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26. An Explosion of New Thought

Revival and utopia, the beginnings of the women's rights movement, prison and asylum reform, the Hudson River painters, and transcendentalism.

26. An Explosion of New Thought

American artists developed a style completely different from their European counterparts in the early 1800s. Reflective of the new American character, artists…

26a. Religious Revival

Charles Grandison Finney was one of the most famous and most controversial travelling preachers during the Second Great Awakening. His work is still commended…

26b. Experiments with Utopia

The town of Amana, Iowa operated as a communal society for 89 years. Most of the settlers were immigrants who had left Germany in 1842 and came to Iowa in 1855…

26c. Women's Rights

Amelia Bloomer's magazine, The Lily advocated a new outfit for women, consisting of a loose top, long pantaloons, and a knee-length dress. While some reformers…

26d. Prison and Asylum Reform

> The pretty woman who stood before the all-male audience seemed unlikely to provoke controversy. Tiny and timid, she rose to the platform of the Massachusetts…

26e. Hudson River School Artists

Jasper Cropsey was among the second generation of artists from the Hudson River School. His Autumn on the Hudson, 1860, exhibits his preference for landscape p…

26f. Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass introduced the "free verse" style of poetry, reflecting the individualistic tone of transcendentalism. This picture of Whitman w…