Individualism In The Antebellum Era

Shortly after the War of 1812, the nation’s ideals of community began to shift to a more individualized approach, which led to numerous reforms and movements. Individualism allows one to act or think outside of what is culturally or socially accepted. This period of time became known as the antebellum period, where social and moral reforms were popularized through political reform, abolition and women’s suffrage movements. Individualism and reform impulses were interdependent upon each other, without one the other could not be as strong; therefore, the desire for individualism established the basis for numerous reforms and movements during the antebellum period of the United States.
Political reform began with the presidential campaign of Andrew

Jackson. Jackson’s individuality is associated with the idea of the “self-made man”2 and opposition of conforming to tradition. Andrew Jackson’s experimentation of breaking the traditional values allowed him to go against the norm, while running for president. Jackson was the very first President to not only have a campaign, but also have a campaign biography, which was written for the sole purpose of gaining popularity of the people and their votes. Jackson’s campaign biography allowed the average American to connect to the image of the “self-made man.”3 In Jill Lepore’s chapter, “Man of the People” she states, “Americans first voted for a president whose campaign touted him as a rugged, stubborn, hot-tempered war hero, a man of the people, in 1824.”4 Andrew Jackson became the people’s president through the idea of rags to riches, but in his particular case it was from “…log cabin to the White House.”5 Andrew Jackson widely appealed to the American people due to his ability to relate too many of their personal lives. Jackson was able to become a successful man without the help of any other person, and did not follow the lead of any others before him, Old Hickory set his on course in the public and political sphere. Through Andrew Jackson the idea of individuality had taken on a whole new meaning: individuals now had more courage to set their own destiny and to go against the grain of societal and cultural norms. Andrew Jackson’s political career has forever changed the Presidency and the influence ones past has on their public campaign.
Along with political reform, there was a passionate strive for moral reforms.

Much like Andrew Jackson, the Abolitionists were able to “steal a page” from Jackson’s “book” and recreate their own version of Jackson’s individuality. The Abolitionists were culturally and socially distanced because of their “radical” view. The Abolition movement allowed numerous social activists to voice the immoral implications of slavery. The bold men and women of the Abolition movement stressed the idea of equality of the races, which was a sentiment that was not shared among many outside of the movement itself. The never-ending debate on the issue of slavery was prominent and plentiful across the states but few believed in abolition much less total and indefinite equality of the slaves. The minority of Americans were Abolitionists, but their cause allowed moral reforms to be heard. Nevertheless, this reform movement was solely based on an individual’s “moral compass”. In Fredrick Douglass’ “Letter ‘to My Old Master,’” he states, “… I am myself; you are yourself; we are two distinct persons, equal persons. What you are I am. You are a man, and so am I.— God created both, and made us separate beings. I am not by nature bound to you, or you to me.” Fredrick Douglass gives a perfect statement on the meaning of the Abolition movement, all men are created by God equally and should be treated as so. Through Douglass’ statement one can see how individualism and reform ideals are capable of allowing

one to think and speak freely. In Lydia Marie Child’s “Prejudices against People of Color, and Our Duties in Relation to This Subject” she states, “Mr. Garrison was the first person who dared to edit a newspaper, in which slavery was spoken of as altogether wicked and inexcusable. For this crime the Legislature of Georgia have offered five thousand dollars to any one who will “arrest and prosecute him to conviction under the laws of that State.” … It is, to say the least, a very remarkable step for one State in this Union to promulgate such a law concerning a citizen of another State, merely for publishing his opinions boldly. …” In Child’s statement one can see the ideals of individualism is not entirely accepted by everyone. In fact, it is through reforms such as the Abolition movement, which allows individualism to become a prominent ideal. The reform movements during the antebellum period not only pertained to the Abolitionists cause, but also to the women’s suffrage cause.
The Women suffrage was formed by many of the same individuals of the Abolition movement.

Since these individuals were apart of two very important movements their tactics were much the same. The movement relied heavily upon individualism, which allowed those men and women to be able to voice their thoughts openly. The women and men of the movement wholly supported equality for women and strived for women to be seen as an individual and equal-counterpart to men. In Margaret Fuller’s “Woman in the Nineteenth Century” she gives a dis-heartening point on women’s treatment, “It may well be an Anti-Slavery party that pleads for Women, if we consider merely that she does not hold property on equal terms with men; so that, if a husband dies without making a will, the wife, instead of taking at once his place as head of the family, inherits only a part of his fortune, often brought him by herself, as if she were a child, or ward only, not an equal partner.” Margaret Fuller gives an accurate account to how these recurring problem

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