Antebellum Reform Movements The Roots of Reform It

Antebellum Reform Movements

The Roots of Reform “It is one of the beautiful compensations in this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. ” – Ralph Waldo Emerson • Emerson led the transcendentalist movement an American philosophical movement which taught that all humans – like all nature – was created good • If people became corrupt it was because an institution of society made them corrupt • This philosophy had a strong influence on American society in the 1830’s and 1840’s – Along with Protestants from the Second Great Awakening, many successful reform movements were initiated during the antebellum period – Many Americans turned their attention to making society a better place – This was a founding principle!

The Roots of Reform • The first half of the 1800 s brought rapid social, economic, and technological changes, which laid the groundwork for reform. – At the time of the American Revolution it cost about as much to move goods ten miles on land in a wagon as it did to ship them across the Atlantic – By the 1830’s the transportation revolution, the rise of manufacturing, and the cotton gin made it more lucrative to produce and move crops and goods – This economic revolution began to divide the nation • The gap between rich and poor widened • Tens of thousands of immigrants (many of them Catholics from Ireland Germany) arrived annually • North and South began to distinguish themselves as urban v. rural – Industrialization brought profound cultural change to the North • Working-class life was difficult and regimented • Factory workers produced goods for a new middle class (soap, clothing, household goods) • Middle class women were freed from the Cult of Domesticity with their new free time and began to focus on matters outside the home

The Second Great Awakening • The Second Great Awakening, a religious revival of the early 1800 s, contributed to the reform impulse by emphasizing individual responsibility and perfection. – Many members of the middle class to grow concerned about the rapid rate of change – The were also optimistic about human capacity to shape their environment – That anxiety and optimism contributed to a religious revival with broad social implications – The movement began in the backcountry and then spread east and north in the 1820’s • Tent-meeting revivals (Charles Grandison Finney) • Dual focus – “Emotionalism” passionate preaching which emphasized humans’ ability to seize salvation – Precision the converted Christian was expected to become a productive, orderly, moral member of the community – This rang true at a time when anything seemed possible

The Second Great Awakening • The evangelical revival spawned a number of reforms aimed at curbing a broad range of social ills – Many middle-class Protestants joined Finney in believing that God expected Christians to make heaven on Earth – But reform movements became more divergent and contentious as their numbers and causes swelled The Second Great Awakening Many urged radical changes in society (communal living, celibacy, or the destruction of monogamy) Others focused on purging society, rather than the individual, from sin (ending poverty, slavery, women’s subjugation) Abolitionism was a particularly diverse and divisive movement (members disagreed over whether slavery would be ended through moral suasion, political pressure, or violent slave revolts)

Using Primary Sources • Use the handout “Religion and Social Reform in the Antebellum Era” to complete the following: – Read each quote (Readings 1 -10). – Determine which of the following social issues the author is addressing and how they want to see that issue reformed. (You may have to draw conclusions based on their words regarding what kinds of reforms they would have wanted. ) Create a chart/table/graphic organizer to organize your findings. • • • Education Reform Prison & Mental Health Reform Women’s Rights Temperance Reform (anti-alcohol) Other Reforms – Use the information you’ve collected to respond to the questions.

The Temperance Movement • Sought to limit or even ban the consumption of alcohol – Strongly supported by American Protestants – Thousands of individual temperance societies at the local level by 1830’s – Members could be affiliated with any political party (not structured around partisanship) • Alcohol was considered a social evil and was blamed for more of society’s problems than any other vice – Restrictions on alcohol would limit crime, pregnancy, childe abuse, poverty, and suicide – Opposed by many immigrants and became linked with nativism and anti-immigrant sentiments • After nearly a century the movement was successful with the ratification of the 18 th Amendment (called Prohibition)

Education Reform • In early America, few schools existed outside of Massachusetts – Children were taught at home by parents or tutors or sent away to boarding school • By the 1830’s a growing number of Americans began to advocate at all levels for free public education (at least for white boys) – In 1837 Horace Mann took control of the new Massachusetts Board of Education and pursued free, equal, non-religious schooling for all social classes • Provided by trained, well-paid, professional teachers • Set the standard for public education in the U. S. (by 1870 all states had at leas some free elementary schools) • College opportunities were also expanding beyond the few, exclusive, religiousbased universities of the colonial era – By 1840 there were more than 70 institutions of higher education – Oberlin College in Ohio was the first coeducational college in America (women were admitted in 1833)

