Antebellum U.S. : Do Now Agenda:

Homework:• Thesis statement for essay #12 submitted to turnitin.com by class on Wednesday. • Bring pre-work to class.

1Reading Quiz 2 3Towards War…Antebellum Society

Quiz• Transcendentalism• Irish Immigration• Utopian Communities

Transcendentalism• =a philosophical and literary

movement of the 1800s that emphasized living a simple life while celebrating the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and imagination

• HENRY DAVID THOREAU (“Walden”) and RALPH WALDO EMERSON (“Self Reliance”) were the leading transcendentalists

Irish Immigration ½ of all immigrants Potato famine (1848) Roman Catholic (faced

discrimination) Competed with African

Americans for jobs Joined Democratic Party.

Utopian Communities• Utopians shared a faith in

perfectionism – that is, the belief that humans have the capacity to achieve a better life through conscious acts of will

• The best-known utopian communities included Brook Farm, New Harmony, and the Oneida community

• Utopian communities strove to escape the competitiveness of American life, regulate moral behavior, and create cooperative lifestyles

Why did the U.S. become a leading industrial power in the 19th century?

• Expansion of urban population: Millions of Americans abandoned farms for the city in the mid19th c.

• Concentration of workforce in factories: Factory workers were about twice as productive as agricultural workers # of factory workers went up, so did national productivity

• Mechanization: Known as the “American system,” one of the techniques used by American manufacturers to compensate for a relatively tight supply of workers increase production while using less labor.

• Shift from water to steam power: Steam engines and railraods allowed settlements not on rivers or canals to participate in larger economies with greater ease.

• Rising agricultural productivity: Farmers = 80% of the nation’s population in 1860– During the 19th c., farmers almost doubled their level of productivity b/c:

• Federal policies to settle western lands, movement into the Midwest• development of steel plows and mechanical reapers, all contributed to the rise in agricultural

productivity

Irish Immigration

• 1840-1860, almost 1.7 mil Irish came to U.S. (4% of pop in 1860)

• Most Irish settled in port cities in NE (50% pop of NYC & Boston in 1860)

• Causes:– Desperate living conditions in Ireland, very

poor, potato famine (food lived off of)• Why remember?

– Transformed Boston, NYC, and Philadelphia into densely populated centers high rates of crime/poverty

– Forced to work lowest paying jobs (domestic servants, factories)

– Key role in growth of Catholic Church in U.S.– Aroused anti-Catholic prejudice Nativist

(Protestants)– Irish voters supported the Democrats as the

party of the “common man” Irish bosses soon played a key role in the formation of big city political machines

German Immigration• Failed democratic revolution

(1848)• Over 1.5 mil b/n 1840-1860• Unlike Irish, moved to Old

Northwest and homesteaded (instead of East coast cities)

• Diversified group (exiled political refugees & displaced farmers) some Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish difficult to stereotype

• Prosperous• Limited political participation• Supported public education• Opponents of slavery

Nativists Know Nothings

• reacted against foreigners• Anglo-Protestants• Nativist leaders argued that Catholics

posed a danger to America’s republican institutions b/c relied on the sovereignty of the Pope

• Anti-Catholics from Ireland/Germany• Political Party: “Supreme Order of the Star

Spangled Banner”– Started as secret society w/ elaborate

handshakes including when asked about the group were supposed to respond: “ I Know Nothing!”

– So called the “Know Nothing Party”

“loyalty to a particular region”

Sectionalism divided the country and ultimately led the nation into the Civil War.

The nation was divided into 3 regions:

Sectionalism

Improved transportationHigh rate of economic growth (commerce, farming, industry)Most populous region

• High birthrate• immigration

THE NORTHThe Northeast = New England & the mid-Atlantic

Industrial Area; factories manufactured: Textiles Farm implements, clocks, and shoes

The Old Northwest = Ohio to Minnesota

Agricultural Area:• Land ceded to the national government in the

1780’s.• The Northwest Ordinance established the

procedure for turning territories into states.• 6 states:

– Ohio(1803)– Indiana (1816)– Illinois (1818)– Michigan (1837)– Wisconsin 1848)– Minnesota (1858)

1. Relied on Mississippi River at first to send grain to the South.

2. Later was linked to other northern states via acquisition of Native American land, canals, and railroads (established a common market).

