The Age of Reform

Morality in an Expanding Nation

This Day in History - 1864• Union cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate

counterparts at Tom's Brook, Virginia. • Jubal Early vs. Ulysses S. Grant, – Grant laying siege to Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. – Grant determined to neutralize Early and secure the Shenandoah. – Dispatched one of his best generals, Philip Sheridan, to pursue the

Rebels there.

• Major victories at Winchester and Fischer's Hill in September. – Early's force sought refuge in foothills of the Blue Ridge

Mountains,

• Sheridan systematically destroyed Shenandoah's rich agricultural resources. – Used cavalry to guard the foot soldiers as they burned farms and

mills and slaughtered livestock.

• October 9, Generals Custer and Merritt attacked two wings of the Confederate cavalry.– Merritt's 3,500 overwhelmed General Lunsford Lomax's 1,500– Custer’s 2,500 faced 3,000 under of Gen. Thomas Rosser, a

close friend of Custer's at West Point before the war. • Rebels protected by the high bank of Tom's Creek– Custer sent three regiments around Rosser's flank. – Both groups of Confederates broke in retreat.

• Yankees pursued defeated Confederates for over 20 miles– A flight called the Woodstock Races. The chase ended only

when the Confederates reached the safety of Early's infantry. • The Yankees captured 350 men, 11 artillery pieces, and all

of the cavalry's wagons and ambulances. • Nine Union troopers were killed, and 48 were wounded. It

was the most complete victory of Union cavalry in the eastern theater during the entire war.

In Favor of Slavery

• John C. Calhoun’s The Pro Slavery Argument: slavery is a “positive good”

• Slavery displayed a Christian responsibility toward one’s inferiors– Argued biological inferiority of African Americans• Unfit to care for themselves, let alone the rights of citizenship

• Depended on Protestant clergy to give biblical justification

• Masters provided and cared for their slaves, giving them a better life than the poor black in the north– Slavery was the only way the races could peacefully

coexist in southern society

• Slavery was the basis of “superior” southern way of life– Orderly society, no crowded industrial cities

– Protected the welfare of “workers”

• The southern slave-based economy was the key to the Union’s prosperity

Underground Railroad

• Developed in 1830s

• Slightly organized groups of whites and free blacks– Faced harassment and death in the south

• Provided safe-houses for runaways

• Allowed runaways to move north to free-states– Ultimately to Canada

– Captured runaways severely punished

Mass Communication

• Newspapers:– The Liberator, The Emancipator, The Philanthropist

• Illustrated periodicals– The Anti-Slavery Reporter, The Slave’s Friend,

Human Rights

• Mailings in 1836– Increased adoption of antislavery stance

– Goal: southerners would repent and free slaves

• Negative reaction in north and south

Conspiracies Abound• North: “Slave power conspiracy”– Southern repression of civil liberties (assembly, press)• Disrupted meetings

• Mail searches

• Wrecked newspaper offices

• Death of Lovejoy

– Decadence, lust, gambling due to idleness

• South:– Radical anti-slavery • immediatism

– Destruction of southern way of life

Abolitionist Politicians Emerge

• John Quincy Adams –Whig congressman (MA)

– Defended right of petition, debate

• Joshua Giddings, Seth Gates, William Slade–Whig congressmen who supported Adams

– Agitated for anti-slavery in Congress

– Focused on issues for re-election

– Free labor, self-education, economic independence

Break-Up

• 1840: American Antislavery Society– Garrison• Slavery a sin• Black equality• Focused on abolition, not politics

– Anti-Garrisonians• Vote for candidates sympathetic to cause

– American and Foreign Antislavery Society – Feminist antislavery societies (women’s

auxiliaries)

Second Great Awakening• 1840s (began in 1790)

• Religious movement spurred reform movements

• Protestant Revivalism– New Light Evangelicals• Cleansed of past guilt, beginning new life

• Rejected predestination

– Unitarians• New England denomination

• Perfection of human nature

• Rejected emotional revivals of Evangelicals

Movers and Shakers

• Joseph Smith’s Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints– Book of Mormon• Plural marriage

– “Calmer” denomination

– Hostile response from protestants• Smith lynched, group moved west

• The Shakers– Celibacy, equality of sexes

– Conversion, adoption of orphans

– Christian socialism

Protestants and Temperance• Crusaded against personal

immorality• Temperance its chief course

of action: crusade against drunkenness– American Temperance

Society formed by Protestants (direct result of Second Great Awakening)

