Matilda Joslyn Gage (see https://matildajoslyngage.org/) and Grover Cleveland (see https://presidentcleveland.org/) came of age in the 19th century. This century, particularly the latter half, was arguably the time of greatest progress and cultural change in human history. The so-called Industrial Revolution shifted the United States from an agrarian society to one depending upon city life.
The redefinition of American life came through culture-shaping inventions. The most obvious ones depended upon electricity. The incandescent bulb allowed people to light homes, factories, mines, and streets. People could extend their days and increase their productivity. The phonograph was a new tool for recording both speech and music, thus making preservation and communication of sound possible. The telegraph and telephone further enabled bidirectional communication over long-distances. Such exchanges took but a moment rather than days or weeks for one-way correspondence by courier.
Beyond the great advances through electricity, the 19th century brought recording devices (such as the typewriter, camera, and moving pictures), the sewing machine, the tin can, medical advances (such as antiseptics, aspirin, pasteurization, and the stethoscope), and farming instruments (including the corn planter and crop reaper). And this is just a partial list. In short, inventions from the 19th century improved everyday activities that we take for granted and laid the foundations for subsequent inventions in the 20th and 21st centuries.
One of the great engineering feats in 19th century United States was the Erie Canal (see https://eriecanalmuseum.org/). It opened the West and solidified New York as the pre-eminent American city of finance and commerce. Matilda and Grover lived in Fayetteville, a small village along the Erie Canal. They witnessed these changes.
Along with industrialization, there was great social change. Upstate New York led the way. This so-called “Burned-over District” (see https://nyheritage.org/exhibits/two-hundred-years-erie-canal/burned-over-district) was fertile ground for the birthing of religious and utopian movements. These were founded on the idea of a second great awakening. Such movements included the Church of Latter-day Saints (i.e., Mormons; Palmyra), Millerites (the base for Adventism; Low Hampton), the Ebenezer (i.e., Amana) Colonies (West Seneca), Shakers (Colonie), the Oneida Society (Oneida), Spiritualism (Lily Dale and Rochester), and Social Gospel (Owego). Many of these movements took advantage of the Erie Canal and moved west. Beyond the birthing of religions, Upstate New York was a hotbed of abolitionist activity and the genesis for the women’s rights movement (Seneca Falls; see https://www.nps.gov/wori/index.htm).
In future entries of my blog, I will delve into the historic background related to High Bridge and venture into parallels with current day politics. I may even take a courageous guess as to how Matilda and Grover might respond to situations confronting our present-day world.
http://www.cnyhumanists.org/; https://americanhumanist.org/
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