Writing Assignment # 1: Based upon your reading of Johnson and Wilentzs Kingdom of Matthias, answer the following questions

in four short essays of 1-2 pages. 1. Describe the economic and social changes taking place in the era covered in the book, what the authors term the market revolution. 2. In what way was Elijah Piersons life representative of the vast changes taking place in the United States during the first third of the 1800s? 3. What made the first third of the 1800s so revolutionary in the realm of gender and the family? 4. Compare the religious ideas of Robert Matthews to those of Charles Grandison Finney and his followers. How was the periods religious ferment related to changes in the family and the role of men and women within it?

Student :X History: Writing Assignment One Professor: X 1) In the early 1800s there were multitudes of changes that were rising in both the economic and social regions of the United States. In the book The Kingdom of Matthias we see a portrait of some of those changes. There as described we look into how these changes affect men and woman from their childhood through their family and careers on until their deaths. The three major items focused on where those of economic standards, social identities, and religious power and preference. In the book Paul E. Johnson and Sean Wilentz address the economic changes that were taking place at that time. As always there were the very rich who spent their times drinking and courting and enjoying life. On the other end of the spectrum were the poor who were quite simple poor. The most notable aspect that was delved into was the rising middle class. As the trade increased and western frontiers progressed there was increasing demand for larger markets. This created a demand for persons willing to work who saw opportunity and were willing to

grasp it. Large families were common and as tradition was to pass the family farm to the oldest son there were increasing numbers of young men ready for work. Many of these men found work in the cities which were the main hubs for imports and exports. The social identities particularly between men and woman were rapidly changing at this time as well. Earlier in history the primary role of the wife was to manage the house as the husband was at work. This involved cooking, cleaning, making clothes, etc. With the advances in trade and new product becoming more and more accessible many of the jobs previously done by the home wife were outsourced. The time that was saved by these new products had to be paid for with money. Making up the difference required that the wife work out of the home. This brought woman onto a new plane that was before unheard of. Although some may say they still only engaged in a womans work they were without a doubt taking steps that decreased the differentiation between men and woman. This became increasingly important with the rising of this new nation that was at this time defining it policy and the rights of its occupants. This change in vocation brought some woman up and some woman down. In some cases it allowed woman to provide for themselves. Before woman relied completely on men for subsistence, often leaving the care of their father only to trade for the provision of a husband. Now they could provide for themselves. At the same time this sometimes brought ruin on the woman because they more often had to take care of themselves and were expected to take a job. If they could not find one, they had to look to the kindness of their family or face prostitution. This new social order brought a completely new look to the family and the individual in the 1800s. 2) Elijah Pierson is one of the main characters in the Kingdom book. His role in the book shows a picture of the affects of these new economic and social changes through his life. He was

born into a fairly well respected family and found himself on a path to upper middle classman as a merchant in one of the Port cities of the United States. Not attached as previous generations were to the farm he was able to leave it without worry of where he would grow his food. He took a job and with hard work in a growing economy increased his earnings and was considered a man rising in the ranks so to speak. Economically his greatest distinction compared to the previous century was the now more commonly known American dream. Although not called that at the time he was a patriarch that showed that without the backing of friends and family one could carve out a living and a profit for oneself in this new America. More interesting is the affect that the new social world brought into his life that was before for the most part unseen and unheard of. Elijah married Sarah Stanford and upright and forthright Christian woman. Her strength in the family leadership is undeniably strong. She seems almost to take the place of the Elijah as head of the household. Her influences create a multitude of changes and direct the family quite firmly. Never before would Elijah have seen such a strong influence on the household by a woman. The changes that Sarah brought about affected the family on every level. Sarah played a key role in changing Elijahs spending habits, his spiritual affirmations, and even his business. The authors of the book mention that so strong was her influence that after she died Elijah began to ask the Lord for guidance on every option just as he might have grown used to with his wife. On a personal level Religion was also a changing phenomenon that was quite evidently mapped in Elijahs Life. Raised a Presbyterian he was converted to a Baptist by his wife. Now this change in ones core belief at least to a person of an sort of seriousness would have been a monumental point. Now the difference between a Presbyterian and a Baptist may not have been all that much, but it was a step away from what some including myself would consider to be the