Immigration1830’s-1850’s = a surge in immigration (4 million immigrants); they moved everywhere except the South.Causes:1. Inexpensive & rapid ocean transportation2. Famines & revolutions in Europe3. U.S. was seen as offering economic

opportunity and political freedom.

The Old Northwest

Agriculture• Large grain crops (corn &

wheat) were profitable.Grain…• was shipped quickly to

urban centers for sale.• was fed to cattle & hogs

New CitiesSmall villages became cities.• Along the Great Lakes:

– Buffalo– Cleveland– Detroit– Chicago

• Along major rivers:– Cincinnati, St. Louis

The cities were transfer points for farm products and delivered manufactured goods from the East.

The Steel Plow (John Deere) and the Mechanical Reaper (McCormick) made the family farm more efficient. It could cover

more acres with fewer workers.

The West: Native Americans

Life on the Great Plains• Some farmed in villages.• The HORSE (introduced by the Spanish) led some tribes to become nomadic hunters,

following the buffalo.

• Native Americans were the original settlers of the West.• Native Americans were forced to move westward as white settlers took their homelands.• By 1850: most Native Americans lived in the West

– Those from the East had been killed off, forced to move by treaty, or forced to move by the military.

The West

The Frontier

THE MYTH OF THE FRONTIERIt supposedly represented:• A fresh start• New opportunities• Greater freedom for all ethnic groups

(Native Americans, African Americans, Europeans, Asian Americans)

MOUNTAIN MENLived in the Rocky Mountains (wilderness at

the time)• Were the earliest whites, who followed

Lewis and Clark.– Trapped for furs– Acted as guides and pathfinders for settlers

in California and Oregon in the 1840’s.

White Settlers on the FrontierDaily life was similar to that of early colonists:• Worked form sunrise to sunset• Lived in log cabins• Died young from disease and malnutrition (NOT Indian

raids)Women• Performed many tasks:

– Doctors– Seamstresses– Teachers– Cooks– Assistants to husbands in the fields.

Isolation + Endless work + Dangerous Childbirth limited lifespan for women

Environmental Damage (didn’t understand fragility of nature and wildlife)• Cleared entire forests• Exhausted soil with poor farming methods• Decimated the beaver and buffalo (near extinction).

Hudson River School• = a group of artists led by Thomas

Cole, who painted landscapes emphasizing nature’s beauty

• =America’s 1st coherent art school• First Natural Landscapes• Power of Nature• Sublime (feeling of awe, feeling of

wonderment)• Grandeur of Nature• Nature offers promise• Sense of Nostalgia in nature

Romanticism in Painting

Transcendentalism• =a philosophical and literary

movement of the 1800s that emphasized living a simple life while celebrating the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and imagination

• HENRY DAVID THOREAU (“Walden”) and RALPH WALDO EMERSON (“Self Reliance”) were the leading transcendentalists

Ralph WaldoEmerson

Henry DavidThoreau

Transcendentalist Thinking• The infinite kindness of God.

• The importance of and goodwill of nature (truth can be found in nature)

• The divinity of man (God lives in the individual)

• Individuality/Nonconformity

• Value of human intuition (condemn logic and reason)

They instinctively rejected all secular authority and the authority of organized churches and the Scriptures, of law, or of conventions

• Their pursuit of the ideal led to a distorted view of humannature and possibilities: * The Blithedale Romance

A Transcendentalist Critic:Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-

1864)

• One should accept the world as an imperfect place: * Scarlet Letter * House of the Seven Gables

Utopian Communities• Utopians shared a faith in

perfectionism – that is, the belief that humans have the capacity to achieve a better life through conscious acts of will

• The best-known utopian communities included Brook Farm, New Harmony, and the Oneida community

• Utopian communities strove to escape the competitiveness of American life, regulate moral behavior, and create cooperative lifestyles

