14 New Movements in America Flashcards
Know-Nothing Party
political group of the early 1800s that wanted to keep Catholics and immigrants out of public office
nativists
people who opposed immigration
middle class
people who made less money than the rich, but were better off than the poor; grew significantly in the early 1800s
tenements
poorly designed apartments where large numbers of people lived
transcendentalism
the belief that people could rise above material things in life and should depend on self rather than outside authority; popular with New England writers and thinkers in the early 1800s
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A transcendentalist writer who believed that Americans should follow their own beliefs instead of listening to others.
utopian communities
groups of people that unsuccessfully tried to form perfect societies
Edgar Allan Poe
a poet and short story writer who is famous for the poem “The Raven”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Best-known poet of the mid-1800s who wrote popular story-poems like The Song of Hiawatha
Second Great Awakening
A revival of the Christian church during the early 1800s;
Charles Grandison Finney
Leader of the Second Great Awakening; Believed that the Christian should take initiative and that faith should result in deeds; His teaching sparked an increase of social reform
temperance movement
A reform movement that urged people to stop drinking hard liquor.
Dorothea Dix
Helped reform the prison system and care for the mentally ill
Walt Whitman
Romantic poet that praised American individualism and democracy
Catharine Beecher
Started an all-female school in Hartford, Connecticut
abolition
A complete end to slavery
William Lloyd Garrison
Publisher of an abolitionist newspaper called The Liberator
Frederick Douglass
An African American leader who gave speeches and published a newspaper to show the cruelty of slavery
Sojourner Truth
A former slave who gave speeches about slavery and women’s rights; fiery and animated
Underground Railroad
A group of people that helped escaped slaves hide or travel north
Harriet Tubman
An escaped slave that herself became a famous leader of the Underground Railroad
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
A women’s rights activist who helped plan the Seneca Falls convention
Seneca Falls Convention
1848 - The first public meeting about women’s rights
Declaration of Sentiments
A document that explained beliefs about social unfairness toward women
Nat Turner
1831- Led a slave rebellion that resulted in creating fear throughout the South
