7.3 The Reforming Spirit A. The Reforming Impulse 1. Social Reform is an organized attempt to improve what is unjust or imperfect in society. 2. During the Jackson era, politics was becoming more democratic. a) More people could vote than before. 3. Some critics complained that it was not democratic enough. a) Slavery was a problem. b) Women had fewer rights than men. 4. Many American protestants believed in predestination, or the idea that God decided in advance which people would attain salvation.

7.3 The Reforming Spirit a) People worried that they could not be saved. 5. In the early 1800s, the Second Great Awakening swept the nation with its ideas of free will over predestination. a) Individuals had the power to save their own souls. 6. To stir religious feelings, preachers held revivals, or huge outdoor meetings. a) Might last for days and attract thousands of people. b) Charles Grandison Finney taught that individual salvation was the first step toward “the complete reformation of the whole world”. c) These teachings led to efforts to improve society.

7.3 The Reforming Spirit B. Hospital and Prison Reform 1. In 1841, Dorothea Dix led a crusade for prison improvements and the abolishment of cruel and unusual punishment. 2. Five out of six people in northern jails were debtors, or people that could not pay money that they owed. a) Many debtors stayed in prisons for years. 3. Reforms led to a more humane treatment of prisoners. C. The Temperance Movement

7.3 The Reforming Spirit D. Improving Education 1. Alcohol abuse was widespread in the early 1800s. 2. The temperance movement, a campaign against alcohol abuse, took shape in the late 1820s. a) Women took a leading role. b) This led to efforts to stem drinking or outlaw it all together. c) ME banned the sale of alcohol. D. Improving Education 1. NY took the lead in improving public education. a) Schooling usually ended in the 8th grade.

7.3 The Reforming Spirit 2. In most areas, African Americans had little chance to attend school. a) Boston and New York set up separate schools for black students. b) These schools received less resources than the other schools. 3. Some attempts to educate African Americans met with hostility. a) In the 1830s, Prudence Crandall, a CT Quaker, began a school for African American girls. b) A mob broke in and destroyed the school. c) Despite this, some African Americans attended Harvard, Dartmouth, and Oberlin.

7.3 The Reforming Spirit 4. Some reformers improved education for people with disabilities. a) In 1817, a Christian evangelical Thomas Gallaudet set up a school for the deaf in Hartford, CT. b) Samuel Gridley Howe founded the first American school for the blind in 1832. c) Howe was inspired by the Second Great Awakening. d) Howe used a system of raised letters to allow blind people to read.