Reform Movements:
1820-1860
Sentence/Phrase/Word
Transcendentalism: An American Philosophy
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Sentence which captures the essence of the
material
Phrase which provokes a response
Word which stands out
Explain to group why you chose these particular
items.
Sources of the Reform Movement
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The 2nd Great Awakening coupled with
Transcendentalism gave rise to a social reform
movement in US
Transcendentalism
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A philosophy which emphasized the sacredness
and authority of the individual and their
experience. Self-reliance and self-determination
capture their spirit
Had a perfectionist strain
Dignity and equality of human beings.
How do the beliefs of the Transcendentalists
support the abolitionist and women’s rights
movements? Respond.
The Second Great Awakening
1790-1840
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Lasted some 50 years and covered entire US
See a marked rise in church population, especially
among Baptist and Methodists.
A religious revival and emphasis which sweeps America
Religious Revival that began in the late 18th century and
continued into middle of 19th century
Especially strong in Northeast and Midwest, but swept
across all the nation.
Impact: Mission and Aid
Societies
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The Second Great
Awakening resulted in
the establishment of
numerous societies to aid
in spreading the
gospel…
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American Bible Society
(1816), American Board
of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions (1810),
American Sunday School
Union (1817), American
Tract Society (1826), and
the American Home
Missionary Society
(1826).
Lyman Beecher
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Influential Preacher and
Educator
President of Lane
Seminary of Cincinnati
Father of Harriet
Beecher Stowe
"This country is
inhabited by saints,
sinners, and Beechers."
Charles Finney
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Fervent Abolitionist
Taught at and later
President of Oberlin
College
Most important of 2nd
Great Awakening
evangelists
Encouraged Women’s
Rights
Key Emphasis
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Conversion: personal religious or salvation
experience
Personal Piety: a changed life
Social Reform: abolition, women’s suffrage,
temperance, treatment of mentally ill and prison
reform.
Camp Meeting: Revivals
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Lasted several days
Social Events
People gathered from
miles around
Camp Meeting
Religious Exuberance
Camp Meeting
Circuit Rider
PBS: Prohibition
React to the quote below.
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By 1830, the average American over 15 years old
consumed nearly seven gallons of pure alcohol a
year – three times as much as we drink today –
and alcohol abuse (primarily by men) was
wreaking havoc on the lives of many,
particularly in an age when women had few legal
rights and were utterly dependent on their
husbands for sustenance and support.
1. Temperance Movement
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the Crusade Against
Drunkenness and use of
alcohol
Women said husband
spent money the family
needed on alcohol and
often were physically
abusive
Carrie Nation a key
leader
2. Educational Reform
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Led by Horace Mann
of Massachusetts
Mann is known as the
“Father of American
Education.”
Supported Common
School Movement which
used tax dollars to
support and provide
education to the masses
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In South, African Americans
barred from education
In South by 1860 only a third
of white children of school
age enrolled in school
In North 72% enrolled
Question
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Mann believed that public schooling was
central to good citizenship, democratic
participation and societal well-being.
Defend Mann’s statement above in a strong
paragraph
3. Treatment of the Mentally Ill:
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Dorothea Dix key leader
Built penitentiaries and
mental asylums
New treatment for mentally
ill and an attempt to reform
criminal
Was she successful?
In 1843 there were 13 mental
hospitals in the country; by
1880 there were 123, and
Dorothea Dix played a direct
role in founding 32 of them.
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On March 28, 1841, Dix
went to the jail to teach the
class and was shocked by
what she found.
A number of the inmates had
committed only one "crime":
they were mentally ill.
Dix was appalled to find
hardened criminals, feebleminded "idiots," and the
insane incarcerated together
in a bare, foul-smelling,
unheated jail room.
“…on Behalf of Insane Persons.”
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React to Dorothea’s
appeal to the
Massachusetts
legislature.
What upsets you or
horrifies you in what
you read? Be specific.
Should the insane and
criminal be separated?
Why?
Ways to Keep Troublemaker Quiet
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The crib was a box with a cover and crossbars in which a patient had to lie.
Often called a Utica crib for the asylum where it originated, this device was
discontinued around 1887.
2. A straitjacket is a shirt-like garment with extra-long sleeves that can be
tied at the back of the wearer, whose arms are criss-crossed in front. Many
times the ends of the sleeves were sewn shut. Wearing a straitjacket for any
length of time can cut off circulation to some extent.
3. Leg locks and chains secured patients to walls and chairs.
4. Dr. Rush developed a tranquilizing chair that restrained an agitated
patient in order to slow down the flow of blood.
5. Leather muffs restrained hands by enclosing them in a tight one-piece
leather cover. The patient’s hands might be placed in front or in back.
