Chapter 15 vocab APUSH

Dorothea Dix

a reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, beginning in the 1820’s, she was responsible for improving conditions in jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the u.s. and canada. she succeeded in persuading many states to assume responsibility for the care of the mentally ill. she served as the superintendant of nurses for the union army during the civil war.

Stephen Foster

a white pennsylvanian that wrote, ironically, the most famous black songs. h lived from 1826 to 1864. his one excursion into the south occurred in 1852, after he had published "old folks at home". foster made a valuable contribution to american folk music by capturing the plaintive spirit of the slaves.

James Russel Lowell

united states educator and president of harvard university (1856-1943), united states astronomer whose studies of mars led him to conclude that mars was inhabited (1855-1916), invented a weaving machine and made factories. he started the industrail revolution, ranks as one of america’s better poets, he was a distinguished essayist, literary critic, editor, and diplomat, he is remembered as a political satirist in his "biglow papers", massachusetts man who lamented massachusetts’ involvement with the mexican war

William Miller

a self-educated farmer from new york. convinced from his studies that christ will return in 1843, from his studies of the scriptures.

Washington Irving

author, diplomat, wrote the sketch book, which included "rip van winkle" and "the legend of sleepy hollow," the first american to be recognized in england (and elsewhere) as a writer

Oliver Wendell Holmes

he is often considered considered one of the greatest justices in supreme court history. his opinions and famous dissents in favor of individual liberties are still frequently quoted today. he argued that current necessity rather than precedent should determine the rules by which people are governed; that experience, not logic, should be the basis of law.

Lucretia Mott

feminist. a quaker who attended an anti-slavery convention in 1840 and her party of women was not recognized. she and stanton called the first women’s right convention in new york in 1848

James Fenimore Cooper

american novelist who is best remembered for his novels of frontier life, such as the last of the mohicans

Elizabeth Blackwell

first female doctor. a woman who challenging the taboo of professional women. she graduated from medical college, thereby proving that women are able to do what men can.

Horace Mann

secretary of the massachusetts board of education, he was a prominent proponent of public school reform, and set the standard for public schools throughout the nation.

Peter Cartwright

best known of the methodist traveling frontier preachers; ill-educated, strong servant of the lord who spent 50 years traveling from tennessee to illinois while calling upon sinners to repent; converted thousands with his bellowing voice and flailing arms; physically knocked out those who tried to break up his meetings

Noah Webster

american writer who wrote textbooks to help the advancement of education. he also wrote a dictionary which helped standardize the american language.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

a member of the women’s right’s movement in 1840. she was a mother of seven, and she shocked other feminists by advocating suffrage for women at the first women’s right’s convention in seneca, new york 1848. stanton read a "declaration of sentiments" which declared "all men and women are created equal."

Sylvester Graham

a connecticut-born presbyterian minister who won many followers with his prescriptions for eating fruits, vegetables, and bread made from coarsely ground flour; warned about the evils of excess and luxury

Edgar Allen Poe

orphaned at young age. was an american poet, short-story writer, editor and literary critic, and is considered part of the american romantic movement. best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. failing at suicide, began drinking. died in baltimore shortly after being found drunk in a gutter.

Susan B. Anthony

key leader of woman suffrage movement, social reformer who campaigned for womens rights, the temperance, and was an abolitionist, helped form the national woman suffrage assosiation

Ralph Waldo Emerson

american transcendentalist who was against slavery and stressed self-reliance, optimism, self-improvement, self-confidence, and freedom. he was a prime example of a transcendentalist and helped further the movement.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

originally a transcendentalist; later rejected them and became a leading anti-transcendentalist. he was a descendant of puritan settlers. the scarlet letter shows the hypocrisy and insensitivity of new england puritans by showing their cruelty to a woman who has committed adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet "a".

Robert owen

british cotton manufacturer believed that humans would reveal their true natural goodness if they lived in a cooperative environment. tested his theories at new lanark, scotland and new harmony, indiana, but failed

Henry David Thoreau

american transcendentalist who was against a government that supported slavery. he wrote down his beliefs in walden. he started the movement of civil-disobedience when he refused to pay the toll-tax to support him mexican war.

Herman Melville

american writer whose experiences at sea provided the factual basis of moby-dick considered among the greatest american novels

Charles G. Finney

this presbyterian minister appealed to his audience’s sense of emotion rather than their reason. his "fire and brimstone" sermons became commonplace in upstate new york, where listeners were instilled with the fear of satan and an eternity in hell. he insisted that parishioners could save themselves through good works and a steadfast faith in god. this region of new york became known as the "burned-over district," because this minister preached of the dangers of eternal damnation across the countryside

William H. McGuffey

ohio teacher-preacher of rare power. his grade-school readers, first published in the 1830’s, sold 122 million copies in the following decades. _____ readers had home lasting lessons in morality, patriotism, and idealism.

Joseph Smith

founded mormonism in new york in 1830 with the guidance of an angel. 1843, smith’s announcement that god sanctioned polygamy split the mormons and let to an uprising against mormons in 1844; translated the book of mormon and died a martyr.

