1805; politically liberal and wrote Democracy in America

• Tocqueville traveled to America in the 1830s to find out more about the American penal system, as his parents were imprisoned during the French Reign of Terror

• discovered that to understand the penal system, he had to understand the American democracy

• written in 1835, Democracy in America highlighted the injustices of the American political and penal systems; pointed out the contradiction of calling its people “citizens” if they didn’t have the right to vote

• he was shocked by the freedom of movement in America, pointed out the polarizing effects of politics, and recognized the favorability of the system to white men and how they manipulated those lower on the hierarchy to agree with their political positions

• primarily interested in the independence and equality among American citizens, especially within the overpopulated economy

2. What was significant about how the United States Magazine and Democratic Review defined the principle of universal suffrage?

• by the 1830s and under the Jackson administration, property qualifications for voting were no longer present, granting nearly universal suffrage to white men

• the spirit of democracy - a defense of natural liberties - was in question, as it was barred from women, POCs, non-landowning white men, etc., and so the expansion of suffrage to include all white men was a step in the right direction

• the election of Andrew Jackson directly resulted from the expansion of democracy, and politicians had to start appealing to the common man

• United States Magazine and Democratic Review argued in favor of universal (white) male suffrage

3. What was the American system and how did it seek to improve the nation?

• the War of 1812 highlighted the disunity within the US - difficulty in raising funds for the war, especially considering the lack of a common currency, rudimentary transportation impeded efforts in moving goods and people, etc.

• Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun were at the forefront of a younger Republican movement, contending that smaller industries needed national protection, and that agriculture had to be accompanied by manufacturing for America to be economically independent from Britain

• in 1806, Congress approved the use of public funds to build a national road, and soon after, Jefferson’s secretary Albert Gallatin pushed to construct road systems and canals to connect the nation, which initially failed and was revived after 1812

• the American System was a plan of government-promoted economic development introduced by President James Madison in December 1815

• created by Henry Clay, and rested upon a new national bank, a tariff on imported manufactured goods to protect American industry, and federal funding of improved roads and canals

• the Second Bank of the United States was a private, for-profit corporation that was the government’s financial agent, receiving a charter of 20 years in 1816, and was responsible for issuing paper money, tax collection, paying government debt, and ensuring the value of issued money

  • aimed to promote economic growth through the financing of industry and commerce, extending loans to farmers, and printing money

  • in spite of this, many Americans harbored resentment towards the bank, as an overissuance of paper money saw fluctuations in its value (exceeded value of gold and silver standard)

  • bank was ultimately a failure, harming the economy

• the Panic of 1819 began with the opening of Europe to American trade, creating a massive demand for American cotton and grain

  • demand for loans for purchase of land in the expanding west was countered by an increase in printed money

  • the decline of demand for American produce saw economic downturn for land speculators, and when the bank asked for repayment of loans, many could not afford this and filed for bankruptcy

  • unemployment in eastern cities rose

• the Tariff of 1816 was the first true protectionist tariff, aiming to reduce foreign competition for American goods and to promote the purchase of domestic manufactured goods through the taxing of foreign imports and protection of domestic products; sought to bring American goods to the level of foreign goods

• creation of federally-funded roads and canals stemmed from a fear of American division

• the push for this was vetoed by President Madison, who argued that these powers were not present in the Constitution, and as such, it required an amendment to the Constitution

4. Complete the Voices of Freedom questions?

• Q1: Why does Monroe think that the “systems” of Europe and the Western Hemisphere are fundamentally different?

  • President Monroe felt the systems of Europe and North America were distinct, as the US would only engage in foreign conflict if American liberty was endangered, while Europe would intervene for conquest, colonization, etc.

• Q2: Which Americans would be most likely to object to Calhoun’s political system?

