Key Concept 4.1 - The United States began to develop a modern democracy and celebrated a new national culture, while Americans sought to define the nation's democratic ideals and change their society and institutions to match them.
- How did political participation intensify?
- How did new cultures emerge?
- How were reform movements influenced by the Second Great Awakening?
How did political participation intensify?
Political participation manifested heavily in political parties. Early on, people united behind the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. The Federalists favored tariffs to support the industry of their Northern base, a stronger Federal government, as can be seen in their support of the Bank of the United States, and were supportive of the British for trade. A prominent Federalist was Hamilton, which created the Bank of the United States, and most of their supporters were upper class. The Democratic Republicans were not as fond of tariffs, supported states rights as seen with the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, and were supportive of the French. A prominent Democratic Republican was Thomas Jefferson, and most of their supporters were lower to middle class farmers from the South. These tensions intensified and culminated into conflicts over the War of 1812 against Britain. Democratic Republicans saw it as a way to display the US' independence while Federalists saw it as a threat to trade with Britain. Some radical Federalists had joined the Hartford Convention, a meeting to discuss secession from the Union. With one last victory for the Americans in New Orleans, this made the Federlists seem weak and established a one-party "Era of Good Feelings."
In the "Era of Good Feelings," politics were generally unified, believing in creating protective tariffs to support industry, a centralized bank, and internal improvements. This is known as the American System. There was consensus that the American system was beneficial and it had been implemented with the cumberland road and the Tariff of 1816.
As the election of 1824 approached, the "Corrupt Bargain," as it was called by Andrew Jackson, skewed the elction in the favor of John Quincy Adams. Due to this, Andrew Jackson handily won the 1828 election as the people's president. From this, new political parties emerged with Jacksonian Democrats and Henry Clay's Whig party. Despite both parties wanting to create national unity, the Democrats were largely against the American System. This can be seen with Jackson's attempt to eliminate the second Bank of the United States. The Whig's, on the other hand, had greatly supported the American system.
Regional political participation intensified under these newly established political parties. The North had generally accepted the Whig party, especially with the tariffs, and the Democrats were based in the South, rejecting tariffs. One particular regional interest that had disregarded national interests was the Nullification Crisis and threatening of secession from South Carolina. This was headed by John C. Calhoun and he greatly disapproved of the 1928 Tariff coined the Tariff of Abominations. However, outspoken nationalists like Jackson and Daniel Webster had emphasized national unity and the need for taking care of national concerns.
During this time, the Supreme Court also gets more involved in politics. The root of this was in the Marbury vs Madison case, which set the precedent of judicial review. Later, they participated in the McCulloch vs Maryland case which gave the Federal government more power over states as it upheld the constitutionality of the Second Bank of the United States and ruled that States can't tax the federal government. They also ruled in Ogden vs Gibbons that States had no rights over interstate commerce and that it was the Federal governments responsibility.
How did new cultures emerge?
As a result of the Second Great Awakening, new cultures emerged to try to reach moral perfection. Utopian societies were experiments with this and can be seen with Oneidas. This also spawned social reforms working towards temperance and abolishment.
New American culture also emerged which mixed the Western American frontier and nature with the European Romanticism. This influenced new cultural expressions of art like the Hudson River School. John James Audobon had advanced the study of birds in nature. Another large expression of this was the Transcendentalist movement which looked towards nature to achieve personal perfection and connection with god. Influential Transcendentalists include Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Transcendentalism was a mixture of Romanticism, the Second Great Awakening, and the dreams of the nature out West.
While new forms of national art, literature, and culture around nature emerged, African Americans created their own cultures to try to retain autonomy, even with slavery. This can be seen in the surrogate families, which looked to create strong relationships between individuals torn from their familes in slavery. They also looked towards the Second Great Awakening for openings to be a priests or preachers to gain more autonomy.
How were reform movements influenced by the Second Great Awakening?
The Second Great Awakening prompted many social and moral reforms. One of which was the American Temperance society, which pushed for limitations of alcohol. Dorothea Dix pushed for moral reform and rehabilitation for the mentally ill. Horace Mann pushed for public education. The Shakers, a Christian community, practiced celibacy to become more morally pure.
Besides those smaller movements, abolitionism started taking off with the Second Great Awakening. William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent printer that had pushed for abolitionism in his "Liberator." Others like Frederick Douglass wrote about the horrors of slavery. In the South, Nat Turner's Rebellion and Denmark Vesey's rebellions show antislavery sentiments growing with larger rebellions. Despite success in the North in many states emancipated African Americans, the South had limited success. These rebellions had failed to create any more autonomy for slaves and pro-slavery sentiments, like John C. Calhouns argument that its a "positve good", persisted.
The other massive movement was the Women's rights movements. Headed by people like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, this movement culminated in the Seneca Falls Convention, which pushed for equality for women. A famous document from this was the Declaration of Sentiments, which was an adaptation of the Declaration of Independence to push for womens rights. Within these two social reform giants, there was cross support. An example of this would be Frederick Douglass attending the Seneca Falls Convention.