APUSH Chapter 11 Terms

Individualism

Individualism was a belief in freedom of Americans from traditional constraints. Individualists encouraged everyone to be unique and to resist conformity. This term was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville. CULTURAL.

Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism was an intellectual movement rooted in the religious soil of New England. Transcendentalists turned to the romantics in Europe for inspiration. Many Transcendentalists believed in the importance of nature and degraded materialism. Transcendentalism greatly influenced modern American Literature. CULTURAL.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the forerunners of the transcendentalist movement. Emerson celebrated the individual and rejected social constraints. CULTURAL.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was a famous American transcendentalist who turned to the environment for inspiration. Thoreau built a cabin at Walden Pond and lived there alone for two years. In 1854 Thoreau published his book, Walden, which was about his time spent living in isolation and his different feelings on society. CULTURAL.

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was transcendentalist poet who was very inspired by Emerson. Whitman published "Leaves of Grass" in 1855, which he revised throughout his life. CULTURAL.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a more pessimistic transcendentalist writer. Hawthorne wrote the Scarlett Letter, in which he explored the theme of individualism. CULTURAL.

Herman Melville

Herman Melville emerged as a scathing critic of transcendentalism. Melville wrote Moby Dick, a story about whaling. Although Moby Dick is a classic today, when it was written, it was a failure because it was too pessimistic. CULTURAL.

Margaret Fuller

Margaret Fuller was a transcendentalist as well. Fuller examined the possibilities for freedom for women. She started a discussion group for Boston women and wrote about a "new era" between men and women. Fuller believed that women deserved independence just as much as men. CULTURAL.

Brook Farm

Brook Farm was an ideal community created by transcendentalists and other radical reformers. Brook Farm was founded outside Boston in 1841. Transcendentalists were frequent visitors at Brook Farm. The economic failure of Brook Farm, however, led to their downfall. CULTURAL.

The Shakers

The Shakers were a new religious movement founded by Ann Lee Stanley.The name "The Shakers" was based on their ecstatic dances that were a part of their worship. The Shakers believed that God had a male and female component. Furthermore, they believed that Ann Lee was the female component. Although The Shakers maintained a strong division between sexes, they also maintained equality between men and women. CULTURAL.

Arthur Brisbane and Fourierism

Charles Fourier, a French reformer, devised an eight-stage theory of social evolution that predicted the imminent decline of individualism and capitalism. Arthur Brisbane was Fourier’s leading disciple in America. They replaced capitalism with socialism. POLITICAL.

John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida
Community

John Humphrey Noyes was a very religious man who was attracted to the lack of sexual relations of The Shakers. Noyes turned to Perfectionism and moved his followers to an isolated area near Oneida, New York. He enforced "complex marriage" where everyone is the community is married. CULTURAL.

Bloomerism

Bloomerism was a belief in the 1850’s that questioned cultural norms. Bloomers were similar to hippies in that they, too, were seen as radical young adults who believed in freedom. They wore bloomers and smoked cigars. These behaviors elicited disapproving stares from matrons and verbal and physical assaults from street urchins. CULTURAL.

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith was the founder of mormanism. Smith wrote the Book of Mormon in 1830. Smith claimed that the Book of Mormon was a translation from a gold plate that an angel named Moroni showed him. Smith established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He justified polygamy and hoped for a society that would inspire moral perfection. CULTURAL.

The Mormon Experience

The Mormons were much more conservative and successful. than other communities. The Mormons started out as a small sect that was repeatedly persecuted and forced off the land they had settled. CULTURAL.

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was Joseph Smith’s successor. Young became governor of the new Utah Territory, but was removed from the position by President Buchanan after pressure from the Protestants. POLITICAL.

Sex and Dress

Sex began to be commercialized in this time period as prostitution became popular. People began searching for an ideal partner and dressing in the latest fashion to attract others. CULTURAL.

Racism and Nativism

Racism and Nativism were theatrical performances by white actors in "Blackface," known as minstrel shows, which were a blend of racial caricature and social criticism. These plays also made fun of immigrants, the demand for women’s rights, and the arrogance of the upper class. CULTURAL.

Evangelical Abolitionism

Evangelical Abolitionism was a moral crusade launched to abolish slavery. These crusades were led by Christians in the North and Midwest. In 1831, radical Christian abolitionists demanded that southerners free their slaves. CULTURAL.

Temperance

Temperance was the virtue that moderated the attraction of pleasure and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensured the mastery of the will over instinct and kept natural desires within limits of what was honorable. Temperance is often associated with one of its prime themes of sobriety and abstaining from alcohol. CULTURAL.

William Lloyd Garrison and the American
Anti-Slavery Society

William Lloyd Garrison was one of the leading abolitionists in the American Anti-Slavery Society of his day. Garrison’s paper, The Liberator, was widely read. He and other abolitionists established a society that worked diligently to abolish slavery. POLITICAL.

Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was a network for slaves to escape to freedom. The Underground Railroad was established by Harriet Tubman and spread to the north. POLITICAL.

Abolitionist Mobs

Abolitionist Mobs were violent mobs made up of white workers. These mobs were opposed African American rights and equality. They attacked African American institutions and places where blacks and whites mixed. CULTURAL.

Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Dix went around reforming institutions. Dix funded better state hospitals for those with mental illness. She also aroused public support and helped expand many state hospitals and improve prisons. CULTURAL.

"Separate Sphere"

"Separate sphere" was a term describing the role of women in public life. It dictated that women had certain jobs that they could perform and should stay out of others. For the large part, they should stay at home. CULTURAL.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. This novel was about antislavery and depicted slavery life in a highly unfavorable light. CULTURAL.

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was an abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery. Truth eventually became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women. CULTURAL.

Seneca Falls

Seneca Falls, New York, was the location of the first women’s rights convention in 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized this meeting, which issued a manifesto for women’s equality that was based on the Declaration of Independence. POLITICAL.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a key player in the woman’s suffrage movement. Stanton helped organize the Seneca Falls meeting and founded the National Women’s Suffrage Association. POLITICAL.

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B Anthony was a leader of the women’s suffrage movement. Anthony helped found the National Women’s Suffrage Association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She convinced congressional supporters to introduce a Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. This amendment, however, did not become the law until 14 years after her death. POLITICAL.