Emma Willard

early supporter of women’s education, in 1818. she published plan for improving education, which became the basis for public education of women in new york. 1821, she opened her own girls’ school, the troy female seminary, designed to prepare women for college.

Louis Agassiz

father of glaciology. distinguished french-swiss immigrant served for a quarter of a century at harvard college. Found evidence of ice age occurrence. student of biology who sometimes carried snakes in his pockets, he insisted on original research and deplored the reigning overemphasis on memory work.

Walt Whitman

american poet and transcendentalist who was famous for his beliefs on nature, as demonstrated in his book, leaves of grass. he was therefore an important part for the buildup of american literature and breaking the traditional rhyme method in writing poetry.

John J. Audubon

he was an artist who specialized in painting wild fowl. he had such works as birds of america. ironically, he shot a lot of birds for sport when he was young. the audubon society for the protection of birds was named after him. his depictions of western wildlife contributed to the western population movements.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

american poet. paul revere’s ride. influenced somewhat by the transcendentalism occurring at the time. he was important in building the status of american literature.

Louisa May Alcott

american writer and reformer best known for her largely autobiographical novel little women

Gilbert Stuart

he made george washington look perfect and spectacular in his paintings. he idealized him. he was also an ex-patriot who spent his whole life in europe.

Margaret Fuller

social reformer, leader in women’s movement and a transcendentalist. edited "the dial" which was the publication of the transcendentalists. it appealed to people who wanted "perfect freedom" "progress in philosophy and theology and hope that the future will not always be as the past".

Francis Parkman

historian with defective eyes that forced him to write in darkness with the aid of a guiding machine; chronicled the struggle between france and england in colonial times for mastery of north america

Brigham Young

the successor to the mormons after the death of joseph smith. he was responsible for the survival of the sect and its establishment in utah, thereby populating the would-be state.

Phineas T. Barnum

founded the circus. he was a connecticut yankee who earned the title, "the prince of humbug." beginning in new york city, he "humbugged" the american public with bearded ladies and other freaks. under his golden assumption that a "sucker" was born every minute, barnum made several prize hoaxes, including the 161-year-old (actually 80) wizened black "nurse" of george washington.

Stephen Foster

wrote, ironically, the most famous black songs. h lived from 1826 to 1864. his one excursion into the south occurred in 1852, after he had published "old folks at home". foster made a valuable contribution to american folk music by capturing the plaintive spirit of the slaves.

American Temperance Society

an organization group in which reformers are trying to help the ever present drink problem. this group was formed in boston in 1826, and it was the first well-organized group created to deal with the problems drunkards had on societies well being, and the possible well-being of the individuals that are heavily influenced by alcohol.

shakers

american religious sect devoted to the teachings of ann lee stanley, prohibited marriage and sexual relationships

Maine Law

prohibited the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks

unitarianism

belief that god existed in only one person and not in the orthodox trinity; denied the divinity of jesus; stressed the essential goodness of human nature rather than its vileness; believed in free will and the possibility of salvation through good works; god as a loving father rather than stern creator; followed by ralph waldo emerson; appealed to intellectuals whose rationalism and optimism naturally made them not support the hellfire doctrines of calvinism (especially predestination and human depravity)

second great awakening

a series of religious revivals starting in 1801, based on methodism and baptism. stressed a religious philosophy of salvation through good deeds and tolerance for all protestant sects. the revivals attracted women, blacks, and native americans.

Hudson River School

founded by thomas cole, first native school of landscape painting in the u.s.; attracted artists rebelling against the neoclassical tradition, painted many scenes of new york’s hudson river

womens rights convention

convention for women advocates at seneca falls to rewrite the declaration of independence to include women. "all men and women are created equal" -declaration of sentiments

Knickerbocker Group

group in new york that wrote literature and enabled america to boast for the first time of a literature that matched its magnificent landscapes

Burned-Over District

area of new york state along the erie canal that was constantly aflame with revivalism and reform; as wave after wave to fervor broke over the region, groups such as the mormons, shakers, and millerites found support among the residents.

Declaration of Sentiments

declared that all "people are created equal"; used the declaration of independence to argue for women’s rights

transcendentalism

a philosophy pioneered by ralph waldo emerson in the 1830’s and 1840’s, in which each person has direct communication with god and nature, and there is no need for organized churches. it incorporated the ideas that mind goes beyond matter, intuition is valuable, that each soul is part of the great spirit, and each person is part of a reality where only the invisible is truly real. promoted individualism, self-reliance, and freedom from social constraints, and emphasized emotions.

Millerites

seventh-day adventists who followed william miller. they sold their possessions because they believed the second coming would be in 1843 or 1844, and waited for the world to end.

Oneida Community

founded by john humphrey noyes. another radical communistic experiment founded in new york in 1848 that practiced free love ("complex marriage"), birth control and the eugenic selection of parents to produce a superior offspring. lasted for almost 30 years.

mormon

church founded by joseph smith in 1830 with headquarters in salt lake city, utah, religious group that emphasized moderation, saving, hard work, and risk-taking