Pertinent a national “crusade against ignorance. ”
Pertinent Questions Part I 1 & 2.
Education was “central to the Republican vision of America” because, Jefferson called benignly for a national “crusade against ignorance. ” The Republicans believed in the creation of a nationwide system of public schools to create the educated electorate they believed a republic required. Some states endorsed public education for all in the early years of the republic, but none actually created a working system of free schools.The republicans argued that all male citizens should receive free education; with this in thought the *Republican ideology effected the education in the United States because, this left schooling to become very heterogeneous. Such as the responsibilities’ of private institutions’, which were only open to those who could afford it and many private schools were secular and ran by religious groups.
They trained students to become a part of the nation’s elite. They had few schools open to the poor, but the education the poor received was inferior to that provided by most schools. 3.The “cultural independence” that Jeffersonian Americans sought another form of nationalism with great fervor. Winning political independence from Europe, they aspired to a form of cultural independence. In the process, they dreamed of American literary and artistic life that would rival the greatest achievements in Europe.
Americans believed that their “happy land” was destined to become the “seat of empire” and the “final stage” of civilization, with “glorious works of high invention and of wond’rous art. ” The means of expression that this “independence” found was among other places in early American schoolbooks.The author of Geography Made Easy; Jedidiah Morse stated the country must have its own textbooks to prevent aristocratic ideas of England infecting the people.
Noah Webster, a schoolmaster and lawyer argued similarly that American students should be educated as patriots, and their minds filled with nationalistic, American thoughts. 4 ; 5. The obstacles faced by Americans who aspired to create a more elevated national literary life were a large potential audience for a national literature-a substantial reading public, created in part by the ide circulation of newspapers and political pamphlets during the Revolution. There were few opportunities for would-be American authors to get their work before the public. Printers preferred to publish popular works by English writers; magazine publishers filled their pages with large items clipped from British periodicals.
Only those willing to pay the cost and bear the risks of publishing their own works could compete for public attention. Such authors who were most influential were Joel Barlow who published an epic poem, The Columbiad, n 1807, in an effort to convey the special character of American civilization. Then there was Charles Brockden Brown, he sought to do more than simply imitate the English forms; he tried to use his novels to give voice to distinctively American themes, to convey the “soaring passions and intellectual energy” of the new nation.
Finally there was, History of the Revolution published in 1805, and written by Mercy Otis Warren, emphasized the heroism of the American struggle.Then there was Life of Washington in 1806 by Mason Weems, in which became one of the best-selling books of the era, portrayed the aristocratic former president as a homespun man possessing simple republican virtues. 6 ; 7. The American Revolution affected traditional forms of religious practices because it detached churches from government and by elevating ideas of individual liberty and reason that challenged many church traditions.
The challenges to these religious traditionalism that arose during this period was “deism” which was embraced by a wide amount of Americans including Jefferson, and Franklin.Deism originated among Enlightenment philosophers in France. Deists accepted the existence of God, but considered Him a remote being who, after having created the universe, had withdrawn from direct involvement with the human race and its sins. Books and articles attacking religious “superstition” attracted wide readerships and provoked discussion. Skepticism also produced the philosophies of “universalism” and “Unitarianism,” which emerged at first as dissenting views within the New England Congregational church. These ideas rejected the Calvinist belief in predestination, stating the salvation was available to all.They also rejected the idea of the Trinity.
Jesus was the only great teacher, they claimed, not the son of God. *The cause of the second Great Awakening was rationalism, and the spread of it. In effort to stop the spread, conservative theologians of 1790 fought the spread of rationalism, and in efforts of church establishments to revitalize their organization. 8 ; 9. The Methodists, the Baptists, and the Presbyterians were so successful on the frontier because Methodists which was founded by John Wesley, spread to America in the 1770’s and became a formal denomination in 1784 under the leadership of Francis Asbury.Authoritarian and hierarchical in structure, the Methodists Church sent itinerant preachers throughout the nation to win recruits; it soon became the fastest growing denomination in America. Almost as successful were the Baptists, who were relatively new to America; they found a fervent following in the South.
The Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists were mushrooming. * The “message” and the impact of the Second Great Awakening was that individuals must embrace a fervent, active piety, and must reject the skeptical rationalism that threatened traditional beliefs.Even revivalism did not restore the religious ideas of the past. Few of the revivalists’ denominations any longer accepted the ideas of predestination; and the belief that a person could affect his or her own destiny, rather than encouraging irreligion as many had feared, it added intensity to the search for salvation. This message affected women because church membership became dominantly female as a result. This was because women were more numerous in certain regions than men.
Their marriage prospects diminished and their futures were plagued with uncertainty when men left who were struck on their own and moved west, while women had no choice but to stay. Some women discovered in religion a foundation on which to build their lives, but women came to play important roles with charitable activities ministering to orphans and the poor, missionary organization and others. The message also affected African Americans because they also embraced religious fervor, and there became more black preachers who became important figures in the slave community.Some translated the egalitarian religious message of the Second Awakening to be that salvation was available to all-into a similar message for blacks in the present world. Finally but not least, Native Americans sought a new personal God, intimately involved in the affairs of man.
10 ; *11. The industrial revolution was a change in the ways on how the world produced its goods. It also changed our societies from mainly an agricultural society to one that had industry and manufacturing in control.The industrial revolution first got its start in Great Britain, during the 18th century, which was the most powerful empire on the planet, but in effort to protect the nation’s manufacturing preeminence by preventing the export of textile machinery or the emigration of skilled mechanics Immigrants arrived in the United States with advanced knowledge of American technology. So, it was clear that the country with the most wealth would lead in this revolution.
After the idea was taken from England, other countries such the United States joined the revolution.During this time there was also much new technological advancement, socioeconomic and cultural problems that rose. *The initial American ambivalence toward British Industrialism was that immigrants had advanced knowledge of American technology.
The technological advances that helped change the attitude of these things were the First modern factory in America. Then there was the Steam engine by Oliver Evans and his Flour mill. 12.
The role that Eli Whitney played in America’s industrial revolution was his inventions, and the thought that he revolutionized both cotton production and weapons manufacturing.The growth of the textile industry in England created enormous demand for cotton, a demand that planters in the South were finding impossible to meet. There greatest obstacle was separating the seeds from cotton fiber, which was a difficult and time consuming process that was essential before cotton was sold. Long-staple or Sea Island cotton was easy to separate but only grew successfully along the Atlantic coasts or along the off-coast shore of Georgia and South Carolina.With these problems in mind, Whitney created a machine that performed the arduous tasks quickly and efficiently; the cotton gin was an engine that changed life in the South. In the North, the large supply of domestically produced fiber was a strong incentive to entrepreneurs in New England and elsewhere to develop an American textile industry.
Learning to turn cotton into yarn and thread the North could become industrially prosperous instead, but the development of the textile industry divided the nation’s two most populous regions, with one become industrial and the other more agricultural. Ultimately resulting in the Civil War.
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