1. Religion and Culture in the 1800’s

2. Second Great Awakening
1797 – 1859
1st Awakening had occurred in the 1740s
2nd began among frontier farmers of Kentucky
Spread among Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians
Christians have a moral duty to improve society
Let God in and gain admission to heaven through acts of faith

3. Charles G. Finney 1792 – 1875 Presbyterian minister
Allowed women to participate in public prayer
Taught that everyone has the ability to gain salvation through repentance and good works that demonstrate faith
Planned and rehearsed his revivals

4. Lyman Beecher 1775 – 1863 Revivalist Presbyterian minister
Father of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Preached that citizens, not government ,are responsible for building a better society
Strongly nativist and anti-Catholic

5. The Unitarians
Jesus not the Son of God, but was an important teacher – there was no Virgin Birth, no miracles, and no Resurrection
God is a unity, not a trinity (God is One)
Still considered a Christian church

6. The Universalists
Believed in Universal salvation – there is no Hell and God redeems everyone because He loves everyone
God would not create a person knowing that they were doomed to eternal damnation

7. The Mormons Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Started in New York, but were victims of constant harassment
Moved to Ohio, then Missouri, then the town of Commerce, Illinois in 1839
Renamed the town Nauvoo
After founder’s murder in 1844, Mormons resettled in Utah

8. Joseph Smith
1805 – 1844
Recorder of The Book of Mormon – received from an angel – which describes how Israelites arrived in America around 600 BC and were later visited by Jesus
Had numerous legal run- ins in Missouri and Illinois which eventually led to his arrest
Murdered by a mob in while awaiting trial

9. Brigham Young 1801 – 1877 President of Mormon church from 1847 -1877
Founded Salt Lake City, Utah
1st Governor of Utah
Led the Mormons west to Utah to escape persecution
Practiced polygamy, had 55 wives

10. Utopian Communities
Attempts to establish socially perfect communities, usually through equal communal sharing of all work, responsibilities and rewards

11. New Harmony, Indiana
Town was bought in by utopians under Robert Owen with the intention of building it into a perfect socialist community
No private property, no money
Community failed and was dissolved in 1829

12. Oneida Community, NY
Founded by John Noyes in 1848 in Oneida, NY; lasted until 1881
All members of the community shared in work (making silverware)
Every man was married to every woman in the community (called complex marriage or free love)
Old women introduced young men to sex, while old men did the same for young women (to avoid pregnancies)
Efforts were made to breed more perfect children by careful selection of breeding partners; children were then raised by the community rather than by specific parents
Community reached maximum size of about 300

13. Brook Farm Founded in 1841, near west Roxbury, MA
Transcendentalist community
Citizens would share all labor, be each others intellectual stimulation
Community collapsed economically after being destroyed by fire in 1847

14. Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing
Founded by Ann Lee (who Shakers believed to be the Second Appearing of Christ) in England; offshoot of the Quakers
No marriage allowed, lifelong celibacy required
Shakers would adopt orphans to keep communities alive
All work and living quarters were divided by sex, but the sexes were equals
Peaked in mid 1800s with about members, today only 3 known practitioners in the US

15. Tent Revivals
Traveling ministers would set up tents and preach, often for up to a week at the time
Singing, prayers, and motivational sermons, were all designed to whip up the crowd into emotional protestations of faith

16. Benevolent societies
Developed in large cities and towns to spread Protestant Christianity
Soon began to focus on social issues such as temperance, prison reform, education reform, and abolitionism

17. Revivalism and abolition
Most revivalists were also staunch supporters of the abolitionist movement
Taught that slavery was sinful; slavery destroys the soul of the master while it destroys the body of the slave

18. Cultural Movements of Early 1800s

19. Neoclassical architecture
Revival of Greek and Roman styles
US modeled itself after the Roman Republic and the democratic ideals of ancient Greece
Sometimes called the “Federal” style in the US

20. The White House
Built 1792 – 1800
Burned during War of 1812, but restored by 1817
Built onto in 1824, 1829, 1901, 1927, and 1946
In 1950s, entire structure was rebuilt with a steel frame from the inside, out when it was found to be collapsing!

