Social Reforms1820-1860

The Reform Movement

Social reform is an attempt to improve what is unjust or imperfect about society

1800 reform movements

INCLUDED: Religion Education Prisons Alcohol (Temperance) Women’s Rights Abolition of Slavery

The Reform Movement

POLITICAL ORIGINS

The Declaration of Independence inspires people to try to improve society

During Jackson’s era, more people can vote than ever before

Critics say slavery and other injustices violate democratic ideals

RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES

Second Great Awakening stresses free will rather than predestination

Revivals encourage people to reform their lives

Min. Charles Finney teaches that individual salvation is the first step to the reform of a society

Second Great Awakening

When? Early 1800s

What? Renewed interest in

religion Individuals can choose

to save their souls How?

Revivals and camp meetings

NY was the “burned over district”

The Reforming Spirit

Reform of prisons

Mentally ill persons

Temperance

Education

Slavery

Women’s Rights

Prisons

Early 1800s Prisoners were often crammed

together Conditions were cold and damp Prisoners might go hungry Five out of six people in jail were

debtors

Mentally Ill

Some prisoners were mentally ill persons I proceed gentlemen, briefly to call your

attention to the present state of Insane Persons confined…in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience.”

Dorothea Dix (Boston School teacher to the Mass. State Legislature)

Dorothea Dix worked to improve the conditions for these persons

She convinced states to build mental hospitals

Temperance

Rum was the safest drink in the colonies

Alcohol abuse became widespread

The Temperance Movement campaigned against alcohol

Plays, speeches, and articles were written

Women were the chief supporters

Education

In 1800, few children attended school

Massachusetts was the only state to require public school

Reformers said a republic needed educated citizens

Horace Mann championed the cause in Massachusetts

By 1850, most northern states had public schools

Education for all?

Some separate schools for Blacks were created, but in most areas there was little chance for schooling for African Americans

Women worked to teach girls “men’s” subjects like math and physics

A few colleges began to accept women

1817, Thomas Gallaudet started a school for the deaf

1832 Samuel Howe started the first American school for the blind

ART

The Hudson Bay River School

Art became a romantic vision of life and the West

Transcendentalists: Rise above the baseness of life and live deliberately

Philosopher and Teacher

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Student and practitioner

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” ~ Thoreau

Abolitionists

Abolitionists: People who wanted to “abolish” (end) slavery

Many abolitionists began to speak out in the North

Quakers were among some of the strongest abolitionists

Many Free Blacks worked to abolish the practice.

Ending Slavery in the North Religion:

Minister Charles Finney called on Christians to stamp out slavery

All Northern states outlawed slavery by 1804-but takes time

Anti-Slavery Anti-slavery organizations began Relocation▪ Some people wanted to send former

slaves back to Africa▪ The colony of Liberia was started with

some former slaves▪ Some slaves felt they were Americans

and not Africans

“Proclaim Liberty throughout the land”

The Liberty Bell Abolitionists used it as a

symbol of liberty. The inscription on the

bell, which was cast in 1751, reads:"Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" from Leviticus 25:10

Famous Abolitionists

Frederick Douglass

Escaped slave Learned to read

and write Speaks against

slavery at Anti-slavery meetings

Published an anti-slavery paper called the North Star

Grimkes and Garrison

Grimké Sisters Raised with slaves Became Quakers Some of the first

women to speak against slavery publicly

Later speak for women’s rights.

William Lloyd Garrison

White newspaper man Started The Liberator

anti-slavery paper in 1831

Called for immediate emancipation of all slaves

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth Isabella Baumfree

was her given name.

Sold 4 times Walked away to

freedom Joined religion and

became fervent in her beliefs

A Woman in 1800

Could not vote Could not hold political office Husband owned all the property—

including rights to the children All wages belonged to the husband Husbands could hit wives Was not educated with the same

subjects Had to wear a hat in public

Women Right’s Reformers

Lucretia Mott

Sojourner Truth

Susan B. Anthony

Elizabeth C. Stanton

“They’ve taken a notion to speak for themselves, …And are wielding the tongue and the pen; they’ve mounted the rostrum; the [quarrelsome] elves! …And – oh horrid!—are talking to men!”

Maria Chapman, “The Times That Try Men’s Souls”

Women’s Rights Convention Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 200 women and 40 men attended Women wrote their own “Declaration

of Independence” Declaration of Sentiments “All men and women are created equal”

Demanded equality in school, work, and church

Some wanted to ask for the right to vote. Very Controversially even among women

Voting Rights

1920 Women fought for

the right to vote in the early 1900s.

Women were jailed for speaking out

Rallies were held Finally the 19th

amendment was passed which gave women the legal right to vote