most important area of our lives. His being guided away from his original faith by that of his wife is a clear picture of the beginning of the changing roles of both men and woman. These changes in his religion lead to an openness to even more changes later in his life when he met Matthias. I think that one of the main reasons that Matthias was able to manipulate Elijah was because of how familiar the teachings of Matthias were. Matthiass methods would have been much in tune with how Elijah was raised. Without the steady guiding hands of his wife Sarah it was easy for him to be attracted back to previous teaching that sounded familiar at least to a point. Matthiass teaching on the submission of woman to men would not have been considered terribly farfetched mere decades before when the male role dominated the household completely. Not that Matthias was and exact copy of previous norms, just that he seemed to get many of his ideas from the not so distant past. Matthiass Dominating role as a supreme commander over his house brought the now somewhat feminized Elijah under his power quite easily without much struggle. And even though there were some heated arguments that arose between the two, Elijah danced to Mathiass tune quite easily following him to his demise. All these aspect of Elijahs life are quite intuitive in analyzing the economic and social structures of the day. His life changed with the prevailing changes in the financial sectors as well as the social structures. As the market economy boomed so did his business which was tied in very closely with the then increasing demand for goods. Socially his maps out the quickly changing affects of woman taking on new roles and replacing men both in the work force and in the home. And finally in religion we see that the economic and social structure set up a railroad that made changes into beliefs easier to grasp and harder to resist. Elijah Pierson rode on the

rollercoaster of the current times and each change in his surroundings brought quick reactions in his own life. 3) As mentioned before there were major social evolutions happening during the period of the early 1800s. These changes redefined the relationships that were shared in both families and in the representative genders that comprised those families. Never before had such opportunities been opened up to women. Families were never more separated than at this point in history. Historically there was always close bonds that tied families together these bonds were not merely in the form of emotional connection, but they were built on long lasting relationships built by the common dependence on everyone else in the family. Everyone was required to work together, if anyone didnt do their share the whole family suffered. This all began to change with the increased demand for laborers. With larger and larger market for goods, and the technology to back it manufacturing took off like never before. These new machines and factories required workers to man them. The massive jab index opened up new opportunities to both genders. However they biggest change was definitely felt my woman. With jobs that earned actually wages woman actually began to be able to supply the majority of their needs. They could pay for housing and food whereas before getting food would have been a process that would have consumed all of ones time leaving no time for other things such as shelter. Specialization of jobs allowed workers to work on job that would pay for all the substitutes they were leaving to take that job. The family was no longer needed. Closely working together to survive was not a necessity. Because of these new opportunities families were able to split up and one or more person could leave and go somewhere completely unrelated to find work and to sustain

themselves. These subtle changes began eating away at the traditional family structure and they have continued on. It became more and more common for there to not only be the opportunity to leave the family, but the expectation that you would leave. No longer was every person in the immediate area close relatives. Job diversity allowed for much more rapid expansion away forom family roots. The changes in the economic markets changed men and woman as individuals as well. All the booming economy could be said to have been an effect on men the biggest change on men in my mind is the change in woman. Suffice it to say that the change in woman was the cause for many changes in men and their roles. With the new capacity to take jobs away from their families woman began to establish identities for themselves. No longer were they merely the daughter or wife of some man they became their own person and were actually beginning to be recognized as such. With a background of having taken on the world for oneself woman were came to the family relationship holding a completely different world view than previous generations. Never before had such independence been common among woman. The changes that were faced among the genders as they related to the family life is illustrated as before mentioned with Elijah Pierson. Woman had never been known to be in open leadership in the family. But as we see from the book Sarah Pierson is very much the self reliant woman who unlike her mother and grandmother was actually able to act on her own will. It is unclear as to whether she merely guided the family purchases, religious leaning, etc, or if she actually laid down the law so to speak on those matter. It seems obvious from the changes in Elijah from Bachelor to married man that Sarah made profound changes in his lifestyle quite quickly. These changes were just the changes made by two having the presence of two different people. It is mention that they move from one house to another soon after marriage. From the

