US History

U.S. History Study Guide

Chapter 11: Antebellum Culture 1820-1860

11.1 Antebellum Culture 1820-1860 This chapter will cover the trends of American society from 1820 to 1860. Such trends include: social reforms, religion, education, inventions and innovations, and important cultural figures of the time. Antebellum Culture (Antebellum is Latin for "Pre-War.") The American people in the 1800’s found themselves living in an era of transition and instability. Society was changing and traditional values were being challenged. The economic, technological, and social changes underway in Antebellum Society manifested themselves into the national culture helping to unite and divide the country. 11.2 Tocqueville’s Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman, traveled to this country in the early the 1830’s to study the American Prison System, which was one of the most innovated systems in the world. His book “Democracy in America”, published in 1835, was the result of his observations and it reflected a broad interest in the entire spectrum of the American democratic process and the society in which it had developed. His insightful commentary on the American way of life and his visionary in many respects, it also provides modern readers with an outsider’s perspective of what this country was like in the Age of President Jackson. 11.3 Developments in Religion The Reform Impulse: Major Sources of Reform Romanticism held a belief in the natural goodness of man. This movement had its roots in Europe and emphasized emotions and feelings over rationality. Romanticism appeared as a reaction against the excesses of the Enlightenment, which had put strong emphasis on reason, to the exclusion of feelings. There was also a growing need for stability and control over the social order and the forces which were threatening the traditional values. Both of these major streams of reform were centered in the Northeast. The Second Great Awakening The reaction to the trend toward rationalism, the decline in church membership, and lack of faithfulness was a renewal of personal, evangelicalism. It began in 1801 at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in the first “Camp Meeting.”

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