294 Chapter 10 The Making of Middle-Class America
Key Terms
abolitionism Worldwide movement to end slavery.
In the United States the term chiefly applies to the
antebellum reformers whose cause culminated in
the Civil War, 281
Cult of True Womanhood An ideal of middle-
class womanhood in the early nineteenth century
that asserted that women were naturally pious,
pure, and submissive; exemplars of Christian pre-
cepts; and best-suited to supervise the moral
development of the family, 271
lyceums Locally sponsored public lectures, often
featuring writers, that were popular in the nine-
teenth century, 291
romanticism A loosely defined aesthetic move-
ment originating in the late eighteenth century
and flowering during the early nineteenth cen-
tury; it encompassed literature, philosophy, arts,
and music and enshrined feeling and intuition
over reason, 285
Second Great Awakening A wave of religious enthu-
siasm, commencing in the 1790s and lasting for
decades, that stressed the mercy, love, and benevo-
lence of God and emphasized that all people could,
through faith and effort, achieve salvation, 274
Seneca Falls Convention A meeting, held at
Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, that affirmed that
“all men and women are created equal” and
sought the franchise (vote) for women, 284
Shakers A religious commune founded by Ann Lee
in England that came to America in 1774. Shakers
practiced celibacy, believed that God was both
Mother and Father, and held property in
common, 276
temperance movement A reform movement of
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in
which women and ministers played a major role
and that advocated moderation in the use of
alcoholic beverages, or, preferably, abstinence.
The major organizations included the American
Temperance Society, the Washingtonian move-
ment, and the Women’s Christian Temperance
Union (WCTU), 280
transcendentalism A diverse and loosely defined
philosophy that promoted a mystical, intuitive way
of looking at life that subordinated facts to feel-
ings. Transcendentalists argued that humans could
transcend reason and intellectual capacities by hav-
ing faith in themselves and in the fundamental
benevolence of the universe. They were complete
individualists, 286
utopian Any of countless schemes to create a per-
fect society, 278Review Questions
1.The introduction to this chapter suggests that the
“traditional” family was far more common in the
mid-nineteenth century than nowadays. What
were its strengths and limitations?
2.Many institutions were created during the years
from 1820 to 1850; many remain a part of con-
temporary life. Prisons are an obvious example.
What other institutions were established during
this period that exist today? Does their persistence
prove their value to society or the difficulty of
eliminating outmoded institutions?
3.How did the changing attitudes toward marriage
and children influence the rise of reform movements
during the first half of the nineteenth century? How
did the Great Awakening contribute to the social
reforms of the era?
4.The campaign for women’s rights and woman suf-
frage gained momentum during this period. Did
these new ideas of women’s roles in society stimu-
late the structural transformation of the family
(fewer children, for example), or did the smaller
families free women to undertake new initiatives
such as reform and woman’s suffrage?
5.Why did the great writers of the age—Emerson,
Thoreau, Melville, Hawthorne, Whitman—fail to
find large audiences?