Antebellum Period Essay Example for Free

Antebellum Period Essay During the time period between 1825-1850, known as the Antebellum Period, the series of reform movements that emerged sought to democratic ideals of equality, liberty, the right to vote, and a more centralized government. The Second Great Awakening, one of many religious reforms, expanded equality through the belief that everyone could attain salvation through hard work and faith. The Second Great Awakening was the spark for many of the other reform movements, such as Temperance, Womens Rights, and Abolition. These movements along with reforms of prisons and mental facilities, and education attempted to craft America into a more utopian society. The Second Great Awakening had started after the Revolutionary War, gained momentum around the turn of the century, and was at its strongest during the Antebellum Period. It was driven by the idea that everyone could be saved through revivals. Revivals were especially prevalent in upstate New York, which was nicknamed the â€Å"burned-over district† by Charles Finney, a prominent Presbyterian leader of The Second Great Awakening. Because there were so many revivals there, it seemed like there couldnt possibly be anyone left to convert. Social activism became the main method of revival in the North. Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist denominations made huge gains in membership in the South and on the frontier were â€Å"camp meeting† revivals took place. As in Document B where Finney said the reforms awakened and converted even the â€Å"most abandoned profligates†, the protestant ministers in the South preached to people of all classes and races, including free blacks, slaves, and slaveholders. Free blacks began to start their own churches on the belief that everyone needed to hear messages of salvation and personal freedom. Due to prejudices against them, many free blacks separated from the Methodist church. One such man named Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Blacks had more freedom within the Baptist church, as they could become ministers, and many black Baptist congregations were formed. Also during this time, groups such as the Mormons, Shakers and Baptists deve loped due to desires to restore primitive forms of Christianity, known as the Restoration Movement. In the late 1820s, Joseph Smith claimed to receive visions of a new sacred text/supplement to the Bible, the Book of Mormon. He founded a primitivist church called the Church of Christ on the teachings of this book and other revelations. Mormons established their first community in western New York. They then moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where Mormons faced persecution and Joseph Smith was assassinated. The first split in the church came surrounding the question of the next leader, but most Mormons migrated to Utah, spreading their message and gaining followers on the way, under the leadership of Brigham Young. Other popular groups that rose were the Unitarians and Universalists. Unitarianism is named for its understanding of God as one person, unlike the traditional Christian doctrine of Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) coexisting as one in being. It teaches that Jesus was a prophet and in some sense the â€Å"son† of God, but not God himself. Universalists believe that all humans either may or will be saved through Jesus Christ and eventually go to heaven. Teachings of the Second Great Awakening endorsed a strong work ethic, frugality and temperance within the expanding middle class. The Temperance Movement sprung from the social activism of the Second Great Awakening. Alcoholism was a growing problem in the United States: spousal abuse, family neglect and chronic unemployment were on the rise, issues which are shown in The Drunkards Progress (Document H). It was an area that social activists felt needed addressing. Lyman Beecher, a leading Presbyterian minister of the Second Great Awakening, lectured against the use of alcohol and co-founded the American Temperance Society, the first U.S. social movement organization to mobilize massive and national support for a specific reform cause. Within 12 years, it claimed more than 8000 local groups and 1,500,000 members. Many other Temperance societies popped up, such as the American Temperance Union and the States Delevan Union Temperance Society of Colored People, a temperance society headed by free blacks. The Temperance Movement first saw statewide success in Maine, where a total ban was placed on the manufacturing and sale of liquor. The Maine Law, as it became known as, was the work of Portland mayor Neal Dow, who gained the nicknames the â€Å"Father of Prohibition† and the â€Å"Napoleon of Temperance†. Dow was very involved in the temperance movement, having traveled much of the northeastern United States and parts of Canada speaking against intemperance. His Maine Law spawned other prohibition laws in the country. The Temperance Movement expanded democratic ideals by asking the government to govern the sale of alcohol, making the government more centralized. The Second Great Awakenings emphasis on t he ability of individuals to amend their lives caused many reform movements aimed at redressing injustice and alleviating suffering in society—a democratizing effect. Abolitionism was one such movement, and it to was led in part by leaders of the Second Great Awakening. It called the immediate ending of slavery, as opposed to the other anti-slavery positions of the time, Gradualism; which called for an end