Secular Utopian Communities

IndividualFreedom

Demands ofCommunity Life

• spontaneity• self-fulfillment

• discipline• organization

alhierarchy

The Oneida Community: NY, 1848

John Humphrey Noyes

• Rejected traditional family and marriage values

• All residents were married to all other residents

• No permanent marriage ties• Sexual behavior was monitored

to prevent abuse• Children raised communally• Liberation from the demands of

male lust

e Millenarianism --> the 2nd coming of Christ had already occurred.e Become Seventh Day Adventist later

• Massachusetts 1841-47

• George Ripley• Transcendentalists• Individual strives

for Self- Realization• Communal• Leisure is key

Brook Farm

New Harmony

Robert Owen (Utopian Socialist)

“Village of Cooperation”

Original Plans for New Harmony, IN

New Harmony in 1832

New Harmony, IN

Antebellum U.S. : Do Now Agenda:

Homework:• Review 2 peers and your own reform intro paragraphs on turnitin.com• Assignment name = Reform Thesis Peermark• This is due by 10PM tomorrow (Thursday) night

1Visual: Contested Territories 2 3Thesis Statement

& Reform MastersThe U.S. was/is

Greedy

Half way-ish through the chapter!

STREEEEEEEEEEEETCH.

Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States had a divine mission to extend its power and civilization

across America.

– 1840’s: this included Mexico and Central America.

– 1890’s: this included the Caribbean and islands in the Pacific Ocean.

• Forces: nationalism, population increase, economic development, technological advances, reform ideals

• Northerners saw Manifest Destiny as a southern attempt to spread slavery.

AMERICANS IN TEXAS•The Mexican government gave 18,000 mi2 of land to Moses & Stephen Austin to sell to settlers.•American settlement was legal (contracts w/ Mexican gov’t)

–American settlers agreed to become Catholic & Mexican citizens–Austin hand-picked settlers (prosperous southern slave-owners—cotton)–Americans outnumbered Tejanos 2:1

•1828: Mexicans sought tighter control over the North-restricted American immigration-outlawed slavery Americans were angry-enforced taxes

-Mediation difficult; in 1836, Sam Houston revolted and declared Texas independent.• Americans & Tejanos were defeated by Santa Anna @ the Alamo (1836)• Sam Houston led an army in surprise attack of Santa Anna’s troops• A forced May 1836 treaty established the Rio Grande as the border of Texan

Republic.• The Mexican Congress refused to honor the treaty; The United States was slow to

annex (agree to add) Texas due to protests in North and possible war with Mexico.

Conflict over Texas

Boundary DisputesMaine

• Lumbermen broke out into a fight (Aroostook War)

• The Webster-Ashburton Treaty – split the disputed territory

between Maine and Canada– established Minnesota’s

boundary

Oregon4 countries had claimed Oregon1. Spain (rescinded in Adams-Onis

Treaty)2. Russia3. Great Britain

• Hudson Fur Trading company’s trade

4. United States• Discovered Columbia River• Lewis and Clark’s expedition• Fur trading pose and fort in

Astoria• 5,000 Americans had settled n

Oregon to farm.Americans saw annexing Oregon as their

manifest destiny

Election of 1844• James Polk won.

• Committed to expansion and manifest destiny

• Favored annexation of Texas, Oregon and California.

• “fifty-four forty or fight”

Annexing Texas• President Tyler pushed annexation of

Texas through Congress.• Viewed as a mandate from election

Dividing Oregon• Polk agreed to the southern half of Oregon (49°)• Granted Vancouver Island AND Navigation rights to Britain.• Did not want to fight a war with both Britain and Mexico

War with Mexico Immediate Causes• Polk directed Gen. Zachary Taylor to move his army

to the Rio Grande area claimed by Mexico.• 1846: a Mexican general captured a US army patrol.• Polk sent his war message to Congress, and most

(except Northern Whigs) approved.– Lincoln’s spot resolutions challenged Polk’s claims

Military Campaigns• The war was fought in Mexican territory with small

armies.• Gen. Kearney took Santa Fe, New Mexico, and

California.• John Fremont took over Northern California and

declared it an independent republic.• General Taylor pushed past the Rio Grande (Buena

Vista), and Gen. Winfield Scott took Mexico City in 1847.

Consequences of the War1. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Mexican Cession-1848)

• Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas.• The United States would take possession of California and New Mexico (The Mexican Cession) for $15 million.

