Antebellumreforms

ANTEBELLUM REFORMSBY JACKIE

HOUR 5

RELIGIOUS REFORM

The Reform

Brought about the Second Great Awakening (1790-1840) that caused a religious revival across the nation.

Communities prioritized their churches and created different sectors of “utopian communities” were faith ruled the everyday lives of the people, and how the people reacted to situations.

The ideal of evangelicalism was encouraged throughout these communities. Evangelicalism is the belief of personal conversation and faith by good works.

The revival of these religious ideals led to the reforms of women’s rights, temperance, and the abolitionism of slavery

From 1850-1900 the Third Great Awakening took place. It affected Protestant denominations and created a strong sense of social activism.

The Third Awakening was based on the Second Coming (Christ would come after mankind reformed the earth). The Social Gospel Movement gained its force from the Awakening, and the worldwide missionary movement.

New groups such as the Holiness and Nazarene movements, and Christian Science emerged.

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UTOPIAN COMMUNITIES

The Reform The first Utopian community was founded by Quaker “Mother Ann Lee” in 1774

Later different religious branches created their own community sectors

All Community members were expected to work, according a person’s abilities. Women tended to do much of the domestic duties.

The more skilled jobs tended to remain with one person (for example, a financial minister would remain a financial minister the rest of his life)

Community members rotated through the less skilled jobs such as working at home, in the fields, or in the various industries.

As the Community thrived, it began to hire “outsiders”.

Every member of the community was subject to criticism by a committee or the community as a whole, during a general meeting. The goal was to eliminate bad character traits of a person

EDUCATION REFORM

Background Before the government funded public schools, the primary mode for funding

school for the lower classes, was called “Charity Schools” started by Presbyterian organizations, that were later adapted by the Roman Catholic Church, and government body.

The development of the grammar school was developed by Joseph Lancaster in England, who also developed the monitorial system.

The monitorial system consists of more-advanced students teaching less advance students.

Lancaster promoted his system in a pamphlet called “Improvements of Education”. Lancaster’s work spread across the English Speaking World.

The Reform The Lancaster system consisted of an economic system that involved “Scrip”

Scrip, was a form of money meaningless outside the school, and was created at a fixed exchange rate from a student's tuition

Established educational elites found Lancaster schools threatening. The U.S issued a mandatory publicly-paid education explicitly to keep public education in "responsible" hands.

Horace Mann of Massachusetts set a goal of improving schools by fighting for an increase of new school houses, teacher education, and an increase in teachers salary

Horace Mann

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE

Background

Women had hardly any rights or no rights in the 1800’s. Born a female, you couldn’t own any property until you married, could not vote, and had the legal status of a minor.

Most suffragists were wealthy white women who campaigned for their rights, along with campaigning for temperance, and the abolition of slavery.

The leaders of the women’s reform were Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (first female med school graduate), Grimke Sisters, and Amelia Bloomer.

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THE REFORM In 1848 the Women’s Rights Convention

was held in Senca Falls New York, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the “Declaration of Sentiments”.

The Declaration stated how all women were equal to men.

The convention formally launched the modern women’s rights movement, but was overshadowed by the movement for the abolition of slavery.

Susan B. Anthony joined up William Lloyd Garrison’s American Anti-Slavery Society of New York. At the Ninth National Women’s Rights Convention on May 12, 1859 she state "Where, under our Declaration of Independence, does the Saxon man get his power to deprive all women and Negroes of their inalienable rights?"

Women however, would not receive the right to vote until the year 1920.

Susan. B Anthony

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

TEMPERANCE

Background In the 1800’s people (men more than woman) were drinking about 4 gallons

of liquor per person- This led to hostile behavior

A decrease of drinking alcohol appeared in the 1820’s when preachers preached that drinking was sinful.

Temperance was the movement to make alcohol illegal.

The movement was known as the “Women’s War”, because it was led by women who wanted an end to their husbands drunken behavior, and the abuse they receive from it.

Employers approved of the movement, because they felt that their employes couldn’t function when drunk, and work would never get done.

The Reform In 1855, the state of Main

passed a law to prohibit the sale of alcohol substances (The Maine Law).

The exception of this law was the use of alcohol for medicine

12 states decided to adopt the Maine Law, and were dubbed “The Dry States”

Immigrants and the working class opposed this law and rioted. In june 1855 a riot turned violent (The Main Law Riot) which led to the repeal of the law in 1856.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY

Movement to end the slave trade in western Europe and America

Slave protest didn’t arouse interest until the 1800’s when Enlightenment thinkers announced slavery went against the laws of men, and religious groups like the quakers dubbed it “un-christen”

antislavery sentiments were world wide by the late 18th century, but they had little immediate effect on the centers of slavery: the West Indie, South America, and the southern parts of the United States.

Leaders involved William Lloyd Garrison (founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society) writers John Greenleaf and Harriet Beecher Stowe, former slaves and free black such as the penitentiary brothers (who helped found the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society) and Fredrick Douglas.

Slavery was the majority of the cause for the Civil War (1860-1865). Slaves were not freed until Abraham Lincoln freed them in 1865.

The Reform

TREATMENT OF THE MENTALLY ILL

Background Prior to the 1800’s mentally ill people were not thought of as sick, but people

who abandoned themselves and who had practices with the Devil, sorcerers, or other demons

In the 1700’s mentally ill people were locked in rooms and forgotten about.

During the 1800’s families would drop off their loved ones at jails or prisons where their illnesses went untreated.

Soon state-run hospitals, known as asylums, housed patients.

Referred to as “horror houses” patients were abused or neglected; some patients were experimented on with different types of drugs, and electroshock therapy.

THE REFORM 1840-41, Dix conducted a statewide

investigation of how the insane were treated. In most cases, towns could not take care of mentally ill people

Dix published her results in the report, a Memorial, to the state legislature. After the release of her report a bill was passed to expand the state's (Massachusetts) asylum

She then traveled from New Hampshire to Louisiana documenting the conditions of other treatments of the insane, and sent memorials to the state legislatures

Dix devoted her time to committees to draft the appropriation bills needed to build asylums

In 1848,Dix visited North Carolina and called for reform in the care of mentally ill patients. In 1849, when the North Carolina State Medical Society was formed, the construction of an institution for the care of mentally ill patients was authorized. The hospital, named in honor of Dorothea Dix, opened in 1856

Dix’s persistent for better treatment of the insane, led to improved conditions, and the thought of these people being “mentally ill” and not “demented”.

Dorthea Dix

PRISON REFORM

Background The Walnut Street Prison in Philadelphia, built in 1790, was the first penitentiary in the

U.S and said to be “the first one in the world”.

Criminals from every state were sent to this prison, and unfortunately with the death penalty being abolished (expect for in the cases of murder) the prison began to over crowd.

The crowdedness of the prison and inadequate funding led to riots, assaults on prison guards, and mass escapes.

Do to these issues, the Philadelphia Society for Allurating the Miseries of the Public Prisons decided on building two new penitentiaries

One was the penitentiary Western Penitentiary and the other the Eastern State Penitentiary (also known as Cherry Hill Prison)

The Cherry Hill Prison was the “showcase” for the prison reform.

Walnut Street Cherry Hill

The Reform Elizabeth Fry decided to investigate the treatment of prisoners after

being inspired by William Savery preaching on humanity

the filthy/horrid conditions she saw mortified her

She took it upon herself to press Congress for better conditions reporting to legislatures of the things she witnessed.

She supplied women and children prisoners with clothes and established a school and a chapel in the prison. Later she introduced a system of supervision that was administered by matrons and monitors.

Congress passed bills that improved the conditions of state prisons.