The Ferment of Reform 1820 1860 Second Great

The Ferment of Reform 1820 -1860

Second Great Awakening Ø Caused new divisions with the older Protestant churches Ø Original sin replaced with optimistic belief that willingness to be saved could ensure salvation Ø Conversion and repentance now part of the community experience Ø Reached people who needed help adjusting to social changes

Evangelism • The religion of the middle class • Stressed self-discipline and individual achievement • Women take a more active role

Charles G. Finney -New York • Appealed to people’s emotions and fear of damnation • Persuaded thousands to publicly declare their revived faith • Prayer meetings were held in schools and businesses

Joseph Smith, 1830 • Founder of the Mormon religion • Published The Book of Mormon – traced a connection between the Native Americans and the lost tribes of Israel • Church of 18, 000 members, practiced polygamy • Led followers from New York to Illinois

Brigham Young • After mob murdered Joseph Smith – Mormons fled under the leadership of Brigham Young • Established New Zion on the banks of the Great Salt Lake ghostdepot. com/rg/images/ utah/brigham

Emerson and Transcendentalism • Transcendentalism was reaction to Enlightenment – see God as a creative force within man which fostered an optimistic belief in the goodness of man • Led by Ralph Waldo Emerson, a philosopher who emphasized individualism and rejected traditional authority " All creation is one, people should try to live a simple life in harmony with nature and with others. "

Henry David Thoreau • Henry David Thoreau’s Walden describes a 2 -year experiment in self-reliance while living near Walden Pond • Outspoken advocate of abolition – conductor for the underground railroad • Jailed for refusal to pay poll tax and wrote “Civil Disobedience” leading work on passive resistance

Nathaniel Hawthorne • The Scarlet Letter, most famous work explores good and evil in a Puritan town • Explored the dark side of life

Social Utopianism • Withdrawing from conventional society to create an ideal community or “utopia” • Open lands in the U. S. was fertile ground for such communities – Shakers – Oneida Community – Brook Farm – New Harmony

William Lloyd Garrison • Founder and publisher of “The Liberator” - 1831 • Demanded immediate and complete emancipation of slaves • Founder of New England Antislavery Society and American Antislavery Society

Grimke Sisters • Members of American Anti-slavery Society • Wrote a series of antislavery books and pamphlets • Advocated women’s rights Angelina first woman to speak before the Massachusetts Legislature

Temperance Movement American Temperance Society – Felt that excessive drinking was a threat to public morality and the family

Public Asylums • Dorothea Dix – Horrified at the treatment of the mentally ill called for reforms – States began rebuilding mental hospitals and patients began receiving professional treatment at state expense http: //www. ccg-gcc. gc. ca/usque-ad-mare/photos/261197 -56. jpg

Education Horace Mann § Leading advocate of the common (public) school movement § Reformers believed schools were important for immigrants and poor children § Moral education § Advocated compulsory attendance, longer school year, and training for teachers • Special schools founded for people with disabilities

American Family • Family and the role of the mother increasingly more important • “Cult of Domesticity” • Lower birthrates and smaller families • Children received more affection

Elizabeth Stanton – Led the campaign for equal voting, legal and property rights for women – Also involved in the Abolition and Temperance Movements

Lucretia Mott • Campaigned for women’s rights after being barred from speaking at an antislavery convention • With Stanton, she started the women’s right movement

Women’s Right Convention Seneca Falls, NY July 19 -20, 1848 • Discuss the social, civil, and religious rights of women • Declaration of Sentiments – 12 resolutions for action