DBQ6

This question is based on the accompanying documents (1-13). The question is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. Some of the documents have been edited for the purposes of this question. As you analyze the documents, take into account both the source of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the document.

Historical Context: The period between the Revolution and the Civil War was tumultuous and contentious, a time of unprecedented growth and change. In the Northeast, industrialization, urbanization, and large-scale immigration brought new challenges of diversity as well as increasing levels of poverty and violence. People in the Early Republic were unsettled by uncontrolled fluctuations in the spreading market economy, internal migration and the attendant loosening of family and community ties and growing inequality. Many felt that they were no longer masters of their own fate. Some feared the young nation's democratic experiment was in jeopardy. During the antebellum period, “several social institutions” proliferated rapidly in Salem, as they did in most American urban centers of the period.

Task: Using information from the documents and your knowledge of United States history, answer the questions that follow each document in Part A. Your answers to the questions will help you write the essay in Part B, in which you will be asked to:

Discuss the character and motivations of the participants of Salem’s societies.
Discuss the purposes and methods of Salem’s societies.
a. note commonalities and differences among the societies
Explain why organizations proliferated in Salem.

Part A: Short-Answer Questions

Directions: Analyze the documents and answer the short-answer questions that follow each document in the space provided.

Document #1:
Diary of William Bentley
[June] 15 [1792] …I was informed that G. Fiske had obtained a vote of admission for me into a Fire Club of which he is a member. I have not yet received the invitation in form, but happily shall acquiesce in an institution so truly belonging to a good Citizen’s patronage.

[August] 13 [1792] For the first time I was present with the fire club, called Union. The principal members were present. The evening passed in agreeable conversation, & on subjects adapted to the meeting. Mention was made of the Garret pullies in case of fire…upon the convenience of Ladders, with which we are unsupplied, upon the size of Buckets…Whether the Society in making up the loss of Buckets & Bags at fires do not relax the care, which they ought to strengthen, & whether every member is not supposed to voluntarily to make the sacrifice at his own expence…

[December] 9. [1802] Dined this day with our fire Club. Nothing has been lost by fire belonging to any member of this Club, since I belonged to it, for sixteen years. Our number is 30. Tho’ the present year has been remarkable for fires we have suffered nothing…
[1803] This day I waited upon Mr. J Punchard, Town Clerk & Clerk of our Fire Company, & resigned my relation to that Club…The members were not in the circle of my private friendships & some had such strong political aversions without any investigations that I deemed it prudent to withdraw while I could do it honorably & before any painful circumstances should arise, which the heat of party seemed to threaten. Only one of my old friends is left in the Club.

What is a Fire Club?
Who belongs to fire clubs?
Why did Bentley leave his Fire Club?

Document # 2:
Document Excerpts Relating to the Salem Female Charitable Society [SFCS] (1801)
[SFCS] undertook the care of Female Orphans or Children from three to ten years of age whose parents are not capable of supporting them…at the age of ten or eleven years, the girls were placed in reputable families, to dwell with and serve [them] until…the age of eighteen years, or marriage within that age…employed in such domestic business and labor as the household head deemed proper…SFCS Papers

“Blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.” Motto of the SFCS

Ye, my female friends, feel her Spirit! In all the forms of society ye make your publick appearance: With your Directresses, Managers, and Members: With your Governess, and the Children of your affectionate charge! When ye first formed, I will confess to you, I, with many others whose judgement I respected, felt averse to your society. We thought Charity might be better ordered. But upon a deliberate view of your Constitution, I change my opinion. Thomas Barnard, A Sermon Preached Before the Salem Female Charitable Society in the First Church of Salem, July 6th, 1803 (Salem, Mass., 1803), 18.

…They [Female Charitable Societies in Massachusetts] attempt simply to train them [orphaned girls] as house servants, or to the simplest trades…though they rescue these children from the very depths of poverty, they do not lift them very far above it…there are yearnings and desires in [girls’] bosoms, which no corporate body, but only the single answering heart can supply. Worcester Female Charitable Society commenting on other Female Charitable Societies in Massachusetts.

…some late difficulties have become serious to this Institution. The Nine Female Children subject to its care have been entrusted lately to a woman who is represented for the purpose of her avarice to have withholden necessary food from them…The strict economy required by the managers, when directed by ignorance & avarice, may have a terrible appearance…1807, Rev. Bentley

According to Barnard, the SFCS did not provide charity to female orphans. If the SFCS did not provide orphans with charity, what did they provide them with?
What were some of the problems with (or experienced by) the SFCS?
Why might a woman in Salem join the SFCS?

Document #3:
January 23, 1816, Diary of William Bentley
In Salem, Charity has less of a system & yet it is in greater action. Our poor know not upon whom they depend. The proportion of associated charities is small. It scarcely exceeds one thousand Dollars. The poor depend on the sympathies & it is as much labour to beg as to work. We have few beggars & yet few who do not supply some wants & few who have all their wants supplied from others. Our Charity house relieves only the humblest class, most often the most vitious. And this charity which obliges economy, temperance, some severity & many self denials does less to corrupt mankind than any other kind of Charity. So it seems to me.

