U.S. HistoryU.S. History

Unit Three

Chapter Eight:

Simplified Version

The North and South

Geographic, economic, and cultural differences of the United States

broken into 2 sections

The Northern SectionIndustrialization – huge here!

EX: Lowell’s textile mill

Not much farming or farm landBrought people to cities (urban areas)

High population density Manhattan had 33,000 in 1790 to 516,000 by 1850

Everything handled in home:Medical, education, etc.Everyone works

Hospitals and schools began to develop and fill this gap!

Tenement apartments:Crowded apartments with poor standards of sanitation, safety, and comfort.

Growth of CitiesProblems:

Poor police and fire systems.No sewer systems or reliable supplies of waterBy 1832, thousands killed by cholera (intestinal disease caused by contaminated water).

The Southern Section

The Economy of the South:

““King Cotton”King Cotton”1860 = 2/3 of the total value of American exports.

States of the south:DE, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, KY, TN, AL, MS, LA, AK

South = rural (farms & country, no cities)

South was dependent on North:

Banks, shipping companies, & textile mills

The Slavery System1850: 3.7 million African Americans in US… 12% were free.

Agrarian SystemBy 1804, all Northern states had banned slavery or passed laws to end it gradually.

1808, Congress banned all further importation of slaves to U.S.1820, 1.5 million slaves, by 1850 doubled to 3.2 million

What happened here?

1860 the slave population made up half of South Carolina and Mississippi’s population

2/5 of the population of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana.

Slaves were property, not people. By 1837, the price of a “good” slave was $1,300.

After purchase, they cost $15-60/year to support.Small planation vs. large (work and treatment)

Slave Revolts

Small % escaped and were freeRebellion, especially on a large scale, stood little chance of success.

Historians have documented scores of slave rebellions, most were small, spontaneous responses to cruel treatment and ended in tragic failure.

Significance: These were a white southerners nightmare!In many communities, whites were outnumbered by slavesMany southern states tightened restrictions on slaves to make sure this didn’t happen again.

Virginia and North Carolina passed laws against teaching slaves to read.Some states prevented African Americans from moving freely or meetings.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion 31 year old black preacher.Planned/carried out a violent uprising -1831.Acting under what he believed was divine inspiration, he led about 70 slaves in raids on white families in southeastern VA.Attacked 4 plantations, they killed 57 white people.Local militia captured most of the rebels.

VA hanged about 20 of these slaves, including Turner.Crowds of angry whites rioted, slaughtering about a hundred African Americans who had had no part in the revolt.

Few Other Problems…

Poverty, alcoholism, illiteracy, overcrowded housing, poor health care, abuse of women, declining moral values.

These problems plagued cities early on.

Many people felt cities needed to reform.

It will begin with faith based reformers.

The Temperance MovementSocial problem of the early 1800’s.

At this point, Americans consumed more alcoholic beverages per person than any other time in the country's history.

An organized campaign to eliminate alcohol consumption.U.S. “actually threatened with becoming a nation of drunkards.” – Greene and Delaware Moral Society, 1815Women reformers particularly saw it as threatening.Abstinence: to not drink alcohol.

Temperance Movement (cont.)By 1834 the American Temperance Society had 7,000 local organizations with 1,250,000 members.Abraham Lincoln, young lawyer who saw Temperance Movement like American Revolution.

He looked forward to the “happy day when…the victory shall be complete – when there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth.

Maine outlaws alcohol in 1851.Protests of brewers, distillers, and other citizens usually led to repeal of such laws.

Public EducationPublic Education needed to be reformed too!

Buildings were old, textbooks were scarce, teacher quality was poor.

Many people began demanding tax-supported public schools.

Democracy needs literate, informed voters and morally upright citizens.

Opposition:Tax payers with no kids, or kids went to private schools hated this suggestionSome families needed their kids to work and didn’t want them going to school past a certain age.

Horace Mann – leads reforms!Self-educatedServed in Mass legis.

State’s 1st Sec. of Board of Ed.

Believed in “the absolute right to an education of every human being that comes into the world.”Wanted to raise taxes for public ed.Divided schools into grade levels.Established first public high school in 1821.Fought against slavery.

Moral EducationLike other middle-class reformers, Mann wanted an education that promoted self-discipline and good citizenship.Schools taught kids how to behave, stand in line to wait turn, be polite to others, and respect authority.Learned through McGuffey’s Readers.

Promoted evangelical Protestant values.

Limits of ReformSchools more common in North than South.Where schools did exist:

Girls discouraged from attendingFree blacks often turned away or were segregated (separated according to race).

Some African American colleges opened.Some private colleges became coeducational.

For most part, only white males were welcomed at Universities.

Reforming Prisons

In 1800’s many states built prisons for those who committed crimes.

Supposed to be in isolation here for years.

Prisoners were supposed to lead regular, disciplined lives, reflect on their sins, and maybe become law abiding citizens.

