HST6065   City Life in Jacksonian America, 1828-1850   (15 credits)

Description

The period between the 1820s and the 1840s witnessed the birth of the modern United States. Historians have shown how mass-based political parties, a flourishing civil society built on the demarcation between public and private spheres, a new language of class, and novel forms of religious expression all emerged over the course of these decades; so too did movements which over the following years left their mark on American life: temperance reform, abolition, and women's rights. Focusing on the rapidly urbanising cities of the North - especially New York and Philadelphia - this module will explore the paradoxes of the Age of Andrew Jackson: an era of democratic expansion and retreat, egalitarianism and inequality, evangelical fervour and sectarian hatred. The seminars will pay close attention to debates over the meaning of democracy as they played out in battles over race, gender, economic power, immigration, and urban space.

Reading List