Chapter 1:



Brown/APUSH

American History

Chapter 12 p.314-336

Antebellum Culture and Reform

1820-1850

Chapter Summary

By the 1820s America was caught up in the spirit of a new age, and Americans, who had never been shy in proclaiming their nation's promise and potential, concluded that the time for action had come. Excited by the nation's technological advances and territorial expansion, many set as their goal the creation of a society worthy to be part of it all. What resulted was an outpouring of reform movements, the like of which had not been seen before. Unrestrained by entrenched conservative institutions and attitudes, these reformers attacked society's ills wherever they found them, producing in the process a list of evils so long that many were convinced that a complete reorganization of society was necessary. Most, however, were content to concentrate on their own particular cause; thus, at least at first, the movements were many and varied. But in time, most reformers seemed to focus on one evil that stood out above the rest. The "peculiar institution," slavery, denied all the Enlightenment ideals for which they stood(equality, opportunity, and, above all, freedom. With world opinion on their side, Slavery became the supreme cause.

Chapter Twelve Main Themes

← The development by American intellectuals of a national culture committed to the liberation of the human spirit, as expressed in art, literature, utopian communities, and transcendental philosophy.

← The effect of this commitment to the liberation of the human spirit in reinforcing the evangelical reform impulse of the period, in movements as diverse as temperance, education, rehabilitation, and women's rights.

The emergence of the crusade against slavery as the most powerful element in this reform movement, and the various strategies of such prominent abolitionists as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass in combating the "peculiar institution."

Analytical Journal

Amistad Charles Grandison Finney Edgar Allan Poe

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Frederick Douglass Harriet Beecher Stowe

Henry David Thoreau Herman Melville Horace Mann

Hudson River School James Fenimore Cooper Joseph Smith

Lucretia Mott Margaret Fuller Nathaniel Hawthorne

Ralph Waldo Emerson Sarah and Angelina Grimké Walt Whitman

Seneca Falls Convention Susan B. Anthony Transcendentalism

William Lloyd Garrison

Defining the chapter terms in your journals will help you better understand:

• The ways that American intellectuals developed a national culture committed to the liberation of the human spirit which reinforced the reform impulse of the period.

• How education, religious, health, temperance, women, and anti-slavery reformers sought both to change and to create order in a rapidly changing society.

• How the crusade against slavery became the most powerful element in this reform movement.

Each of the terms above contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the ways that the United States experienced social change in the mid-19th century. The terms below focus largely on the reformers themselves, demonstrate what each person produced in terms of literature, art, religious and/or moral reform, and what larger issues were encompassed in the movements.

Long Essay Questions

1. What was the "romantic impulse" that characterized antebellum America?

Possible thesis statement: In the mid-19th century, a wide array of reform movements arose with the intention that they could help American society adapt to the nation’s rapidly changing conditions. In general, these reform movements reflected two basic romantic impulses.

• The first impulse grew from an optimistic belief in human nature ( that a good spirit resided in every individual. Reformers argued that society should attempt to unleash the capacity within every person to experience joy and do good. Among these reformers were Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, and others who embraced new religions that rejected Calvinist doctrine ( Unitarians and Universalists.

• The second impulse grew from the need of Americans to restore stability, discipline, and order to their rapidly changing society. Reformers, often armed with nostalgia for the simpler times of the past, argued that society should create new institutions of social control that reflected the realities of the new age. Among these reformers were Protestant revivalists who, while they shared the optimistic belief that every individual was capable of salvation, preached that people needed to experience a spiritual rebirth and revival of faith, and temperance crusaders who used revivalist techniques to preach abstinence.

2. In what ways was the abolitionist movement similar to the other reform movements that arose in the

mid-19th century? How was it different?

Possible thesis statement: The abolitionist movement was both similar to and different from other reform movements that took place in the mid-19th century.

• Similarities. Many abolitionists shared the optimism of other reformers, that if given the freedom to explore their own souls, Americans would make good decisions about the society in which they lived. Most sought a gradualist approach, similar to those adopted by female and other reformers. The abolitionist movement ( like the women’s movement, educational reformers fighting for tax-supported public schools, and temperance advocates ( eventually divided between members who wanted to continue a gradual approach and those who proposed a more activist, revolutionary approach toward achieving reform. Prominent leaders of society launched most of the reform movements ( leaders who generally had both the means and abilities to publicize their goals. Reformers were never more than a small, vocally dissenting minority of Americans.

• Differences. The movement was often racially integrated; several prominent African-American leaders and free blacks worked alongside their white colleagues for the goals of abolition. The movement that emerged in 1830 was revolutionary in thought and action; its leader, William Lloyd Garrison, rejected gradualism and demanded an immediate end to slavery. The movement attracted a powerful, and often violent, opposition in both the northern and southern states. Abolitionism was the most political of all the reform movements of the era ( dividing the nation not only regionally in terms of North and South, but the movement itself in terms of the way reform should occur as well as its goals. Because of the political ramifications of the abolitionist movement, some critics of slavery became involved in more drastic measures designed to attract national attention to the plight of slaves.

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