The Spirit of Reform
Religion played a huge role in reform during the 1800s.
The Second Great Awakening- a revival of religious
feeling and belief from 1800s-1840s.
Very emotional, people would go to big gatherings to hear
preachers give passionate speeches about being saved by God
People would shout, sing, and sometimes cry for hours or fall
down in frenzies
Big change—instead of priests or the church saying who
would go to heaven, preachers now said that salvation was up to each person and their relationship with God.
Following One’s
Conscience--Transcendentalism
Nature lovin‟- people find truth by being in tune
with nature.
Emphasized the Individual- It‟s my party and I will
get jiggy with it if I want to.
People should think for themselves, not just follow
rules mindlessly—question authority.
“It is bed time.”
“What is bedtime? Why is it important? What is the
meaning of life?”
Supported Civil Disobedience- peacefully resist
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Europe Shmureup- Forget em.’ We will do it up American style over here, ya heard? I am gonna
Henry David Thoreau
Student of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lived in a cabin at Walden Pond to be close to
nature, find the truth within himself
Very famous for idea of Civil
Disobedience- Influenced Ghandi in India
Influenced Martin Luther King Jr.
Went to jail for refusing to pay taxes that he said
Heck no, I won‟t go.
Thoreau’s
cabin at
“Hope is the thing with
feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words -and never stops at all.”
“Dwell in possibility.”
“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”
“Deep into that darkness
peering, long I stood
there, wondering,
fearing, doubting,
dreaming dreams no
mortal ever dared to
dream before.”
“I would define, in brief,
the poetry of words as
the rhythmical creation
of Beauty.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne-
The Scarlet Letter
“Every individual has a
place to fill in the world and is important in some respect whether he
chooses to be so or not.”
“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly,
Herman Melville-
Moby Dick
“He piled upon the
whale's white hump the
sum of all the general
rage and hate felt by
his whole race from
Adam down; and then,
as if his chest had
Model Communities
Some transcendentalists tried to create ideal
communities
Brook Farm, near Boston, MA
Get away from competitive society
Live in a small community where everyone cooperated,
shared, worked together
Try to lead a utopian life
100s of these communities popped up, most last only a
few years
Prison Reform
1841, Dorthea Dix agrees to teach Sunday school at a
jail.
Horrified that many prisoners are kept in cages and tied
down with chains
Children accused of minor crimes were kept in the same cells
as adult criminals.
She visited hundreds of jails around Massachusetts to see if
conditions were that bad everywhere. They were.
Visited debtors prisons- for people that were in jail for
owing others money.
Prison Reform
Dix‟s biggest contribution was working for the mentally ill. At jails, people
with mental institutions were locked in dirty, crowded prison cells. They were whipped if they misbehaved. They people were put in jail with regular criminals.
Dix believed these people needed treatment and care, not punishment.
She worked for states to open mental institutions.
Wrote a letter to the Massachusetts state legislature,
“I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane…men and women… I
proceed to call your attention to the present state of insane persons, confined in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience.”
Worked in several states. By the time she died in 1887:
debtors jail no longer existed.
Most states had justice systems for children
Most cruel punishments such as branding people with hot irons had been
Education Reform
In the early 1800s, most children didn‟t go to school.
There were few states that provided a free public
education.
The schools that did exist were often overcrowded with
poorly trained teachers and kids went part-time.
Horace Mann (I know it sounds like Horse Man) is known
as the “father of American public schools.”
Led education reform to get public schools (paid by tax
dollars) in more places so everyone had the chance to get a good education.
“Our means of education are the grand machinery by which
the „raw material‟ of human nature can be worked into
Horace Mann
Education Reform
By1850, most white children in the North, especially
boys, attended free public schools.
In the South, few girls and no African Americans could
attend public schools
Most high schools and colleges didn‟t admit girls.
The Movement to End Slavery
The movement to end slavery is called the “
abolition
movement.”
Quakers stopped owning slaves since 1776 and were
some of the first Americans to speak against slavery.
1808- the year the importation of slaves becomes
illegal in the U.S.
Abolitionists wanted to end slavery, but there were
different thoughts about how this should happen
Inspire slaves to rise up and lead a violent revolt
Find a peaceful method
Give slaveholders time to find farming methods that didn‟t
The Movement to End Slavery
From the beginning, whites and blacks were both part of the Abolition Movement.
