APUSHch11 Flashcards
antebellum period
The time period before the Civil War during which there were many reforms, including the establishment of free (tax-supported) public schools, improving the treatment of the mentally ill, controlling/abolishing the sale of alcohol, winning equal legal/political rights for women, and abolishing slavery.
Second Great Awakening
A series of religious revivals starting in 1801, based on Methodism and Baptism. Stressed a religious philosophy of salvation through good deeds and tolerance for all Protestant sects. The revivals attracted women, Blacks, and Native Americans. It also had an effect on moral movements such as prison reform, the temperance movement, and moral reasoning against slavery.
Timothy Dwight
He was an educated Reverend (president of Yale College) who helped initiate the Second Great Awakening. His campus revivals inspired many young men to become evangelical preachers.
millennialism
much of religious enthusiasm of the time was based on the widespread belief that the world was about to end with the second coming of Christ; preacher William Miller gained tens of thousands of followers by predicting a specific date when the second coming would occur (didn’t happen-Millerites will become Seventh Day Adventists)
Church of Latter-Day Saints; Mormons
A religious group founded in 1830 based on a book of Scripture (traced a connection between the Native Americans and the lost tribes of Israel); they settled near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Their practice of polygamy created conflict with the U.S. government. Founded by Joseph Smith.
Joseph Smith; Brigham Young
Religous leaders of the Mormons. Smith was the founder, but was murdered by a local mob. Young took over the leadership role and migrated the Mormons to the far western frontier, settling in Utah.
New Zion
This was a religious community established by the Mormons on the banks of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
romantic movement
a movement in response to the cold rationality of the Enlightenment that stressed poetic, religious, and visionary human experience; sought to combine the “reason” of the Enlightenment with a renewed “faith” in the poetic powers of the human being
transcendentalists
New England writers and reformers who questioned established churches and capitalistic habits of the merchant class; they challenged the materialism of American society by suggesting artistic expression was better than pursuit of wealth. They championed mystical and intuitive ways of thinking - discovering one’s inner self and looking for the essence of God in nature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar”
He was the leading voice in trancedentalism in america in the mid 1800s. He wanted to capture the passionate aspects of the human spirit and so gain a deeper insight to the mysteries of existence. He celebrated those who rejected traditional constraints, but retained self and civic responsibility. He remade American literature. He wrote the “The American Scholar.” This argues to celebrate democracy and individual freedom and to find inspiration in ordinary human experiences.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden, “On Civil Disobedience”
American transcendentalist who was against a government that supported slavery. He wrote down his beliefs in Walden. He started the movement of civil-disobedience when he refused to pay the toll-tax to support him Mexican War.
Brook Farm; George Ripley
He developed an expieremental farm in Massachusetts in 1841. The idea was that people would come together and form their own ideal society. Everyone would share their duties equally and the amount of leisure time would be equal. It was created to provide a place where people could have full opportunity for self-realization. However, the individual freedom of the citizens took its toll of the community and people began to leave. It was completely ended when the central building caught fire (1847). Among the citizens were Margaret Fuller and Theodore Parker.
Shakers
Founded by “Mother” Ann Lee. Believed in celibacy. Separated man and women so relied on adult converts. Protestant religious sect during 2nd awakening. They also believed that their lives should be dedicated to pursuing perfection and continuously confessing their sins and attempting a cessation of sinning. Elevated position of women to equals of men.
Robert Owen; New Harmony
This secular (nonreligious) experiment was intended to provide the answer to the problems of inequity and alienation caused by the Industrial Revolution; it failed for financial reasons and arguments among community members.
Joseph Henry Noyes; Oneida community
This community was started in 1848 in New York and was highly controversial because, in order to achieve total equality, the members shared property and even marriage partners. It was also criticized for their idea of planned reproduction and communal child-rearing. This community prospered economically, though, due to the success of selling high quality silverware.
Charles Fourier; phalanxes
These communities attempted to solve the problem of a competitive society by sharing work and living arrangements in the 1840s; this movement died out quickly because of Americans’ strong individualism.
George Caleb Bingham
Painter who painted people doing everyday things; boatmen on the Mississippi River frontier, political scenes, people doing chores
William S. Mount
Contemporary of the Hudson River school; began as a history painter but moved to depicting scenes form everyday life. Praised for his lively rural compositions.
Thomas Cole
Founder of the Hudson River school, famous for his landscape paintings. Captured the beauty of the American landscapes on the western frontier and along the Hudson River in New York State.
Frederick Church
Central figure in the Hudson River School, pupil of Thomas Cole, known for his landscapes and for painting colossal views of exotic places.