Age of Reform in Antebellum
America
CHANGES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY: 1820 - 1860
Religion Sparks Reform
Slide 1
 2nd Great Awakening: An early 19th century religious
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revival movement
A religious revival is to reawaken faith
In the 2nd Great Awakening, the focus was on the
belief that people could reach salvation through
dedication and hard work.
People were instructed to live well and work hard –
they were to do God’s work on Earth – focus on
good works
2nd Great Awakening was the sparkplug that ignited
the Reform Era.
2nd Great Awakening – Slide 2
 Charles G. Finney was a leading minister of the 2nd
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Great Awakening.
Started in KY around 1800
He appealed to emotion and fear of damnation –
gave fiery sermons that preached of hell-fire and
brimstone.
His message was one of salvation through faith and
hard work.
2nd Great Awakening appealed to the new middle
class that was emerging in American society
2nd Great Awakening – Slide 3
 The churches that grew the most out of the 2nd Great
Awakening were the Baptists and Methodists.
 Both Baptists and Methodists focused on spreading
Christianity by having their ministers travel the country especially the South and Western frontier
 As they traveled, they would organize large revivals and
camp meetings.
 Often, hundreds, if not thousands, would show up to
hear their sermon leading to tens of thousands joining
the church – as a result many people begin focusing on
good deeds for salvation.
Second Great Awakening
Francis Asbury:
Methodist
circuit rider in
KY and TN
Peter
Cartwriight:
Camp preacher
and circuit rider
in the south
The Temperance Movement – Slide 4
 The goal of the temperance movement was to
eliminate or lessen the use of alcohol.
 Temperance means “moderation” – to avoid
extremes.
 Goal of Temperance movement was to convince men
to not drink to excess – goal of temperance
movement was not to outlaw alcohol, only lessen its
use or convince people not to drink
 Reformers wrote about the evils of alcohol – linked
to sickness, poverty, and the break-up of families
Temperance Movement – Slide 5
 One of the first Temperance organizations in the U.S
was the American Temperance Society.
 It was established by Protestant ministers and their
followers (2nd Great Awakening!!!)
 American Temperance Society tried to use moral
arguments to persuade people to stop drinking.
 Another temperance group, the Washingtonians,
argued that alcoholism was a disease that needed to
be treated – one of the first groups to take this
position.
Temperance Movement – Slide 6
 By the 1840s, temperance societies across the country
numbered over 1 million members.
 Many temperance crusaders were women – it was socially
unacceptable for women to enter bars, so this gave them a
chance to question men on their behavior.
 Politicians joined the movement because they thought it
would help reduce crimes, violence and poverty.
 Factory owners joined because they believed it would
increase productivity – men would show up on time, not
miss work due to hangovers and work harder because they
wouldn’t be hung-over.
Education Reforms
 In Antebellum American society, most children did
not attend school
 American reformers wanted more children to be
educated.
 They believed that educated people would improve
society
 Also, the increased number of people voting during
the Age of Jackson (remember Jacksonian
Democracy?) led to belief that those voting needed to
be educated.
Education Reform – Slide 7
 Leading education reformer of this period was Horace Mann
 Mann pushed for tax-supported schools, mandatory
attendance for all children, longer school years, improved
teacher training.
 Mann pushed for these changes in his home state of
Massachusetts and they quickly began spreading across the
country.
 William Holmes McGuffey created the McGuffey Readers
during this time – taught reading and morals in schools (hard
work, punctuality, sobriety) – all ideas pushed by reformers of
the 2nd Great Awakening
Prison Reforms – Slide 8
 Prison reform led by
Dorothea Dix.
 Visited a jail in Mass. and
was appalled at living
conditions.
 She found people with
mental illness mixed with
real criminals.
 She convince Mass, and
other states, to develop
separate facilities for
prisoners and people with
mental illness.
Women Reformers – Seneca Falls Convention
Slide 9
 Seneca Falls Convention –
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first women’s rights
convention held in U.S.
Organized by Lucretia Mott
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Women were treated as 2nd
class citizens (couldn’t vote
or hold public office).
Passed the “Declaration of
Sentiments” – all men and
women were created equal.
Convention was widely
ridiculed but did bring the
issue of women’s rights to the
nations attention.
The Abolition Movement – Slide 10
 2nd Great Awakening encouraged many northerners
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to view slavery as a sin.
American Colonization Society – founded on the idea
of transporting freed slaves to an African colony.
This idea was popular among antislavery reformers
and politicians who disliked slavery but did not not
want African Americans in the U.S.
This movement was unsuccessful due to the growth
in slavery (grew from 1.5 million in 1820 to 4 million
in 1860.
Only 12,000 slaves were relocated to Africa
Abolition Movement – Slide 11
 Another abolition group, the American Antislavery
Society was led by William Lloyd Garrison.
 He began publishing the The Liberator, an
abolitionist newspaper
 He called for the immediate abolition of slavery
 Members of the American Antislavery Society
believed in:
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Take direct action to end slavery – don’t wait for
political change
Pushed for free states to break from slave states and
form an anti-slavery nation.
Abolition Movement
 Frederick Douglas was another prominent
abolitionist of the Antebellum period.
 Douglas was a former slave who pushed for a direct
end to slavery through political and legal means.
 To help spread his ideas, he started an anti-slavery
paper called The North Star.
 Both Garrison and Douglas represent abolitionist
efforts in the North – end slavery through moral,
political and legal methods.
Abolition Movement
 Nat Turner represents the dangers of the abolition
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movement in the South.
Turner was a Virginia slave who organized and led a
slave rebellion.
The rebellion resulted in the death of 55 whites.
In retaliation, whites killed hundreds of slaves
Fear of similar slave revolts ended the majority of
abolition movements in the South.