American History: A Survey (Brinkley), 13th Edition

Chapter 12: ANTEBELLUM CULTURE AND REFORM

Primary Sources

1
If any man spoke for the new democratic age, it was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Here, in an excerpt from his essay "Self-Reliance," he exhorts his fellow citizens to have confidence in themselves and their potential—what is democratic about that? How does this selection reflect the force behind the reform movement in America? Read the section in your text on Emerson, and compare what you read in this document with the philosophy of transcendentalism. What similarities exist?

On the contrary, how might it be argued that Emerson is really saying nothing new, but is merely verbalizing what Americans already believed but had not put into words? Are the people Emerson is addressing once again being "forced to take with shame [their] own opinions from another"?

Ralph Waldo Emerson

2
Most reformers agreed that for Americans to reach their full potential, education was essential, and most agreed that an area where much needed to be done was education for women. Mount Holyoke Seminary, founded in 1837, was one of the earliest and most successful attempts to meet this need. The following, taken from a letter written by one of America's greatest poets, Emily Dickinson, when she was a student there, describes the school and some of its activities. How does Mount Holyoke's general approach to education compare with that at your school? How does the curriculum reflect the general attitude toward education in the mid-nineteenth century? Look at the description of Dickinson's nonacademic activities. Does anything she did indicate that women were still being treated differently from men?

Emily Dickinson

3
The influence of Harriet Beecher Stowe's book Uncle Tom's Cabin on the northern perception of the South's "peculiar institution" was such that Abraham Lincoln was said to have addressed her in 1862 as "the little woman who wrote the book who made this great war." Presented here is a selection from Uncle Tom's Cabin, which describes the arrival of Uncle Tom on the plantation of Simon Legree.

What was Stowe's purpose in writing this book? Notice that Legree is not a southerner, but is from New England. Why would she have created such a character? Also, what of the "two coloured men" who served Legree as his "principal hands"? What was the author trying to say about the effect of slavery on slaves? Reread the section "Where Historians Disagree" in the previous chapter of the text. With which of these historians would Stowe have agreed?

Harriet Beecher Stowe

4
At the women's rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, the delegates declared that "all men and women are created equal" and listed the "injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman." Then the convention adopted a series of resolutions for constructive action, among which were the following. What do these tell you about the goals of the early women's rights movement? What do they also tell you about the prejudices that women would have to overcome to gain the equality they sought?

Women's Rights Convention 1848

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