  • John C. Calhoun was the first major philosopher in the antebellum South; sought ways to empower the South in the midst of the Market Revolution

    • the North was superior to the South in population and political power

  • he saw two kinds of majority: numerical majority and concurrent/constitutional majority

    • first considered only the majority opinion of a group, second idea accounted for minority opinions as well

  • favored concurrent/constitutional majority, as he wanted the South to be powerful enough to preserve slavery through political discourse

  • Northerners and abolitionists would oppose concurrent majority, as it would protect slavery despite the abolitionist North outnumbering the South

• Q3: How do the two documents differ in their conception of how powerful the national government ought to be?

  • Monroe wanted a more isolationist, weaker central government

  • didn’t want the US to interfere in foreign affairs unless they threatened American freedoms; lines up with his Democratic-Republican identity

  • Calhoun wanted a government that valued both majority and minority opinions

  • advocated for a stronger central government, or at least one that had stronger representation and power for the South, so the institution of slavery could be protected

5. Why is the Monroe Doctrine also considered, “America’s diplomatic declaration of independence”? 

• James Monroe was a Revolutionary War hero, and was the nation’s 5th President from 1817-1825

• foreign policy included deescalation with the British, the acquisition of Spanish Florida, and the “Monroe Doctrine” in 1823

• John Quincy Adams served in many diplomatic positions, including Secretary of State under Monroe, before becoming the 6th POTUS

• from 1810-1822, many Latin American colonies under Spain rebelled and gained independence, with only Cuba and Puerto Rico remaining under Spanish rule

• the Monroe administration was the first government to recognize these nascent nations

• the new republics were more democratic than the US, but their wars for independence were more bloody and were sometimes followed by civil war

• Adams, as Secretary of State, sought to increase American influence and reduce European influence in Latin America following the Latin Wars of Independence

• he drafted and orated the Monroe Doctrine, which ostensibly protected the new nations of Latin America, but ultimately sought to establish American hegemony in Latin America

• the Monroe Doctrine became America’s primary document for foreign policy, which stated American non-interference in European colonies in the Western hemisphere, but stipulated that European nations could not establish new colonies or intervene in the affairs of sovereign states

• the Doctrine reflected the growing nationalism and belief in democratic ideals in the US, but was generally ignored by European powers, as the American navy and armed forces had little presence

• when the US became a superpower at the beginning of the 20th century, and as the Monroe Doctrine was added to the Roosevelt Corollary in 1904, it became relevant, with America now outwardly seeking to shape the sociopolitical course of Latin America

6. Compare and contrast the Presidential elections of 1824 & 1828.

• in 1824, Andrew Jackson had the majority of national support due to his military victories over the British and Native Americans in the War of 1812

• other candidates included John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay

• Clay was very popular at the time, but the majority of his support was in the West

• the Republican caucus ultimately selected Crawford, but this support didn’t deter the other candidates from continuing to run

• Jackson carried every state besides New England, but with 4 total candidates, none ended up receiving a majority of electoral votes

• some felt Adams was more qualified than Jackson, a westerner who would likely seek his own ambitions

• Clay lent support to Adams in the Corrupt Bargain, convincing the House to elect Adams as the vote fell to them after gaining no majority

• Clay’s incredible influence overturned Jackson’s popular support

• the Adams administration had a very powerful federal government

• Adams represented the original epoch of American politics, as he was the son of the founding father John Adams, while his opponent in the election of 1828, Martin Van Buren, had humble origins

• Van Buren established the Democratic Party, whose local and state organizations and local newspapers campaigned hard for him

• Adams neglected to politically organize

• Jackson’s campaign didn’t make many promises, instead viciously attacking Adams’ frail intellectualism and glorifying Jackson’s masculinity

• Jackson received attacks in kind regarding his morality

• nearly 57% of eligible voters voted in 1828, over twice as many as 1824

• Jackson received 650k votes to Adams’ 500k, carrying the South, West, and PA

• demonstrated the shift in American politics that came with universal white male suffrage

• the US entered the Age of Jackson - Jackson sought to displace Native Americans west of the Mississippi, and wanted African-Americans to remain slaves or be expelled from the US

• strongly opposed federal power

• the election of 1824, with the Corrupt Bargain, was very entrenched in old American politics, while 1828 saw the advent of universal white male suffrage and resulting populist sentiments

• the Democratic-Republicans split into the Republicans (Adams) and Democrats (Jackson) by 1828

8. Identify the political platforms of the Democratic and Whig parties. How do they relate to the Democratic and Republican party platforms today?

