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Luis Enrique Alemar Solis - A Changing Culture Assignment
Luis Enrique Alemar Solis - A Changing Culture Assignment
A. Main Idea: Between 1815 and 1860 the United States experienced a massive influx
of immigrants.
better life
1. Detail: Immigrants came to the United States in search of a ______________. Many
violence and political turmoil at home starvation
had fled ________________________. Others wanted to escape __________ and
poverty labor
_________. Immigrants provided a source of _________ for U.S. industries.
Ireland
2. Detail: The largest wave of immigrants came from ____________. Most arrived with
skills
money
no __________ and few _________. The second largest group came from
Germany farmers business
___________. Most became ___________ or went into __________.
nativism
3. Detail: Some immigrants encountered hostility called ____________. Many groups
catholic
were _____________ and pushed for laws banning ___________ from holding
political office. immigrants and Catholics
B. Main Idea: An important change in religious life was the revival of religious commitment
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.
known as the Great Awakening.
Traditional Protestantism
1. Detail: _______________ experienced a dramatic revival.
Unitarians
2. Detail: Two groups that grew rapidly in the 1830s were the __________ and the
Universalists
_____________. Mormons
3. Detail: Another group started by Joseph Smith was the __________. Smith made
converts harassment
thousands of ___________ but endured ______________ in Ohio and Missouri. The
Commerce, Illinois then was renamed Nauvoo
group eventually settled in the _____________.
society utopia
4. Detail: Several groups separated from _________ to form a ________, or ideal
Shakers
society. One group, the __________, did not believe in marrying or having children.
converts
They could only increase membership by ________________.
C. Main Idea: Many leading thinkers adopted Romanticism, which advocated the individual
above society and nature over the environment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1. Detail: The most influential transcendentalist was __________________. In his
essay "Nature,"
commune he argued that people who want fulfillment should try to
with nature
________________.
read
2. Detail: As more Americans learned to ________________ and gained the right to
vote penny papers
__________, publishers began printing inexpensive newspapers called ___________.
NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________
It changed American society greatly because it urged people to allow God into their
__________________________________________________________________
daily lives and they held camp meetings which also changed the American society
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.
NAME ________________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Can average citizens change society? How did reforms of this era
increase tensions between North and South?
Reading HELPDESK
Academic Vocabulary
*predominantly being most frequent or common
*philosopher person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment
Content Vocabulary
nativism hostility toward immigrants
utopia a community based on a vision of a perfect society sought by reformers
romanticism a literary, artistic, and philosophical movement in the late 1700s and early 1800s
emphasizing the imagination, the emotions, and the individual above society
transcendentalism a philosophy stressing the relationship between human beings and nature,
spiritual things over material things, and the importance of the individual conscience
ACTIVITY As you read about the growth of the United States, complete a graphic organizer similar to
the one below by listing the beliefs of religious groups during the Second Great Awakening.
Transcendentalism a philosophy stressing the relationship between human beings and nature,
spiritual things over material things, and the importance of the individual
conscience
1
NAME ________________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________
IT MATTERS BECAUSE
Between 1815 and 1860, more than 5 million immigrants arrived in the United States. Most found
opportunity. Some experienced discrimination and prejudice. During the 1820s and 1830s, a new
religious movement began to emerge.
Nativism
Some immigrants experienced discrimination in the United States. Immigrants spoke different
languages and practiced different religions. This new diversity caused feelings of nativism, or hostility
toward immigrants. Also, many Americans were anti-Catholic in the 1800s. The arrival of
predominantly Catholic Irish immigrants led to the rise of nativist groups. Some nativist groups
pledged that they would never vote for a Catholic, and they pushed for laws banning immigrants and
Catholics from holding office. In July 1854, the American Party formed. Membership was secret, so
members questioned about the party answered, “I know nothing.” This party became known as the
Know-Nothings. The Know-Nothings built a large following in the 1850s.
2
NAME ________________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________
A Religious Revival
Guiding Question What was the overall message of the Second Great Awakening, and how
did it affect American society?
Immigrants added to the diversity of society. At the same time, Americans were transforming society in
other ways. Traditional Protestantism experienced a sudden revival. New forms of worship began to
appear.
a movement called the Second Great Awakening. Leaders of different Protestant groups held large
outdoor gatherings called camp meetings that attracted thousands of people. The people participated
in several days of song and prayer. Believers gave emotional speeches about their faith. The movement
urged individuals to bring God back into their daily lives. Ministers preached that all people, not just a
chosen few, could receive grace through faith.
Charles Grandison Finney was a Presbyterian minister who helped found modern revivalism. He
preached that each person had the inborn ability to reach spiritual rebirth and salvation. Finney’s
camp meetings were carefully planned to create as much emotion as possible. He used that emotion
to focus people’s attention on his message. He compared his methods to the ones used by politicians
and salespeople. Finney began preaching in upstate New York, where he held revivals in towns along
the Erie Canal. Then he moved into the Northeast. He warned against using politics to change society.
Finney believed that political reforms could not help society if people were selfish and immoral.
Society could only become better, he thought, if Christian ideas reformed people from within.
3
NAME ________________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________
Another group that began during this period was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
better known as Mormons. Joseph Smith began preaching Mormon ideas in 1830, and that same year
published The Book of Mormon. Smith said he was called to restore the Christian church to its original
form. He claimed that The Book of Mormon was a translation of words that he had received from an
angel. He made thousands of converts who tried to settle in Ohio, Missouri, and elsewhere. However,
they were persecuted in those places. Then, the Mormons moved to Commerce, Illinois, in 1839. They
bought the town and renamed it Nauvoo. Mormons prospered in the Midwest, but persecution
continued. After local residents murdered Smith in 1844, Brigham Young became the leader of the
Church. The Mormons moved from Illinois to what would later become the Utah Territory, where they
settled permanently.
Utopian Communities
Some Americans in the 1830s believed that society had corrupted human nature. These people
decided to separate from society and form a utopia, or ideal society. People lived and worked together
in these utopian communities. In these places, people did not own private property. Well-known
utopian communities included Brook Farm in Massachusetts and the Oneida Community in upstate
New York.
One utopian group was the Shakers. The Shakers believed in social and spiritual equality for all
members. The number of Shakers peaked at about 6,000 members before their numbers declined.
Because Shakers did not believe in marrying or having children, the group could expand only if new
people joined.
Cultural Renaissance
Guiding Question How did writings of this time reflect American society?
The Second Great Awakening had a sense of hopefulness. This hopefulness influenced American
philosophers and writers. Many leading thinkers adopted the ideas of romanticism. This movement
prized feeling, spirituality, the individual, and nature. American transcendentalists held ideas based on
romanticism. Transcendentalism urged people to transcend, or overcome, the limits of their minds and
allow their souls to take in the beauty of the universe.
lived for two years in a handmade cabin at Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts. He recorded
his experiences, thoughts, and emotions in a book called Walden.
American fiction began to develop a unique style as well. Washington Irving wrote “The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow” in 1819. James Fenimore Cooper wrote exciting books about Native Americans and
frontier explorers. He published these books as the Leatherstocking Tales. The Last of the Mohicans
(1826) is one of the most famous novels in this series. New England’s Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote short
stories and novels. His novel The Scarlet Letter (1850) examines ideas about persecution and sin in
Puritan society. Herman Melville wrote the great novel Moby-Dick (1851). Edgar Allan Poe wrote poetry
and stories but became famous for his terror and mystery stories. Important poets of the era included
Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Whitman published Leaves of Grass in 1855. Dickinson wrote
deeply personal poems that did not follow traditional forms.