What are Bentley’s views of charity?

Document #4:
“Constitution of the Colored Female Religious and Moral Society of Salem” (1818)
Article I— At the weekly meeting of the Society, when the appointed hour arrives, and a number are convened, the exercises shall begin by reading in some profitable book, till all have come in who are expected.
Art. II— A prayer shall then be made by one of the members, and after that, a chapter in the Bible shall be read, and religious conversation be attended to, as time will allow.
Art. V— We resolve to be charitably watchful over each other; to advise, caution and admonish where we may judge there is occasion, and that it may be useful; and we promise not to resent, but kindly and thankfully receive such friendly advice or reproof from any one of our members.
Art. VII— This Society is formed for the benefit of the sick and destitute of those members belonging to the Society.

What was the purpose of the Colored Female Religious and Moral Society of Salem?
Why might the women of Salem see a need for such a society?

Document #5:
“Salem East India Marine Society.” The North American Review 6 (January 1818).
The Marine Society was first established at Salem in October, 1799, and was incorporated by the Legislature, by an Act, passed the 3d of March, 1801. The object of the Society, (as it is succinctly stated in the Act of Incorporation,) is for the laudable purpose of affording relief to disabled seamen and to the indigent widows and families of deceased members and others, and of promoting a knowledge of navigation and trade to the East Indies. By the rules of the Society no person is eligible as a member unless he has actually navigated the seas near the Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Horn, either as master or commander, or factor or supercargo of some vessel belonging to Salem, or, if the person is a resident in. Salem, of some vessel belonging to a port in the United States…

What is the purpose of the Salem East India Marine Society?

Document #6:
M. C. D. Silsbee, A Half Century in Salem (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, Co., 1888), 114-115.
…it was probably early in the twenties when the Salem working party had its first meeting in the pleasant parlors of Mrs. Pierce…There had been a slight attempt to get up a “Maternal Society,” but those ladies who were not particularly fond of asking advice of outsiders, and felt that they ought to know best themselves what management was suitable for their own children, waived it aside…At this period there was a school for girls under the management of a committee of sensible women, where reading, writing, arithmetic, and plain sewing were well taught, and at the age of fourteen they were placed in good families to remain four years, when they received a “freedom suit” of a thorough outfit, and were considered able to take care of themselves. It was proposed that the members of the working party should make cape-bonnets, tires, and all useful articles for these scholars, and the work was done, and well done, so long as it was required, no sleeves put in hind part before, no bonnet strings sewed wrong side out…Mothers took their daughters with them to the early meetings; there were not many of us, and we grew into young girls and married women. The members became gradually more numerous, but were kept within bounds, and from first to last adhered to the few and simple rules: hour of meeting, four; tea at half-past sic, with two kinds of cake and the inevitable milk biscuits. At nine, apples…There is not much to tell about this pleasant working party; it last through many years, and I do not know when it ended...

Based on Silsbee’s description, what do you think a “Maternal Society” was?
What did the “working party” do?
What kind of organization was the “working party”?

Document # 7
Charles Upham, Lyceum Circular (1832)
Between 1829 and 1830, a new spirit in lecturing broke forth with the beginning of the American Lyceum movement.
The decline of commerce, and the stagnation of mercantile business, having thrown out of employment a large number of inhabitants of our seaboard town, who, if they could be engaged in the acquisition and communication of knowledge, would be provided, at the same time, with a resource most agreeable to their own feelings, and with the means of being useful to others. If their leisure hours were thus occupied, they would be laying up stores of information which would be highly beneficial to them in whatever pursuits they might afterwards be engaged.

According to Upham, why will the destitute benefit from the Lyceum in Salem?

Document #8:
Some Salem Lyceum Lecturers and Lecture Topics

	Germania Serenade Band	Concert
	Joseph P. Thompson (2)	Constantinople
		Jerusalem and Damascus
	Josiah Quincy, Jr.	Sectional Prejudices
	Thomas W. Higginson	The Old Puritan Clergyman
	Louis Agassiz	The Animal Kingdom
	Reignold Solger	The Present State of the Eastern Question
	Thomas Russell	Influence of Character on National Destiny
	Henry Ward Beecher	Patriotism
	W. H. Ryder	Ancient and Modern Civilization

What does the above list tell you about Salem?

Document #9
Timothy Shay Arthur, Advice to Young Ladies (Boston: Phillips and Sampson, 1848), 13.
The true spirit of religion is a love of being useful to others; and a religious life is the seeking, in all we do, the good of others, at the same time that we fully acknowledge that the ability to do so is not our own, but comes from God, who is the source and giver of all good. Every one, to be happy, must lead such a life; and this is the reason why we urge the considerations now presented, upon the attention of those for whose particular benefit we write.

A just regard for the good of others will not require a woman to neglect any home duty, but will prompt to its more perfect and faithful discharge. Her charity will consist in doing all that her hands find to do, with cheerfulness and alacrity, for the sake of others. The comfort and happiness of others are always in her hands, and every act of her life either adds to or diminishes the comfort and happiness of one or many.

According to Arthur, what does a religious life involve?
According to Arthur, how are women especially suited to the religious life?