– Alcohol consumption was at its 19 century peak in the 1820s

Washington Temperance Society

• Baltimore

• Many members “reformed drunkards”

• Economic survival depended on sobriety

• Blamed Panic of 1837 on decadence and drink

• Popular– Consumption dropped to

half its peak in 1820s

Movers and Shakers

• Joseph Smith’s Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints– Book of Mormon• Plural marriage

– “Calmer” denomination

– Hostile response from protestants• Smith lynched, group moved west

• The Shakers– Celibacy

– Conversion, adoption of orphans

– Christian socialism

Abolition Gains Momentum

• 1,500 antislavery societies– Petitioned Congress

– Printed newspapers

Transcendentalism Gains Ground

• Individuals “transcend” the limits of society and allow emotion to rule in order to grasp truth

• Ralph Waldo Emerson– “Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one

finished nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”

• Walt Whitman’s poetry was celebrated by Emerson – Democrat, wrote for antislavery

Student of Emerson• Henry David Thoreau– Jailed for non-payment of taxes

–Wrote Civil Disobedience in 1849• Defended disobedience of unjust laws

• I heartily accept the motto, ‘That government is best which governs least;’ and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.”

–Moved to Walden Pond in 1845, wrote Walden in 1854• Lived simply, described Americans turning into machines

hoping to acquire pointless wealth

• Message was live life freely and discover truth ones’ own truth

Transcendentalist Quotes

• “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members”

• “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.”

• “It is never too late to give up your prejudices.”

• “Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to the iron string.”

• “To be great is to be misunderstood.”

• “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

• "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Walt WhitmanO me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I,

and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the

struggle ever renew'd,

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see

around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,

The question, O me! so sad, recurring--What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here--that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

Liberty Party

• Formed in 1840

• Stood for “free soil” – keeping slavery out of new territories

• Supported by a large number of whites in the north

Population Growth• American population to 17 million– Growth the result of improved public health• High birth rates, low mortality rates

– Black population smaller; poverty increases mortality• Slave importation banned by Congress in 1808

– Immigration increased after Napoleonic wars

– Catholic immigration increased in 1840s• Irish famine killed one million people

• 1.5 million immigrated to the US between 1845-1855

• Nativism resulted– Immigrants “taking jobs, lowering wages”

– Another result of Panic of 1837

Immigrants and Politics

• Irish and German Immigrants– Voted Democratic• Whigs unsympathetic to common people, anti-Catholic

– Disagreed with abolition• Freed slaves came north and took jobs

– Morality, religious disagreements• Temperance vs. drinking

“Middling Classes”

• 1840s version of the “Middle Class”– Not wealthy, not poor

– Professionals

– Small merchants

– Landowning farmers

– Self-employed artisans• Carpenters

• shoemakers

Economic Mobility

• New transportation allowed movement of people

• Men could travel easily to find work–More abandoned farming

– Sought professional work

• Allowed farmers to exhaust soil, move on

• People traveled from city to city seeking work

Economic Policy

• Martin Van Buren opposed government intervention in economy– Borrowed money to pay government debts

– Accepted only specie for payment of taxes

– Executive order: ten hour work day on all federal projects

Independent Treasury

• Proposed new financial system to replace the Bank of US– “independent treasury” or “sub-treasury”• Government funds placed in independent treasury in

Washington DC and other cities

– No private banks would have government money

– Pushed through 1840

– Kept federal money from being used in speculative loans

Western Economic Centers

• Lake cities gain populations by 1840– Buffalo

– Cleveland

– Detroit

– Chicago

– Milwaukee

• Before 1840:

• 75% of western city dwellers in port cities– New Orleans

– Louisville

– Cincinnati

– Pittsburgh

Technological Advancements

• Textile industry

• Manufacturing of tools to make machinery parts– Government supported research in this area

• Military created universal rifle parts– Springfield Armory in Massachusetts and Harpers

Ferry, Va.

