Reform Movements

United States 1

Roots

Major economic and social transformations in America during period 1800-1850.

Not everyone sharing equally in the progress Some people getting left behind

Response

Combination anxiety and hopefulness over changes sweeping America

Belief in human perfectibility Frenzy of work and experimentation

Belief in progress Looking to give meaning to life and lend

shape to society that seemed to be out of control

Charles G. Finney

Presbyterian evangelist—Rochester area Part of religious revival movement-2nd Great

Awakening Preaches that everyone has power to chose

a godly life Massive conversions

Fertile ground

Rochester was canal boomtown Experiencing growing pains of rapid economic

development Middle class felt it was losing control Expectations and ethical behavior of revival

Protestantism provided structure to community Provided sense of identity and purpose.

“Save the World” Crowd

Once converted, need to share the vision Could not rest until nation conformed to the

Christian values. Inspired to crusade against social and

political institutions that failed to live up to standards of Christian perfection

Two-Edged Sword

Positives Imposed a new order and cultural unity on

unstable communities Negatives

Inspired to variety of radical movements that threatened to undermined established institutions abolitionism

Temperance Movement

Per capita consumption almost triple what it is today. Alcoholism almost epidemic proportions.

Reformers viewed as threat to morality. Crime, vice, disorder

Poor and working classes Threat to family

Women played vital role in movement American Temperance Society

Very successful—50% reduction in consumption State Prohibition laws

Asylum Movement

Some elements beyond help by home and school Criminals, lunatics and paupers

Believed reform and rehabilitation were possible in a carefully controlled environment

State supported prisons, asylums and poorhouses Auburn Prison-model prison

Dorothea Dix—worked to improved conditions in prisons, hospitals and poorhouses. Very effective

Education Reform

Move toward taxed funded state-supported schools Regional in success

Horace Mann—Massachusetts Restore equality to a fractured society Bring children of all classes closer together Character-building as important as 3 R’s Highly structured environment

Preparation for industrial life

1st real career opportunity for women

Anti-Slavery Movement

Anti-slavery movement had its roots in religious reform movements

Believed slavery ran contradictory to Bible and the Declaration of Independence

Colonization Movement

1st step in anti-slavery American Colonization Society

Liberia—colony in Africa Belief that racism too deeply rooted in America Only 20,000 American blacks migrated

Most Blacks opposed Equality, not deportation Many 2nd or 3rd generation

Free Blacks

By 1830, over 50 black abolitionist societies existed in the North

David Walker-Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World Uses political ideals of nation to criticize slavery Encouraged slave rebellion Creates great fear in South Dies mysteriously

Abolitionist Movement

Rejected gradual emancipation, demanded immediate abolition.

Perfecting American society meant rooting out racism in all forms.

William Lloyd Garrison— The LiberatorThe Liberator Newspapers, speeches, mass mailings, petition

drives Southern reaction-toughened laws regarding

slave behavior

Spread rapidly through the North in the 1830’s Development of print technology and literacy Language was deliberately provocative

Believed by southerners to spark a slave revolt Nat Turner Rebellion-1831 Despite militant language, rejected violence as a

means of ending slavery

Nat Turner Rebellion-1831

Women’s Movement

Women found opportunity in the field of social reform Generally excluded from political activity Most came from middle class-time and energy to

devote to causes

Feminism

Much of the grassroots support of abolitionism came from Northern women

Came to realize their own subordination in society Applied the doctrine of universal freedom and

equality to the status of women.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848) Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott Raised the issue of women’s suffrage for the

1st time Declaration based of Declaration of

Independence “Either the theory of our government was false or

women have the right to vote.”

Utopianism

Amid political activism and reform fervor, some chose to escape into utopian communities and new religions.

Reform enthusiasm reflected in term “Burned-Over District”

Vast variety beliefs developed or nurtured in the Genesee region-Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Shakers, Oneida Collective, Spiritualist Movement, and numerous socialist communal groups.

More interesting Millerites World ending October 22, 1843