America’s HistorySixth Edition

CHAPTER 8

Creating a Republican Culture, 1790-1820

Copyright © 2008 by Bedford/St. Martin’s and Matthew Ellington, Ruben S. Ayala High School

Henretta • Brody • Dumenil

1. The Capitalist Commonwealth– Banks, Manufacturing, and Markets– Transportation Bottlenecks and Government Initiatives– Public Policy: The Commonwealth System

2. Toward a Democratic Republican Culture– Social and Political Equality for White Men– Toward a Republican System of Marriage– Raising and Educating Republican Children

3. Aristocratic Republicanism and Slavery– The Revolution and Slavery, 1776-1800– The North and South Grow Apart– The Missouri Crisis, 1819-1821

4. Protestant Christianity as a Social Force– A Republican Religious Order– The Second Great Awakening– Women’s New Religious Roles

1A: Banks, Manufacturing, and Markets

• “Republicanism” had different meanings for people

• Banking and rural manufacturing gave rise to a new capitalist economy

• Panic of 1819: led to hostility against banks and foreshadowed regular business cycle

• Market economy drawbacks: environmental damage, more work, economic dependence

1B: Transportation Bottlenecks and Government Initiatives

• Private turnpikes (e.g. Lancaster in PA) and canals (e.g. Erie in NY) greatly improved transportation

• Federal government did not fund many “internal improvements” due to Republican opposition

1C: Public Policy: The Commonwealth System

• States legislatures and courts aided road, canal, and dam companies

• Charters, monopolies, eminent domain, and limited liability were granted

2A: Social and Political Equality for White Men

• American society rewarded individual achievement and wealth over inherited position

• More white men gained the right to vote while states excluded women and blacks

2B: Toward a Republican System of Marriage

• Sentimentalism encouraged marriage for love

• Republican ideals (political equality) led to changes

2C: Republican Motherhood

• Birthrate declined sharply beginning in late 1700s

• Society began to view women as keeper’s of virtue

2D: Raising and Educating Republican Children

• Parenting differed between rural and upper class

• Schooling seen as necessary only for 3 R’s

• Little American literature of note until 1830s

3A: The Revolution and Slavery, 1776-1800

• Tens of thousands gained freedom in US Revolution

• Northern states slowly outlawed slavery after the war

• Prosser uprising and need for slaves in deep south turned many whites against emancipation

3B: The North and South Grow Apart

• Slavery led to cultural/educational differences

• Cotton boom, new southern states increased slavery

• American Colonization Society failed to export slaves

3C: The Missouri Crisis

• Tallmadge amendment tried to end slavery in MO

• Slavery from “necessary evil” to “positive good”

• Clay’s Missouri Compromise postponed a crisis

4A: A Republican Religious Order

• Rev. War encouraged separation of church & state

• States usually provided indirect aid to churches

4B: The Second Great Awakening

• Baptists and Methodists gained most during revivals--they were self-governing, emotional

• Circuit preachers such as Finney traveled large areas

• Slave Christianity focused on plight of Hebrews in OT

• Second Great Awakening fostered religious cooperation and reform movements

4C: Women’s New Religious Roles

• Christian republicanism bolstered women’s authority

• Women were 70% of Congregationalists by 1820

• Women took over school teaching profession