The American Nation Chapter 15 Reform and a New American Culture, 1820– 1860 Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall,

The American NationThe American Nation

Chapter 15Reform and a New

American Culture, 1820–1860

Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

The American NationThe American Nation

Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

Section 1: The Reforming Spirit

Section 2: Opposing Slavery

Section 3: A Call for Women’s Rights

Section 4: American Art and Literature

Chapter 15: Reform and a New American Culture, 1820–1860

Chapter 15, Section 1

The Reforming SpiritThe Reforming Spirit

• How did political and religious ideals provide inspiration for reform?

• Why did Dorothea Dix seek to reform the treatment of prisoners and the mentally ill?

• What were the goals of the temperance movement?

• How did reformers improve American education?


Roots of ReformRoots of Reform

social reform—an organized attempt to improve what is unjust or imperfect in society

Political ideals • Politics was becoming more democratic. People pointed to the Declaration of Independence’s promise of liberty and equality.

• People question slavery as undemocratic.• People asked why women had few rights.

Religious ideals • In colonial times, American Protestants believed in predestination, the idea that God decided in advance which people would attain salvation after death. A religious movement of the early 1800s—the Second Great Awakening—stressed free will instead. Preachers said that individuals could save their souls by their own actions.

• In revivals, or huge outdoor meetings, people heard that individual salvation was the first step toward reforming the world. This message inspired people to improve society.


Roots of ReformRoots of Reform

Political Origins• The ideals of liberty and

equality in the Declaration of Independence inspire people to try to improve society

• During Jackson era, more people can vote than ever before

• Critics say slavery and other injustices violate democratic ideals

Religious Influences• Second Great Awakening

stresses free will rather than predestination

• Revivals encourage people to reform their lives

• Finney teaches that individual salvation is the first step to the reform of a society


Dorothea Dix Seeks to Reform the Treatment of Prisoners and the Mentally Ill

Dorothea Dix Seeks to Reform the Treatment of Prisoners and the Mentally Ill

Reasons Dix called for prison reform:• Men, women, and children were often crammed together in

cold, damp rooms.• Sometimes prisoners went hungry unless they could buy

their own food.• Most prisoners were debtors, people who could not pay the

money they owed.

Reasons Dix called for reform in treatment of the mentally ill:• The mentally ill were put in jails rather than hospitals.• The mentally ill were often put in “cages, closets, cellars,

stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods.”, Dix reported.


The Temperance MovementThe Temperance Movement

Temperance Movement• In the late 1820s, a campaign against alcohol

abuse• Some groups urged people to drink less.• Others sought to end drinking altogether.


Improving EducationImproving Education

Public Schools• In the early 1800s, Massachusetts was the only state that

required free public schools. Reformers argued that a republic such as the United States requires educated citizens.

• In 1814, New York State passed a law requiring local governments to set up tax-supported school districts.

• In Massachusetts, Horace Mann urged legislators to provide more money for education. The state built new schools, extended the school year, raised teachers’ pay, and established colleges to train teachers.

• By the 1850s, most northern states had set up free tax-supported elementary schools.


Improving EducationImproving Education

Education for African Americans• A few northern cities set up separate schools for black students.• In the North, a few African American men and women opened

their own schools. • Some African Americans went on to attend private colleges

such as Harvard, Dartmouth, and Oberlin.• In 1854, Pennsylvania chartered the first college for African

American men.Education for people with disabilities• In 1817, Thomas Gallaudet set up a school for the deaf in

Hartford, Connecticut.• In 1832, Samuel Gridley Howe founded the first American school

for the blind.


Section 1 AssessmentSection 1 Assessment

Social reform isa) an effort to help people improve their behavior at social events.b) an organized attempt to improve what is unjust or imperfect in society.c) a dynamic religious movement.d) the need to vote and take part in government.

One major argument reformers made in favor of free public education was thata) a republic requires educated citizens.b) children would otherwise have little to do.c) it would cut down on children drinking heavily.d) poor children should have the chance to read great literature.

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Social reform isa) an effort to help people improve their behavior at social events.b) an organized attempt to improve what is unjust or imperfect in society.c) a dynamic religious movement.d) the need to vote and take part in government.

One major argument reformers made in favor of free public education was thata) a republic requires educated citizens.b) children would otherwise have little to do.c) it would cut down on children drinking heavily.d) poor children should have the chance to read great literature.




Opposing SlaveryOpposing Slavery

• How did the antislavery movement begin and grow?• How did the Underground Railroad help slaves reach

freedom?• Why did many white northerners and southerners

oppose the campaign to abolish slavery?


