Reform and Culture in Antebellum America APUSH Mr. Hesen Nationalism in the Arts Portraits of prominent Americans popular in late 18 th Century After War of 1812 artists glorified Americas past in portraits John Trumbull Gilbert Stuart Trumbulls Declaration of Independence (1819) Stuarts George Washington (1796) Hudson River School Thomas Cole Second Great Awakening State of American religion in 18 th Century 75% attended churches Protestant More religious choices Rationalists, Deists, Unitarians Impact: More important than Great Awakening Revivalism camp meetings 25,000 people Peter Cartwright Charles Grandison Finney perfectionism! Inspired social reform movements education, temperance, abolition New Sect Mormons Brigham Young led Mormons to Salt Lake City, UT ( ) Prospered as a frontier community Cultivated farmers used irrigation in the desert Broke polygamy laws looked down upon by other religious sects Age of Reform Most reforms were driven by evangelical churches (2 nd GA) Perfectionism build a perfect society around God Women were vital in reform movements Temperance (NOT Prohibition) Alcohol abuse was rampant in 18 th and 19 th Centuries American Temperance Society Lynam Beecher(1826) Urged drinkers decrease alcohol consumption Organized non-drinkers clubs Over 1,000 local groups emerged Results: Fewer women drank in excess Less per capita consumption plummeted Panics decreased demand for alcohol Womens Rights Gender line drawn from Indust. Rev. Republican Motherhood becomes Cult of Domesticity Womans proper role in society Influenced by 2 nd GA Sought to break away from traditional roles Elizabeth Cady Stanton Equality for women, legal rights, own property Sought to end feme covert Other major players: Lucretia Mott Seneca Falls Convention 1848 Susan B. Anthony militant leaders for rights Grimke Sisters abolitionists and writers Lucy Stone womens rights Seneca Falls Convention (1848) Womens Rights Convention Launched modern womens rights movement Organized by Stanton and Mott Declaration of Sentiments All men AND women created equal Demanded womens suffrage (voting) Property ownership Halted by abolitionist movement and Civil War Gains for Women (before CW) Women were admitted to colleges Women could own property after marriage Independent business ownership Separate earnings from family Education Instill strong Protestant values to Americans Horace Mann key reform in US BETTER ED!!! Tax-supported education flourished in East and West not South Some resistance to education persisted McGuffey Readers Knickerbocker Group A writer's club founded by Washington Irving, James Fennimore Cooper, and William Cullen Bryant Wilderness Utopias Reformers set up communities that shared communal bonds Oneida Community (NY) 1848 Believed in second coming of Christ Practiced free love, association, birth control Corporate marriage Alexis de Toqueville Democracy in America (1835) Manifest Destiny Election of 1844 Symbol of Manifest Destiny Young Hickory James K. Polk (D) Sought to annex Texas and Oregon territory Henry Clay nominated.again (W) Liberty Party James Birney took votes away from Clay Polk wins Texas Joins the Union! Republic of Texas lasted nine years Mexico threatened war with U.S. if annexed Texas signed treaties with EVERYONE to gain protection France and Great Britain wanted to divide U.S. Mexico: Texas was taken unjustly by U.S. Oregon Trail Mexican War ( ) Polk wanted to buy CA from Mexico Mexico didnt care wanted all of Texas back Boundary dispute between Nueces River and Rio Grande Polk sent men John Slidell to Mexico City in 1845 Offered $25 million for CA Declaration of War Polk sent Gen. Zachary Taylor to march from Nueces River to Rio Grande Advised navy to be on alert in Pacific Mexican militia attacked Taylors troops Polk asks for a war declaration Mr. Polks War Conscience Whigs did not support the war Did the war begin on U.S. territory Sen. Abraham Lincoln Spot Resolutions Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) Provisions: U.S. gained CA and modern day NM, AZ, UT, and NV Mexican Whigs threatened to cut off supplies to troops in Mexico Southerners wanted all of Mexico - Calhoun Results of Mexican War Slavery issue was re-ignited Would slavery be approved in new territories? Mexican War contributed to Civil War Wilmot Proviso (1848 proposed did not pass) Law proposed that slavery not exist in lands outside of Mexico U.S. territory expanded by 1/3 U.S. becomes the Colossus of the North