2. Wilmot Proviso [slavery controversy]• David Wilmot attached an amendment onto a Bill prohibiting slavery in new territories. It was defeated in the Senate.

PROPOSED! NOT PASSED!!3. Prelude to Civil War

• The Mexican War increased tensions between North and South.• Acquisition of new land renewed the debate over slavery.• Northerners saw the war as a southern plot to extend slavery.• Ultimately, this debate led to Civil War.

Manifest Destiny in the SouthOstend Manifesto

• American diplomats met secretly in Belgium to negotiate purchasing Cuba from Spain.

• Americans found out and were angry, so the plan was halted.

Walker Expedition• William Walker took over

Nicaragua in 1855.• He hoped to develop a proslavery

central American empire.• Central American countries

invaded and executed him.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)• This was an agreement between

the United States and Britain that neither country would take control of a future canal route in Central America.

• This treaty was replaced in 1901.

Gadsden Purchase• America paid Mexico an additional strip

of land for $10 million for railroads.• It included New Mexico and Arizona.

Post-Civil War Expansion• 1867: William Seward acquired Alaska.• From 1850-1870, issues of the Civil War

overshadowed expansionism.

Settlement of Western TerritoriesFur Traders’ Frontier

• Fur traders (“mountain men”) were the first settlers to move out West.

• In the 1820’s, they held yearly rendez-vous in the Rocky Mountains with Native Americans to trade animal skins.

• They provided early information about trails and frontier conditions.

• By the 1840’s the beaver population in the West was mostly destroyed.

Overland Trails A large group of settlers moved West hoping to farm in California

and Oregon.They followed the Oregon Santa Fe, California, and Mormon

trails, which began at the Missouri River.In 1845, 5,000 went to Oregon; in 1848, 3,000 went to California.Settlers travelled in “trains,” hired “pilots,” and drew up

constitutions.They faced many risks:• Drowning, dehydration, cholera, axe wounds, children being

run over, etc…In 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad was the end of wagon

trains.

Settlement of Western TerritoriesMining Frontier

In January 1848, James Marshall found gold in a stream; he and others started panning for gold.

That fall, the East Coast heard of the gold, and the following year, thousands (called “forty-niners” ) left their farms and jobs to seek their fortune.

• 80% were American.• Mexicans and Latin Americans, Europeans and

Asians all moved West.• In 1852, 20,000 Chinese miners arrived in San

Francisco.• Mining camps “boomed” to life, then ”busted”

when gold was found elsewhere, leaving ghost towns.

Farming FrontierThe government provided affordable land for

people to move out ad start homesteads and begin farming.

Only the middle class could afford to move out west, so the poor had to stay in the east.

Frontier life was isolated, but communities developed over time, modeled after the east coast or foreign communities for immigrants.

Urban FrontierFrom 1848-1850, San Francisco grew from 1,000 to 35,000.From 1848-1852, California grew from 11,000 to 100,000 (whites)• California became large, affluent, culturally sophisticated, and multicultural (though unequal).• California Indians were exterminated.• Californios’ land was taken away.• Racism was consistently directed toward the Chinese.

The Women’s Movement in Antebellum U.S.

• The movement was led by middle-class women

• It promoted a broad-based platform of legal and educational rights

• It had close links with the anti-slavery and temperance movements

• Followers held conventions in the NE and MW but not in the South

The Seneca Falls Convention

• The Seneca Falls Convention was organized and led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott

• The “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” issued by the Seneca Falls Convention demanded greater rights for women– “We hold these truths to be self-evident:

that all men and women are created equal.”

• The Seneca Falls Convention called for:– Women’s suffrage– Women’s right to retain property after

marriage– Greater divorce and child custody rights– Equal educational opportunities

• DID NOT call for liberal abortion laws or equal pay for equal work!

American Colonization Society

• The American Colonization Society worked to return freed slaves to the west coast of Africa

• The American Colonization Society was primarily led by middle-class men and women

Frederick Douglass

• = most prominent Black abolitionist during Antebellum period

• Although best known as an abolitionist, Douglass championed equal rights for women and Native Americans declared “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”