Good afternoon!
 Bell Ringer: What was the
First Great Awakening?
 Agenda and Objective:
Through chart and primary
source review students will
identify important
individuals and movements
of reform during the mid
1800s
Note Review Chapter 15:
Society, Culture, and
Reform 1820-1860
Review…
 The Great Awakening
(1730’s-1740’s)
 First mass social movement
in American history
 Main issues: religious style
(personal faith, church practice,
public decorum)
 Reaction against elaborate
theological doctrines,
emotional stagnation, and
liberal doctrines of established
churches

Great Awakening had a
strong democratic
component
 a. People had a number of
choices of
religion (unlike Europe at
the time)
 b. Represented another
example of
popular resistance to
authority (the
established clergy)
“The road to Hell is paved
with the skulls of
unbaptized children!”
Who said that???
REVIVING RELIGION
 Liberalism in religion started in 1800 spawned the 2nd Great
Awakening a tidal wave of spiritual fervor that resulted in
prison reform, church reform, temperance movement (no
alcohol), women’s rights movement, abolition of slavery in
1830s They were partly a reaction against the rationalism
belief in human reason
Reviving Religion
First Great Awakening
1730’s
 Religious revival in the colonies that
was a reaction to liberal doctrine that
stressed good works, the evils of
Hell, God’s omnipotence and
personal involvement
 Led to a split in churches, more
religions, missionary zeal, and
demand for more missionaries (and
colleges to train them.
 Notables: Jonathan Edwards,
George Whitfield, and Gilbert
Tennant
Second Great Awakening
1840’s
 Religious revivals swept through the
US during the early decades of the
19th century. They were an attack on
rationalism (belief in human reason)
and a rejection of Puritan teachings
of original sin and predestination.
 The evangelical spirit of the Second
Great Awakening, especially in the
Northeast and upper West impacted
reform movements during this period
 Notables: Reverend Thomas Weld,
Charles Finney
Revivalism and the Social Order
Society during the Jacksonian era was
undergoing deep and rapid change
 The revolution in markets brought both economic
expansion and periodic depressions.
To combat this uncertainty reformers sought
stability and order in religion
Religion provided a means of social control in a
disordered society
Churchgoers embraced the values of hard work,
punctuality, and sobriety
Revivals brought unity and strength and a sense
of peace
NOTABLES
 Millenarianism - The
preacher William Miller
gained tens of thousands
followers by predicting a
specific date (October 21,
1844) when the second
coming of Christ would
occur. The Millennialism
eventuality turned into the
Seventh-Day Adventists
 Mormons – The Church of
Later Day Saints founded
by Joseph Smith in 1830.
Smith gathered a following
in Palmyra NY and
eventually migrated to
Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and
eventually Utah
SECTIONAL RELIGIOUS
FERVOR
NORTH
Revivalism in NY
 Charles G. Finney – 1823 Minister
who started a series of revivals in
upstate NY. Finney appealed to
people’s emotions and fear of
damnation and persuaded
thousands to publicly declare their
revived faith
 Western NY became known as
the “burned-over district” for its
frequent fire and brimstone
revivals
SOUTH
Baptists and Methodists
 These religious sects would
travel from location to
location to hear dramatic
preaching at out door
revivals and camp
meetings. By 1850 the
Methodists had become the
largest Protestant
denomination in the country.
The Spread of Religious Revivals
It The
was
home
to
many
social
reformers
“
burned-over
district”
was
so heavily
The
region
was
home
to
many
nonwho
advocated
women’s
rights
&
the
evangelized
that
it had Mormons,
no fuel (unconverted
traditional
religions:
Millerites,
abolition
of
slavery
population)
left
to burn
Spiritualists, Shakers,
& the(convert)
Oneida utopia
A Literary Renaissance
 Many writers and thinkers
of the day adopted the
tenets of a movement
known as romanticism.
 advocated feeling over
reason and individuals
above society.
 Transcendentalism was
an expression of
romanticism. The
philosophy urged people to
transcend the limits of their
mind and let their souls
embrace the beauty of the
universe.
Beliefs
Religious Groups
Unitarians
Universalists
Mormons
Believe Jesus was a great teacher
not the Son of God
God is a unity, not a trinity
Universal salvation
Reject the idea of hell
Followers of Joseph Smith
Believe God is coming and they
Need to build a kingdom on Earth
to receive him
Believe in communal life
Shakers
Because they did not marry or
Have children, their church could
Grow only through converts
The Transcendentalists
 Writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
questioned the doctrines of established churches and
capitalistic habits of the merchant class
 They argues for a mystical and intuitive way of thinking as a
means of discovering one’s inner self looking for the
essence of God in nature
Writers…
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882)
 “Spiritual matters over
material matters”
 Emerson evoked a
nationalistic spirit of
Americans by urging them
not to imitate European
Culture but to create an
entirely new and original
American culture
Henry David Thoreau
(1817-1862)
 Conducted a two-year experiment
of living by himself n the woods
outside of Concord Mass. He used
his observations of nature to
discover essential truths about life
and the universe. He published
Walden in 1854
 His essay on Civil Disobedience
established him as an early
advocate of non-violent protest. He
refused to pay a tax that was
designed to fund the immoral War
with Mexico (1846-1848). He was
forced to spend a night in jail
The Transcendental ideal?
