New Movements in America (Chap. 14)
New Movements in America Immigrants and Urban Challenges Mid 1800’s- Millions of immigrants arrive from Europe -
Between 1840-1860, 4 million settled in the U.S.
Three million can from Ireland and Germany
Fleeing the Irish Potato famine, potato blight , disease that caused the potatoes to rot, a million Irish die and even more fled to the U.S.- settle in Massachusetts, New Jersey , new York, and Pennsylvania
Men and boys worked unskilled jobs or help build the canals and railroads
Women worked as domestic servants for wealthy families
Failed German Revolution of 1848, fled to U.S. to escape persecution, came for economic reasons
Moved to Midwest for land to farm
Despite their funds and skills many were forced to take low paying jobs as tailors, seamstress, bricklayers, servants , clerks, cabinetmakers, bakers and food merchants
New Movements in America Immigrants and Urban Challenges
many immigrants went to the Midwest to get farmland, other immigrants filled the need for cheap labor in towns and cities.
Nativists- American’s who opposed immigration
1849 nativists founded a political organization, the Know-Nothing Party, that supported measures making it difficult for foreigners to become citizens or hold office.
Feared losing jobs to immigrants
Conflicts between Catholic and Protestants in Europe led to mistrust of catholic immigrants
New Movements in America Immigrants and Urban Challenges
Rapid growth of cities
Cities in the northeastern and Middle Atlantic states grew the most. By the mid-1800s, three-quarters of the country’s manufacturing jobs were in these areas.
The families of these merchants, manufacturers, professionals, and master craftspeople made up a growing social class -middle class -social and economic level between the wealthy and the poor
Tenements- poorly designed apartments that held large numbers of people were used to deal with the over crowding in the cities
New Movements in America American Arts Movement Transcendentalism- people could rise above
material things.
Important transcendentalist; Emerson, Fuller, Thoreau
utopian communities, groups of people who tried to form a perfect society. People in utopian communities pursued abstract spirituality and cooperative lifestyles.
Romanticism- interest in nature emphasized individual expression.
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter during that period. One of the greatest classics of Romantic literature.
Other great authors and poets- Melville-Moby Dick; Poe –The Raven; Dickinson, Longfellow and Whitman
New Movements in America Reforming Society
Second Great Awakening- Christian renewal movement in the 1790’s- early 1800’s.
New interest in religion had spread to New England and the South
Charles Grandlson Finney –challenged traditional protestant beliefs, believed that sin was avoidable
Lyman Beecher- traditional minister angered by Finney's teachings
New Movements in America Reforming Society
Temperance Movement- response to the fear of the effects of alcohol, urged people to use self- discipline to stop drinking hard liquor.
Prison reform- create facilities for the mentally ill, change /lesson punishment for children, end overcrowding and create houses of correction.
New Movements in America Reforming Society- Education
Horace Mann led the common-school movement, which called for all children to be taught in a common place, and worked to improve educational funding, training, and pay for teachers.
Common School Movement-wanted all children taught in a common place regardless of background. African-Americans segregated.
Reform efforts led to academies and colleges for women and schools for the blind and hearing-impaired.
Quakers in Philadelphia believed in equality and supported education for African Americans.
Free African Americans in the North and Midwest had some chances to attend school, but in the South laws barred most enslaved Africans from getting an education.
New Movements in America Movement to end Slavery
Abolition- complete end to slavery.
Some abolitionists differ in their views toward African Americans over how much equality they thought African Americans should have and whether to support colonization
American Anti-Slavery Society- wanted immediate emancipation and racial equality for African-Americans.
Important leaders: Theodore Weld, David Walker, William Lloyd Garrison, Robert Finely, Angelina and Sarah Grimke, Fredrick Douglas, Sojourner truth, Harriet Jacobs, William wells brown
Frederick Douglass- escaped from slavery, and was an important leader of the movement, provided first-hand accounts of the cruel and harsh punishment of slavery
Underground Railroad- underground network of people who arranged transportation and hiding places for fugitives and escaped slaves.
Southerners saw slavery as vital to southern economy.
The gag rule in Congress- to prevent members from discussing the anti –slavery petitions , Quincy Adams had the rule overturned, but Turner ‘s rebellion ended talks due to fears of more slave revolts
New Movements in America Women’s Rights
Social changes led women to become more interested in women’s rights was the growing involvement in reform and abolition, improved educational opportunities for women, and the knowledge women gained from reform work about how to work together and organize more effectively
Seneca Falls Convention- July 19, 1848 in Seneca Falls, N.Y.- 1st public meeting about women’s rights that was held in the U.S.
Declaration of Sentiments- document that detailed beliefs about social injustice toward women.