• Democrats (similar to Democratic-Republicans)

  • took issue with the Market Revolution

  • feared “non-producers”

  • limited government and STATES RIGHTS

  • favored in the backcountry and the South

  • individual morality was private, not public

  • opposed temperance (temperance sought to curb alcohol consumption)

  • feared the growing gap between classes

• Whigs (1833-1860, similar to Federalists)

  • American system (federal involvement in the Market Revolution, infrastructure development, general economy)

  • stronger central government

  • Northeast and urban populations, as well as businessmen or those assisted by business

  • believed that a strong government was necessary for liberty

  • government interference was therefore vital in private lives, such as schools, asylums, and the temperance movement

9. What impact did Andrew Jackson’s killing of the Bank of United States have on the economy? What actions by Andrew Jackson prompted charges of tyranny and led to the growth of the Whig party (analyze the image below)? 

• Nullification Crisis

  • Congress passed the Tariff of 1828, which raised prices on imported manufactured goods made of wool and iron, angering South Carolina, which relied heavily on these imports

  • When they nullified the Tariff, Jackson responded with the Force Act, which used the army and navy as tax collectors

• Indian Removal Act

  • when the SCOTUS ruled against the Indian Removal Act’s funding of expulsion of Native Americans (which was supported by Jackson), Jackson refused to act upon the ruling, violating the law

• Second Bank of the United States

  • bill passed asking for the extension of the Second Bank of the United States’ charter for another 20 years

  • Jackson vetoed it, as he thought its revenue would be used to run against him in reelection; also arguing against the centralization of power

  • Jackson preferred that money would go through more local banks, especially ones that favored him that went unregulated (pet banks)

  • led to the spiraling of currency value through inflation (circulation value of banknotes went from $10m to $149m between 1833 and 1837)

  • appealed to the lower classes with this action

  • as a strict constructionist, Jackson and his supporters argued that the Bank was not provided for under the Constitution and therefore did not have the right to exist

• all of the above, in addition to the fact that Jackson used the veto more than any other president prior, contributed to the perception of Jackson as a tyrant

IAETSOS

Alexis de Tocqueville - French historian, politician, and writer who wrote Democracy in America after traveling there in the 1830s; recognized the hierarchical organization of American political society, and criticized its injustices (outside perspective particularly valuable)

Minstrel Shows - the use of blackface and African-American caricatures by white actors for widespread entertainment up until the 1920s (included Jim Crow shows); perpetuated negative stereotypes and harmed the image of black Americans

Information Revolution - the greater ability of media and information travel due to the innovations of the Market Revolution, like canals, railroads, and the telegraph

Second Bank of the US - above

Panic of 1819 - above

Missouri Compromise - did not allow any new state admitted into the union above the 36 deg, 30 min. latitude line to be a slave state (save for Missouri itself); highlights the questioning of slavery against the backdrop of westward expansion, and is the first of a series of four compromises on the issue of slavery amidst American expansion

Corrupt Bargain - the election of John Quincy Adams through Clay appealing to the House, which decided the election in case of a lack of a majority of electoral votes; Jackson claimed corruption

Nullification Crisis - South Carolina responded negatively to the Tariff of 1828, which taxed the imports of iron and wool products it relied on, and ultimately nullified it; Jackson responded by passing the Force Act, which allowed the use of the army and navy to collect federal taxes

Spoil System - opponents of Jackson perceived his favoritism towards institutions and people favorable to him as a corrupt “spoil system”

