John Geenleaf Whittier

Lived from 1807-1892. He was insulted and stoned for writing against slavery. Whittier rose the awareness of the people of America about slavery through his poems.

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.

Hudson River School

A type of painting with a romantic, heroic,

mythic style that flourished in the 19th

century. It tended to paint American

landscapes as beautiful and brooding.

Women's Rights Convention

Meeting in Seneca Falls, New York of

feminists; 1848; First meeting for women's

rights, helped in long struggle for women to be

equal to men

Transcendentalism

The Transcendentalist movement of the 1830's consisted of mainly modernizing the old puritan beliefs. This system of beliefs owed a lot to foreign influences, and usually resembled the philosophies of John Locke. Transcendentalists believe that truth transcends the body through the senses.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

American poet and professor of modern languages at Harvard. Lived 1807-1882. During a period which was dominated in the literary field by Transcendentalists, Longfellow was an urbane poet who catered to the upper classes and the more educated of the citizens. He was also popular in Europe, and is the only American poet to have a bust in Westminster Abbey.

William H. Prescott

Historian who lived from 1796-1859. He published classic accounts of the conquest of Mexico and Peru. Prescott lost sight in one eye during college

Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)

A painter from Rhode Island who painted

several portraits of Washington, creating a

sort of idealized image of Washington. When

Stuart was painting these portraits, the

former president had grown old and lost

some teeth. Stuart's paintings created an ideal

image of him.

Walt Whitman

John J. Audubon

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Robert Owen

Henry David Thoreau

Herman Melville

Herman Melville

William Gilmore Simms

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

William Cullen Bryant

Edgar Allan Poe

Lived from 1809-1849 and was cursed with hunger, cold, poverty, and debt. He was orphaned as a child and when he married his fourteen year old wife, she died of tuberculosis. He wrote books that deal with the ghostly and ghastly, such as "The Fall of the House of Usher."

Susan B. Anthony

A lecturer for women's rights. She was a Quaker. Many

conventions were held for the rights of women in the 1840s.

Susan B. Anthony was a strong woman who believed that men

and women were equal. She fought for her rights even though

people objected. Her followers were called Suzy B's.

Washington Irving

Published Knickerbockers History of New York in 1809 which had interesting caricatures of the Dutch. Washington Irving's The Sketch Book, published in 1819-1820, was an immediate success. This book made Irving world renown. The Sketch Book was influenced by both American and English themes, and therefore popular in the Old and New World.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

An anatomy teacher at Harvard Medical

school who was regarded as a prominent

poet, essayist, novelist, lecturer and wit from

1809-1894. Poem " the Last Leaf" in honor of

the last "white Indian" at the Boston Tea Party,

which really applied to himself.

Lucretia Mott

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 F. Cooper

Writer who lived in New York in 1789-1851.

Historical Significance: first novelist to gain

world fame and make New World themes

respectable.

Neal Dow

Mayor of Portland, Maine and one of the

leaders against alcohol;1850s; helped pass

laws against manufacturing of intoxicating

liquor.

Tammany Hall

A corrupt New York City political machine. It took advantage of immigrants, workers, consumers, and poor people, not to mention most of the middle class.  It worked with businesses to get their own handpicked politicians elected.  Those politicians were bribed to pass or reject legislation that was anti-business and/or anti-political machines.

Burned-over District

This is a term that refers to western New York. The term

came at a time when revivals were rampant. Puritan

sermonizers were preaching "hell-fire and damnation."

Mormons. A religion, newly established by Joseph

Smith, who claimed to have had a revelation from angel.

The Mormons faced much persecution from the people

and were eventually forced to move west. (Salt Lake City)

After the difficult journey they greatly improved their land

through wise forms of irrigation.

Dorothea Dix

A New England teacher and author who spoke against

the inhumane treatment of insane prisoners, ca. 1830's.

People who suffered from insanity were treated worse

than normal criminals. Traveled over 60,000 miles in

years gathering information for her reports, reports that

brought about changes in treatment, and also the concept

that insanity was a disease of the mind, not a

willfully perverse act by an individual.

Stephen Foster

Stephen Foster was 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 Russell Lowell

Lived from 1819 to 1891. He was an American poet, essayist, diplomat, editor, and literary critic. He is remembered for his political satire, especially in the Billow Papers ( which condemned president Polk's policy for expanding slavery). He succeeded professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as teacher of modern languages at Harvard.

Catharine Beecher

Unmarried daughter of a famous preacher and sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe. when: 1800's why: She urged women to enter the teaching profession. She succeeded because schoolteaching became a thoroughly "feminized" occupation. Other work "opportunities" for women beckoned in domestic service. Beecher helped get women jobs that would allow them to be self-supported.

Nativism

It was a fear of new immigrants coming to America. It was feared the new comers would bring a higher birthrate and poverty to America.

Cult of Domesticity

Widespread cultural creed that glorified

the traditional functions of the

homemaker around 1850. Married women

commanded immense moral power, and

they increasingly made decisions that

altered the family. Work opportunities for

women increased particularly in teaching.

Unitarianism

A "spin-off" faith from the severe Puritanism of the past. Unitarians believed that God existed in only one person and not in the orthodox trinity. They also denied the divinity of Jesus, stressed the essential goodness of human nature, proclaimed their belief in free will and the possibility of salvation through good works, and pictured God as a loving father rather than a stern creator. The Unitarian movement began in New England at the end of the eighteenth century and was embraced by many of the leading "thinkers" or intellectuals of the day. It appealed to them because of the rationalism and optimism contrasted sharply with the doctrines of Calvinism.