to slavery over time; and colonization; which relied on the manumission of slaves who would then be taken back to Africa. Lyman Beecher was also an Abolitionist, and more importantly the father of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Toms Cabin. The novel was the most influential piece of abolitionist literature and spread the Abolitionist message to millions of Americans. Charles Finney often spoke out against slavery from the pulpit and was involved in the abolitionist movement. Neal Dow was also a known abolitionist, his house was a stop on The Underground Railroad. Just like with the Temperance Movement, many Abolitionist societies formed, the most prominent being the American Anti-Slavery Society (AAS). The AAS was founded by William Lloyd Garrison, the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. Garrison was in support of immediate emancipation of the slaves and their integration into American society. He also believed that slave owners should not be reimbursed for their â€Å"lost property†. Wendell Phillips became a frequent speaker at AAS conventions after witnessing the attempted lynching of Garrison by a pro-slavery mob in 1835. He went on to write many pamphlets and essays against slavery. Sisters Angelina and Sarah Grimke became well known anti-slavery speakers and writers. They came from a slave-owning white family in the South and spoke from experience on the evils of slavery. Angelina married fellow abolitionist and mentor Theodore Weld. Weld spoke out against slavery until he lost his voice in 1837. He then focused on writing for the AAS. In 1839, he and the Grimkà © sisters co-wrote the pivotal book American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witn esses. Many historians regard Weld as the most important figure in the abolitionist movement. Escaped slave Frederick Douglass went around the country speaking at AASS conventions and at other events about the things he personally experienced as a slave. He published the North Star, an aboltionist newspaper that got its name from the North Star which guided slaves to freedom in the North. Escaped slaves Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth also became speakers and leaders in the Abolitionist Movement. Tubman helped over 300 slaves escape from the South on the Underground Railroad and became friends with Douglass. Truth also became friends with Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. The abolitionist movement promoted democratic ideals as it tried expand freedom and equality to the slaves. Women were heavily involved with the Temperance and Abolitionist movements, and many of them went on to work with the Womens Rights Movement. For many women, and as shown in Document C, the two causes were intertwined because they work for their own liberty as well. The role of women in the household had begun to change with the ongoing Industrial Revolution. A group of young single women known as Lowell girls worked in factories. In the middle and upper classes, women became the moral and spiritual leaders of their households, known as the Cult of Domesticity. Along with speaking on temperance and abolition, some women began speaking on womens rights at conventions. One such woman was Lucretia Mott. She was focused mostly on womens rights, publishing her influential Discourse on Woman and founding Swarthmore College. She became a Quaker minister, and was noted for her speaking ability. She advocated the boycotting the products of slave labor. She was an early supporter of William Lloyd Garrison and the American Anti-Slavery Society. She worked with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the two women organized the first womens rights convention which was held in Seneca Falls, New York. At the convention, Stanton stated that they were assembled to â€Å"declare our right to be free as man is free† (Document I) and presented the Declaration of Sentiments, a document written by Stanton and based on the form of the Declaration of Independence. It declared that men and women were equal and that women had no representation since they couldnt vote. Frederick Douglass, who was in attendance at the convention and helped pass the resolutions in the Declaration of Sentiments called the document the â€Å"grand basis for attaining the civil, social, political, and religious rights of women†. The Grimke sisters, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth were also suffragists. The Womens Rights Movement expanded democratic ideals because it pushed for equality and the right to vote for women. Another reform started during this period was an education reform. The education reform was pushed by increasing interest in public education because the growing number of voters and immigrants and a desire to maintain social order. It was largely the works of Massachusetts School Board Secretary Horace Mann. Most states adopted one version or another of the system he established in Massachusetts, especially the program for normal schools to train professional teachers. He pushed for more public support of public schools arguing that universal public education was the best way to turn the nations unruly children into disciplined, judicious republican citizens. He has been called the â€Å"Father of the Common School Movement and the â€Å"Father of American Public Education†. His schools and other schools around the country used McGuffey Readers; document e is a selection from one; as textbooks. There were different books for each learning level.