Prisons and Asylums • Early America had very few prisons – If you were caught stealing in the early 1700’s you would have been publicly whipped – 100 years later you would have been thrown into a large common cell – Reformers – influenced by the Second Great Awakening and transcendentalism – believed there was a better way to rehabilitate criminals – Lasting reforms began in the 1830’s (literacy programs, prison libraries, less physical punishment) • Americans with all kinds of disabilities had also been kept in prison-like warehouses – Dorothea Dix in 1843 helped in the creation of public institutions (asylums) in Massachusetts dedicated to the treatment of mental illness

Abolition • Abolition the effort to end slavery in the United States – Quakers and a vocal minority had tried to abolish slavery with the founding of the nation – Slavery itself changed with the invention of the cotton gin and the wealth earned from “King Cotton” – Southerners became more committed to maintaining and expanding the peculiar institution – Many Northerners began to see slavery as a moral evil • In the first half of the 19 th century there were many different voices calling for the end of slavery – The American Colonization Society advocated purchasing all existing slaves and relocating them back to Africa (established the colony of Liberia in 1822) – William Lloyd Garrison in his newspaper The Liberator suggested that slaves should immediately be set free without compensation to owners and freedmen granted full citizenship rights – Another push came from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) • So many Americans sent petitions to Congress advocating so many theories about abolition that a so called gag rule had to be instituted in order for them to be able to talk about anything else! – The movement was successful with the ratification of the 13 th Amendment in 1865

http: //www. biography. com/people/nat-turner-9512211#videos

Women’s Rights • 19 th century ideas on women took root in the period of the American Revolution – “Republican Motherhood” women should take republican ideals (freedom, virtue, public morals) and instill them in their children (primarily sons) who would grow to be good citizens – Republican Motherhood developed into the “domestic ideal” – the home as the sphere of women Women as the moral/emotional center Husband can forget the trials of the world outside Kids return home from school Woman is the “angel” who doesn’t discuss the world or negative issues • Literature is used to reinforce this ideal Catherine Beecher’s Treatise on Domestic Economy (1841) • • – This ALSO gives women the sense that they are capable of handling responsibilities similar to their husbands

Women’s Rights • Beecher also argued for the education of women – Proposes women be educated as teachers until married – By 1883, 63% of American teachers are women • Women (primarily middle-class women from the Northeast) who have increased amounts of time must first solve the dilemma of getting out of the home – Reform-minded women argue that the role of women is to instill proper values both in and out of the home • Seneca Falls Convention, New York (1848) – Birth of the women’s rights and suffrage movement – Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott – The Declaration of Sentiments • Intentionally modelled on the Declaration of Independence • Emphasized the fact that men AND women are created equal Complaints About Women’s Status Demands • Can’t vote • Can’t get into college • Can be taxed with no input into the construction of laws • Give women the right to vote • Women should have all the rights of men • Since women are supposedly man’s moral equal (if not superior), they should be speaking in public, preaching in pulpits, etc. – it is in the country’s best interest to give them a public role

Transcendentalism • While watching the clip about the Transcendentalists, respond to the following questions: 1. Why do you think Thoreau went to live in the woods? 2. In what ways did the Industrial Revolution sometimes make life worse instead of better? 3. Why do you think so many writers and creative thinkers were drawn to the antislavery movement? 4. What aspects of Thoreau’s philosophy can be seen in the voluntary simplicity movement? 5. Do you think that in our modern-day lives we are disconnected from the natural world around us? 6. What are some of the criticisms about Thoreau and his writings expressed by his contemporaries and also by later critics? 7. What was the nature of Thoreau’s relationship with Ralph Waldo Emerson? 8. Do you think Thoreau found what he was looking for at Walden Pond? 9. What is civil disobedience? 10. Why do critics celebrate Thoreau’s night in jail, even though we now know that a relative had paid his taxes and he was in jail only because the jailer had gone home for the day? 11. How did the coming of the railroad affect pristine locations like Walden Pond? 12. Why is it ironic that Thoreau is now used for commercial purposes all over Concord?

Reformer Sojourner Truth Lyman Beecher Dorthea Dix William Lloyd Garrison Theodore Weld Sarah and Angelina Grimke Frederick Douglass Harriet Tubman Elizabeth Cady Stanton Horace Mann Nat Turner Area they Tried to Change What they did to Improve Society

Reformer Neal Dow Theodore Weld Lucretia Mott George Ripley John Humphrey Noyes Joseph Smith Brigham Young Robert Owen Elijah Lovejoy Father Theobald Matthew Mother Ann Lee Area they Tried to Change What they did to Improve Society

Reviewing Key Themes

AP #1 - How did the 2 nd Great Awakening inspire religious fervor that initiated reform during the 19 th century. • Answer the question by completing ACES. Academic provide at least 2 claims, Honors 3 claims Answer Cite Explain Question with claim Textual Evidence How evidence proves claim Summarize Idea