Transcendentalism, Romanticism, and Utopian societies

• Transcendentalists and utopian communities withdrew from society due to the difficulty of achieving a perfect society.
• American Romance painters and writers significantly contributed to art and literature.

Utopian Communities

• Utopian communities were groups of people who attempted to form a perfect society.
• These communities pursued abstract religion and cooperative behavior.
• Few utopian communities were able to last long-term.

Transcendentalism

• Transcendentalism is the belief that people can rise above technology and material objects.
• Transcendentalists believed in self-reliance over dependence on outside authorities.

Romantic Movement

• Artists of the Romantic movement celebrated nature in their dramatic paintings.
• Thomas Cole was a leader of the Romantic movement, with other key painters including Frederick Church and Asher Durand.

Brook Farm

• Some transcendentalists formed a community at Brook Farm, Massachusetts, in the 1840s.

Romanticism

• Many people began focusing on Romanticism in the mid 1800s, as it evolved in Europe and emphasized nature.

Key People

• Ralph Waldo Emerson focused on inner voice and conscience, advocating self-focus.
• Emerson wrote the essay "Self-Reliance," which was later published as "The Dial".
• Margaret Fuller advocated for women's rights.
• Henry David Thoreau wrote "Walden" after living near Walden Pond for two years, emphasizing nature's positive impact.
• Thoreau advocated living outside of urbanization and society, in nature.
• Thoreau went to jail for not paying a $1 fine for the Mexican War, an example of civil disobedience.

American Romanticism

• Ideas regarding simple life and nature inspired painters and writers during the mid-1800s.
• American Romanticism focused on nature and individual expression.
• Thomas Cole and other Romance artists painted the American landscape.
• Ann Sophia Stephens and others wrote historical fiction.
• Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote "The Scarlet Letter."
• Herman Mellville wrote "Moby-Dick" and "Billy Budd."
• "Moby Dick" is considered one of the finest American novels.
• Edgar Allan Poe became famous for his poem "The Raven."
• Emily Dickinson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Walt Whitman were gifted American poets.
• Dickinson's poems were short and thoughtful, and Longfellow wrote "The Song of Hiawatha".

Second Great Awakening

• The Second Great Awakening was a Christian renewal movement that inspired social reform.

Charles Grandison Finney

• Charles Grandison Finney experienced a religious conversion in 1821 and left his law career to preach.
• Finney believed that sin was avoidable.
• He held revivals that led to many conversions to Christianity.
• His preaching style angered traditional ministers like Lyman Beecher due to his novel methodology.
• They were powerless to stop him due to the protections outlined in the First Amendment.

Social Reform

• New York City created the first city police force in 1844.

Temperance Movement

• The Temperance Movement aimed to stop the consumption of hard liquor through self-discipline.
• Concerns about alcohol consumption were tied to family violence, poverty, and crime.
• Minister Lyman Beecher spoke out against neglecting family education and corrupting morals due to alcohol abuse.

Prison Reform

• Dorothea Dix, a middle-class reformer, visited prisons in Massachusetts starting in 1841.
• Dix advocated for the mentally ill, who were often housed with criminals.
• Education was offered in prisons, emphasizing rehabilitation over punishment.

Improvements in Education

• Many children worked on farms, limiting their access to education.
• Schoolhouses were small, and education varied greatly in the early 1800s.
• New England had the most schools, while the South and West had the fewest.

William Homes McGuffey

• William Holmes McGuffey, an educator and minister, included literature and moral instruction in textbooks.

Common-School Movement

• The Common-School Movement advocated for universal education in a common place.
• Horace Mann was a leader of the Common-School Movement.
• In 1837, Mann became Massachusetts' first secretary of education.
• Mann lengthened the school year, doubled the state's school budget, and raised teachers' salaries, setting a standard for education reform.

Women's Education

• Catharine Beecher started an all-female academy in Hartford, Connecticut.
• Emma Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary in 1821, the first college-level educational institution for women.
• Colleges began opening for women in the 1830s, including Mount Holyoke College.
• The first medical college for women opened in Boston in 1848.

Teaching People with Disabilities

• Samuel Gridley Howe opened the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts in 1831.
• Thomas Gallaudet improved education for people with hearing impairments.