By: Clay Cox, Christy Suddarth, Mary Margaret Todd, & Bryce Wham

EVERYDAY LIFE OF ANTEBELLUM SOCIETY

Housing• The settlers had to constantly watch for danger•Because of the rugged terrain, chunks of land were crudely cleared and undeveloped•Houses were crudely made• Ex. Because the land wasn’t cleared well, there was a stump in the middle of a house and it was used as a table

Housing in the South

•Frontier states were mostly forests•Homes were sparse and scattered throughout the frontier so there were hardly any villages.•Farmers were scattered throughout the woods•Most of the homes were log homes

The Southern Frontier

Housing in the South

•De Tocqueville described the houses as “clean enough” but he said the walls were “full of chinks” which let in air from the outside•Hardly better shelter than a cabin of leaves would provide• It would be easy to close the chink in the walls but the owners are incapable

The Northern Frontier

Housing in the North• New England Natives moved west to seek fortune and solitary lives• New comers flocked together whenever there was any news about anything• Families were ripped from their luxurious lifestyles into the harsh terrain• Northern Cities

had:• Straight streets• Brick houses

which were mostly the same but convenient

Fashion• During the Antebellum period, the fashion differed greatly between those living in urban societies and those living in rural societies

• The differences in fashion were mainly caused by the differences in financial situations of the two types of societies.

Fashion in Cities• There was a great interest in European Fashion, especially the styles of Paris. • The wealthier citizens living in the large cities, mainly in the East, had their clothes made by seamstresses or tailors.

• Also in the cities, wealthy families dressed their children in miniature “fancy” clothes.

Fashion in Rural Areas• In rural areas, people still relied on hand-spun clothing• The men performed the heavy labor involved in making the

clothes The women then spun the fibers into linen and then into cloth• The cloth was died or bleached and then made into clothing

• People had dramatically fewer clothes in that time period than we do now• Ex. Men may have had 2 or 3 shirts and one pair of pants for

summer and one for winter.• Ex. Women may have had 3 dresses.

Evolution of Fashion • In Women:• Fashion evolved from the popularity of full skirts in the late 1700s to skinnier skirts in the early 1800s back to the voluminous skirts.• The skirts grew larger after the 1820s along with the popularity of the use of petticoats

• In Men:• The only largely noticeable change during this time period was the ceased use of powdered wigs and short breeches after the turn of the century.

Evolution of Fashion

• Though the fashion changed during the Antebellum period, the fashion trends before the period largely resembled those of the post-antebellum years.

Domestic Life• Paintings during the Antebellum time period depicted well-dressed, refined couples, elegant mothers which is not what domestic life was like.• The paintings made the woman’s job look easy and leisurely when in fact, it was quite the opposite.

Domestic Life - Kitchens•Women had the jobs of cooking cleaning, caring for children, dairy work, churning butter, etc. • Much of their work took place in the kitchen• Stoves were common in

wealthier homes and were

used for cooking and heating• Over time, the stove evolved

to become more user-friendly

and convenient.

Domestic Life – Furniture and oil lamps• Furniture was very sparse, especially in rural homes• It was designed for durability rather than style like it is today• Furniture did not become frivolous until the Victorian Era.• Oil lamps were less expensive than gas lighting and more useful than candles. • They evolved over this time period.

Recreation• During the Antebellum period, recreation was very different than it is today• Reforms concerning alcohol prison reform and corporal punishment slowly changed the southern ideals of recreation and leisure.• Drinking brought equality across the class • Drinking was commonplace

Recreation• Outside the tavern men drank while working, ministers drank while preaching and women drank while socializing• “the bar-room; it's a room where you are given to drink and where the simplest as well as the richest traders of the place come to smoke, drink, and talk politics together, on the footing of the most perfect exterior equality” (De Tocqueville)

The Temperance Movement• As the country entered the temperance movement of the 1830s, drinking became the enemy of all Christian women.• Fewer tavern licenses were issued and storekeepers stopped selling liquor• Most Temperance pledges were signed in the North. The south still drank gambled and played games.

The Drunkard’s Progress

Urban vs Rural• socializing in the south was centered around helping families get work done and completing tasks with the help of large groups (cornhusking, barn raisings, quilting)• Southerners and westerners husked corn in a competitive manner

Work•Work during this time period included felling trees, chopping firewood, churning butter, and milking cows, all chores necessary to maintain a household performed by men• A woman’s work included work in domestic life and the fashion world.• Men in the South and Western frontiers exhibited great physical strength as a result from all the labor required of them to sustain a household.• The switch from hand labor to machine labor changed the dynamics of the work force. • Jobs previously requiring multiple men now only required one

Work: Advances in technology• The scythe and cradle were still used in the north because of the small grain crops but new machines were used in the south

Obed Hussey

Cyrus McCormick

Hussey and McCormick were the first to invent a harvesting machine that was practical and useful, the reaper.

Work: Slavery•Men who were “privileged” enough to have slaves did very little work themselves•De Tocqueville first described seen the family as such: “Here you find a family of poor people leading the lazy life of the rich.”

What De Tocqueville sees in America:Panic of 1837• Prices tumbled• The bank suspended specie payments• Economy crashed in 1839• More severe and prolonged than the Panic of 1819

De Tocqueville’s Philosophy• Believed that republican is a good form of government because people have faith in the government• Faith is necessary because people cannot be perfect without it• God will be the ultimate judge

• Enlightenment was taken too far in France which tore apart French society• This should serve as a warning for America to not take

Enlightenment too far.

• America believes that Education is the only way to guarantee that people will be different from each other• Religion had to be put underneath government• Everyone needs to attend church

De Tocqueville’s Philosophy• Public opinion is stronger that government opinion• Religion doesn’t have much power

• France: Religion and freedom (politics) are opposed to each other• America: Religion and politics are united and both reign over the same country

• Religion was “the foremost of the political institutions” of the United States

• America gives no specific special political privileges to and religious denomination

De Tocqueville’s Philosophy• Protestantism began dividing out among Catholics and Unitarians (only a few)• De Tocqueville felt that Protestantism had many communities (Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Calvinists, Anabaptists, Quakers)