The Common School Era

1
The Common School Era

• Massachusetts in the 1830s
• Demographics
• Politics
• Economics
• Ideology

2
Demographic Changes

• Settlers went from the coastal states to the
  interior territories
• Irish immigrants--settled in the northeast mainly
• Poor, unskilled and Catholic
• Urbanization stimulated by industrialization.
• Led to a growing gap between rich and poor
• Increased crime

3
Political Changes

• 1789 fewer than 1 in 7 could vote
• 1824, 4 in 7 white men could vote
• Democrat Andrew Jackson gained more power as did
  his party.
• Upper class supported the Whig party.
• Upper class was alarmed at how many uneducated
  voters there were.
• Upper class supported education so that theses
  voters could make informed and educated voting
  decisions.

4
Economics

• Transportation was a key change maker in the
  economy of Massachusetts
• Transportation improvements increased people,
  goods and produce movement
• Expansion of commerce centered in port cities,
  especially New York, Philadelphia, Boston and
  Baltimore
• Industrial development began in country side with
  cottage industries.
• Cottage industries became factories in New
  England
• Rise in commerce and industrialization presented
  the need for schooling

5
Ideology

• Early in the period, Puritanism was still
  influential
• Later in period more belief in a benevolent God
  who created a rational universe and endowed human
  nature with rationality
• New Englanders began to believe that God had
  given them the power for improvement
• Prisons were builtnotion to reform rather than
  punish
• Hospitals for mentally ill were built
• Youthful offender institutions were
  developed--Reformatories

6
Ideology continued

• Womens suffrage movement received support
• Belief that God created even women with rational
  capacity
• Abolitionists believed African-Americans should
  be free
• Belief that all Gods creatures were equal
• More government involvement and centralization of
  authority
• Laissez Faire now meant the government should
  step in when necessary to assist economic
  development
• Classic Liberalism spread from government to
  citizens now
• Faith in human reason
• Newtons conception of Natural Law
• Continuing progress

7
Ideology continued

• Politics, newspapers and churches became vehicles
  for new ideas
• State power over education began to overpower
  local self-government.
• Literacy was needed to read the Bible