Burned Over HIST 3000 PDF

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Detailed notes for HIST 3000, Burned Over, Religion in Early America with Gabriel Klehr...

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Burned Over: Religion, Reform, and Radicalism from 1800-1865. HIST 3000 Second Great Awakening: 1803, big surge in religious excitement in the US, many become evangelical. Fracturing of the American religious world: By the 1830s, there’s tons of different sects. Mormonism, etc. Religion and reform: Trying to change the world for the better via religion. Religion and republicanism: America described as a God-ordained republic Religion and equality in the 19th century: Sharply debated Primary themes of the Protestant Reformation: Sola Fide: Solely by faith Sola Scriptura: Solely by scripture, the idea that anything not in the bible should be discarded from the church doctrine. English Reformation: Henry the 8th wanted a divorce, and then he recreated the Catholic church, but with him as its head as the Church of England. Church of England split between Protestants and Catholics. Puritans wanted to make new ideas, High Anglicans wanted to keep Catholic ideas. Virginia has the Church of England brought over with it. Carolinas, etc, also develop the Anglican church. An established church means the government pays for its formation and upkeep via taxes, akin to public schools. Church of England has issues with reaching colonies, as the priesthood had to be educated and trained, because it is difficult to get them to go to North America. Most priests are driven to the Americas by extreme passion, eccentricity, or issues with authorities. “You’ve pissed someone off, take a post in New Jersey and leave us forever.” Church reflected the idea of earthly hierarchy. Rich folk bought pews, and other people had to use the balcony and such. The Puritans: Wanted the church to become more Protestant.

John Calvin. Strict theological governmental. Very against amusements and such, shutting down theaters and other such ‘sinful’ things. Predestination, everyone already has their afterlife selected for them. Elect, a small group of people who go to Heaven, everyone else goes to Hell. Only God knows who they are. Settle in New England, want to create a theocracy. Emphasized the idea of conformity. Religion and Magic: Witchcraft believed to be real, Salem witchcraft. Belief in magic becomes rarer in the elite, but still popular amongst commoners. John Wesley: Major evangelical figure Became a priest at Oxford, interested in the ancient church. Went to Georgia because he felt it was important to do so. Moravians, a small sect who were descendants of a German group from the sixth century, the Anabaptists. Send missionaries all over the world using money from a count. Believe in inward and outward forms of piety. Wesley experiences a spiritual crisis, thinks he’s not saved, then experiences a religious revival. George Whitfield: Similar to Wesley. He held open-air sermons because he was barred from churches because of his controversial idea. Befriended Wesley and then split with him because Wesley believed in free will, whereas he believed in predestination. Evangelicalism: Not an set of beliefs. Four components: Need for personal conversation Stress on Biblical authority Emphasis on Jesus’s death Focus on sharing the Gospel. Wesley believed you had to be born again, infant baptism isn’t enough to get rid of original sin. Faith, hope, and love are the marks of rebirth, and a desire not to commit major sins (willful sins as opposed to sins of accident or omission) Many believing they’re going to hell because they have not had the rebirth experience. Early Evangelicals in America: Methodists: Subset of the Anglican, but separates after the Revolutionary War. Baptists: Tend to believe in predestination Presbyterians: Different types, believed in an educated ministry, limiting their spread.

Many of these groups get along, though there is some friction and such. Believe that Christians are all equals, unlike very hierarchical Anglican churches. Decline of the Anglican church after the American Revolution, as states and such dis-establish churches. Revivals, sudden religious experiences and conversions. George Mead was converted, is happy, goes back to his family, and starts preaching at a nearby mill, his family is angry with him. He shuns entertainment and such, tearing him apart from his family. American Revolution and aftermath: Disestablishment of churches (removal of state support) Freedom of religion 1st Amendment Period between end of the Revolution and the early 1800s results in churches generally having lots of problems, and public attention turns to politics rather than religion. People focus on surviving as they try to expand into the frontier rather than religion. Second Great Awakening: Period of revivals. Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky, woman starts shouting and singing in a sermon, and then, others become extremely emotional. Some people fell over, rolling on the ground, others spasming and jerking and laughing. Quite hot, more of a festival than a sermon, people are camped out, nearly 25,000 people. Revival spread to the Carolinas and Virginia, then elsewhere. Cycles of barrenness and revival. Women in evangelical churches: Women make up 60% or more of evangelical congregations. Burned Over District: New York area swept over by so many revivals it was considered to be ‘burned over’. Charles Finney: Priest in the Burned Over District, he would invite people who were in despair and put them in the ‘anxious bench’, where they would face the crowd and be watched, until they experienced the conversion experience. Tries to convert the wealthy and influential and try to get it to trickle down, or the opposite, using the working class or blacks and saying “even you, the average person, can be saved” Economic and transportation increases, more cities due to immigration and factories. Credit becomes a major thing, due to the ease of transportation and communication.

