Unit III: The Family in mid-19 th Century America

1. Unit III: The Family in mid-19th Century America Robin Burke GAM 206

2. Preliminaries • Antebellum (pre-Civil War) America • a country divided • Slavery • gradually eliminated in the North • becomes an economic powerhouse in the South • and a defining institution • Cultural movement, politics, economic development • cannot be divorced from this fact

3. Emancipation in the North

4. Missouri Compromise, 1820

5. Political Issues • Balance of power in House and Senate • slave seats vs free seats • census issues (3/5 rule) • How to handle new territories • Status of slaves in free states • fugitive slave law • Dredd Scott decision • Political parties • had northern and southern wings • had to try to satisfy both • (until 1856)

6. Economic Issues • Southern states • agricultural economies • capital-intensive (in human form) • enormously profitable • mono-cultural • Northern states • more diversified economy • quick adoption of mechanization • railroad networks • largest arrival point for immigrants

7. Cultural Issues • South • original settlers were businessmen • maintained connections to England • economic power • large-scale agriculture • tobacco • colonial conditions very hazardous • tropical diseases • organized native resistance • North • original settlers were religious refugees • fleeing persecution in England • economic power • commercial fishing (cod) • colonial conditions difficult • but families often survived intact

8. Consequences • Southern culture • more hedonistic • more closely tied to English class distinctions • Northern culture • more straight-laced • more egalitarian

9. Two Trends • Religious Revival • and reformist repercussions • Industrialization Both of which contributed to • Sectionalization

10. Religious Revival • First "Great Awakening" • outpouring of religious sentiment • 1720-1750 • originated in New England • spread by charismatic preachers • emphasized personal responsibility for salvation • taught that Americans were chosen people • Second "Great Awakening" • another wave of religious activity • 1790s to 1830s • included North, South and West • a reaction to "liberal" religious notions coming from European thinkers

11. Revival Meeting

12. Denominational Growth

13. Offshoots of Religious Revival • Temperance • Abolition • Women's Rights • Transcendentalism

14. Temperance Movement 1826 - American Temperance Society“Demon Rum”! FrancesWillard The Beecher Family R1-6

15. Consumption of Alcohol

16. The Drunkard’s Progress From the first glass to the grave, 1846

17. Abolitionist Movement • 1816  American Colonization Society created (gradual, voluntary emancipation. • Created a free slave state in Liberia, West Africa. • No real anti-slavery sentiment in the North in the 1820s & 1830s.

18. The Liberator Premiere issue  January 1, 1831 R2-5

19. The Tree of Slavery

20. Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) 1845 The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass R2-12

21. Anti-Slavery Alphabet

22. Southern Pro-Slavery Propaganda

23. Industrialization • The abundant natural resources of the United States • Increased labor pools • due to immigration from Europe • labor shortages had been common earlier • Improved modes of transportation • canals • railroads

24. Price of Transportation

25. The Advance of Industrialization • Home-based manufacture • common since medieval times • distributors gave raw materials to workers who produced at home • "putting out" system • Starts to be replaced by factories • mechanization • water, then steam power • standardization • Eli Whitney applies interchangeable parts to firearms • specialization of labor

26. Cotton • Cotton textiles were the first factory goods • plans sneaked out of England by Samuel Slater in 1789 • Boston Manufacturing Company • by 1836 • 6,000 workers • 80% young women

27. Spread of Textile Mills

28. Farming Loses Dominance

29. The Process of Urbanization • Three types of cities • Commercial centers • New York, Philadelphia, Boston • Mill towns • Lowell, Waltham, New Haven • Transportation hubs • Chicago • New Orleans

31. Urbanization by 1850

32. Class Structure in the Cities • The inequities of wealth and lifestyle in the urban areas • reflected social fluidity and • the potential for everyone to “make it.” • Americans believed capitalists deserved the profits from economic expansion • The growing inequities • solidified class lines and • led to increased social agitation and labor protests.

33. Middle-Class Life and Ideals • The new middle class benefited from economic growth. • Furnished houses with the latest conveniences were the rule • compared to the inadequate housing of the working class. • Genteel behavior and etiquette as well as specific designations for gender and age.

34. Mounting Urban Tensions • Social tensions led to dramatic increases in urban violence in the years before the Civil War • also during the Civil War • Large American cities were slow to establish a professional police force relying instead on volunteer constables.

35. Working-Class Reform • The reform movement gradually was adapted to the conditions in factories • trade unions began to appear. • Skilled workers • organized to protect their crafts and • negotiated better conditions. • The National Trades Union (1834) was the first attempt at a nation-wide labor organization

36. The South • Did not experience much industrialization • remained agrarian • Inadequate transportation • except by water • Poorly-developed financial system

37. Southern Society (1850) “Slavocracy”[plantation owners] 6,000,000 The “Plain Folk”[white yeoman farmers] Black Freemen 250,000 Black Slaves3,200,000 Total US Population --> 23,000,000[9,250,000 in the South = 40%]

38. Slave-Owning Families (1850)

39. Changes in Cotton Production 1820 1860

40. Value of Cotton Exports Includes textiles manufactured from southern cotton

41. Westward Expansion • After the War of 1812 • movement to the Old Northwest began in earnest • territory east of the Mississippi ceased to be "frontier" by 1840s • Federal land policy • Homestead act • land was free if you could make it productive • Mistaken ideas about agriculture caused farmers to ignore prairies as arable land • until later in the century

42. Farming in the East • By mid-century, fertile land in the east began to run out. • Irresponsible farming techniques depleted the soil • Cities encroached on farmland • Couldn't compete with western grain farmers • Switched crops • cattle farming for meat and milk • fresh vegetable production for the urban markets • no refrigeration meant no competition

44. Jackson’s Indian Policy • Indians occupied prime land for farming • in Georgia, Alabama, and other states • Andrew Jackson favored • forcible removal • relocation westward on reservations. • Supreme Court ruled • that Indians could occupy but not hold title to land in the United States • Military force was used • forced Indian Nations to march west to present-day Oklahoma • "trail of tears" 1835-1838

46. Sectionalization • After the Mexican-American War • new territories were added • Texas, New Mexico, California, Utah, • Increasingly bitter confrontation • whether new states would be free or slave • neither side could compromise • North saw slavery increasingly as evil • South saw emancipation as a cultural death sentence

47. Then • In 1860 • the country elects a anti-slavery Northerner as president • Abraham Lincoln • Most previous presidents had been • either Northerners with southern sympathies • James Buchanan 1856 • Franklin Pierce 1852 • or southerners • Zachary Taylor 1848

48. Civil War • 1861-1865 • Abraham Lincoln • Robert E. Lee • Battles • Emancipation Proclamation • Almost 1 million dead • 3% of the population • 1/3 civilians

49. Monday • Gameplay • Reading • 1st chapter Huck's Raft