text I gathered that it wasnt so much a lack of room or lack of quality that drove this so much as it was Sarahs desire to have the perks that came with residing in a $7000 house presumably a very large sum of money at that time. No doubt there were many families that remained unchanged for the most part during this time, but it is certain that many families and individual person found themselves with new opportunities and took this chance to make something different for themselves. These changes brought a very different feel to the social dimensions when compared to previous history. I think it is necessary to say that both men and woman grew during this time, but it was also a time of great hardship. Every new endeavor is born on countless mistakes, and often these new roles caused as much pain as they did relief. 4) Religious beliefs have always had opposing sided since the beginning of time. During the early 1800s there was a rise in a sect known as Finneyites. These were the followers of Charles Finney. This religious viewpoint shows a fairly sharp contrast to the self made religion of Robert Matthews aka (Matthias). Although both of these groups were divisions that were shaped by the current turn of event in both the economic and social worlds they are very different. The Finneyites seem to have a very incorporating process that fits very well with the changes in the family and the work places. Instead of having dictator like fathers who gave command that were to be follow which was the way past households were run they seem to have a softer more inclusive family perception. Fathers were no longer so much a driving force as they were a guiding force. Fathers began to make worship a more family process where he would explain and enrich every person of his family with the promise of salvation. Instead of standing on his wife he began to work with her sharing the responsibilities of authority over the household

with her and joining together in prayer and worship. The Finneyites shared a brighter view of the glory of God. They felt that instead of merely being sinners lost in their sin that they were regenerate being with new hearts that should be given in service and good deeds to show the love of Christ within them. Finneyites looked as those around them as subjects for evangelism. They believe that every person had a chance to be saved and that it was their duty to bring them into the faith. This produced a very strong evangelistic outgoing ministry in the Finneyite communities. The equality that was being shown in the religious perspective was very similar to the equalities that were becoming prevalent in the work place and in the family. Robert Matthews, or Matthias, had a very different religious view point. Although it is hard to pin it down for sure due to its constant changing based on Matthiass latest whim there are some definite differences that separate the two views with a large gap. First and foremost Matthias believed himself to be God. His calling himself the prophet and his claiming of powers were a complete denial of his own sin. On the other hand he did acknowledge the sin of others quite plainly. He preached that everyone was sorely lost in sin except those that followed his own little sick fantasy. Woman played a completely different role in Matthiass perspective than they did to the Finneyites. In Matthias opinion woman were evil and were only saved through men. This although somewhat accepted due to the way people were raised was very much against the rising popularity in female independence. Even within his own cult Matthias constantly changed his mind on who was going to heaven and who wasnt based completely on what he thought of the person at the time. In complete honesty I attribute Matthiass cult to a mix of mental illness and a degree of selfishness. Every command that he made was designed to address his wishes. From what he ate to who he slept with to what he wore. Matthias was in my mind not much more than a somewhat delusional scam.

Although completely different these two viewpoints still both have ties back into the culture they emanate from. One that rises from the embracement of the new and upcoming culture and the other that embraces the older dictator like rulings of men. Both shaped by the culture around them and at the same time both making an impact back on that same culture. Both reached into the lives of men and woman and changed how they reacted to each other and how they addressed the world. The religious bonds are tightly entwined into the lives of the people who believe in them. The changes in one aspect of our lives rarely go unnoticed by the other aspects of our lives. Religion, economic impacts, and the social relationships we share are components of each other that work together and define who we are.