1. America’s History Sixth Edition
Henretta • Brody • Dumenil
America’s History Sixth Edition
CHAPTER 11
Religion and Reform,
Copyright © 2008 by Bedford/St. Martin’s and Matthew Ellington, Ruben S. Ayala High School

2. Chapter 11: Religion and Reform, 1820-1860
1. Individualism
A. Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalists
B. Emerson’s Literary Influence
C. Brook Farm
2. Rural Communalism and Urban Popular Culture
A. Mother Ann Lee and the Shakers
B. Arthur Brisbane and Fourierism
C. John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Community
D. Joseph Smith and the Mormon Experience
E. Urban Popular Culture
3. Abolitionism
A. Black Social Thought: Uplift, Race Equality, Rebellion
B. Evangelical Abolitionism
C. Opposition and Internal Conflict
4. The Women’s Rights Movement
A. Origins of the Women’s Movement
B. Abolitionist Women
C. The Program of Seneca Falls and Beyond

3. Part 1: Individualism 1A: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism
Transcendentalists believed that truth transcended the senses and celebrated individualism and freedom
Lyceum movement spread transcendentalist ideas
Emerson’s & Finney’s personal improvement through self-discipline appealed to middle class Americans

4. Part 1: Individualism 1B: Emerson’s Literary Influence
Thoreau called for civil disobedience and nonconformity and Fuller for greater rights for women
Hawthorne and Melville rejected transcendentalism
Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond

5. Part 1: Individualism 1C: Brook Farm
An influential transcendentalist community that failed
Hawthorne Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller all visited
Emersonians shifted efforts to reforming society, especially education and abolitionism
Painting of Brook Farm utopian society

6. Part 2: Rural Communalism & Urban Popular Culture 2A: Mother Ann Lee and the Shakers
Founded in late 1700s by Mother Ann
Believed in gender equality, celibacy, pacifism, etc.
Peaked at 3000 members, known for furniture

7. New Jersey Phalanx building photograph
Part 2: Rural Communalism & Urban Popular Culture 2B: Arthur Brisbane and Fourierism
Fourierists preached socialism and gender equity
Panic of 1837 made communal experiments appealing to farmers in New York and the Midwest
New Jersey Phalanx building photograph

8. Part 2: Rural Communalism & Urban Popular Culture 2C: John Humphrey Noyes & the Oneida Community
Perfectionists believed that Christ had already returned and people could live sinless lives
Complex marriages and communal nurseries set them apart
Oneida community became famous for silver plate and spawned a for profit company

9. Part 2: Rural Communalism & Urban Popular Culture 2D: Joseph Smith and the Mormon Experience
Communalism, secrecy, prosperity, bloc voting and polygamy led to harassment of Mormons and Smith
Brigham Young led 10,000 Mormons to Utah desert
Traditional values (except polygamy) and hard work allowed Mormons to succeed where others had failed

10. Part 2: Rural Communalism & Urban Popular Culture 2E: Urban Popular Culture
Urban popular culture changed dramatically as cities grew from immigration and urbanization
Poverty, commercialized sex, prostitution, and new forms of entertainment characterized this new culture
Nativist backlash arose against immigrants in 1830s

11. Part 3: Abolitionism 3A: Black Social Thought: Uplift, Race, Equality, Rebellion
Blacks’ attempts to “elevate” themselves and gain equality were met with hostility by most whites
Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1830) led Virginia and other southern states to impose stricter slave codes

12. Part 3: Abolitionism 3B: Evangelical Abolitionism
William Lloyd Garrison founded The Liberator (1830) and called for the immediate end to slavery
Abolitionists appealed to evangelical Christians, formed an underground RR, and pushed for new laws
By 1840, over 200,000 Americans had joined abolitionist societies

13. Part 3: Abolitionism 3C: Opposition and Internal Conflict
Most conservatives, the wealthy, and wage earners were racist and opposed abolitionism
Postmasters stopped delivering abolitionist mail in the South and the House passed the Gag rule
The fight over women’s roles split abolitionists

14. From Godey’s Ladies Book
Part 4: The Women’s Rights Movement 4A: Origins of the Women’s Movement
Cult of domesticity followed republican motherhood and encouraged a separate sphere for women
Second Great Awakening allowed women to transcend their rigid cultural boundaries
Dorthea Dix fought to improve care of mentally ill
Chair used to tranquilize mentally ill in mid 1800s
From Godey’s Ladies Book

15. Part 4: The Women’s Rights Movement 4B: Abolitionist Women
Women such as Harriet Jacobs and Harriet Tubman played an outspoken abolitionist role
Many men resisted women like the Grimke sisters speaking before mixed audiences
Picture from Uncle Tom’s Cabin

16. Part 4: The Women’s Rights Movement 4C: The Program of Seneca Falls and Beyond
Reformers fought for married women’s property rights
1840 Seneca Falls Declaration called for equal rights
Stanton, Anthony, and others had an uphill fight
Elizabeth Cady Stanton at Seneca Falls Convention
Susan B. Anthony