Indian Removal Act - passed by Jackson in 1830, providing funds for many Southern states to expel Native Americans, like the Cherokee and Choctaw, from their lands; the indigenous peoples responded by bringing the case that this violated their federal land treaties to the SCOTUS, which ruled in their favor - Jackson refused to enforce this, setting the scene for the expulsion of Native Americans in the winter of 1838-1839

Trail of Tears - the expulsion of Native Americans from the South into the West in the winter of 1838-1839, caused by the protection of the Indian Removal Act by Jackson; at least 25% of the 18k moved Native Americans died in the forced move

Bank Wars - Jackson took money from the Second Bank of the United States and funneled it into his pet banks, killing the Second Bank

Pet Banks - local banks that were favorable to Jackson and therefore were able to go unregulated; printed massive amounts of banknotes, which meant severe inflation

Panic of 1837 - an economic crisis brought about by the pet banks’ overprinting and subsequent inflation and killing of the Second Bank of the United States under Jackson, in addition to rampant land speculation during westward expansion; culmination of the problems with Jackson’s abuse of his powers, especially those used in his gross mishandling of finances

Election of 1840 - William Henry Harrison appealed to the common man with imagery of the frontier and agriculture, despite his very cushy upbringing; reflected the strength of populist sentiments in the Age of Jackson, as Harrison won the election

Chapter 11: The Peculiar Institution

(pgs. 416–448)

1. Where was the largest concentration of slaves in the United States and why? 

• slaves in the United States were primarily concentrated in the Deep South, the core of the “cotton kingdom”, making up half of the population of the states there, compared to the third it composed in the nation as a whole

• cotton was the most valuable American product, being exported more than any other product

• internal slave trade was the primary bolstering force of the slave population in the Deep South, as the international slave trade was abolished in 1808

  • slaves were sold from the Upper/Old South into the Deep South’s growing cotton plantations

• despite the abolition of slavery in the North, it still benefited from the massive cotton plantations of the South, as raw cotton was manufactured into products in the North’s industrial centers

2. What cemented the bond between Southern Planters and “plain folk” (see Table 11.2)?

• the South’s economy relied heavily on slave labor in the cotton industry, and so saw little progress outside of this narrow focus

• Southern planters, composing a relatively small proportion of the slaveholding population in the South, dominated life in the Southern states, holding the majority of slaves, fertile land, wealth, and political power despite their small size

• their profits went to growing their own slave estates

• the “plain folk” were white farmers in the South that did not live on prime plantation land, around the Appalachians

• they were poor, undereducated, and self-sufficient, utilizing only family labor to subsist

• the plain folk aligned themselves with the Southern planters, keeping an eye out for runaway slaves, supporting planters politically, and perpetuating the white supremacist culture of the South

• they aligned themselves, as the prosperity of the South, especially in terms of keeping competitive with the North, was reliant on their cooperation in maintaining slavery and an agrarian economy

• many poor whites also aspired to own slaves, and as such sought to protect slaveholders

3. Discuss the arguments made for and against slavery (at least three for each side). 

• paternalist Southern society obligated the slave to serve the master, who in turn protected, guided, and cared for the slave (in theory)

• it justified the brutal nature of slaveholding, with slaveholders seeing themselves as benevolent for exploitation of slaves

• while slaveholders did reform the system to improve slave conditions (religious instruction of slaves, better housing, diet, and medical care, and less severe punishments), life was still very difficult

• For

  • the belief of inherent inferiority of blacks to whites

  • modern civilization required slavery, so others could focus on the arts, sciences, and other civilized pursuits, while menial labor was done by slaves

  • slavery protected white equality, as black Americans filled the lower rungs of society so no white person ever had to fall to that level of poverty

  • slavery granted economic independence to whites

  • Biblical references to obedience to masters were used by Christians to justify slavery

  • paternalist slaveholders saw slavery as benefiting slaves

• Against

  • “Laws of the free womb” freed slaves’ children after they worked under their mother’s slaveholder after a number of years

  • belief that slavery was a national sin

  • opposed the denial of freedoms and rights to slaves

  • wanted to release and return slaves to Africa

  • abolitionists pointed to the rising living standards of freed slaves as a success of emancipation

