THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES SEMINAR 7 AN AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: RELIGION, ROMANTICISM AND REFORM

RATIONAL RELIGION American religion is rooted in Puritan piety and Enlightenment rationalism The image of a stern God promoted by the first Great Awakening gave way to a more optimistic religious outlook Emphasizing man’s inherent goodness over depravity—Unitarianism

THE IMPACT OF DEISM Based on Newton’s notion of world machine Voltaire’s Master Clockmaker Built the universe, set it in motion, then left it on its own to function The main force governing the universe: natural laws, which are understandable by the power of reason

UNITARIANISM Unitarianism : the oneness and benevolence of God The inherent goodness of mankind Man can be improved with education Humans are not depraved and all are eligible for salvation A rational religion Leading figures: William E. Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson

UNIVERSALISM While Unitarianism was for elite, Universalism attracted lower strata of society (wage laborers, the poor) Salvation of all men and women Agreement between Unitarian and Universalist: Unitarian: man was too good to be damned, Universalist: God was too good to damn man

THE SECOND AWAKENING Despite Enlightenment secularism at the end of the eighteenth century Americans remain religious Movement is spreading on the frontier, camp meetings, missionaries Replacing predestination with universal redemption Adult baptism Equality of men and women before God

METHODISTS, BAPTISTS Salvation by free will Francis Asbury: a fervent, zealous revivalist preaching for lost souls Mobile evangelism at the frontier Revival meetings, camp meetings Alternative for women from the rigors of frontier domesticity Promotion of a more democratic faith

CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY Burned-over District: religion spreading by wildfire (Western New York) A young lawyer turns revivalist Inventor of professional evangelism Emphasizes the individual ability to choose salvation

THE MORMONS The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Founder: Joseph Smith After a vision he claimed that an angel led him to a hill where he found the Book of Mormon, a lost section of the Bible The story of ancient Hebrews inhabiting the New World to whom Jesus made an appearance Proselytize, to convert,

THE MORMONS Close-knit communities Assurance of righteousness Polygamy Settle in Illinois 1844: Joseph and his brother Hyrum Smith are killed by a rioting mob New leader: Brigham Young, the Mormon Moses, settle by Great Salt Lake Establishing the State of Deseret (land of the honey bee) later incorporated into Utah Territory

ROMANTICISM IN AMERICA Transcending over the limits or reason Inspired by Immanuel Kant, Samuel Taylor Coleridge Rooted in New England Puritanism Margaret Fuller: The Dial 1836: The Transcendental Club Emerson: Self-Reliance: to be great is to be misunderstood Society is a conspiracy against the manhood of its members When you travel you take ruins to ruins

TRANSCENDENTAL THINKERS AND WRITERS Henry David Thoreau: On Civil Disobedience: Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation I went to the woods to live deliberately, to push life into a corner, I wanted to suck out the marrow of life The American Renaissance: Poe, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Hawthorne

REFORM MOVEMENTS What is man born for, but to be a Reformer, a Remaker of what man has made?—Emerson Belief in the perfectability of humankind Sylvester Graham: dietary reform Temperance against the alcohol republic Arguments against drinking: soldiers of the cross live blameless lives, sober workers are needed, Connection between drinking an poverty 1833: American Temperance Union Promoter of prison and insane asylum reforms: Dorothea Dix Penitentiary--penitence

WOMEN’S RIGHTS Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, women’s suffrage movement Seneca Falls Convention 1848 The Declaration of Sentiments All men and women are equal Susan B. Anthony, leading figure of the first stage of the feminist movement