Antebellum Culture and Reform

1. The works of James Fenimore Cooper can be seen as the American peak of the struggle to create true American literature that would be created by and for American intellectuals. Cooper's works were not only popular romance novels which were the majority of the American literature at the time, but also meaningful and advanced ideas involving the American people and their country; these strides in ideas of America that Cooper wrote were the peak of the efforts of previous American writers such as Washington Irving and cemented the creation of a true American Literature. Often, Cooper's works alluded to the terror of disorder, and the need for social discipline in the undisciplined wild. Through his use of the American wilderness, he was able to hint to the liveliness and freshness of America, its wilderness, and its people especially when compared to the sense of old world being worn-out.

2. The philosophy of the Transcendentalists was radical for its time.

* First large movement for American intellectuals.

* Opposed John Locke's sensualism and tabula rasa.

* Alternative of living simply instead of modernizing.

* Passive disobedience to laws believed unjust.

* Goal of self-realization through not conforming to expectations of society but through instinct.

3. Utopian communities attempted to redefine the gender roles of women.

* Shakers' complete celibacy redefined women's gender role as a mother.

* Shakers redefined women's gender role as a wife.

* Shakers redefined women's role in leadership.

* Margaret Fuller became a respected intellectual leader.

* Oneidan women weren't homemakers bound to a family.

4. The Mormons are a religious group of people following the Book of Mormon made famous by Joseph Smith; the Mormons began after Joseph Smith announced findings of the Book of Mormon which he found in the upstate New York wilderness. They believe in a fallen ancient society based in North America, Jesus Christ visiting said society after his resurrection, the people of said society angering the Judo-Christian deity, Native Americans being punished by said deity by increased melanin levels in their skin and eyes, Joseph Smith reaching spiritual level of a god, and the ability for anyone to reach the level of a god. After being forced out of various places in America including the murder of their leader Joseph Smith in one of those places, the Mormons trekked to Utah where they were able to stay in a community that currently still contains the highest population of their people.

5. The philosophy of reform that shaped the antebellum era arose from two distinct sources.

* Fantasy of the Transcendentalists -writings of Emerson, Thoreau, and other transcendentalists.

* Revival of Protestantism - Began with the Second Great Awakening and agreed that everyone has the ability to reach salvation.

6. The temperance movement believed alcohol was the root of societies' problems.

* Evangelical Protestant reformers claimed excessive alcohol abuse was responsible for the most crime, poverty, and disorder.

* Evangelical women claimed men would spend money on alcohol instead of necessities for their families.

* Families complained that drunken husbands would abuse their wives and children.

* Temperance advocates urged chastity of hard liquor.

* Some advocates demanded state laws banning the drinking of liquor.

7. There was a distinct effort to create a universal public education system and a belief that it was needed.

* 1830s' belief that everyone had a standard capacity and that society was compelled to train and use that capacity.

* Desire to instill values within youth through public education at an early age in order to help regulate society.

* In Massachusetts Horace Mann lengthened the school year to six months, doubled teacher salaries, enhanced the curriculum, and introduced new training methods to train teachers.

* In 1835, Pennsylvania passed a law to assign state funding to a universal public education system.

* All states agreed to tax-supported elementary public schools by the 1850s.

8. Horace Mann revolutionized the education system

* Mann increased the academic "school year" to six months long

* He doubled teacher salaries

* Mann enhanced the curriculum of the schools

* Mann introduced training teachers professionally

* Mann instituted the first state-supported teachers' college in America in 1839

9. The rise of feminism reflected not only the participation of women in social crusades but also a basic change in the nature of the family.

* Sarah and Angelina Grimke became active abolitionists while ignoring males expressing their distaste for female involvement in politics.

* Catharine Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Dorothea Dix worked for the advancement of equal rights for women instead of what men found was "acceptable" for a female.

* At the 1840 world antislavery convention in London, many female delegates attempted to get into the convention but were rejected.

* In 1848, a convention to discuss women's rights was held in Seneca Falls, New York.

* The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions was created from the women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

10. The Seneca Falls Convention was an important step in the march toward gender equality (Be sure you list/know the main players in the feminist movement).

* Catharine Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Dorothea Dix organized the Seneca Falls Convention which allowed the creation of