"We [Americans] will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The American Scholar," 1837
Reviving Religion:
1850 - 3/4 of 23 million American people went to church.
This was a lot, but their faith was relaxed in the French Revolutionary Era.
Deism believed that God had created people, leaving them to progress using reason (instead of revelation) and science (rather than scripture).
Unitarianism was a spin-off of Deism, though not as radical when contrasted with other faiths.
Unitarianism did not believe in the trinity or in Christ's divinity.
Good works, not interpretation, were important to Unitarians. They believed that people were essentially good.
1800 brought religious revivals, which swept from the southwest to the northeast.
This was the Second Great Awakening.
It brought shattered churches, new sects, and many conversions back to Christianity.
It also led to the formation of reform groups (prison, women's rights, temperance, and slavery).
"Camp meetings" were held with up to 25,000 people, where they were spoon-fed religion. This spread the revival to the masses.
Methodists and Baptists got most converted souls.
Peter Cartwright was a popular Methodist missionary who was known for decking those who wished to break up his meetings.
Charles Grandison Finney, a lawyer, became an evangelist who denounced slavery and alcohol. His speeches left crowds spellbound.
Denominational Diversity:
Revivals also hurt peoples' faith.
The Burned-Over District got its name from too much "get'em scared" preaching of damnation and hellfire.
Millerites (Adventists) came from the District, predicting that Christ would return on October 22, 1844. He didn't, but the faith continued.
The Second Great Awakening widened the lines between social classes.
When the slavery question entered the arena, the southern Methodists and Baptists split with the other churches of the north.
Forshadow: Split in the churches, split in political parties (north south), split int eh Union.
A Desert Zion in Utah:
Joseph Smith, 1830, reported receiving golden plates from an angel. They were the Book of Mormon in code. He started the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This was a Native American religion.
Mormons received criticism in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois for drilling a militia and for polygamy.
1844Joseph Smith and his brother were killed in a mob in Carthage, Illinois.
Brigham Young kept the faith alive with his stern leadership, and he led the people over the plains to Utah.
They devised ingenious irrigation systems to grow food in the desert.
Utah, by 1848, had over 5,000 people.
Young married 27 women, and had 56 children.
Mormons established a missionary movement in Europe, which brought many Europeans to Utah.
A federal army was sent in to break Young's leadership, but it was broken up before many lives were lost.
The Mormons delayed Utah's statehood until 1896 because it would not conform to U.S. anti-polygamy laws.
Free Schools for a Free People:
Tax-supported free education received ridicule because it was seen as schooling for the poor.
The wealthy soon saw the advantage of education. If they didn't pay for the poor's education, then they would be idiots who could vote. The wealthy were securing their stability.
It picked up between 1825 and 1850 as workers demanded it for their kids.
There were problems with the school system. It consisted of one-room school houses with poorly educated teachers which were open for only a few months of the year.
Teachers would beat kids more often than teach them their 3 R's - readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic.
Horace Mann saw big problems with this system, and as secretary of the MA board of education, set out to change it.
He got better school houses, longer terms, educated teachers, and expanded curriculum. His changes spread to other states as well.
1860 - There were only 100 public schools in the nation, but things were improving.
Noah Webster published reading lessons for children designed to promote patriotism. In 1828, he published his dictionary which helped to standardize the English Language.
William H. McGuffey wrote grade-school reading/writing books whose sales totaled 122 million copies.
Higher Goals for Higher Learning:
Colleges went up in the south and west, but what they offered in math, Latin, Greek, and moral philosophy bored most students.
1819 - University of Virginia was founded by Thomas Jefferson. It wasn't based on religion or politics, and it focused on modern languages and sciences.
Emma Willard helped to promote women's secondary schools by establishing the Troy Female Seminary in 1821.
Oberlin College, in 1837, let women in, after it let blacks in some years before. This was shocking.
Mount Holyoke Seminary was established by Mary Lyon in the same year (all women).
Tax-supported libraries became popular, and magazines flourished (Godey's Lady's Book reached 150,000 subscribers and lived for 68 years).
Public speaking was also popular, raising people such as Ralph Waldo Emerson to popularity.
An Age of Reform:
LEFT OFF ON P.336