Masculinity and Honor: Honor: Determined externally, you cannot determine what your honor is, other people/society do. In the South you had little economic mobility, so you show off your martial prowess and gain honor. Harder to get than to lose, has to be continually earned. Fragile, scarce resource. Masculinity: What makes one manly. Gentility: Those who of a certain standing should not learn a lot, but engage in gentile activities, such as hunting. Hospitality and Honor: Treating someone to an alcoholic drink, confers honor upon both the recipient and the giver. Dueling: In eighteenth and nineteenth century, very popular. Officially unapproved, but unofficially defended. At the University of South Carolina, two 17 year olds stabbed the same piece of fish at dinner, argued, then dueled, one of them was shot and killed. Often triggered by insults or public things, etc. Often considered bad form to kill someone in a duel. Andrew Jackson was a prolific duelist, and was once shot near the spine, only to respond by shooting his opponent in the head. Burr and Hamilton duel, Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel because he wouldn’t retract libelous statements. Illegal, but popular among the upper class. Popular throughout the US until 1800, then becomes almost exclusively Southern. George Yancy argued that the rules of God and the land had to bow to the ‘laws that public opinion had formed.’ Relatively private, seconds and a small group of supporters. Rough and Tumble fighting: Two men fight one-on-one, no weapons, they would sharpen their fingernails to better gouge out eyes. Public. Not quite honor, but close. Boasting: Social functions of boasting: What do men boast about? Animality. Boasting pumps someone up, gets them ready for brawling. Can be used in lieu of a fight, or start one. Honor, Work, Thrift: Productivity, industriousness, Evangelical Christianity, Distinctive to the South?

Honor and Slavery. Compare the boasting and pride and such to football. African-American Christianity: Before becoming Christian, many practiced African religions, at least in part. Slaves were mostly illiterate, so there wouldn’t be many records, and most slave owners didn’t care. Northern slaves would occasionally become Christian before the 19th century and such. US-born slaves somewhat more receptive to Christianity, and there are some small conversions in the 18th century. In the 19th century, the evangelicals become the dominant religious force, and start converting more slaves. A few evangelicals (not many) start thinking they should try to push for emancipation. Harry Hosier: 1750-1806 Black priest Philadelphia has one of the larger free black populations. Richard Allan: Born into slavery to a Quaker, ultimately earned his freedom by selling salt to the Continental Army. Converted to Christianity at 17. Formed the African Methodist Episcopal church, the Bethel A.M.E church in Philadelphia. Flourish in the north because whites want them to be separate. Charleston: Emmanuel A.M.E church, only in operation for a decade before being shut down. Later reopened. Denmark Vasey, slave from the Caribbean, freed in South Carolina, accused of being part of a conspiracy to overthrow whites and sail to Hati. No real evidence, but it was shuttered. Laws passed to ban independent black churches without white oversight. Whites were afraid they were used as places to plan rebellion or other things. Biracial churches: Churches controlled by whites, but with black membership. Some black leadership, often due to white negligence (they didn’t care enough). Underground churches: Hidden and ‘invisible’ black churches.

