CH 18: AN ERA OF REFORM

SECOND GREAT AWAKENING

• Led by Charles Finney• Preachers told people that everyone could go to

heaven, and one way was to do good works• Attracted large following in the West and North• Inspired people to improve society• Many started to actively oppose slavery

SECOND GREAT AWAKENING

TRANSCENDENTALISM

• Philosophy that taught how people could ‘transcend’, or go beyond logical thinking to reach true understanding with the help of emotion and intuition• Said people could find answers to life’s mysteries by

trusting their emotions and intuition• Told people to question society’s rules and

institutions• Practiced by men like Ralph Waldo Emerson and

Henry David Thoreau

RALPH WALDO EMERSON AND HENRY THOREAU

MODEL COMMUNITIES

• Communities started to try to create a perfect society• Examples: Brook Farm, Oneida, Amana• Most only lasted a few years

BROOK FARM• Based in MA from 1841-1847• Every person paid equally and people could work

the jobs they wanted to work• Never financially stable• Main building burned down and it never recovered

ONEIDA COMMUNITY• Based in NY, existed from 1848-1881• Oneida Silverware originated from this

community

AMANA COLONIES• Based in Iowa from 1855-1932• Completely self-sufficient—little outside contact

with the outside world• Famous today for its refrigerators, freezers,

microwaves, etc.

PRISONERS AND MENTALLY ILL

• During mid-1800s, many prisoners used to be bound in chains and locked in cages• Children accused of minor thefts were jailed with adults• Most in debtors’ prisons owed less than $20, but could

not earn money to repay their debts, so they stayed in jail for years

• Mentally ill were locked away in dirty and crowded jail cells• Misbehavior was dealt with through whipping

EXAMPLE OF HOW MENTALLY ILL WERE TREATED

DOROTHEA DIX

• Dorothea Dix gathered information and wrote a report for the MA state legislature• As a result of her work, public asylums for the mentally ill

were created• Dix visited prisons in other states, helping bring about

change in those states as well• By the time Dix died, many more changes took

place • debtors were no longer put in prison• Special justice systems for children in trouble• Cruel punishments, such as branding people with hot

irons, had been banned

DOROTHEA DIX

EDUCATION

• In the early 1800s, few children had access to school• In MA, Puritans had schools• Wealthy send their children to private school or hired

tutors• On the frontier, 60 children could go to a one-room

school, part-time• In the cities, some poor children stole, destroyed

property, and set fires• Reformers thought education could help these children

escape poverty and become good citizens

HORACE MANN

• Mann grew up going to school only 10 weeks/year• Later became MA supervisor of education• Spoke in support of public schools (schools funded by

taxes)• Citizens voted to pay taxes to build better schools, pay

teachers better, and establish training schools for teachers• By 1850, many states in the North and West used

these ideas• Most white children, esp. boys, attended free public

schools

HORACE MANN

EDUCATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS AND FEMALES

• Though most white boys could go to public schools, girls and African Americans couldn’t• Girls couldn’t go to high school/college• 1837—Oberlin College became first college to admit men and

women• African Americans in the North had to go to separate,

poorer schools• In the South, few girls and no African Americans

could go to school

ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENTS

• Even during the Revolutionary War, some Americans opposed slavery• When slave trade ended, interest in slavery

began dying down in the North• Abolitionists (those who wanted to end slavery)

had different ideas on ending slavery• Some wanted the slaves to revolt• Others wanted to end it peacefully• Still others wanted to give slaveholders time to develop

farming methods that didn’t require slaves

ABOLITIONISTS

• Blacks and whites worked in the abolition movement• William Lloyd Garrison started the Liberator, an

abolitionist newspaper• Frederick Douglass, former slave, became a

leader in the abolitionist movement—started a newspaper, North Star• Angelina and Sarah Grimke were abolitionists who

grew up in a slaveholding family in S.C.• Sojourner Truth, former slave, was an outstanding

speaker

THE LIBERATOR

ME WITH FREDERICK DOUGLASS’S STATUE IN BALTIMORE

SOJOURNER TRUTH

WOMEN AND THEIR LACK OF RIGHTS

• Women had few rights in the 1800s:• could not vote or hold office• could not speak at conventions, give speeches in public• Could not control their money or property• Could not divorce their husbands easily (if they were

being beat by them)• Could not practice certain professions, like medicine or

law

SENECA FALLS

• Organized movement for women’s rights began in 1848• Seneca Falls Convention was where women met and gave

the Declaration of Sentiments (based on Declaration of Independence)• Attended by women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia

Mott, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Blackwell

• Passed resolutions attempting to correct the injustices, including the right to vote

SENECA FALLS

EFFECTS OF SENECA FALLS

• New York gave women control over their property and wages• Massachusetts and Indiana passed more liberal

divorce laws• Elizabeth Blackwell started her own hospital