• Interchangeable parts hit manufacturing– Trains

– Steam engines

Coal

• Began replacing water, wood power– From 1820 to 1860, western Pennsylvania

produced 50,000 tons of coal

• Mills could move away from water sources

• Immigrants were cheap and plentiful labor– Irish predominated New England textile mills in

1840s

– 12-14 hour work days

Prison and Asylum Reform

• Asylums: believed to be places where corrupting influences disallowed– Criminals

– Insane

• Penitentiary system: used isolation– Auburn system

– Pennsylvania system or separate system

• Almshouses: houses for inform poor

• Workhouses

Dorothea Dix

• Humanitarian Reformer

• Hospitals should take in insane– Given proper care,

medicine, moral care

Log Cabin Campaign of 1840• William Henry Harrison vs. van Buren• First campaign where newspapers gave

information about candidates to large audiences – “penny press” focused on the lower-class readership– New York Sun liked to embarrass rich

• Both parties focused on image of simple, rustic values–Whigs portrayed William Henry Harrison as simple,

not rich as was reality• Hero of Battle of Tippecanoe (and Tyler, too)• Portrayed Van Buren as Mason, aristocrat• Democrats were weakened by the economy

1841

• Sworn in on a cold, rainy day–Wore no hat, no coat

– Longest inaugural address in history

• Harrison died of pneumonia a month after taking office

Tyler Ascends to Presidency

• Former Democrat who left the party because of Jackson– Agreed to bills abolishing the independent treasury

system

– Raised tariff rates

– Refused to support Henry Clay’s attempt to re-charter the Bank of the US• Also vetoed Clay’s internal improvement bills

• Five members of cabinet resigned as a result

• Tyler replaced them with former Democrats–Webster as secretary of state was replaced by John

C. Calhoun (now a Democrat)

• All conservative southern Whigs– Had aristocratic ideas

–Wanted the government to protect and expand slavery

– States’ rights were paramount

1842

• Massachusetts State Supreme Court Case Commonwealth v Hunt: Unions are lawful organizations and can use the strike as a lawful weapon– Early craft unions excluded women• Women made their own

– Owners replaced union workers with cheaper immigrant labor• Increased tension between immigrants and natives

Prigg v Pennsylvania (1842)

• States did not have to aid in enforcing the 1793 law requiring the return of runaway slaves for owners– Abolitionists won “personal liberty laws” which

forbade state officials from capturing and returning runaways

– Southerners enraged

Medical Issues

• Epidemics: rapidly spreading, hard to control diseases– Yellow fever, cholera

• Risks increased by transportation revolution

• Lack of knowledge regarding transmission– “Miasmas:” toxic gases

– Disease passed by touch

• Lack of understanding regarding sterilization– Amputation mortality rate: 40%

Medical “Advancements”

• Anyone could practice medicine by 1845

• Advances came through experimentation and necessity– Anesthetics the result of a dentist finding a less painful

way of extracting teeth• Nitrous oxide

• William Morton (1844): sulfuric ether

• Boston surgeon John Warren started using ether as a sedative

– Helped surgeons improve public image• Allowed for longer surgeries

Election of 1844

Texas an Issue• After gaining independence, Texas began forging

ties with England and France– Tyler then asked Texas to apply for statehood again

• Calhoun presented anti-annexation treaty to Congress which was defeated

• Texas became a state in 1845 –Many southerners migrating west went to Texas–Mexico cut diplomatic ties with US as a result of

annexation• Border dispute over the Rio Grande led Polk to send

General Zachary Taylor to the area in 1845

Mexican War Begins

• 1846: John Slidell Offers to buy territory from Mexico

• Polk ordered Taylor to advance to the Rio Grande–War officially declared May 13, 1846• Whigs criticized Polk for deliberately starting the war

– California an American conquest by the end of the year (harbors)• John C. Fremont seized Sonoma in June and declared the

“Bear Flag Republic”

1846

• Elias Howe invented the sewing machine– Improved upon by Isaac Singer to make ready-to-

wear clothing• Supplied Northern troops with uniforms

• Steam cylinder rotary press invented by Richard Hoe– Newspapers printed cheaper and faster

– Growth of mass circulation newspapers

Western Expansion Continues

• “Fifty-four forty or fight!”