But Dorothea Dix, a Boston schoolteacher, found out otherwise…

Dorothea DixShe discovered all kinds of people (men, women, young/old, sane/insane, first-timers, and repeat offenders) all together in bad conditions.

Dressed in ragsPoorly fedChained together in unheated cells

Spent next 2 years going to all prisons in Mass.

Submitted findings to Mass legislature.

Treating the Mentally ill as criminals rather than patients, “is to condemn them to mental death.”She convinced state to improve conditions and create separate institutions for the mentally ill.

15 others states did the same!

Section #2:The Antislavery Movement

Angry southerners in response to antislavery literature, ban anti-slavery publications and made it illegal to teach slaves to read.Yet, fighters of the ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT (the movement to end slavery), continued to fight!From 1777-1807every state north of Maryland passes laws that gradually abolish slavery.No more importing slaves after 1808.

Different Approaches Continued:The Colonization of Liberia

Early 1800’s some abolitionists favored COLONIZATION, a program to send free blacks and emancipated slaves to Africa.

American Colonization Society, 1816. Est. West African country of Liberia in 1822.

Many white supporters of this didn’t believe in racial equality.

Many wanted to rid the US of slavery & African Americans.Some felt this would be good and not allow for slave revolts!

Tended to offend African Americans.By 1831, only about 1,400 free African Americans had migrated to Liberia.

Different methods:Radical Abolitionism

Most famous were William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass.

Fighting, writing, speaking out, escaping, etc.

The Underground RRSome reformers relied on other means to attack slavery, both legal and illegal.Some risked their lives and created the Underground RR – a network of escape routes that provided protection and transportation for slaves fleeing north to freedom.Men & women acting as conductors acted as guides to these escaped slaves.Number of escaped slaves varies from 40-100,000.

Black Moses – Harriet Tubman

Resistance to Abolitionism…In the North?!?

Northern merchants were worried that the antislavery movement would sour trade relations.White workers and labor leaders feared competition from escaped slaves willing to work for lower wages.Many people did not want Af Amers in their community, viewed them as socially inferior.At public events of abolition, violence could erupt.

Stones and rotten eggs thrown at speakersVoices drowned out with horns or drums.Buildings were burnt down.Sometimes people were shot and killed, like Elijay P. Lovejoy.

Opposition in the South

Most southerners were angered by the criticisms leveled at slavery.Attacks by abolitionists made many more southerners determined to defend slavery.

It was very dangerous for southerners to speak against slavery.

Southern postmasters refused to deliver abolitionist literature.In 1836, southerners passed the GAG RULE, for the next eight years prohibited antislavery petitions from being read or acted upon in the House.

This was proof for abolitionists that slavery threatened the rights of all Americans, white and black.

Section #3:The Movement for Women’s Rights

Reformers believed that women were central to success of a strong, democratic nation.

Some women suggested: start by reforming society from within the home.

Cultural and Legal Limits on Women:Many lower class women worked in factories.

Middle class women were freed from cooking and making cloths, as more products appeared on shelves.

What should they do then?Remain in the Home? Raise/educate children? Entertain guests? Serve husbands? Do community service? Certainly not dabble in politics!

Strict Legal Limitations

Women could not vote.

In most states, married women could not own property.

Women, generally, could not keep money they earned.

Instead they gave it to their husband or father.

Public Roles for WomenMore women are becoming educated, more grow eager to apply their knowledge and skills beyond the home.

Became angry with laws/attitudes that prevented them with doing so.

Participating in a movement1st taste of the world outside family.

Many women began to identify with each other in their bad positions in society.

Fighting for Abolition

Battle to end slavery is how women emerged into the political world.

Women compared their situation with that of enslaved African Americans.

Neither group could vote or hold office.

Both were denied full rights of citizens.

Women began to attend meetings, gather petitions, give public talks, and write pamphlets/books.

Male Opposition

Many men were horrified with this development.Some men found it distasteful for women to be involved politically.Many people did think that women were more virtuous then men, but that they should use it in the home rather than the public.

A Women’s Rights Movement

1840 – first World Anti-Slavery Convention in London.

American women were not allowed to attend.Two delegates said, “hey, let’s throw our own!”

July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York… first women’s rights convention in US History.

Seneca Falls Convention

Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the Declaration of Sentiments.

Excerpt from:Declaration of Sentimates

“The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations [seizure of power] on the part of man toward women, …[to establish] absolute tyranny over her…[B]ecause women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred moral rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States.”

Seneca Falls Convention

They passed 12 resolutions.

Signed by 68 women and 32 men.

They urged women to demand equal legal and political rights.9th resolution called for women’s suffrage.

This resolution split women all over the world.

Slow Progress for Women’s RightsThe S.F. Convention did not trigger an immediate downpour of rights.

Most Americans still felt as though women should do improve society in the home only.

By 1890 – more than 2,500 women/year graduated from college.

Educated women began to appear in jobs that they had once been forbidden to do.

For African American women, the issue of emancipation was more pressing as opposed to women’s rights.