Reform Movements

Temperance Movement Alcoholism was widespread during the early 1800’s –Temperance – moderation in the consumption of alcohol –American Temperance Union – mainly women Argued that no social vice caused more crime, disorder, and poverty than the excessive use of alcohol Men who drank excessively… –Spent money on liquor rather than food and other family necessities –Abused their wives and children

Prison Reform Prisons were literally holes in the ground in some cases –Ex. – abandoned mineshafts, etc. Inmates of all kinds were crowded together in prisons Many b/g to call for a better environment for inmates –B/l in rehabilitating prisoners rather than just locking them up

Prison Reform New institutions… –Rigid discipline – rid criminals of the laxness –Solitary confinement and silence on work crews – so that prisoners could think about their crimes Dorothea Dix –Headed up prison reform –Created special institutions for the mentally ill

Education Reform B/g the push for public education –Govt. funded schools open to all citizens Many b/l that a democratic republic could only survive if the voters well educated and informed Horace Mann (Massachusetts legislator) –Leader of the public education movement –Created a state board of education –Established schools for training teachers

Education Reform 1852 – Massachusetts passed the first mandatory school attendance law School was to teach the basics of… –Reading, writing, arithmetic, and instill a work ethic The South as a whole responded less quickly to education to the North

“True Womanhood” The idea that women should be homemakers and should take responsibility for developing their children's characters Women were… –Viewed as more moral and charitable than men –Expected to be models of piety and virtue to their children and husbands

Women’s Movement “True womanhood” implied that wives were now partners with their husbands and morally superior to them –They needed greater political rights to make society more virtuous 1848 – Seneca Falls Convention –Organized by Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony –Marked the b/g of an organized women’s movement

Seneca Falls Convention Issued a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions –Declaration of Ind.  “…that all men and women (added in) are created equal…” Stanton proposed that they focus on women’s suffrage –Women gaining the right to vote Women gained some property rights but no voting until 1920!

Gradualism Early antislavery societies supported gradualism –End slavery gradually 1 st – stop new slaves from being brought into the US 2 nd – phase out slavery in the North and Upper South 3 rd – end slavery in the Lower South

Antislavery Colonization American Colonization Society (ACS) –Best solution to end slavery was to send AA back to their ancestral homelands in Africa –ACS acquired land in West Africa and b/g shipping free AA back to Africa Established a colony that eventually b/c Liberia –B/c a country in 1847 – adopted a constitution based on the US – capital Monrovia named after president Monroe Colonization was never a realistic solution b/c the cost of transporting the AA was high and AA were now assimilated

Abolitionist Movement Abolitionists argued that enslaved AA should be freed immediately –W/o compensation to slaveholders David Walker –First well-known advocate of abolition –Advocated violence and rebellion as the only way to end slavery

Abolition Movement William Lloyd Garrison –1830’s – B/g a large national abolitionist movement –Founded Boston’s antislavery newspaper the Liberator –Demanded an immediate end to slavery –B/l slavery was immoral and slaveholders were evil –Only option was immediate and complete emancipation! Emancipation – freeing of all enslaved people

AA Abolitionist Frederick Douglass –Escaped from slavery in Maryland, brilliant thinker and speaker –Published his own antislavery newspaper, the North Star and wrote an autobiography Sojourner Truth –Gained freedom in 1827 when NY freed all remaining enslaved people in the state –Her antislavery speeches drew large crowds Joyous, deeply religious, full of stories and song