Democratic Religion: Politics and Religion: Constitution: Republicanism and Democracy Voting qualifications for voters, only the house of representatives elected, little democracy because they disliked it. Federalists supported a stronger central government and less democracy. Democratic-Republicans favored a weaker one and more democracy. Alien acts: Non-citizens who were deemed dangerous could be deported. Sedition Act: Bans anything malicious about the government from being uttered or printed. Virginia and Kentucky Acts: Nullification. Andrew Jackson: In 1824, the system of having an heir to the President (the previous Secretary of State had become President for three previous elections) dies. Institutes universal white male suffrage. Rise of mass-participation party politics: Democratic culture: All sorts of people can participate, because there are lots of candidates now. They attend speeches and such. Patronage: Getting jobs based off of politics. Sam Patch: Leaps off a cliff into a river, a 28-year-old mill worker, becomes famous. He jumped to distract people from the opening of a new park which was only accessible via a toll bridge. Known as a democratic folk hero, opposes industrialization and the rise of entrepreneurs. Andrew Jackson hails him as a hero, even named his horse “Sam Patch”. Jackson overrules the Supreme Court, overrules the US and forces the Natives out west, Indian Removal Act. At the time, democracy was tied up with race. Democracy was only for white men, nobody else. If most people disagree with a group, they should be eliminated and driven out. The majority rule, if minorities are exterminated, it’s not an issue. Democracy and authoritarianism are bound up together. About 30% of the population at the time is slaves. “HOA’s are a modern example. You have no right to hang a piñata, we will force you out. You painted your shutters brown, we are all suffering now. You are a monster, we are going to force you out now.” Giving out alcohol was a way for a rich man to show off his riches, and earn votes.

Jackson, on the other hand, stressed his common birth, and claimed he was a common man and understood their struggles. Legal profession: More open than now, no law schools, unlike now. There’s also an attempt to make the legal profession open to anyone who can pass the bar. Lawyering is a stepping stone into politics and high society. Several states want to abolish the common law. Common law: Precedents of things not officially considered law. Want it to be simple, so that everyone can understand it. All things in America should be democratic. Doctors: Balancing the four humors. Unregulated medical markets Medicine and the crises of authority: The medical profession is open to everyone, from trained doctors to faith healers and snake-oil salesmen. Clergy in America: In 1775, there are only 1,800 clergy in the entire east coast. By 1840, there are 40,000. The number per capita triples. The bars to being a clergyman are almost entirely eliminated. Anyone can be a preacher, though if you want to be associated with a church, you generally need an examination and maybe some training.

Lorenzo Dow: Famous and eccentric preacher Born in Connecticut, converted in the 1790s. Rejected for being too strange by the Methodists, but was eventually accepted. Carried no extra clothes, was unkempt, rumpled. Mesmerizing, harsh voice, weird. Blurred the lines between religion and magic. In 1804 alone, he spoke to 800 groups. Constantly traveled. Saw signs and omens a lot. Known as “crazy Lorenzo Dow”

Conscience: Guides your interpretation of the Bible. Elias Smith: Baptist preacher who abruptly dropped out of preaching, claimed God spoke to him.

Christian Movement: Believed that churches should be able to believe whatever they want without any restrictions. Shakers: Believe women can preach. They forbid sexual relations because they felt the world was going to end soon. John Humphrey Noyes: Convinced that God is calling him to reform the world and form a utopia. The Oneida commune in upstate New York. Apocalyptic Cults: February 25: Primary source analysis Slave Revolts: Slave revolts in the hemispheric context: The western hemisphere. Hati: Connected to the French Revolution, the Hatian slaves rise up and after twenty years they get independence. Two slave revolts in New York. One in 1710, large parts of the city burned, almost no details. One a few decades later, few details as well. Stono Revolt: 1739 Well-organized slaves tried fleeing to Florida. Gabriel’s Rebellion 1800 A plot which was discovered to overthrow and rule Richmond, but nothing ever happens. Denmark Vesey: 1800 Won a lottery, bought his own freedom, opposed slavery. Accused of plotting a massive revolt to seize a ship in Charleston and sail to Hati. Nat Turner: One of the few successful plots, with many deaths. Unique, because almost all the other ‘plots’ were found out before they could be carried out. Over 60 whites killed. Mormans: Joseph Smith founds Mormanism, believes that God revealed golden tablets to him but Brigham Young causes them to become solidified as a major religion. Grandfather died as an alcoholic, died after a fencepost fell on him. His father was a farm worker, due to the debt, and the family was not particularly weathly at any time. Moves to

