Chapter 14 The Age of Reform (1820-1860)

Social Reform

ReligionReligious camp meetings (revivals) were common in the early 1800sKnown as the Second Great AwakeningThis led to a new spirit of reformBrought changes to American religion, education, and literatureSome reformers sought to improve society by forming utopiasutopias (Perfect society)Few were able to establish lasting communities (Mormons)They were founded on impractical ideas

The Religious InfluenceAttending revivals made men and women eager to reform both their lives and the world

Among these were people who wanted to ban alcohol

Lyman Beecher, a Connecticut minister, crusaded against the use of alcohol (temperancetemperance)

Beecher and other reformers used lectureslectures, pamphlets, and revival style rallies to warn people of the dangers of liquor

The temperance movementtemperance movement led to some victories when Maine and other states passed laws banning to manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages

Most of these laws were later repealed

Reforming Education

In the mid-1850’s, most schools were poorly fundedTeachers lacked trainingRestrictions were placed on who could attend schools (Girls and African Americans)Massachusetts lawyer Horace Mann called for educational reforms1839- Massachusetts created the nation’s first state-supported normal normal schoolschool to train teachers

Reforming Education ContinuedDuring the age of reform, many new colleges and universities were created

Most accepted only men

Gradually, higher education became available to groups that had been denied the opportunity

Oberlin College of Ohio was founded in 1833

Oberlin admitted both women and African Americans

People With Special NeedsSome reformers focused on the problem of teaching people with disabilities

Thomas Gallaudet developed a method to educate people who were hearing impaired

Samuel Gridley Howe developed books with large raised letters to help the visually impaired

Schoolteacher Dorothea Dix worked for prison reforms after seeing prisoners chained to walls

She also found that some people were not guilty of crimes, but were mentally ill

She made it her life’s work to educate the public about poor conditions for prisoners and the mentally ill

Cultural TrendsChanges in American society also influenced art and literatureAmerican artists developed their own style and explored American themes starting in the 1820sThe spirit of reform influenced the transcendentaliststranscendentalistsStressed the relationship between humans and nature and the importance of the individual conscienceThe leading transcendentalists were Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau

Cultural Trends ContinuedFuller supported women’s rightsEmerson urged people to listen to the inner voice of conscience and to overcome prejudiceThoreau practiced civil civil disobediencedisobedience by refusing to obey laws he considered unjust1846 Thoreau went to jail rather than pay a tax to support the Mexican WarMany American poets created great works (Henry Wadsworth, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson)During this time, women were the authors of the most popular fictionHarriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin which explored the injustice of slavery