21. US Capitol
Built 1793 – 1811
Burned during War of 1812, but restored by 1819
Expanded between and 1863; small dome was added but soon replaced by the larger dome seen today

22. Monticello Built 1768 – 1809 Charlottesville, VA
Home of Thomas Jefferson – he designed it himself
Today, it is the only private home designated as a World Heritage Site by the UN

23. Alexis de Tocqueville 1805 – 1859 French
Author of Democracy in America
Toured US for 2 years observing how democracy was creating a uniquely “American” culture
Determined America was a society where hard work and money-making was what drove people, where commoners never deferred to their “betters”, and where individualism was admired.
Forerunner to “The American Dream”

24. Noah Webster 1758 – 1843 Published his first dictionary in 1806
In 1826, published his “American” dictionary where he provided new American spellings of English words and included thousands of distinctly American words

25. Romanticism
Artistic and literary movement that advocated feeling over reason, inner spirituality over external rules, individual over society, and nature over human-made environments

26. Hudson River School of Artists
American artists who focused on painting distinctly American landscapes – canyons, rivers, scenes of wild, untamed frontiers
Popular throughout 1800s

27. Washington Irving
1783 – 1859
Wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip van Winkle
Usually wrote under a pseudonym
Perfected the short story as a true literary artform 27

28. Edgar Allan Poe 1809 – 1849 “Master of the Macabre”
Wrote many poems and short- stories in the horror genre: The Raven, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Tell-Tale Heart
Married his 13 year-old cousin (he was 26) but she died at 15
Died of unknown causes (known to drink heavily) 28

29. James Fenimore Cooper 1789 – 1851 Wrote The Last of the Mohicans
Wrote mostly about the frontier and relations between white settlers and Native Americans 29

30. Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804 – 1864 Wrote The Scarlet Letter
Wrote largely on man’s tendency to sin, resulting in his work being called “dark romanticism” 30

31. Herman Melville 1819 – 1891 Wrote Moby Dick
One of the only Romantic authors to not be very popular during his own lifetime 31

32. Walt Whitman 1819 – 1892 Free Verse Poet
Best known for his work Leaves of Grass
Works described as obscene in his own time because of sexual frankness, homosexual themes

33. Emily Dickinson 1830 – 1886 American poet Wrote thousands of poems
Obsessed with death
Broke rules of poetry concerning structure, rhyme, and capitalization
Famous recluse – did not leave her home for the last 30 years of her life 33

34. Transcendentalism Literary and philosophical movement
Emphasized individualism and self-reliance over religion
People need to “transcend” (overcome) the limits of their mind to embrace beauty and truth
Hated conformity and “followers”
Modern Day Hipsters…

35. Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803 – 1882
Philosopher, lecturer, essayist, and poet
Believed that all things were divine because all things were connected to God
Strong belief in individualism

36. Henry David Thoreau
1817 – 1862
Author of Walden and Civil Disobedience
Early environmentalist
Abolitionist
“That government is best which governs not at all”
Opposed taxes

37. Margaret Fuller
1810 – 1850
Author Woman in the Nineteenth Century – first major feminist work published in US
Believed in women’s rights to education and employment; wanted prison reform and an end to slavery
Died in a shipwreck

38. “Penny Press”
Mass produced daily newspapers which became affordable for common people
Focused on reports of fires, crime reports, marriages, gossip, politics, local news

39. Godey’s Lady’s Weekly 1830 – 1898
Covered poetry, literature, and art primarily from women artists
Included dress patterns, sheet music
First magazine to copyright its material to prevent other publications from using it

40. Atlantic Monthly 1857 – Today Focused on literary and cultural trends
Founded and run by famous writers of the time: Stowe, Emerson, Longfellow, etc.
Has published everyone from Mark Twain to Martin Luther King

41. Harper’s Weekly
1857 – 1916
Featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor
Became famous for its political cartoons by Thomas Nast