• Acquisition of whole territory meant war with Britain

• Puget Sound’s deep-water harbor

• Oregon War was avoided

- Great Britain accepted division at the 49th parallel

• Approved by the Senate on June 15, 1846

Key Battles

• May, 1846: Gen. Taylor “old rough and ready” takes Monterrey

• Replaced by General Winfield Scott– Getting too popular

–Whig candidate

– Amphibious attack on Vera Cruz

• Tyler defeated large force at Battle of Buena Vista– Popularity increased

Ending the War

• General Winfield Scott took his army on a campaign into the Mexican Capital via the Mexican National Highway– Lee under his command

– Low casualties, no battles lost

– took Mexico City September 13, 1847• Americans won despite smaller army due to technology,

supplies, organization

Frederick Douglass

• Published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass– Born a Maryland slave, escaped in 1838, bought his

freedom in 1847

– Lectured abolition in England for two years

– Founded The North Star antislavery newspaper in Rochester, NY• Demanded freedom and full social and economic equality

History.com Video

“A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.”

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence”

Presidential Campaign of 1848

• Democrats and Whigs avoided slavery issue– Polk was ill, so the Democrats ran Lewis Cass

– Defeated by Taylor from Louisiana• Free-Soil Party ran Van Buren, lost, but won 10

Congressional seats

• Slavery was still an issue

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

• New Mexican government took power, negotiated–Mexico ceded Texas with the Rio Grande boundary,

– New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, parts of Colorado, Wyoming• US paid $15 million for taxes of new citizens to Mexico

• Advocates of Manifest Destiny angered over not taking Mexico

Wilmot Proviso

• David Wilmot, antislavery Democrat: barred slavery in the new Mexican Territory– Passed the House in 1846 & 1849

– Failed in the Senate, but remembered by Southerners• Southerners said they had equal rights to the territory

including moving property

– Polk supported extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Coast

– Others preferred popular sovereignty which allowed people in territories to decide on the status of slavery

“Separate Spheres”

• Men– Governed the family–Worked outside the home

• Women– Subordinate to men– Raised children• Discipline• Number

• Alternative to legal equality

Seneca Falls Convention• Seneca Falls, NY - 1848– Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton: reform status

of women after turned away from London anti-slavery convention

– Sarah and Angelina Grimke: vocal abolitionists• Authors, lecturers to both men and women, started fight for

women’s rights in 1838

• Tyranny of men caused women’s grievances

• Intended to initiate a broader movement– Emancipation of women

Deep-seated Obstacles

• Lack of public skills

• Hostile fathers and husbands– Reinforced insecuries

• Pressures of housekeeping and child-reading

• Psychologically insecure

Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

• Modeled on Declaration of Independence– “All men and women are created equal.”

– Demanded the right to vote (suffrage)

– Rejected the idea of women having separate spheres in society• Many attendees were Quaker women

• Religion embraced sexual equality: women as preachers and community leaders

Manifest Destiny

• Nationalistic idea

• America destined to own all of the continent– Term coined by newspaper editor John O'Sullivan, 1845

• Result of Second Great Awakening– God blessed the land

– Native Americans heathens that must be “civilized”• Missionaries “saved” souls through evangelism

• Land acquisition for profit

• “A symbol of Manifest Destiny, the figure ‘Columbia’ moves across the land in advance of settlers, replacing darkness with light and ignorance with civilization.”

Oregon Trail(s)

• Oregon Country: ½ million square miles: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, western Montana, some of Wyoming, British Columbia– Claimed by the US and Great Britain

– 1818 treaty allowed citizens of both nations equal access; “join occupation” for 20 years• Mostly American, Canadian traders

• By the mid 1840s Americans outnumbered British

• American settlers called on government to take possession citing Manifest Destiny

Who went west?• Many traveled from the Old Northwest (today’s

Midwest) –Most moved in family groups• Had some money, as the poor could not afford the journey

• Poor joined other groups or families

– Single men sought jobs in mining lumbering, women and family groups in farming

Western Population Grows• 300,000 migrants headed west between 1840 and

1860• Overland trails from depots in Iowa and Missouri– Wagon trains usually led by guides

• From Independence, Missouri

– 2,000 mile Oregon Trail to Oregon or California (California Trail)

– To New Mexico using the Santa Fe trail– Journey lasted 6 months (May-November)– Wagons went 15 miles a day– Many afflicted with cholera– Fewer than 400 died due to Indian conflicts