Document # 10:
Advertisement for a fair sponsored by the Seamen’s Widows and Orphans Society

Then harken ye owners of wealth brought from far,
Whose ships have been sail’d by the true-hearted tar;
To the call of your wives and your daughters give heed—
For the seaman’s lone widow and orphans they plead.

They have toil’d for the dear ones, the mariner lov’d;
Come buy what they ‘ve wrought, with like charity mov’d;
O bring a few dollars—’tis justly their due,
Whose husbands and sires have bro’t thousands to you.

1. In your own words, summarize/explain what the verse is saying.

Document #11:
“Behold the Washingtonians,” R. K. Potter, editor The Boston Temperance Songster; A Collection of Songs and Hymns for Temperance Societies. Original and Selected (Boston: White and Potter, 1846)

By J. F. Coles. Tune —

Cheer up, my lively lads.
Behold the Washingtonians;
They come from every quarter;
They've bid adieu to alcohol.
And now drink pure cold water.
Then cheer up, teetotallers,
Join in the joyful chorus; Ol
d Alcohol and all his clan
Are flying fast before us.
The news that floats upon the gale,
From every side, is cheering;
Red noses and carbuncled cheeks,
Each day are disappearing. …
Old Alcohol is trembling now;
His throne begins to totter;
His house is built upon the sand,
And cannot stand cold water.

1. What are “Washingtonians”?
2. Why do you think this group named itself after George Washington?

Document #12:
Temperance: Woman's Holy War on Drinking

1. Describe the illustration below.
2. Why is the illustration titled: “Woman’s Holy War on Drinking”?

Document #13:
From McElroy, E. P. "The Sewing-Circles: a composition read before the Bowdoin Literary Association, of Dorchester, at their annual exhibition, Tuesday evening, March 25, 1856." Printed by request. Boston: William White, 1856.

From the kind hearts of the women,
Came the first of "Sewing-Circles,"
That the germ of all the others.
Lo! from that, a small beginning,
Farther, wider, spread the circles,
Till they covered all the region,
Till each village has its circles,
Every cause its Sewing-Circles.
For the Seamen some are sewing,
For the Heathen many others,
For the cause of Foreign Missions,
To advance the cause of Temperance,
To relieve the many sufferings,
All the countless woes and bitter,
Which that monster, Hydra-headed,
Intemperance, has created.
And a few are found among them,
Toiling for the cause of Freedom,
Toiling for the suffering slave;
Every movement philanthropic,
Finds among them many allies,
Many willing, helping sisters.

1. What was a “Sewing Circle”?
2. How did sewing circles benefit other organizations or causes?

Document #14:
List of Some Salem Societies

Marine Society at Salem, established 1766
Essex Lodge of the Freemasons, 1779
Asylum House, 1805
African Society, 1805
Salem Light Infantry, 1805
Salem Athenaeum, 1810
Salem Charitable Mechanic Association, 1817
Seaman’s Society, 1823
Anti-Masonry Party, 1831
Anti-Slavery Party, 1832
Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society, 1832 (all African-American—Salem’s Colored Female Anti-Slavery Society?)
Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society, 1834 (integrated)
Essex County Anti-Slavery Society, 1834
Juvenile Colored Sewing Society, ca. 1839
Salem Academy of Music, 1846
Essex Bar Association, 1856
Young Men’s Christian Association, 1858
Association for the Relief of Aged and Destitute Women in Salem, 1860
Salem Freedmen's Aid Society, 1863
Woman's Friend Society of Salem Massachusetts, 1876
Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor
Cadet Band
Salem Schubert Club
Salem Social Singing Society
Thought & Work Club
Salem & Danvers Association for Deletion of Thieves and Robbers
Essex Agricultural Society

The above is only a short list of the societies that proliferated in Salem, what does the list tell you about Salem in the antebellum period?

Document #15:
Letter, (March 12, 1854), From Dr. de Gersdorff to Stephen Palfray Webb
…You will certainly be filled with wonder when I tell you that we have had here in our generally quiet and settled community a “revolution” occasioned by the last election of a Mayor for the City…an entirely successful rout in the ward rooms by these nightly gatherings of the conspiring Know-Nothings. The secret society has spread unbeknown in the midst of our community…meeting somewhere by night with masks and without light. All kinds of “malcontents” met in those extemporaneous clubs…

What kind of secret society were the Know-Nothings?

Part B: Essay

Directions: Write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion. Use evidence from at least five documents in the body of the essay. Support your response with relevant facts, examples, and details. Include additional outside information.

Discuss the character and motivations of the participants of Salem’s societies.
Discuss the purposes and methods of Salem’s societies.
b. note commonalities and differences among the societies
Explain why organizations proliferated in Salem.

Guidelines: In your essay, be sure to:

Address all aspects of the Task by accurately analyzing and interpreting at least five documents.
Incorporate information from the documents in the body of the essay.
Incorporate relevant outside information.
Support the theme with relevant facts, examples, and details.
Use a logical and clear plan of organization.
Introduce the theme by establishing a framework that is beyond a simple restatement of the Task or Historical Context and conclude with a summation of the theme.