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A lovable, heartwarming story of love is one of â€Å" Seven Brides for Seven Brothers†. A story of seven men who have no guidance find themselves in love. The two main characters in the play are Adam and Millie. By being husband and wife they help the story out with their own love and romance. The seven brothers fall in love with seven beautiful woman and through out the play we see al the ways they try to get their gals. The singing in this play helps us figure out the songs: â€Å"Bless Your Beautiful Hide†, â€Å"Goin Courtin†, and â€Å"Sobbin Woman†. The style of music they use to get this point across is old fashion, traditional music.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This live performance of â€Å"Bless Your Beautiful Hide† by Adam is a confident and arrogant way to find love. In this song Adam explains how he is here to find himself a wife. That’s just what Adam does too. By hearing this song the viewer gets the hint that the play is a love story about him and this beautiful lady that he is staring at. Adam uses his bass voice to keep the tempo moderately constant. The dynamics change throughout the song with a grand finish of a chershendo. Adam uses accents in the song to emphasize his feelings of getting a wife. An orchestra is accompanying him with the instruments like: trumpets, banjos, and trombones. This sets the mood for the story to take place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Goin Courtin† has a different kind of tempo to it than does â€Å"Bless Your Beautiful A Hide†. The tempo in this song is a little faster than the other song. Millie is explaining to the brothers how to get a girl. How to get a girl in nice, gentleman way. Millie uses tone color in this song to make the mood very happy and exciting. Millie uses a slow calm voice to get the instructions across to the boys on how to get a girl. When she get to the â€Å"Goin Courtin† part of the song she speeds thing up to make it more dramatic and to get the brothers to think this is the fun way of getting the gals. She uses body language to help the brothers realize all the excitement that is involved in getting the girls.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Sobbin Woman† is Adam’s way of explaining to the brothers how to get the woman.

Representation of Interests Matrix and Paper Essay

Within Public Policy there are different interests that are affected once the issue has been brought forward to the government by citizens who are sending e-mails, or telephone calls advising of the issues that are affecting society, what the citizens do not know is that with every issue within public policy that has to be passed by the government and attempted to get resolved has a significant affect or groups and organizations. The identified groups and organizations represent my interests in a significant manner because due to my profession I am aware that crime has been a problem for society for quite a long time, I am aware that there has been multiple attempts to reduce crime, such as the hiring of more police officers, programs that protect victims and witnesses of a crime. Therefore I believe crime is a significant interest. As for education experiencing affects by public policy, I think this is by far the most important. I have a child and am extremely aware of the problems that have affected our education systems significantly due to the lack of financial support from the government and also the increase in college education, books, etc. I am aware of the government attempting to clear the tax deficit and financial problem that our country is currently facing, but education is not the way to do it. As for the other remaining identified groups such as Foreign policy, Health care, and Social Welfare, they also represent my interests in a significant manner. For example Health care, has affected me significant due to our president passed the new reform my employer checks have significantly dropped from what I used to gross monthly, due to the fact that we are taking a hit because we are assisting those with no medical health care and those who are receiving assistance from the government, such as parolees and prior drug addicts, or convicts. The groups represent my interest by all means, ultimately besides us taxpayers who are affected based off the government trying to accommodate all the citizens who continue to write emails requesting assistance for the interests that are affected by public policy. As for any instanc es in which my interests compete with one another, Yes they are significant. For example, Health care and Social Welfare go hand in hand for me. The reason that these two interests go hand in hand for me is because once gain based on my work and what I have been exposed to during the military and also being familiar with the cost of healthcare, I take it as an offense to provide for those who personally do not deserve Healthcare. I strongly believe that if your not physically incapable of working, or able to care for yourself, or gravely disabled I will be the first one to help these citizens. As for Social Welfare, I also believe that the government is to lenient on how they assist the needed. Some of the interest that I chose are significant to me and my family and loved ones, but I think that the most interest affected by public policy that is in conflict with those of the general public will have to be healthcare. I remember i was working the day when our president passed the new Healthcare reform, and how citizens were running outside the streets celebrating