Reform Movements United States 1

Roots Major economic and social transformations in America during period 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-2 nd 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 1 st 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 1 st 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 2 nd or 3 rd 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. The Liberator William Lloyd Garrison— The 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 1 st 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