 The Brook Farm (1841)
George Ripley launched a
communal living experiment
at Brook Farm in
Massachusetts.
 GOAL – achieve a more
natural union between
intellectual and manual
labor
 RESULTS -A bad fire and
heavy debts ended the
experiment in 1849
Others..
 Shakers grew to about 6,000 members in various communities by the
1840’s Held property in common and kept men and women strictly
separate
 New Harmony - This secular (non-religious) community was created
by Utopian socialists Robert Owen in New Harmony, Indiana
 Oneida Community (NEW YORK)
John Humphrey Noyes started a communal experiment in 1848.
Dedicated to an ideal of perfect social and economic equality, members
of the community shared property – and even partners
 Critics attacked the free love and partner sharing aspect of the
community, but they still prospered economically by producing high
quality silverware
REFORMING SOCIETY
 Reform during the antebellum era went through several
stages. At first leaders of reform hoped to improve people’s
behavior through moral persuasion. After sermons,
pamphlets reformers moved on to political action and ideas
to create new institutions to replace the old
RFEFORM
LEADER
CAUSES
GOAL
United States
Temperance Union:
Various
Excessive consumption of
alcohol was widespread
among all classes.
Abstinence from liquor including
prohibition
Health
Dorothea Dix
Inhumane treatment of the
insane in prisons: physical
punishment & isolation
Prison Reform: Rehabilitation &
treatment instead of punishment;
build asylums for the mentally ill.
Women’s Rights Seneca Falls
Convention (1848)
Elizabeth
Cady
Stanton,
Lucretia Mott
Lack of rights concerning
property; suffrage;
education.
Overcome inferior status with a
focus on women’s suffrage
Education
Horace Mann
Concern for creating
intelligent voters who
could support &
perpetuate democracy.
Free public education (taxsupported); longer school year;
teacher training; broad curriculum
Abolition
Frederick
Douglass,
Sojourner
Truth, William
Lloyd
Garrison,
Harriet
Slavery as a moral wrong
vs. white supremacy in the
South
Emancipation (gradual by
moderates, immediate by
radicals)
Women during the early 19th
Century….
 Republican Motherhood vs. Cult of Domesticity
 Seneca Falls Rights Movement
1. Govt. gets its authority from
the citizens.
2. A selfless, educated citizenry.
3. Elections should be frequent.
4. Govt. should guarantee
individual rights & freedoms.
The
“Virtuous
Republic” or
moral
excellence
5. Govt.’s power should be
limited [checks & balances].
6. The need for a written
Constitution.
7. “E Pluribus Unum.” [“Out of
many, one”]
8. An important role for women
 raise good, virtuous
citizens.
[“Republican Womanhood”].
Roman statesman regarded as a model of
simple virtue; he twice was called to assume
dictatorship of Rome and each time retired to his
farm (519-438 BC)
Early 19th Century…
 Unable to vote
 Legal status of a minor
 Could own property IF single
 Married- no control over her property and children
 Could not initiate divorce
 Could not sign wills, contracts, or bring suit to court without
her husband’s permission.
Republican Motherhood evolved
into the “Cult of Domesticity”
•
•
A woman’s “sphere” was in the home (it was a
refuge from the cruel world outside).
Her role was to “civilize” her husband and
family.
An 1830s MA minister:
• The power of woman is her dependence. A woman
who gives up that dependence on man to become a
reformer yields the power God has given her for her
protection, and her character becomes unnatural!
Cult of Domesticity = Slavery
The 2nd Great Awakening inspired women to
improve society.
Angelina Grimké
Sarah Grimké
 Southern Abolitionists
R2-9
Lucy Stone
 American Women’s
Suffrage Assoc.
 edited Woman’s Journal
Seneca Falls: First women’s
movement in 1849
 Educational and professional opportunities
 Property rights
 Legal equality
 Repeal of laws awarding the father custody of the children in
divorce
 Suffrage rights
 Written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Welcome Back…
 Bell Ringer: Share you
introductory paragraph from
chapter 14 chart with your
neighbor as review.
 Agenda and Objective:
Through review activities,
students will be prepared
for Monday’s quiz.
For Monday…
 Read handouts on Slavery and Southern Economy (Chapter
16) This will substitute your chapter 16 textbook reading.
 14/15 quiz on Monday(timed). Review answers will be
posted under market revolution and reform on class page.
Review…reform movements
 With your neighbor, match up the reform area with its
characteristic.