Reforming American Society Chapter 8 Key Ideas The

Reforming American Society Chapter 8

Key Ideas • •

The Second “Spiritual Reform From Within” [Religious Revivalism] Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality

The Rise of Popular Religion In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America, I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country… Religion was the foremost of the political institutions of the United States. -- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832

Charles G. Finney (1792 – 1875) “soul-shaking” conversion The ranges of tents, the fires, reflecting light…; the candles and lamps illuminating the encampment; hundreds moving to and fro…; the preaching, praying, singing, and shouting, … like the sound of many waters, was enough to swallow up all the powers of contemplation. Converted had a duty to spread the word about personal salvation

Second Great Awakening Revival Meeting

“The Benevolent Empire” 1825 - 1846

Second Great Awakening • • Rejection of Calvinist idea of predestination •

Transcendentalism • Philosophical and literary movement • Emphasized • • • “Transcend” the limits of intellect and allow the emotions, the SOUL, to create an original relationship with the Universe

Transcendentalist Thinking § Man must acknowledge a body of that were intuitive and must TRANSCEND more sensational proof: 1. The infinite benevolence 2. The infinite benevolence 3. The

Transcendentalist Intellectuals/Writers Concord, MA Nature (1832) Self-Reliance (1841) “The American Scholar” (1837) Walden (1854) Resistance to Civil Disobedience (1849)

The Transcendentalist Agenda § Give § Give

A Transcendentalist Critic: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 -1864) • Their pursuit of the ideal led to a distorted view of human nature and possibilities: * The Blithedale Romance • One should accept the world as an imperfect place: * Scarlet Letter * House of the Seven Gables

Abolitionist Movement • Both the to the Abolitionist Movement Gradualists Ho w to en d and led Immediatists sla ve ry ?

Abolitionist Movement • Until 1820 s most abolitionists advocated resettlement • 1816 - Member certificate to American Colonization Society “Here I have dwelt until I am nearly sixty years of age, and have brought up and educated a family…Yet some ingenious gentlemen have recently discovered that I am still an African; that a continent three thousand miles, and more, from the place where I was born, is my native country. And I am advised to go home…Perhaps if I should only be set on the shore of that distant land, I should recognize all I might see there, and run at once to the old hut where my forefathers lived a hundred years ago. ” created

Anti-Slavery Alphabet

William Lloyd Garrison (1801 -1879) • Massachusetts newspaper editor • Slavery was a moral, not an economic issue • Founded in 1831

The Liberator Premiere issue - January 1, 1831

The Tree of Slavery—Loaded with the Sum of All Villanies!

Other White Abolitionists Lewis Tappan James Birney • Liberty Party • Ran for President in 1840 & 1844 Arthur Tappan

Black Abolitionists David Walker (1785 -1830) 1829 Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World Fight for freedom rather than wait to be set free by whites

Frederick Douglass (1817 -1895) 1845 The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass 1847 published

Sojourner Truth (1787 -1883) or Isabella Baumfree 1850 The Narrative of Sojourner Truth

(1820 -1913) • Helped over 300 slaves to freedom • $40, 000 bounty on her head • Served as a Union spy during the Civil War “Moses”

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad • “Conductor” ==== leader of the escape • “Passengers” ==== escaping slaves • “Tracks” ==== routes • “Trains” ==== farm wagons transporting the escaping slaves • “Depots” ==== safe houses to rest/sleep

Turner’s Rebellion • • • Led by Nat Turner Virginia 55 -65 whites killed in the revolt 200+ blacks killed – 56 executed (including Turner) – 100 -200 killed by militias and mobs • Results: –

Slave Owners Defend Slavery • – Ex. Servants should obey their masters – Slaves benefited from Christianity • – Greece, Rome, Egypt • – Paternalism of slaveowner – Compared to “wage slaves” in the North • “ ” not just a “necessary evil” • 1836 -1844 “ ” – In response to numerous abolitionist petitions, Congress was prevented from discussing slavery

Penitentiary Reform Dorothea Dix (1802 -1887) 1821 first penitentiary founded in Auburn, NY R 1 -5/7

Dorothea Dix Asylum - 1849

Temperance Movement 1826 - American Temperance Society “Demon Rum”! Frances Willard R 1 -6 The Beecher Family

Annual Consumption of Alcohol

“The Drunkard’s Progress” From the first glass to the grave, 1846

Educational Reform Religious Training Secular Education e MA e By always on the forefront of public educational reform * 1 st state to establish tax support for local public schools. 1860 every state offered free public education to whites. * US had one of the highest literacy rates.

Horace Mann (1796 -1859) “Father of American Education” e children were clay in the hands of teachers and school officials e children should be “molded” into a state of perfection e discouraged corporal punishment e established state teachertraining programs R 3 -6

The Mc. Guffey Eclectic Readers Used religious parables to teach “American values” Teach middle class morality and respect for order Teach “ 3 Rs” + “Protestant ethic” (frugality, hard work, sobriety) R 3 -8

Early 19 c Women • • Property • Single • Married

Women Educators • Troy, NY Female Seminary • Curriculum: math, physics, history, geography • Train female teachers Emma Willard (1787 -1870) • 1831 • Opened school for girls • 1834 • Mary Lyons (1797 -1849) 1837 • Mt. Holyoke (College) • first college for women • Opened school for African. American girls Prudence Crandall (1803 -1890)

“ “ ” Concept ” • A woman’s “sphere” was in the home (it was a refuge from the cruel world outside) • Her role was to “civilize” her husband family • An 1830 s MA minister: The power of woman is her dependence. A woman who gives up that dependence on man to become a reformer yields the power God has given her for her protection, and her character becomes unnatural!

Cult of Domesticity = The women to improve society Angelina Grimké Sarah Grimké • Southern Abolitionists • Ran a school for females inspired Lucy Stone • American Women’s Suffrage Assoc. • Edited Woman’s Journal

Women’s Rights 1840 split in the abolitionist movement over women’s role in it London World Anti-Slavery Convention female delegates denied right to attend convention Elizabeth Cady Stanton Lucretia Mott 1848

Seneca Falls Declaration

What It Would Be Like If Ladies Had Their Own Way!

Industry Changes Work • Production moved from – to and artisans

Farm to Factory • Lowell workforce almost entirely unmarried farm girls – 90% of workers in 1828 – 80% under age 30 • 1834 first strike at Lowell – 15% pay cut – Spindles and looms had been tripled, but workers only increased 50% – Workers returned, leaders fired • 1836 second strike at Lowell – – Boarding rates increased = 12. 5% pay cut Twice as many women went on strike Company fired leaders Most workers then returned to jobs

Workers Seek Better Conditions • 1830 s and 1840 s – 1 -2% of workers were unionized – Dozens of strikes • Usually for higher wages/shorter workdays – Workers usually lost • Strikebreakers hired – Usually immigrants who had fled even greater poverty

Immigration • 1830 -1860 dramatic increase in immigration – Largest groups were • • Midwest eastern cities – Faced discrimination