  • the story of Exodus and the freeing of slaves within the Bible were used by Christians to justify emancipation

• “Slavery as it exists in America”

  • slaves are depicted playing and dancing, in a large family unit

  • they look happy and are clothed well

  • white men in the background look sophisticated and detached; paternalist outlook on slavery

• “Slavery as it exists in England”

  • white factory workers are depicted as the “real slaves”

  • emaciated, unhappy, impoverished

  • some of the workers are children

  • the white factory owners in the background are engorged, implying greediness

• highlights the pro-slavery argument that it keeps white people from a life stuck in poverty, as black slaves perform menial labor for them

1. How was life similar and different for freedman (former slaves) and slaves? Make sure to discuss legal restrictions. 

did a presentation

2. How did family, gender, and religion combine to create distinct slave cultures in the Old South?

• slave culture was a synthesis of African tradition and American experiences

• the African-American slave community revolved around the family unit, as the slave population grew from the NIR and therefore had a fairly even sex ratio

• despite this, family creation faced many obstacles, as their masters had to consent in the marriage of slaves, and they faced threat of separation at any time via sale

• slave families would usually last for a lifetime, and children would be named after relatives to preserve a sense of continuity

• slave households were typically two-parent, but constant sales meant that there were far more matriarchal families than in white communities, as well as other non-parent relatives serving as guardians

• ⅓ of slave marriages were broken by sale in VA, and at least 10% of teen slaves in the Upper South were sold into the interstate slave trade

• of course, slave traders cared little for family connections among slaves, and sold them individually or in groups as was profitable

• the popular “cult of domesticity” that propagated during the 19th century did not reach slave women, as slave men couldn’t be the providers nor the protectors for their families due to their conditions

• in this sense, slave men and women were fairly equal

• when slaves worked outside of the plantations, more traditional gender roles took hold, though, with men doing manual labor and women caring for the home

• the family unit in African-American slave communities allowed for the passing down of culture, traditions, values, and tools for survival through generations

• slave religion centered around a modified form of Christianity, as many slaves and freedmen alike had been touched by the Great Awakening and other religious revivals

• African-American Christianity preached an ideology of liberation and freedom

• most plantations had a black preacher, who wasn’t educated, but was familiar with the Bible and was respected for his role in the community

• cities of the South had biracial worship, but blacks were often marginalized in these, so free blacks also established their own churches open to slaves

• slave masters used Christianity to exert control, mandating slave attendance of white-led sermons that preached the immorality of theft and the imperative of slave obedience to their masters in the Bible

• Christian beliefs blended with African tradition to create slave religion, which was often practiced in secret with intense vigor and emotion

• the story of Exodus, where Moses led the Jews from Egypt to the promised land of freedom, was central to black Christianity

• slaves saw themselves as the chosen people of Exodus, and Jesus Christ as a personal redeemer who cared for the downtrodden

• other biblical stories of the weak overcoming the strong, and the central idea of equality of souls before God in Christianity were both important to black Christianity

3. What were the major forms of resistance to slavery?

• Slavery was declining across the country, but pro-slavery views still heavily propagated

• Slave culture was born from the injustices of slavery and the resulting desire for emancipation

• slaves saw themselves as deprived of the proper fruits of their labor

• slave folklore told stories of weak protagonists who outwitted their stronger opponents

• free blacks were deprived of numerous rights, such as the right to vote, testify in court, own property, etc.

• slaves made frequent attempts to escape to countries that had abolished slavery

• throughout the regular day, slaves would resist through:

  • disrupting routine through doing poor work, breaking tools, etc.

