Lecture 25 + 26 + 27 - Results of industry and then reform

Question 1

Urbanization.

Answer 1

• A result of explosion in the growth of cities which was a result of the rise of factories.
• Presented issues in infrastructure and housing.
• Preceding urbanization, subsistence farming was a kind of natural barrier to stratification because people had their needs met on their own merit, directly; with that gone, stratification arose and a decline in the standard of living ensued.

Question 2

Irish Potato Famine and its relation to nativism in the US.

Answer 2

• Irish and Germans depended on the potato crop which originated from America.
• It failed in 1845-6, causing the famine.
• Nativism was a racism that came from American exceptionalism, and that conflicted with the ensuing immigration to the US from Ireland and Germany, as Americans hated on the Irish, etc.

Question 3

The Second Great Awakening—what is it? Explain the terms “camp meetings,” “fundamentalism,” and Charles Finney.

Answer 3

• Revival of interest in religion, particularly in fundie sects.
• Camp meetings were where individuals would camp for days listening to ministers.
• Fundamentalism is based on a strict and absolute interpretation of the bible; taking it literally, etc.
• Charles Finney was a former lawyer and influential individual in the SGA; used “common language,” or slang, to appeal to a large number of people; rejected ideas of Jonathan Edwards, particularly predestination.

Question 4

Robert Owen.

Answer 4

• Entrepreneur.
• Established New Harmony, based on Utopianism/rejection of the horrors that were being caused by the factory system.
• Says people are a product of their environment, so supports education and labor reform in rejection of the meritocratic ideas prominent at the time regarding factories.
• Against religion. Says it’s used for exploitation and make people hypocrites, “opiate of the masses,” 3 categories of people under religion: hypocrites, masses, and exploiters.
• In his “factory town,” the putting-out system is employed alongside a schedule of 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation, and 8 hours of rest.

Question 5

Shakers.

Answer 5

• Inspired by Great Awakening.
• Reject industrialism.
• Became subsistence farmers and were pacifist.
• Believed that to achieve salvation you can’t have sex, so they didn’t last very long.

Question 6

Explain the temperance movement and its effects, results, and influences.

Answer 6

• Temperance movement: no alcohol.
• Influenced by the reforms during industrial revolution and the Second Great Awakening.
• Temperance society: 1826; formed bc. alcoholism was a problem in the 1820s; average person consumed half a pint of liquor a day.
• Most Protestants disliked drinking; some prohibit alcohol completely.
• Factory owners typically jumped on board, but only hypocritically. Many would buy up liquor just before it became prohibited.
• Is effective. By 1840s, alcohol consumption drops by half.

Question 7

Explain education in industrial revolution reform.

Answer 7

• Push for public schools to replace the former system where churches and parents were charged with educating children.
• Horace Mann was a champion of public education; said gov’t should be in charge of it.
• Led to Mass. becoming first state to make public education mandatory.

Question 8

American colonization society and Liberia.

Answer 8

• Founded in 1817.
• A form of reform-based abolitionism.
• Had a program to send Africans back to Africa; based on idea that slavery was wrong, although they still thought blacks were inferior.
• Relied on donations from “charitable” people who would sponsor trips to Africa, specifically, Liberia.
• Only covered transportation costs; didn’t include any kind of preparation for how to survive in Africa or any supplies, provisions.
• Eventually failed after 15,000-18,000 participate. But only bc. it was donation based and logistically stupid.

Question 9

Who were some early abolitionist figures and what did they do?

Answer 9

• William Lloyd Garrison. He wrote the Liberator—an abolitionist newspaper.
• Fredrick Douglas.
• Sarah and Angelina Grimke. Sisters born into slavery; spoke out against slavery, and ended up also promoting women’s rights.

Question 10

What is the connection between the abolitionist movement and early women’s rights?

Answer 10

• Sarah and Angelina Grimke.
• Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; founders of a convention in Seneca Falls, where women would get together to discuss strategy, specifically property rights.
• First states to legalize these property rights were in the South, probably in order to better entrench aristocrats bc. rich women and etc.

Question 11

Explain prison reform.

Answer 11

• 1800s prisons were horrid. Being poor was literally a crime, as well as mental illness. They put all deviants in the same place which had awful conditions.
• In reaction to this, work houses were created, where poor people could work, earn money, and live.
• Asylums were also created, specifically, by Dorothea Dix. Before this, healthcare didn’t really understand mental illness; they used electric shock therapy, lobotomies, and isolation.
• After this reform, prisons focus more on rehabilitation.