Reforming American Society

1820-1850

Second Great

Awakening: religious movement in which individual responsibility for seeking salvation and the need for personal and social improvement was emphasized Rejected the idea of

predestination Promoted individualism

and responsibility

Aim: How did religion spark reform in American society?

Second Great

Awakening:(cont.) Revivalism:

emotional meetings designed to awaken religious faith through passionate preaching and prayer

Ex: Charles Grandison Finney

Aim: How did religion spark reform in American society?

Second Great

Awakening:(cont.) Enslaved African-American

embrace Christianity Baptist and Methodist

churches were open to both blacks and whites

Free African-Americans establish churches Richard Allen-Bethel

African Church in Philadelphia

Aim: How did religion spark reform in American society?

Reform of Asylums and

Prisons: Dorothea Dix:

Reported on the inhumane conditions in prisons and asylums

Result: 1843-laws passed at

improving conditions 1845-1852: Helped to

set up hospitals for the mental ill

Focused on rehabilitation

Aim: How did religion spark reform in American society?

Rural Slavery:

Large plantation lifestyle

Endless labor Strict conditions Unskilled work

Urban Slavery: Growth of cotton

industry created a demand for slaves

Skilled laborers

Aim: How did the abolitionist movement attempt to eliminate slavery?

Nat Turner’s Rebellion:

Preacher that spurred on rebellion

1831- Turner attacked four plantations with 80 men

Result: Rebellion put down by

federal and state troops Turner caught and put to

death Strengthened southern

resolve to control their slaves

Aim: How did the abolitionist movement attempt to eliminate slavery?

Abolitionist Movement:

A call to outlaw slavery William Lloyd Garrison:

Editor of The Liberator Called for emancipation

(free of the slaves with no payment to slaveholders)

New England Anti-Slavery Society

National Anti-Slavery Society

Aim: How did the abolitionist movement attempt to eliminate slavery?

Abolitionist

Movement: (cont.) David Walker

Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World 1829 Fight for freedom

rather than waiting for slave owners to end slavery

Aim: How did the abolitionist movement attempt to eliminate slavery?

Abolitionist

Movement: (cont.) Frederick Douglass:

Hoped political action could abolish slavery

The North Star

Aim: How did the abolitionist movement attempt to eliminate slavery?

Role of Women mid-

1800’s: Cult of domesticity

Focus on home and family

Activities restricted to housework and child care

No right to vote No right to sit on a jury

Aim: What role did women play in reforming American society in the 1800’s?

Women and the reform

movement: Sarah and Angelina

Grimke-Abolitionists An Appeal to Christian

Women of the South Raised money, literature,

petitioned Congress Temperance Movement:

An effort to prohibit the drinking of alcohol

Aim: What role did women play in reforming American society in the 1800’s?

Women and the reform

movement: (cont.) Education:

Emma Willard- Troy Female Seminary 1821

Mary Lyon-Mount Holyoke Female Seminary 1837

Health: Elizabeth Blackwell-New

York Infirmary for Women and Children

Aim: What role did women play in reforming American society in the 1800’s?

Women’s Rights

Movement: Seneca Falls 1848:

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott

Declaration of Sentiments- statement of grievances Modeled after the

Declaration of Independence

Aim: What role did women play in reforming American society in the 1800’s?