Passages History 1301 Chapter 11 Outline
Chapter Outline
Despite an economic crisis during the 1830s and 1840s, innovation and creativity also characterized the American economy – especially the development of the railroad.
A. Panic and Depression: Soon after Martin van Buren replaced Andrew Jackson as president in 1837, trade troubles with Great Britain plunged the country into a financial crisis known as the Panic of 1837.
B. The Charles River Bridge Case: The Supreme Court acknowledged the changing business conditions in the United States when it ruled in the Charles River Bridge case that states did not, by definition, have the right to establish monopolies.
C. Railroads: From their beginnings in the 1830s, railroads by mid-century had become the main form of transportation in the United States, and the country boasted about 9,000 miles of track; telegraph lines followed the rail lines, and America began to feel truly connected.
Slavery dominated life in the South, but southerners were not isolated from the rest of the country: Prosperous whites held prominent positions in all levels of government, and communications advances enabled southerners to keep abreast of changes throughout America.
A. African Americans and the South: Slavery was so widespread throughout the South, and slave life so uncertain, that African American families developed broad networks of “fictive kin” in order to keep their culture alive.
B. Plantations and Farms: Most slaves worked in the fields on large plantations, but their living conditions varied widely, depending entirely on the attitudes of their owners; however, it should be noted that, even at its best, slavery was harsh and unjust.
C. The Politics of the White South: While both major political parties supported slavery in the South, most Whigs tended to be urban residents involved in trade and professional careers, while most Democrats were the region’s planters and farmers.
As Americans experienced the economic uncertainty of the 1830s, they seemed to turn more toward a variety of reform movements.
A. Public Schools: Public education began to receive more attention, especially after Horace Mann became involved in improving schools in Massachusetts.
B. The Washingtonians: Some Americans also began to encourage people to stop drinking alcohol; one group, the Washingtonians, pledged to stop drinking themselves and then to reform others.
C. Abolitionism Strengthened and Challenged: The strongest reform movement was that of abolitionism, and that movement also triggered the greatest resistance.
1. Anti-slavery supporters included the Grimké sisters, Angelina and Sarah, whose father owned slaves in South Carolina, and the freed slave, Frederick Douglass.
2. Supporters of slavery became more vocal over time, in response to the increasing strength of their opponents.
Through religion, philosophy, and popular writing, Americans began to develop a truly American culture that differed from any other.
A. Transcendentalism: Ralph Waldo Emerson became a proponent of transcendentalism, the movement that urged individuals to “transcend” the everyday world and listen to their inner, mystical selves.
1. Some Transcendentalists experimented with utopian communities such as Brook Farm, but none of these survived.
2. Another prominent Transcendentalist was Henry David Thoreau, who became famous for writing about his experiences at Walden Pond.
B. Emergence of a Popular Culture: The emergence of a popular culture in America manifested itself in such diverse areas as Thomas Cole’s Hudson River School of American landscape painting, John James Audubon’s watercolors of America’s birds, Edgar Allan Poe’s fantastical short stories, and P.T. Barnum’s American Museum of oddities.
A transformation took place in American politics during this period, but both Democrats and Whigs were somewhat surprised by the election that took place in 1840.
A. The Election of 1840: The American public became caught up in a frenetic campaign filled with slogans, sarcasm, and socialization, as the Whigs appropriated a Democratic charge against Whig William Henry Harrison and turned it into a winning “hard cider and log cabin campaign” in which 80 percent of eligible voters voted.
B. Tyler, Webster, and Diplomacy: The Whigs had little time to celebrate, because Harrison died of pneumonia just one month after his inauguration.
1. John Tyler, Harrison’s successor, upset the Whigs so much that they tossed him from their party, and the next few years were filled with conflict.
2. Secretary of State Daniel Webster attempted to settle some long-standing issues with the British, and the two countries did agree on the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canadian lands.
With transportation and communication improvements, Americans continued to look outside the country’s existing western border.
A. The “Wests”: By the 1840s, the “West” consisted mainly of California and Oregon, and many Americans were anxious to migrate.
B. Manifest Destiny: John L. O’Sullivan, a newspaper editor, used the term “manifest destiny” to describe what he saw as America’s fate – settlement of the continent from sea to sea.
C. Politics in Turmoil: By the mid-1840s, two major issues faced the country: the fight over slavery intensified, and Texas entered the Union in 1845.
Conclusion: Despite economic downturns, Americans continued to believe in the basic soundness of the nation’s economy. Americans of every persuasion – from painters to poets to philosophers – shared a positive feeling about the future. They also seemed to share a reluctance to deal with the problems facing the country.