• Indians were more often guides and traders with travelers

Election of 1848• Whigs– Used Wilmot Proviso to garner southern support

– Zachary Taylor• Louisiana slave-holder

• Democrats– Polk declined re-election

– Ran Lewis Cass• Michigan

• Formulated popular sovereignty

• Both parties avoided slavery issue

• Abolitionists from both parties joined “Free Soil Party”– “Free trade, free labor, free speech, free men”

California Gold Rush

• Started in 1848

• Attracted single men–Made slavery an issue in the state

– Attracted the first Chinese immigrants in the US

– Produced labor shortage in the US since so many ran to California

–Many slave owners also went to California

• Heavy migration into California this year, thus the term “49-ers”– December, 1849 California’s Constitution prohibited

slavery

– Taylor asked Congress to admit it as a free state and for New Mexico to be admitted after it decided its status• Admitting California as a free state upset the balance in

Congress (15 for free, 15 for slave)

Compromise of 1850• Henry Clay, January 29, 1850– California admitted into Union as a free state

– No restrictions on slavery in the rest of the Mexican territories

– Popular sovereignty

–More effective Fugitive Slave Law in DC

– Abolish slave auctions in DC

– Extend Missouri Compromise Line to Pacific

• Issue: No Congressional Limitations on Slavery

The Great Negotiator

• Clay: Wilmot Proviso unnecessary– Slavery would not

survive in the territories

• North stop insisting on Congressional prohibition of slavery

Final Compromise

• California a free state

• Utah and New Mexico Territories: popular sovereignty

• Texas-New Mexico boundary settled

• Slave auctions prohibited in DC• More effective Fugitive Slave Law in DC

Agreement• Defeated by Congress in July– July 9: Taylor dies in office, succeeded by Millard

Fillmore of NY

• Stephen A. Douglas broke up the Clay’s bill and let members of Congress vote on it piece by piece– Enacted by September

• Northern cities saw mobs prevent enforcement of Fugitive Slave Act– Some northern states passed laws barring deportation of

slaves– South furious at part of Compromise not being upheld

Cotton Kingdom Emerges

• Textile growth in Great Britain in 1820-1830 and then in New England in 1840-1850s increased cotton demand– Cotton production in south increased as a result• Linchpin of southern economy by 1850s

– 1820-1860: 500,000 bales to 5 million bales/year

– 2/3 total US export

– Lower south or deep south called “Cotton Kingdom”• Prospect of fortune drew settlers by the thousands

– Most small slaveholders or slave-less farmers hoping to move into planter class

Southern Economy Changes

• 1840-1860: 410,000 slaves were moved south

• Slave sale became important economically to upper south

• Some textile and iron manufacturing in upper south– Nonfarm commercial sector marketed planters’ crops

– Acted as bankers: provided planters credit

Transportation

• Poor transportation in the south– Few canals

– Roads unsuitable for heavy transport

– Railroads did not fully connect the region

– Rivers and the sea were the main modes of transportation• Most manufacturing was near or in port towns

– All resulted in southern dependence on Northern manufacturers and merchants

References (APA format)

Appleby, et. al. (2008). The American Vision. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Axelrod, Alan. (2006). The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American History, Forth Edition. New York: Penguin.

Boyer, et al. (2009). The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, Concise Seventh Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Brinkley, Alan. (2000). The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. Volume 1: To 1877, Third Edition. New York: McGraw Hill.

Donald, Baker, Holt. (2001). The Civil War and Reconstruction. New York, London: W.W Norton & Company.

DuBois, Ellen Carol. (1978). Feminism & Suffrage: The Emergence of an Independent Women’s Movement in America, 1848-1869. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

Henry David Thoreau. (Photo) Retrieved from: http://www.goodreads.com/photo/author/1024.Henry_David_Thoreau

Manifest Destiny. (2008) Philadelphia: Independence Hall Foundation. Retrieved from: http://www.ushistory.org/us/29.asp

Ralph Waldo Emerson. (Photo). Retrieved from:http://www.goodreads.com/photo/author/12080.Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

Stewart, James Brewer. (Revised) 1997. Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery. Revised.

U.S. Library of Congress DIX, DOROTHEA LYNDE. Retouched photograph. [No date found on item.] Location: Biographical File Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-9797 Retrieved from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Dix-Dorothea-LOC.jpg