Roots of the Antislavery MovementRoots of the Antislavery Movement

Early antislavery efforts

• Since colonial times, Quakers had taught that slavery was a sin.

• During the Second Great Awakening, ministers called on Christians to stamp out slavery.

Colonization Movement

• The American Colonization Society proposed to end slavery by setting up an independent colony in Africa for freed slaves. In 1822, the society founded the nation of Liberia, in West Africa. Only a few thousand African Americans settled there.


Roots of the Antislavery MovementRoots of the Antislavery Movement

Abolitionist Movement

• Reformers known as abolitionists wanted to end slavery completely in the United States.

• Some African Americans tried to end slavery through lawsuits and petitions. Others, such as Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm, used their newspaper to influence public opinion.

• Free African American David Walker encouraged enslaved African Americans to free themselves by any means.

• Frederick Douglass, the best-known African American abolitionist was a powerful speaker. He lectured in the United States and Britain.

• White abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison published The Liberator, the most influential antislavery newspaper.

• The Grimké Sisters lectured against slavery.


The Underground RailroadThe Underground Railroad

• The Underground Railroad was a network of black and white abolitionists who secretly helped slaves escape to freedom.

• Conductors guided runaways to stations where they could hide—the homes of abolitionists, churches, and caves.

• Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery. She risked her freedom and her life by returning to the South 19 times. She led more than 300 former slaves to freedom.


The Underground RailroadThe Underground Railroad


Reasons Why People Opposed AbolitionReasons Why People Opposed Abolition

In the North• Northern mill owners,

bankers, and merchants who depended on southern cotton worried about losing their cotton supply.

• Northern workers feared that freed African Americans might come and take their jobs.

In the South• Many white southerners

accused abolitionists of preaching violence.

• Slave owners defended slavery even more firmly than before. Some argued that slaves were better off than northern factory workers.

• To many southerners, slavery was an essential part of the southern economy and way of life.



Abolitionists were people who demanded that a) slavery in the United States be ended completely.b) African Americans, enslaved or free, be allowed to migrate to western

Africa.c) Slavery should be allowed only in the South.d) African Americans attend religious revivals.

The Underground Railroad wasa) an organization that provided free train rides for African Americans.b) an organization that trained freed African Americans to operate trains.c) a northern railroad with many tunnels in the Appalachian Mountains. d) a network of abolitionists who helped slaves escape to freedom.





Abolitionists were people who demanded that a) slavery in the United States be ended completely.b) African Americans, enslaved or free, be allowed to migrate to western

Africa.c) Slavery should be allowed only in the South.d) African Americans attend religious revivals.

The Underground Railroad wasa) an organization that provided free train rides for African Americans.b) an organization that trained freed African Americans to operate trains.c) a northern railroad with many tunnels in the Appalachian Mountains. d) a network of abolitionists who helped slaves escape to freedom.




A Call for Women’s RightsA Call for Women’s Rights

• Why did some women call for equal rights in the 1800s?

• What goals were set at the Seneca Falls Convention?

• How did women win new educational opportunities?


Seeking Equal Rights for WomenSeeking Equal Rights for Women

Reasons people sought equal rights for women in the mid-1800s

• Women could not vote or hold office.• When a woman married, all of her property became

her husband’s property.• A working woman’s wages belonged to her

husband.• A husband had the right to hit his wife.• The abolitionist movement made people aware that

women, too, lacked full social and political rights.


Seeking Equal Rights for WomenSeeking Equal Rights for Women

Sojourner Truth This former slave was a spellbinding speaker. She spoke out against slavery and also for women’s rights.

Lucretia Mott This Quaker woman used her organizing skills to set up petition drives across the North.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Stanton joined Mott and other Americans at the World Antislavery Convention in London. Back at home in the United States, she and Mott organized a convention to draw attention to women’s problems.

Susan B. Anthony Traveled across the country, speaking tirelessly for women’s rights.W

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Goals of the Seneca Falls ConventionGoals of the Seneca Falls Convention

Seneca Falls Convention—meeting held in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss the problems that women faced. It was the start of the women’s rights movement, an organization campaign for equal rights.

Goals• The convention issued a Declaration of Sentiments, which

proclaimed, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”

• Resolutions demanded equality at work, at school, and at church.

• A resolution demanding women’s right to vote passed narrowly.


New Educational Opportunities for WomenNew Educational Opportunities for Women

Reformers said that education was a key to women’s equality.

Reformers opened new schools for women.• Emma Willard opened a high school for girls in Troy, New York.• Mary Lyon opened Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in

Massachusetts, the first women’s college in the United States.