6. A restraining sheet was a fabric sheet with fasteners along the sides. Each
fastener was secured to a portion of the bed frame, with the prone patient
confined to the space between the mattress and the sheet.
4. Native Americans: Reservations
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Relocate and get tribes out of way of white
civilization
Intent also to protect Indians from whites.
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
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Occurred in Virginia August,
1831
Nat Turner and associates
killed some 55-65 whites.
Rebellion suppressed within
48 hours
Some 200 blacks killed by
mobs and militias
56 slaves executed by state.
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Aftermath
Widespread fear throughout
South
Laws banning slave
education and assembly
Can’t hold religious meeting
without white minister
present.
Stimulus for growth of
Abolitionist Movement
Further solidifies
slavery/antislavery positions
Historian Stephen B. Oates
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Nat Turner had ordered his followers to "kill all the
white people," including women and children. The
rebels killed approximately 60 white men, women, and
children. Most were hacked to death with axes, stabbed,
or bludgeoned. The most numerous casualties were
children. In one instance, Turner and his insurgents
stopped at the house of Levi Waller where they killed
him, his wife, and children. Ten of the children were
decapitated and their headless bodies piled in the front
yard.
5. The Abolitionists
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Definition: An
Abolitionist is a person
who wishes to abolish or
get rid of slavery.
Note: the Cotton
Boom in the South
made planters
increasingly
committed to slavery
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William Lloyd
Garrison, publisher of
the Liberator.
1. He rejects gradualism,
slowly eliminating slavery
over time.
2. Talked about the
damage slavery did to
blacks
3. Wanted immediate
emancipation, citizenship
and full rights for blacks
Garrison and Beecher
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Read the 2 articles and
complete the required
task.
Immediate Emancipation
versus Gradual
Emancipation.
Exit Task
In two strong paragraphs
chose a side, gradual or
immediate emancipation;
defend and support your
position.
5a. Black Abolitionists and
Opposition
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This appealed to free blacks
in North which number
250,00 by 1850
Greatest was Frederick
Douglas, a former slave and
publisher of the North Star
Sojourner Truth, ex-slave
whose religious vision led her
to preach the “truth”—
abolition and women’s rights!
Opposition
 Almost all white southerners
 In North they are viewed as a
radical, dangerous minority
 In 1830s see violence against
abolitionists: Garrison in
Boston was seized by a mob
which threatened hanging
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
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Written by Harriet Beecher
Stowe, published 1852
Brought message to a large
new audience
She was reviled in South
and a Hero in the North.
Southerners called the
book lies and slander
Had a profound political
impact.
Impact of the Book
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2nd Best selling book of 19th Century, Bible 1st
Most powerful of all abolitionists
propaganda literature
The impact attributed to the book is great,
reinforced by a story that when Abraham
Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the Civil War,
Lincoln declared, "So this is the little lady who
started this great war."
Eliza’s Escape
Pass the prompt
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“Sliding down the snow cloaked bank, I
stepped onto the ice covered river as the
chucks bobbed to the rhythm of the current.
Clutching my baby and with a quick glance
over my shoulder I took another step….
6. The Women’s Movement
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Women were active voices in the abolitionist and other
reform movements. They organized, raised money and
much more but they realized they too needed more
secure economic and political rights, so in the
1840’s they begin to advocate for their own rights!
Women often key leaders in Abolitionist Movement
In 1863, Angelina had written:
"I want to be identified with the negro; until he gets his rights, we
shall never have ours."
William Blackstone famously put it in his Commentaries on
English Law (1765–1769):
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By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in the
law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman
is suspended during the marriage, or at least is
incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband:
under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs
every thing. How does Blackstone’s assertion
illustrate the need for women to assert and
claim their rights?
Selected key Leaders
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Sarah and Angelina
Grimke of South Carolina
(They were often criticized
for speaking out)
“They are both moral and
accountable beings, and whatever is
right for man to do, is right for
women to do….it is a woman’s
right to have a voice in all the laws
and regulations by which she is to
be governed, whether in Church or
State” Respond
Key Leaders
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Lucretia Mott organize
the first women’s right
convention, Seneca Falls
Convention in 1848. 300+
attend. See “Declaration of
Sentiments” (Compare)
Most important issue was
suffrage (the vote)
Susan B. Anthony
Women would not gain the
right to vote in National
Elections until passage of the
19th Amendment in 1920
Question
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Why do you think the women modeled their
Declaration of Sentiments on the
Declaration of Independence? What are
they saying by this action?
What change in wording is most striking>
1 paragraph response
Pick Two
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Look at the list of accusations from the
Declaration of Sentiments.
Pick the 2 which most bother you or are most
egregious and explain why.
If you rewrote the Declaration of Sentiments
today what would include that is currently
missing? Explain
Do women have equality with men today, the
21st Century? Explain.