Activator
 Document Analysis: Doc B: Charles Finney, 1843
 Close Reading:
 What information does the document include?
 What inferences can you draw?
 Evaluate: How does this relate to the reform
movements of 1825 – 1840?
Reform
Movements
2002 Form A:
To what extent did reform
movements of 1825-1840 seek
to expand democratic ideals?
Key Religions:
late 1700’s- early 1800’s
 Deism
 Reason rather than revelation
 Science rather than the Bible
 Believed in God, but did not believe that God’s will
dictated human behavior
 Unitarians
 God only existed in one person
 Jesus lived but was not divine
 Individual free will: salvation through good work
The Second Great Awakening
 Religion too liberal  need for awakening
 First G.A. (1730’s – 1740’s) reaction to Enlightenment
 Second G.A. (1790-1840) reaction to Deism, Unitarianism
 Second Great Awakening:
 Sin voluntary—no predestination
 “Born Again” Christians free of sin
 Evangelical, emotional conversion
 Destiny in your own hands
 Large participation of women
 Reorganized Protestant churches into new sections and
branches (e.g. frontier Methodism)
A Desert in Zion: Mormonism
 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints founded by
Joseph Smith
 1830 Joseph Smith wrote Book of Mormon
 1843 revelation of polygamy
 Powerful political movement—unified voting bloc
 1844 Joseph Smith murdered by mob in Carthage, IL
 Brigham Young led “pilgrimage” west
 1846-47 led Mormons to Utah (Mexican territory until 1848)
 Great Salt Lake become prosperous frontier society
(economic collectivism)
 Due to polygamy issues, Utah not admitted until 1896
“An Age of Reform”
 Second Great Awakening inspired Americans to
battle evils (via reform movements)
 Puritan vision of perfected society: no cruelty, war,
intoxication, discrimination, slavery
 Proliferation (vast multiplication) of new churches,
denominations reinforced separation between Church and
State
 Encouraged new reform movements: temperance,
women’s movements, abolition, education
 Other changes in society:
 Prison reform, imprisonment for debt reform, mental
health reform
 Dorothea Dix, mental health reformer
Document Analysis
 Document E: William H. MuGuffrey, Reader, 1836
 Close Reading:
 What information does the document include?
 What inferences can you draw?
 Evaluate: How does this relate to the reform
movements of 1825 – 1840?
Free School Movement
 Education to instill Protestant-Republican morals, values
 Focus more discipline than learning
 “Father” Horace Mann:
 More schools, longer days, expanded education
 Noah Webster
 Dictionary helped standardize the American language
 Textbooks and readers used by millions of Americans
 Black slaves in south legally forbidden from learning to
read and write
Document Analysis
 Document H: Drunkard’s Progress, 1846
 Close Reading:
 What information does the document include?
 What inferences can you draw?
 Evaluate: How does this relate to the reform
movements of 1825 – 1840?
Temperance and Prohibition
 Heavy drinking decreased labor efficiency, corrupted the
sanctity of the family
 American Temperance Society (Boston, 1826)
 Urged drinkers to quit alcohol, organized children’s clubs
 Neal S. Dow
 “Father of Prohibition”
 Maine Law of 1851 prohibited the manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquor, encouraged other states to pass laws
 Laws openly flouted, later declared unconstitutional, repealed
(similar to Prohibition in 1920’s)
Document Analysis
 Document I: Seneca Falls, 1848
 Close Reading:
 What information does the document include?
 What inferences can you draw?
 Evaluate: How does this relate to the reform
movements of 1825 – 1840?
Women in Revolt
 Industrial Revolution segregated men and women
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton advocated for women’s
suffrage
 Susan B. Anthony lectured on women’s rights
 Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
 Stanton read a “Declaration of Sentiments,” which
declared that “all men and women are created equal”
 Launched the modern women’s rights movement
(connect to the Progressive Era, 1890-1920)
Transcendentalism
 Truth “transcends” the senses
 Every person possesses an inner light that can
illuminate the highest truth and put him or her in
direct touch with God, or the “Oversoul.”
 In other words, individuals can have a religious
experience on their own.
 Henry David Thoreau lived in the woods for two
years to become one with nature
 Walden, 1854
 On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, 1849—protest of
the Mexican American War
 Disobey unjust laws
 Influenced Gandhi and MLK
 Ralph Waldo Emerson:
 Advocated self-reliance and self-improvement
Processing
 2002 DBQ form A:
 “Reform movements in the United States sought to
expand democratic ideals.” Assess the validity of
this statement with specific reference to the years
1825 – 1850.