LIFE IN THE NEW NATION

Cultural Changes• American scholars & artists contribute

to culture– Noah Webster- dictionary & spelling

book– Mercy Otis Warren-patriotic plays

like History of the American Revolution

– Benjamin Rush-books on chemistry & medicine, belief that mental disease was not demonic affliction

– Benjamin Banneker-surveyor of Washington D.C., mathmatics, inventor, writer, astronomer

– Charles Willson Peale-artist, founds 1st museum in US

Cultural Changes

– Phyllis Wheatley-poetry Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral

• Republican virtues promoted– Self-reliance, hard work,

frugality, harmony, sacrificing individual needs for society

• Education- schools add departments to help girls become “republican women”

Social Changes• Population growth– 1780- 13 states, 2.7 million

people– 1830-24 states, 12 million people– Population doubles every 20

years–Not due to immigration of

Europeans or Africans– 90% of growth due to increase in

birth– 1800-1850 average woman has 5

children–Median age in 1820 is 17 years

old (1/2 population was under age 17)

Social Changes• Mobility– Population increase leads

to overcrowding in East– People move West– Unlike Europeans, not

tied to land-free to move– Effects:

• 1. Equal chance to get ahead in the West

• 2. Learn new social skills and new social rules

Social Changes

• Dating and Marriage– Choice of husband is one of few

choices women have– Women gain ideas about

marriage partners form books and novels• Charlotte Temple by Susanna

Haswell Rowson– Idea of ‘courtship’ or extended

dating, versus old arranged marriages

– Important decision, women had limited options

Religious Changes• 2nd Great Awakening– Starts in Kentucky & Tennessee– Evangelical movement—revival

campmeetings– Women have active role

• Some preach & have leadership roles

– Denominations emerge• Baptists, Methodists, Unitarians,

Mormons, Millennialists

– African Americans join Protestants• Eventually form their own churches

Other changes• Rise of improvements in travel &

trade encourages free enterprise– More people having their own

businesses– Working outside the home– Increases the need for

specialization– RISE OF SHOPPING!

• Rise of banks– Bank lending, money flowing,

businesses growing