  • pretending to be sick

  • stealing food

  • committing more serious crimes, such as poison, arson, and assaulting whites

• fugitive slaves posed the greatest threat to slavery

• they often escaped to cities with communities of free blacks, while others fled to remote areas

• the Underground Railroad was an organization of abolitionists who aided fugitive slaves by offering them refuge in their homes, and then sending them to the next stop

• Harriet Tubman, after escaping slavery in 1849, made about 20 very dangerous trips back to Philadelphia over a decade to lead other slaves to freedom

• the Amistad was a slave ship of 53 slaves in 1839 that was transferring them from one Cuban port to another

• the slaves seized control, and tried to force the navigator to sail them back to Africa, but the ship was sailed up the Atlantic coast until it was apprehended off the coast of Long Island

• they were brought to the court of New Haven, CT by abolitionists, and John Quincy Adams argued that since they were brought from Africa in violation of the banned slave trade, they should be freed - which they were

• the majority of the slaves made it back to Africa, and the Amistad inspired a similar uprising in 1841, when 135 slaves seized control of the Creole and sailed for Nassau in the British Bahamas

• slave revolts were the escalation of individual and group resistance acts to total rebellion

• 4 large conspiracies occurred in the space of 31 years

  • Gabriel, a VA slave in the 1800s, organized the first, which saw 200-500 men armed with melee weapons and a few guns destroying property in the direction of New Orleans

  • the rebellion was dispersed and leaders were killed

  • the second was organized in 1822 by Denmark Vessey, who bought his freedom after winning the lottery

  • as a church leader, he utilized Biblical rhetoric to attack slavery

  • he also quoted the Declaration of Independence in his abolitionist arguments

  • his conspiracy was discovered before it could come to fruition

  • Nat Turner was one of the most well known slave rebels, who was a slave preachers in VA

  • on August 22, 1831, he and some of his followers marched between farms while assaulting whites

  • by the time he was stopped, 80 slaves had joined Turner, and 60 whites had been killed

  • his rebellion provoked a panic in the South, and in 1832, VA legislature passed laws that reinforced slavery

  • North-South tensions rose, as the North condemned these actions

IAETSOS

Frederick Douglass - extremely important abolitionist who was born into slavery in Maryland, obtained an education from a slaveholder’s wife, and was eventually able to escape to NYC, writing a book on his experiences as a slave; his book diffused to whites, allowing them to understand the realities a slave faces and move socially towards abolition

Peculiar Institution - referred to slavery, as it was extremely out of place for a modernizing nation like the United States to not only be retaining slavery, but to see its expansion westward, as most other nations had abolished slavery by this point

Port of New Orleans - second largest American port (behind NYC) which exported many slave products, such as cotton (3/4s of the world’s cotton exports came from America)

George Fitzhugh - pro-slaver who argued that the real injustices of the world were not African-American slaves (the South had no labor strikes due to the perceived contentedness of slaves, and he argued it was peaceful and egalitarian), but the industrial laborers (caused social unrest)

Crime of Celia - Celia was a slave who killed her master in defense during sexual assault, and the court ruled that as she wasn’t a woman but a slave, she couldn’t use the defense of self-defense, and was put on death row

Underground Railroad - highlighted above

Amistad - highlighted above

Denmark Vesey - organized slaves and tried to lead a revolt, utilizing the language of liberty and religion to attack slavery and rally followers (also above)

Nat Turner - led Nat Turner’s Rebellion, which provoked pro-slavery laws in VA and increased North-South tensions (also above)

Chapter 12: Age of Reform (1820–1840)

(pgs. 453–487)

1. Discuss the connection between Nineteenth century reform movements and utopian communities (use specific examples).

• reform movements of the 19th century sought to effect larger change in American society for the better, like abolition, women’s rights, labor unionism, and temperance

• the Second Great Awakening and associated religious conviction compelled Americans to seek a life free of sin by improving social conditions

• the Market Revolution also created new socioeconomic conditions, such as the widening wealth gaps between classes, quicker dissemination of information, and poor conditions of agrarian laborers turned mistreated factory workers, that provoked discontent among people

• the expansion of democracy during and after the Age of Jackson provided people with political and socioeconomic mobility, inspiring some to try to bring about larger social change

• some reformers tried to accomplish this by creating “heavens on earth”, or utopian communities, where they could show others the superiority of their ways - about 100 of these communities were created prior to the Civil War

