Reform Movements of the 19 th Century (1820-1860)

Reform Movements of the

19th Century(1820-1860)

1. The Second GreatAwakening

1. The Second GreatAwakening

“Spiritual Reform From Within”

[Religious Revivalism] –Charles Finney

[New Religions]

[Utopias]

Temperance

Asylum &Penal

Reform

Also led to moral and social reforms

Temperance

Asylum &Penal Reform

Asylum &Penal Reform

EducationEducation

AbolitionismAbolitionism

Women’s

Rights

Women’s

Rights

“The Benevolent Empire”:1825 - 1846

“The Benevolent Empire”:1825 - 1846

The Shakers

• Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing

• Mother Ann, the messiah

• Separate but equal roles for men and women

The Mormons

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

• Founder, Joseph Smith

• Emphasized hard work, community, polygamy

• Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, Utah

2. Utopian Communities2. Utopian

Communities

Utopian SocietiesUtopian Societies

John Humphrey Noyes(1811-1886)

Communities of Perfect societies

Over 90 communities between 1800-1850• The Oneida Community, NY 1848• New Harmony, IN

3. Transcendentalism(European Romanticism)

3. Transcendentalism(European Romanticism)

Part of the period of religious revival

People can transcend, rise above material things in life to reach higher level of intellect

Approach perfection when you acquire knowledge about God, themselves, and universe

Transcendentalist Intellectuals/Writers

Concord, MA

Transcendentalist Intellectuals/Writers

Concord, MA

Ralph WaldoEmerson

Ralph WaldoEmerson

Henry DavidThoreau

Henry DavidThoreau

Nature(1832) Walden

(1854)

Resistance to Civil

Disobedience(1849)

Self-Reliance (1841)

Inspiration from God through personal unification with

natureR3-1/3/4/5

Part of Anti-slavery

movement

4. Temperance Movement4. Temperance Movement

The Beecher Family

1826 - American Temperance Society

“Demon Rum”!

Carrie A. Nation

States limited alcohol, strictly licensed taverns, adopted liquor taxesCulminates in passage of 18th A. in 1917

Francis Willard(Leader of WCTU)

“The Drunkard’s Progress”

“The Drunkard’s Progress”

From the first glass to the grave, 1846

Prohibition – Maine in 1846

FROM THE FIRST GLASS TO THE GRAVE.STEP 1. A glass with a friend.STEP 2. A glass to keep the bold chat. STEP 3. A glass too much.STEP 4. Drunk and riotous.STEP 5. The ... ... ... companions. A partly mad drunkard.STEP 6. Poverty and disease.STEP 7.Forsaken by friends.STEP 8. Desperation and crime.STEP 9. Death by suicide.

Annual Consumption of Alcohol

Annual Consumption of Alcohol

5. Educational Reform5. Educational Reform

Purpose:1.Religious Training Secular

Educationbasic curriculum: reading,

writing, math2. Education will improve society,

morals3. Create an education system that is

more uniform throughout country, supported by state

By 1860 every state offered free public education to whites.

“children are clay in the hands

of teachers and school officials” “Father of America Education” 1stSecretary of Ed in MA

Horace Mann (1796-1859)

Horace Mann (1796-1859)

“great equalizer”, reduce poverty, crime, etc1st State: taxes for school system Raised teacher’s salaries, established state teacher training programs persuaded legislatures to increase spending on schools 1821 1st public normal high school6 month school year in 1839

Prison Reform

• Punishment for crimes prior to 1800s was mostly corporal, physical punishments, fines

• Reforms thought lawbreakers could be reformed –Penitentiary system was created -

1821 first penitentiary foundedin Auburn, NY – to reform and return to

society as productive citizens (Eastern State Pent – PA)

• 1820’s – NE prison reformer Josiah Quincy – sought to establish different places for juvenile correction/reform

7. Abolitionist Movement

7. Abolitionist Movement By early 1800s most northern states

had abolished slavery, hoped to end slavery in entire country 1816 American Colonization Society created (gradual, voluntary emancipation, send freed AA to Africa, Monrovia, Liberia

6.Mentally Ill and Penitentiary Reform

6.Mentally Ill and Penitentiary Reform

Dorothea Dix(1802-1887)

Mental ill were kept “in cages, closets, cellars, chained, naked,

beaten, lashed into obedience”• Deeply religious teacher

• became interested in 1841 -horrible conditions women faced in MA institutions

• spent 18 months visiting jails, institutions and reported on it

• Result: Separate institutions in which people with mental illness would be treated humanely

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Abolitionist MovementAbolitionist Movement

• By 1830, it was clear that colonization was not very popular

• Abolitionists began to turn to complete end of slavery

• David Walker’s, The Appeal, --argueably most radical of all anti-slavery documents“slaves, revolt against your masters”“America is our country, we have enriched it with our blood and tears”

Gradualists Immediatists

William Lloyd Garrison (1801-1879)

William Lloyd Garrison (1801-1879)

Slavery undermined republican values.

Immediate emancipation, attacked racial prejudice

Slavery was a sin, crime contracted both Bible and D of I

Slavery was a moral, notan economic issue.

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The LiberatorThe Liberator

Premiere issue January 1, 1831

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Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)

1845 The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass1847 “The North Star” – anti-slavery

newspaperR2-12

Voices of the American Anti-Slavery Society (1833)

Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)

or Isabella Baumfree

Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)

or Isabella Baumfree

1850 The Narrative of Sojourner Truth R2-10

Harriet Tubman(1820-1913)Harriet Tubman(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

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

8. Women’s Rights8. Women’s Rights1840 split in the abolitionist movement over women’s role in it.

Garrison call for equal rights for women troubled many moderates, who believed women’s place was in domestic sphere

“Cult of domesticity” – refuge from the cruel outside world, role is to civilize her husband and family

Early 19c WomenEarly 19c Women1. Unable to vote.2. Legal status of a minor.3. Single could own her own

property.4. Married no control over

herproperty or her children.

5. Could not initiate divorce.6. Couldn’t make wills, sign a

contract, or bring suit in court without her husband’s permission.

What It Would Be Like If Ladies Had Their Own

Way!

What It Would Be Like If Ladies Had Their Own

Way!

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Cult of Domesticity = Slavery

Cult of Domesticity = Slavery

The 2nd Great Awakening inspired women to improve society.

Angelina GrimkéSarah Grimké

Combined fight for Abolition and Women’s Rights

Lucy Stone American Women’s

Suffrage Assoc. edited Woman’s

JournalR2-9

London- World Anti-Slavery Convention

Lucretia Mott

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

1848 Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments

Seneca Falls Convention

• 1st American meeting on women’s rights• 300 men and women• Signed Declaration of Sentiments• Reforms included:

– Right to control property for married women

– Custody of children upon divorce– Right to education and college– Right to Vote – most fiercely debated issue