A few men’s colleges began to admit women.• Elizabeth Blackwell attended medical school at Geneva College in

New York.• Maria Mitchell became a noted astronomer.• Sarah Josepha Hale became editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book.• Antoinette Blackwell was the first American woman ordained a

minister.



The women’s rights movement demanded that womena) work outside the home.b) be given equal rights at work, at school, and at church.c) be given certain rights that men did not have.d) give up their husband’s names.

Before the mid-1800s no woman in the United Statesa) learned to read.b) studied dancing and drawing.c) went to college.d) learned to care for a family.





The women’s rights movement demanded that womena) work outside the home.b) be given equal rights at work, at school, and at church.c) be given certain rights that men did not have.d) give up their husband’s names.

Before the mid-1800s no woman in the United Statesa) learned to read.b) studied dancing and drawing.c) went to college.d) learned to care for a family.




American Art and LiteratureAmerican Art and Literature

• How did American painters develop their own style?

• What themes did American poets, novelists, and storytellers explore?

• Why was the “inner light” important to Emerson and Thoreau?


American PaintersAmerican Painters

Before 1800, most American painters studied in Europe.• Benjamin West• Charles Willson Peale• Gilbert Stuart

By the mid-1800s, American artists began to develop their own style. The Hudson River School painted vivid landscapes of New York’s Hudson River region.• Thomas Cole• Asher B. Durand• Robert S. Duncanson


American PaintersAmerican Painters

Some American artists painted scenes of hard-working country people.• George Caleb Binghan: frontier life along the rivers• George Catlin: Indians of the Great Plains and Rockies• Alfred Jacob Miller: Indians of the Great Plains and

Rockies


American Poetry, Stories, and Other LiteratureAmerican Poetry, Stories, and Other Literature

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poems based on events from the American past, such as “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “The Song of Hiawatha.”

John Greenleaf Whittier

Poems about the evils of slavery.

Frances Watkins Harper

Poems about the evils of slavery.

Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass, a book of poetry celebrating democracy and common people.

Emily Dickinson Recognized as one of the nation’s greatest poets.

Washington Irving The Sketch Book, including “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”


American Poetry, Stories, and Other LiteratureAmerican Poetry, Stories, and Other Literature

James Fenimore Cooper

Stories set in the American past. The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans, about a strong, solitary frontiersman.

Herman Melville Moby Dick, about the captain of an American whaling ship.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Stories set in early New England, such as The Scarlet Letter.

Edgar Allan Poe Tales of horror. Known as the “father of the detective story” for stories such as “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

William Wells Brown

The first African American to earn his living as a writer. Wrote Clotel, a novel of slave life.


The “Inner Light” of the TranscendentalistsThe “Inner Light” of the Transcendentalists

Transcendentalists believed that the most important truths in life transcended, or went beyond, human reason. • They valued the spark of deeply felt emotions more than reason.• They believed that each individual should live up to the divine

possibilities within.

Ralph Waldo Emerson • He believed that civilization provides material wealth, but the

human spirit was best reflected in nature.• He believed that nature exhibited values that came from God.• He stressed individualism, or the importance of each individual.

He said that people have an “inner light” they can turn to for guidance in their personal lives and to help them improve society.


The “Inner Light” of the TranscendentalistsThe “Inner Light” of the Transcendentalists

Henry David Thoreau• He believed that the growth of industry and the rise

of cities were ruining the nation.• He urged people to live as simply and as close to

nature as possible.• He believed that each individual must decide what

is right or wrong. • He argued in favor of civil disobedience, the idea

that people have a right to disobey unjust laws if their consciences demand it.



Starting in the mid-1800s, most American painters began to a) concentrate on portraits of English royalty.b) think it was necessary to study in European art schools.c) develop an American style and paint American scenes.d) favor portraits over landscapes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were part of a group of people who believed that

a) no one should have to pay taxes.b) reason is far more valuable than emotions.c) each person should strive for material wealth.d) each person has an inner light that helps the person determine right

and wrong.





Starting in the mid-1800s, most American painters began to a) concentrate on portraits of English royalty.b) think it was necessary to study in European art schools.c) develop an American style and paint American scenes.d) favor portraits over landscapes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were part of a group of people who believed that

a) no one should have to pay taxes.b) reason is far more valuable than emotions.c) each person should strive for material wealth.d) each person has an inner light that helps the person determine right

and wrong.



The American Nation Chapter 15 Reform and a New American Culture, 1820– 1860 Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall,

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