Rodchester, New York, just a few miles from Smith. Family are ‘reformed methodists’, who disliked the bishops and such, made them like the Baptists. Becomes a carpenter has a strong work ethic. Marries, his wife later get tuberculosis and dies. “Dissatisfied with all the sects he saw in New York, all of whom claimed they had the truth. Became a devout Methodist. Heard Smith’s preachings, became fascinated. Claimed he had a vision on the same night the golden plates were found by Smith, said he saw visions of shining men in the west. Became a priest and an elder in the Morman church. He becomes Smiths right hand man, and is very good at organizing people, Faces challenges where people wonder what they can or cannot trust, be it prophets or counterfeit currency. People doubt Young. Young does not claim to be a prophet like Joseph Smith, but he does have a conduit to God. God can issue edicts and such from the successors to order the church. Driven out of Missouri, then driven out of Illinois after Smith is assassinated, then moved to Nebraska, then Wyoming, and then finally Utah, Wanted to complete the Navoo temple, before building a new one in Utah. Temples show mankind before The Fall of Adam and Eve. Godhood=owning a kingdom, every member is a god. Benevolent but absolute patriarchal authority. Everyone, including ancestors, can be baptized and be saved. Posthumous baptism. Polgygamy: If marriage is good, then more marriage must be good. If a Morman has many children, they are ensuring more and more descednants are saved and taken to heaven. Even Joseph Smiths wife opposes plural marriage. Young was married to 53 women. Unlike the Evangelicals, believes people can dance and sing. About 10,000 Mormans, heading Zion. Settle in Salt Lake City, and the US wants to make Utah a government. Mountain Meadows Massacre. Race and Mormans: Believed that Natives were descendants of a cursed group of Israelite settlers. Young literally felt that converted Natives would literally become white. Believe blacks were the descandants of Cain, the murderous brother. Curse of Ham, Noah’s son who ‘looked on his fathers nakedness and was cursed to serve his brothers.” Young outright said Cain’s children were black. Interracial marriage was forbidden, but that was normal at the time, blacks cannot become priests. Mormans forbid blacks from becoming church members up until the 1970s. Theoretically he opposed slavery, but he did actively oppose abolition. Reform movement:

19th century idea. The world can be bettered through religion. John Winthrop: Puritan leader, wanted to create a ‘city on a hill’, like the Israelites. America is destined to become a moral place, but sin will be punished. Lyman Beecher: Puritan preacher The democratization of society led to him becoming less popular due to a distaste for the educated and authority. Tried to apply the idea of the city of the hill was for the whole country rather than just the Puritans. Pre-Millenarianism: Belief that the day of judgement will come after the reign of the antichrist. Post-Millenarianism: The belief that first there will be the kingdom of God, then the final battle. Preppers and the Antichrist, weird confluence between the deeply religious and the deeply paranoid. Due to the idea of Post- Millenarianism: Temperance Agricultural Reform Diet Women’s Rights Anti-slavery Others Believed that the Human world reflected the actions of the divine world, so that Human events can help influence the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. The world can be improved through temperance and other world issues being dealt with by the religious. Why alcohol? Americans were drinking a lot more than previously, which was already quite a lot. From around 1790 to 1830, this amount goes up even more! Apple cider and other fermented fruit juices was the most common drink before the 1800s, replacing water. Rum becomes more popular in the 1800s. However, it becomes more expensive due to the Revolution. Skyrockets in the early 19th century. More spree drinking, more drinking alone. Grain which could not be sold at markets would be made into alcohol. Demand is always there, safer than water, and the alcohol, mostly whiskey, was almost a replacement currency in the western regions.

“Americans drank shockingly little water in the 19th century, almost none.” People began drinking lots of whiskey, and alcohol was supposed to be provided to workers like we have water coolers everywhere. People drank to almost every possible occasion (riverboat captains and stagecoach drivers were often drunk). The only excuse to turn down a drink would be to pass out! Nearly 4 shots a whiskey a day for the average American, 5 or 6 for the average man, up to 9 or 10 was not unremarkable. More binge drinking because of all this. Political drinking: George Washington ran for a colonial assembly and claimed he lost because he didn’t give enough alcohol to the workers. One guy won an election because he would get drunk with anyone. The 4th of July basically became a national binge drinking day, almost a patriotic duty to get drunk on the 4th. “Voting and drinking are the rights of men.” Drinking is an ideological foundation of the republic. Most political affairs would revolve around drinking and/or toasting. For Beecher to rail against alcohol is controversial and weird. Said that alcohol kept you from focusing on God. Slavery and Temperance: Believed more people were enslaved to alcohol than kept as l...