that they will now have medical assistance. At first I did not think anything of it until the following morning during Roll Call when we were advised by our lieutenant that it will affect us significantly especially financially. As the months went by I started to notice my checks to get smaller and smaller. I am aware that the general public’s thinking is different than mine, but do not get me wrong I will be the first one to help someone I have been doing it for 13 years of my life, but when citizens take advantage that is when I have a problem. In conclusion I have provided my own personal opinions of how my identified groups represent my own personal interests, I also provided examples on what means do my groups use to represent my interests. I also debated on instances in that my interests compete with one another. Finally I was precise and straight forward on my interests and how some of them conflict with those of the general public. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy http://www.palgrave-journals.com/iga/journal/v1/n2/full/iga20129a.html

Essay on The Donner Party Tragedy - 2584 Words

In the early 1900s, the United States had an increase of settlers leaving their hometowns to the west in the faith of being able to live in a more catholic freedom world, others also joined by the inspiration of Manifest Destiny, a thought in which the Americans thought that everything between the Atlantic and the Pacific ocean is theirs and should therefore settled by them. A group, that was on the way to the western U.S., for those reasons in 1846, had a tragic loss of 34 settlers due to many tragic events. This group was led by George Donner, which was elected the leader of this group on 19 July 1846, this group inherited his name, called the Donner Party. The Donner Party consisted of the families of George Donner, his brother Jacob†¦show more content†¦On the other hand, they also had to hurry because they still had to walk through three mountain passes, the Sierra Nevada to California, and had only time from Spring to Fall. One of the travelers had The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California with them. Since different people meet and had to live with different characters, Tamsen Donner wrote: â€Å"We have of the best people in our company and some, too, that are not so good.† Since it was Spring, rain and storm were pretty common and stopped the group on the Big Blue River. For a few people it was already too much of what they can withstand and the first death was by Reeds grandma, the loss of her was tragically written down by Virginia Reed: â€Å"..We made a neat coffin, and buried her under a tree... We miss her very much.† So far, there were no other major difficulties for the travelers, it was a pretty smooth trip. Arriving to Fort Bridger about just a week behind schedule, there James Reed meets James Clyman, an old friend who thought that the Hastings shortcut is unpractical, the old way would be more safer, but Reed did not take the advice, he wanted to take the shortcut, probably by the thought that a shortcut in our li fe also gets us to our target faster. The Reeds and the Donors moved on, and received by June a message by Hasting which was urging them to get to Fort Bridger where he will be waiting for allShow MoreRelated Donner Party Tragedy Essay501 Words   |  3 PagesDonner Party Tragedy On a journey to a better life in California, the infamous Donner party, met sorrow at every turn. Before their journey began, they encountered a shortcut discovered by Hastings. Like any other normal person, they decided to take the easier route that unfortunately led to tragedy. There were many key elements leading to the misfortune of this group. From the beginning of their journey, the Donner party made mistakes. First of all, at the time of the party’s departure thereRead MoreManifest Destiny Essay example1463 Words   |  6 Pagesthe wagon life on the trails west was not an easy task to lead. The wagon itself was very small that many pioneers often were forced to lighten their loads by leaving treasured possessions along the trail. The people often traveled in groups or parties. There were several trails to the west; the most famous ones are Santa Fe Trail, Oregon trail, as well as the National Road. On the Santa Fe Trail, people traveled in organized groups of up to hundred wagons. At night, they formed a square with theirRead MorePioneers that Travelled across the Great Plains1927 Words   |  8 PagesPioneers that travelled across the Great Plains would often run into trouble and suffer terrible deaths. The Donner Party was one of those parties; however, the story connected to the name is much more infamous than others. It is a story of suffering, betrayal, survival, and acts of necessity. Perhaps the most interesting fact about these acts is that they were performed by everyday farmers, traders, and businessmen. The reasons for these acts were, more than likely, out of the will to survive, butRead MoreLa Princesse de Cleves1272 Words   |  6 PagesDissertation Introduction La tragà ©die classique du 17à ¨me sià ¨cle a à ©tà © inspirà ©e de la tragà ©die grecque dont toutes les tragà ©dies avaient un point en commun, l image de l homme incapable de faire sa volontà ©, enchaà ®nà © par des forces puissantes. Le roman ‘La Princesse de Clà ¨ves , à ©crit par Madame de LaFayette, montre quelques caractà ©ristiques du genre tragique mà ªme si c est un roman romantique. Une tragà ©die classique a quatre particularità ©s. D abord, son à ©criture doit à ªtre en vers dans une