Fredrick Douglass
the most well-known abolitionist Escaped slave
Tall and had a voice like thunder Very charismatic, excellent speaker
When he told cruel stories of enslaves children, people cried
When he told of preachers telling slaves to love slavery, people laughed
Published his autobiography in 1845, it was an instant best
seller.
Started his own newspaper called North Star
The Movement to End Slavery
William Lloyd Garrison
White man that was extremely religious, started an
abolitionist newspaper in 1831—The Liberator
Demanded the immediate freeing of all slaves.
Many in the North did not like this and didn‟t support abolition.
Proslavery groups destroyed his printing press and burnt down his house.
“I am in earnest! I will not equivocate! I will not excuse! I will
The Movement to End Slavery
The Grimke sisters- Angelina and Sarah
Inspired by religious reform movements-became abolitionists
Had been raised in South Carolina in a slave owning family.
Moved north, became Quakers, and saw slavery differently.
In the 1830s, began speaking publicly to groups of women
about the poverty and pain of slavery
Soon, they were speaking to large groups of men and
women throughout the North
This inspires other women to speak out publicly too.
One time Angelina was speaking and an angry mob threw
The Movement to End Slavery
Sojourner Truth
Was an abolitionist and later a reformer for women‟s rights.
Former slave
Famous “Ain‟t I a Woman” speech in 1851.
Won the a case against a white man to recover her son from
Many abolitionists also become
advocates for Women‟s Rights.
Women abolitionists were in a strange position
Trying to make slavery illegal, but they themselves couldn‟t vote
or hold office
Raised money for abolition, but their fathers and husbands
controlled their money and property.
Spoke out against slave beating, but their husbands could
discipline them how they wanted.
Unequal treatment of women
Lucy Stone- graduated from Oberlin College in 1847. Invited to
write a speech but a man would have to deliver it because women weren‟t allowed to give speeches at the college.
Many abolitionists also become
advocates for Women‟s Rights.
Unequal treatment of women
Elizabeth Blackwell- had studied math, science, and history.
She wanted to be a doctor
Rejected by 29 medical schools until finally accepted.
1849, graduates at the top of her class to become the first
female doctor in the U.S.
Women‟s Rights
The first organized women‟s rights movement grows out of the abolition movement
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were at an
anti-slavery convention in London. They were not allowed to speak because they were women, and they were also forced to sit in the balcony behind a curtain.
Mott and Stanton very different.
Lucretia Mott was 47, mother of four, an active reformer. She often spoke publicly against slavery
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 25, and newly married. Had never spoken publicly. As a young girl, she had heard women beg her father who was a judge to protect them from their
Lucretia Mott
Women‟s Rights
Seneca Falls Convention- July 19, 1848
Significant because it marks the beginning of the organized women‟s
rights movement in the United States.
About 300 people attend, including 40 men. Write the Declaration of Sentiments.
Modeled on the Declaration of Independence
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created
equal…”
Just as the Declaration of Independence lists the tyrannical acts of King
George, the Declaration of Sentiments lists tyrannical acts by men over women
Men didn‟t let women vote
Men did not give women the right to own property Men did not allow women to practice law or medicine.
At the convention, they decide to fight for the right to vote, but not
everyone agreed, including Lucretia Mott
Frederick Douglass supported women‟s right to vote. He said anyone
Women‟s Rights
Legacy of Seneca Falls
Gets women‟s movement kickin‟
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony become partners. Stanton like to
write, not speak.
Susan B. Anthony was a great speaker, she traveled all over the country giving speeches about women‟s rights.
Stanton “made the thunderbolts, and Anthony fired them”
Slowly, things begin to change
NY gave women more control over their money and property
Massachusetts and Indiana pass new divorce laws which make it easier for women to divorce their husbands.
Elizabeth Blackwell started her own hospital, which included a medical school to train female doctors
Only one woman who signed the Declaration of Sentiments was
Suffrage- the right to vote
Women who worked for the
Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
Reform Movement Review
Spirit of Reform
Religious resurgence-people‟s salvation up to themselves Transcendentalists- truth is in the individual
Model Communities- peace, love, cooperation man…
Prison Reform
Dorothea Dix works for debtors and the mentally ill
Education Reform
Horace Mann works for free public education for all
By 1850, most boys in the North are going to school, many girls In the South, girls and African Americans don‟t attend school much
Abolition Movement
Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, the Grimke Sisters Inspired by religious reform
Women‟s Movement
Grows out of the abolition movement Seneca Falls Convention, 1848
Declaration of Sentiments
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony. Sojourner Truth,