• these communities vastly differed from each other: autocratic and democratic, religious and secular, etc., but all had the same general aim of cooperation in a society rife with growing class divides and a harmful glorification of individualism

• most abolished private property and otherwise prohibited the accumulation of wealth

• utopian communities were primarily concentrated in the North, the industrialized center of the Market Revolution

• through the efforts towards equality, “socialism” and “communism” entered the political lexicon

• while they differed on ideas of sexual freedom, nearly every community wanted an end to the perception of women as property by their husbands

• the Shaker communities were the most successful of the religious utopian communities; they believed God had a male and female personality, and as such men and women were spiritually and socially equal

• however, “virgin purity” was paramount, with men and women living in separate dorms and shunning traditional family units

• the Mormons, who were first founded in upstate NY, were driven out and persecuted primarily for their practice of polygamy, which scorned Christian tradition (although the integration of church and state and authoritarianism were also alarming), highlighting the limits of religious tolerance

• the Oneida community, which abolished private property and traditional marriage, had a “complex marriage” system and the entire community in a single, equal “holy family”

• in this system, any man could proposition any woman for sex, and the outcome was logged, as Noyes, the founder of the Oneida, saw exclusive affection as adverse to the harmonious community

• Robert Owen, who created the secular community of New Harmony in the US in 1824, had little success in his endeavors, but had a massive impact on the movements for progress in labor, women’s rights, and educational reform

• his work embodied the American ideal of equality in the New World, with the community emphasizing the subordination of individualism to the common good

2. What were the goals of the Temperance Movement? What did critics have to say about this movement?

• the Temperance Movement sought to ban or curb the consumption of alcohol, as alcoholism was seen as a sinful vice that hurt the productivity of laborers

• women and children were often hurt by men’s alcoholism, as they were left to fend for themselves in a patriarchal society as their husbands went off and got drunk

• further, women were victimized by inebriated men, being physically and sexually assaulted

• as a result, women constituted the majority of the movement

• the movement got the Constitution amended to ban alcohol

• problems with the Temperance Movement included the bypassing of laws to obtain alcohol under Prohibition, which fostered crime organizations, and the resulting loss of tax money on alcohol

• speakeasies were born from the ban on alcohol, which were illicit venues that secretly sold alcohol

• the banning of alcohol ignored the socioeconomic conditions that created alcoholism, such as the poor conditions of the lower classes

3. What Jeffersonian argument about slavery underpinned the actions of the American Colonization society?

• Jefferson contended that African-Americans could never be truly integrated into American society if slavery was abolished, as racial tensions would be too strong

• the American Colonization Society provided a solution in line with this thinking, as it sent freed black slaves back to Africa; some white abolitionists didn’t want African-Americans in America at all

• ironically, the African-Americans sent to Liberia displaced the native populations of the area, and looked down upon them

4. Why was William Lloyd Garrison’s means of abolitionism described as “militant”? And how did Garrison think “moral suasion” could be used to abolish slavery?

• Garrison’s arguments in his publication The Liberator were very caustic, attacking slaveholders and slavery

• additionally, he and other militant abolitionists were strongly insistent on the abolition of slavery and subsequent equality of African-Americans and whites

• some of his more radical arguments included the repealing of the Constitution and the dissolution of the Union, as they condoned slavery

• “moral suasion” was a tactic used by Garrison to convince Americans of the evils of slavery and appeal to their sense of morality

5. How did William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe differ in how they sought to end slavery? Who do you think was most effective and why?