New Movements in America Women’s Rights Leaders
Lucy Stone- spokesperson for Anti-Slavery Society and women’s rights.
Susan B. Anthony- turned women’s rights movement into a political movement. Argued that women should receive equal pay, and be able to enter traditionally male professions. Led campaign to change property rights laws for women.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton- wrote many speeches for the movement.
A Divided Nation (Chap. 15)
A Divided NationDebate Over Slavery
Popular Sovereignty- political power belongs to the people. They should decide slavery issue.
Wilmot Proviso- document stating that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in any part of the territory.”
Passed in the House, but not in the Senate.
A Divided Nation Debate Over Slavery
Sectionalism- favoring interests of one region over the interests of the country.
Free-Soil Party- anti-slavery northerners that supported the Wilmot Proviso.
Compromise of 1850- California enters union as a free state, and the rest of the Mexican Cession is divided into 2 territories (Utah & New Mexico), where slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty.
A Nation Divided Debate Over Slavery
Fugitive Slave Act- made it a crime to help runaway slaves, and allowed officials to arrest those slaves in free areas.
Of 343 fugitive slave cases, slaves were only declared free 11 times
Uncle Tom’s Cabin- anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This novel outraged people in the South, and increased abolitionist support
A Nation Divided Trouble in Kansas
Democrats choose as their presidential candidate in 1852, Franklin Pierce; because none of the other nominees could win a majority of votes, and southerners trusted Pierce on the issue of slavery because he promised to honor the Compromise of 1850 and enforce the Fugitive Slave Act
Whigs’ decision to nominate Winfield Scott as their candidate in 1852 backfired since Scott’s limited support of the Compromise of 1850 led southern voters to distrust him, and he lost.
Kansas-Nebraska Act- plan that would divide the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase territory into 2 territories- Kansas and Nebraska, and allow each territory to decide the issue of slavery.
Kansas was divided- voters from Missouri crossed the border, voted in Kansas, then returned home.
A Nation Divided Trouble in Kansas
Legislature was pro-slavery.
Anti-slavery supporters formed their own Legislature, and fighting followed.
Pottawatomie Massacre- John Brown and his men killed 5 pro-slavery men in Kansas along the Pottawatomie Creek.
Kansas collapsed into civil war, and about 200 people were killed. The events in “Bleeding Kansas” became national front-page stories. In September 1856, a new territorial governor arrived and began to restore order.
A Nation Divided Political Divisions
Republican Party- political party united against the spread of slavery in the West.
1856 Election won by James Buchanan. He was experienced in politics and was overseas during the heat of the Kansas- Nebraska Act debate, so he was not connected to one side or the other in people’s minds.
Dred Scott Decision- Dred Scott moved with his slaveholder to free states. He sued for his freedom after returning to the South, and his owner had died. He lost the Supreme Court ruling. Increased sectional tensions , overturned the Missouri Compromise, increased the chance of the spread of slavery and declared that African Americans were not citizens.
A Nation Divided Political Divisions
Lincoln-Douglas Debates- Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas over slavery issue.
Lincoln’s response to the Dred Scott decision- He said African Americans were “entitled to all the natural rights” listed in the Declaration of Independence, such as the “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Douglas tried to shock voters by saying Lincoln thought African Americans were his brothers and wanted to make all states free.
A Nation Divides
John Brown’s Raid- he and his men took over the arsenal in Harper’s Ferry Virginia in hopes of starting a slave rebellion. Enslaved African-American’s did not respond out of fear, and the raid was unsuccessful.
Some of Brown’s men were killed, some local white southerners were killed, and Brown and some of his men were captured. Brown was hanged. Many southerners felt scared and began talking about leaving the Union.
Election of 1860- Lincoln victory angered Southerners and signaled the South losing it’s national political power.
A Nation Divides
Lincoln said he would not change slavery in the South, but he would not expand it, and eventually it would die out.
Secession- Formally withdrawing from the Union.
Southerners believed that since they voluntarily joined the Union, they should be free to leave
John J. Crittenden proposed a plan to preserve the Union- a series of constitutional amendments related to slavery issues that were meant to pacify the South and thereby avoid secession.
A Nation DividesConfederate States of America
South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded from the Union. Also called the Confederacy.
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was president of the Confederacy.
A Nation DividesLincoln Takes Office
Lincoln stated that the government receives its power from the people and that Americans have the right to change the government through either constitutional amendments or revolution, but he opposed secession.
In his inaugural address he said he would keep all government property in the seceding states. However, he also tried to convince southerners that his government would not provoke a war. He hoped that, given time, southern states would return to the Union.
