REFORMING AMERICAN
SOCIETY
Unit 8, Journal #2
 How can a push towards personal
responsibility lead to change?
 When/how has this occurred in your lifetime?
Charles Finney, “Stewardship”
 According to Finney, how and why are we God’s
stewards?
 As God’s stewards, what are people’s responsibilities
to Him?
 Whose job is it to uphold the will of God?
 In what ways can you see these ideals upheld in
society today? In what ways are they not?
Let’s Sum It Up…
 Based on the information from last class and your reading of
the Finney text, what major changes come out of the 2nd
Great Awakening?
TRANSCENDENTALISM
1. What can we see in this picture?
2. What is transcendentalism all about?
What can we see in this picture?
What is transcendentalism all about?
 Beauty in nature
 Pride
 Truth found in personal emotions
 Good found in man and nature
 We are small in the grand scheme of the nation
 Added comments….
Experiencing Transcendentalism
OUTSIDE RULES:
 We will walk outside to an area of my choice. On the walk, you may not talk.
Once we have reached our location, you will silently walk to a place within
my sight and “experience nature.” CHOICES:
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You may lay down and watch the clouds
Sit and examine the grass and nearby plants
Close your eyes and let your other senses take over
Twirl in a circle, letting your mind wander and looking at the world around you
 Then, you will record your experiences on your notesheet when you return.
The questions you must answer are:
1.
What was it like to clear your mind and just think about nature? How can
letting go of the world around you clear your mind for clear, directed
thought?
2.
How did your experience (specifically) relate to one or more of the ideas of
transcendentalism?
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i.e. beauty in nature, pride, truth found in personal emotions, good found in man and
nature, we are small in the grand scheme of the nation, etc.
Transcendentalism and Emerson
 Many reform-minded individuals sought an alternative to religion.
 Ralph Waldo Emerson led a group practicing transcendentalism–
 a philosophical and literary movement that emphasized living a simple life
and celebrated the truth found in nature and in personal
emotion/imagination.
 Said people had to “transcend” or go beyond logical thinking and find
answers to life’s mysteries by learning to trust their emotions and
intuition (felt people were basically good and would do the right thing)
Transcendentalism and Thoreau
 Emerson spawned a literary movement which stressed
American optimism, freedom and self-reliance.
 Henry David Thoreau wrote that because the individual conscience is so
important, we must not obey the laws we consider unjust.
 Urges “civil disobedience” – What is it?
 Believed that people must be free to act by their own idea of right and
wrong. His work helped shape many reform movements of his time.
 In Walden, published 1854, Thoreau wrote about living alone in the
woods. Thoreau urged people to reject the greed and materialism that
was affecting Americans in their daily lives.
 If we are to take on a religious and emotional shift
that focuses on personal responsibility, what is likely
to follow?
Growth of Reform
 Second Great Awakening: Personal duty to God, to
uphold His word and the morals associated with the
faith.
 Transcendentalism: Personal motivations– must trust
their emotions and intuition and rise up against evil
 KEEP IN MIND!
 Industrial Growth
 Increasing Migration and Immigration
 New Means of Communication
Reform
 In the early 1800s, reform occurs in many ways, but we will
focus on the following:
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Slavery and Abolition
Women’s Rights
The Workplace
Education/Schools
 These shifts towards bettering society DID NOT happen all at
once, but rather were separate, fortunate events that were
sparked by this rise in morality and purpose.
 Please read and complete the chart by following the
directions located on the top.