• Garrison, associated with the Anti-Slavery Society, utilized aggressive rhetoric to argue in favor of emancipation in his weekly journal The Liberator

• his intense indictments of slaveholders enraged white Southerners, who reprinted his editorials in equally aggressive responses, giving Garrison free notoriety

• while he did attack the institution of slavery with venomous language, Garrison also used “moral suasion”, aiming to awaken the American slaveholding populace and the complicit non-slaveholders to the evils of slavery

• Douglass was a former slave who wrote extensively of his experiences, shining a light upon the injustices of slavery for white readers to see

• he utilized the language of liberty clearly present in recent American history to highlight the hypocrisy of American slavery

• his work proved that African-Americans were also intelligent and capable of productivity on par with whites

• his speech delivered just after the Independence Day celebration in 1852 in Rochester challenged listeners to confront the disconnect between American liberty and the suffocating bondage of African-Americans

• he garnered a massive amount of fame due to his actual experience with slavery, being able to dispel many of the myths surrounding slavery

• Stowe authored Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the most prominent anti-slavery literature of the era

• published in 1851 and selling over 1m copies by 1854, it humanized slaves as Christians who were subject to the evils of slaveholders, lending a strong appeal to the abolition movement

• I believe Stowe’s approach was the most effective of the 3

• while Garrison and Douglass had strong rhetoric, their work focused more on the negatives of slavery, possibly alienating whites

• conversely, Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin revolved around garnering sympathy for slaves, a more easy thing to accept than realizing one is complicit in the institution of slavery

6. How did women’s participation in the abolitionist movement enable them to raise issues of their own natural rights and freedoms?

• women involved in abolition examined the unequal treatment of African-Americans on the basis of race, and followed with the questioning the unequal treatment of women on the basis of sex

• women were confined to one role in society, suffered social stigma when venturing out of this role, and suffered from disenfranchisement, similar to the plight of African-Americans

7. Complete the Voices of Freedom questions (p. 481). 

words

8. Why was Sojourner Truth’s simple words, “Ain’t I A Woman” so powerful at the Women’s Rights Convention in 1851? 

• repetition of the phrase “Ain’t I a woman?” provokes thought on why black women are not treated as fragile and delicate, as white women are

• in tandem with Sojourner Truth’s difficult life, the phrase also questions why if she’s capable of as much as a man, then why are women subordinate to men

• Truth asks why if white women receive less than white men, then why can she, a black woman, not even be allowed less opportunity than white women

IAETSOS

Perfectionism - outlook popularized by religious revivals that saw both individuals and greater society capable of unabated improvement, prompting larger reform movements

Common school - educational reformers wanted to create public state schools funded by taxpayers (as most education at the time was private or homeschool), hopefully helping to equalize class divides and strengthen social stability; while opposed by parents who did not want to give up the moral education of their children to teachers, state schools were established in every northern state by 1860

Public Education - part of educational reform

American Anti-Slavery Society - inspired by the British Anti-Slavery Society, which was able to bring about the abolition of slavery in Britain; members included William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass

Uncle Tom’s Cabin - written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1851, selling over 1 million copies by 1854; humanized slaves and their struggles, lending credence to the abolitionist movement

Shakers - the most successful of the religious utopian communities, believing God had a male and female personality, and as such men and women were spiritually and socially equal; however, “virgin purity” was paramount, with men and women living in separate dorms and shunning traditional family units

Mormons - first founded in upstate NY, were driven out and persecuted primarily for their practice of polygamy, highlighting the limits of religious tolerance

“Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” - very prominent piece of anti-slavery art, depicting an African-American slave in bonds asking the aforementioned question; portrayed slaves not as inferiors, but equals to whites who were unjustly marginalized

Gag rule - any petitions related to slavery sent to the US House of Representatives was not allowed to be delivered on the floor

Dorothea Dix - linked to the mental health and illness reform movements and created asylums

Declaration of Sentiments - delivered at the Seneca Falls Convention, considered the beginning of the women’s rights movement, and stated the thoughts of feminists that women were equal to men

Women Suffrage - the growth of reform movements and the abolition movement after the Second Great Awakening saw many women become politically involved, leading to them questioning the unequal treatment of women on the basis of sex

Liberty Party - niche political party created in 1840 whose primary platform was abolitionism; their presidential nominee, James G. Birney, received only 7k votes (0.33% of popular vote) as Americans did not want to waste their vote on a third party