{"id":1550,"date":"2017-07-11T02:46:14","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T02:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/ushistory1os\/chapter\/primary-source-images-religion-and-reform\/"},"modified":"2017-07-11T02:46:14","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T02:46:14","slug":"primary-source-images-religion-and-reform","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-tc3-ushistory1os\/chapter\/primary-source-images-religion-and-reform\/","title":{"raw":"Primary Source Images: Religion and Reform","rendered":"Primary Source Images: Religion and Reform"},"content":{"raw":"

Introduction<\/h2>\nThe early nineteenth century was a period of great optimism, with the possibilities of self-governance infusing everything from religion to politics. Yet it was also a period of great discord, as the benefits of industrialization and democratization increasingly accrued along starkly uneven lines of gender, race, and class. Westward expansion distanced urban dwellers from frontier settlers more than ever before, even as the technological innovations of industrialization\u2014like the telegraph and railroads\u2014offered exciting new ways to maintain communication. The spread of democracy opened the franchise to nearly all white men, but urbanization and a dramatic influx of European migration increased social tensions and class divides. Americans looked on these changes with a mixture of enthusiasm and suspicion, wondering how the moral fabric of the new nation would hold up against emerging social challenges. Increasingly, many\u00a0turned to two powerful tools\u00a0to help understand and manage the various transformations: spiritual revivalism and social reform. These sources illustrate how religion and reform encouraged Americans to dream of a better nation and a better world.\n

The fruit of alcohol and temperance<\/h2>\n
\n\n\"Two<\/a>\n

N. Currier, \u201cTree of Temperance\u201d and \u201cTree of Intemperance,\u201d 1849, via American Antiquarian Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThis pair of lithographs, created by Nathaniel Currier (later of Currier & Ives fame), contrasts the \u201cfruits\u201d of abstaining from alcohol to those of indulging in strong drink.\u00a0 It leaves little to the imagination.\u00a0 Intemperance is symbolized by a diseased tree, surrounded by drunks outside of a pawn shop and a woman and her children being thrown out of their home.\u00a0 The lush foliage of temperance, on the other hand, is surrounded by prosperous church-going farm families.\n

Missionary society membership certificate<\/h2>\n
\n\n\"Leaflet<\/a>\n

N. Currier, Membership Certificate to [Vermont] Conference Missionary Society, 1848, via American Antiquarian Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThe Second Great Awakening moved American evangelicals to proselytize at home and abroad. \u00a0The image on this lifetime membership certificate to a missionary society shows how the new member\u2019s money will be used. \u00a0The guiding hand of Providence and an angel bearing a book (presumably a Bible) hover at the top of the image. \u00a0In the background, a mosque topples over. \u00a0An African family kneels and reaches towards the heavens on the left side, while a minister preaches to Native Americans gathered before him on the right.","rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

The early nineteenth century was a period of great optimism, with the possibilities of self-governance infusing everything from religion to politics. Yet it was also a period of great discord, as the benefits of industrialization and democratization increasingly accrued along starkly uneven lines of gender, race, and class. Westward expansion distanced urban dwellers from frontier settlers more than ever before, even as the technological innovations of industrialization\u2014like the telegraph and railroads\u2014offered exciting new ways to maintain communication. The spread of democracy opened the franchise to nearly all white men, but urbanization and a dramatic influx of European migration increased social tensions and class divides. Americans looked on these changes with a mixture of enthusiasm and suspicion, wondering how the moral fabric of the new nation would hold up against emerging social challenges. Increasingly, many\u00a0turned to two powerful tools\u00a0to help understand and manage the various transformations: spiritual revivalism and social reform. These sources illustrate how religion and reform encouraged Americans to dream of a better nation and a better world.<\/p>\n

The fruit of alcohol and temperance<\/h2>\n
\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

N. Currier, \u201cTree of Temperance\u201d and \u201cTree of Intemperance,\u201d 1849, via American Antiquarian Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This pair of lithographs, created by Nathaniel Currier (later of Currier & Ives fame), contrasts the \u201cfruits\u201d of abstaining from alcohol to those of indulging in strong drink.\u00a0 It leaves little to the imagination.\u00a0 Intemperance is symbolized by a diseased tree, surrounded by drunks outside of a pawn shop and a woman and her children being thrown out of their home.\u00a0 The lush foliage of temperance, on the other hand, is surrounded by prosperous church-going farm families.<\/p>\n

Missionary society membership certificate<\/h2>\n
\n

\"Leaflet<\/a><\/p>\n

N. Currier, Membership Certificate to [Vermont] Conference Missionary Society, 1848, via American Antiquarian Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Second Great Awakening moved American evangelicals to proselytize at home and abroad. \u00a0The image on this lifetime membership certificate to a missionary society shows how the new member\u2019s money will be used. \u00a0The guiding hand of Providence and an angel bearing a book (presumably a Bible) hover at the top of the image. \u00a0In the background, a mosque topples over. \u00a0An African family kneels and reaches towards the heavens on the left side, while a minister preaches to Native Americans gathered before him on the right.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>