Chapter 13: An American Renaissance

Front 1

Deism

Back 1

A belief that valued human knowledge, exploration of universal and retained the believe in a Supreme Being. It stressed humankind's inherent goodness rather than its depravity and encouraged a belief in social progress.

Front 2

Unitarianism

Back 2

Another belief that believed in human goodness; pursued by affluent families because of their success. They stressed that humans are capable of doing tremendous good and all and all are eligible for salvation (countering Puritanism).

Front 3

Second Great Awakening

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When fears of secularism began to take root, many Americans launched a counter attack in the form of an intense series of revivals. The awakening spread mostly because of the idea that salvation was not just available to a select few but to any willing to accept Christ.

Front 4

Charles Finney

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The most successful Evangelist in western New York, he preach for 6 months, converting a hundred thousand people. Encouraged people to accept God, as it was their choice as an individual. His revival led to social reform against alcoholism, prostitution, war, and slavery.

Front 5

Burned - Over District

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Regions swept over by a revival fevers were compared to forest devastated by fires. Western New York experience such intense evangelic activity that it was dubbed the burned over district.

Front 6

Mormons

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Birthed out of the burned over district, the Mormon church was created by Joseph Smith, who claimed to see God and an angel and was thus inspired to create a church. Inspired by the angel he communed with, he wrote the Book of Mormon and went out to preach human goodness. Joseph Smith denied the legitimacy of civil government and Federal Constitution, which led him and his followers to establish a town in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Front 7

Transcendentalism

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The most intense example of Romantic ideals, transcendentalists placed emphasis on those things that transcended reason. These people rejected traditional conventions in favor of relentless intellectual curiosity. They became a prominent intellectual and spiritual force in American culture.

Front 8

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The acknowledged high priest of transcendentalism, he expressed his rejection of the coldness of reason and his lively, free-spirited literature. Especially appealed to the youth to reject the awe of European culture and pursue their own new world.

Front 9

Henry David Thoreau

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Embodied Emerson's ideal person, one of many skills who rejected contemporary life in order to be more in tune with nature. He was an active abolitionist, whose essay "Civil Disobedience" influenced the movements of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Front 10

Horace Mann

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An avid supporter of state sponsored education system. He became an advocate for the public school system as it could achieve social stability and equal opportunity.

Front 11

Dorthea Dix

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During the rise of popularity of penitentiary, Dix heightened to public's awareness of the plight of mentally ill. She investigated the treatment of the mentally troubled and revealed the horrific conditions they were confined to.

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Elizabeth Cady Stanton

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An advocate for women's rights, she organized the Seneca Falls convention where she professed that "all men and women are created equal". Her and many others paved the steps towards campaigning for women's rights.

Front 13

Seneca Falls Convention

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A gathering in support of women's rights. Here they spoke on how women and men are equal and that laws placing in the women inferior roles are contrary to the great precept of nature.

Front 14

Shakers

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Dubbed shakers for their fits and eventual ritual dance, were followers of Mother Ann. They saw God as a dual personality, one masculine and feminine (Mother Ann). They created some of the first "perfect communities".

Front 15

Utopian Communities

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Local and impractical communities, who rather than seeking to create an ideal government or reform the world, withdrew from the sinful, corrupt world to work their miracles in microcosm.