Religious AwakeningCHAPTER 4, SECTION 1

Second Great Awakening The revival of religious feeling in the U.S.

during the 1800s was known as the Second Great Awakening.

Many preachers believed that industrialization had caused immorality and wanted to correct this problem for the country’s future. These preachers were known as revivalists,

because they wanted to revive religion in the U.S. The more emotional form of worship (evangelical)

included preachers such as Charles Grandison Finney and Lyman Beecher.

New Religious Groups FormTwo major religious groups formed

during this time period. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day

Saints, led by Joseph Smith, started in 1830. They are known as Mormons.

Some Puritans in New England believed that instead of a Trinity, God should be seen as a single entity. This group was called the Unitarians.

Discrimination Against Non-Protestants The Second Great Awakening was Protestant-dominated.

Those that weren’t faced discrimination. Mormons lived in their own communities and had many

practices that others frowned upon. They owned land as a group and voted as a group, giving

them both economic and political power. Mormons were pushed westward until they reached Utah.

Catholics and Jews were also discriminated against. Americans feared Catholics’ loyalty to the Pope; Their willingness to work for low wages threatened other

workers; Jews were prevented from holding public office in many

states.

Utopias and Transcendentalism Two new religious groups were more concerned with

creating a more perfect society. Utopian communities separated themselves from the rest of

society and aspired to be perfect societies. Shaker communities separated men and women and relied on

crafts for money. Transcendentalists developed a new way to look at

God, humanity and nature. They believed people should go beyond, or transcend, their

senses to learn about the world. Listen to nature and own consciences rather than religious

doctrines. Famous transcendentalist: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry

David Thoreau.

Early ReformCHAPTER 4 SECTION 2

Reforming Education Goals:

Create a tax-supported system of schools– public schools where all children could attend;

Expanding education would help make decisions in a democracy;

Promote economic growth by creating knowledgeable workers.

Major Leaders: Horace Mann– Massachusetts senator; creator of

the first state board of education. Catharine Beecher and Emma Willard established

schools for women.

Helping the Ill and ImprisonedMentally ill

Goal: Build hospitals that separated the mentally ill from prisoners.

PrisonsGoal: Reform prisons to make

prisoners feel sorrow for their crimes. Both reform movements were led by

Dorothea Dix.

Alcohol Industrialization brought about negative

changes to society such as increased crime, sickness and poverty. Alcohol was seen as the root of these problems.

The temperance movement was meant to end alcohol abuse and the problems it caused. Temperance= drinking in moderation.

Leader Neal Dow The temperance movement was mildly

successful during the 1800s, passing some state laws to limit the sale of alcohol.

Reformation Part 2CHAPTER 4, SECTIONS 3 AND 4

Slave ResistanceBy 1830, there were 2 million slaves

within the United States, primarily in the South. Slaves often took comfort in their religion,

finding hope during their difficult lives. Some slaves resisted their oppression by

running away or by fighting. One of the most violent slave uprisings was by

Nat Turner in 1831. He and his group of slaves killed over 60 people

before being captured.

The Abolition Movement During the 1800s, a growing number of

Americans wanted to end slavery on moral grounds. This began the abolition movement.

Methods: Antislavery publications, abolitionist societies, gave

speeches. Leaders:

William Lloyd Garrison; publisher of The Liberator;

Frederick Douglass; former slave

Free African Americans Once African Americans gained their freedom,

they were still discriminated against. Slaveholders, especially, were troubled by the

presence of freedmen. They believed the large population of freedmen

encouraged those still enslaved to escape. A group of slaveholders formed the American

Colonization Society (ACS) , whose goal was to encourage migration of freedmen back to Africa.

This led to the establishment of Liberia, a colony for freed slaves.

Working Against AbolitionMany Americans (not just in the South)

resisted abolition for various reasons. Slavery’s economic impact in both the

South and to northern industry; Desire to avoid competition for low-skilled

jobs with free African Americans; Belief to some that African Americans are

naturally inferior to whites.

The Women’s MovementCHAPTER 4, SECTION 4

The Women’s Movement In the early 1800s, women had very few

rights. Upon marriage, the property a woman owned

became her husband’s. Goal: achieve greater rights and opportunities

for women. Leaders: Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott,

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass Women, who gained strength by working for

other causes, realized they had very little rights themselves.

Seneca Falls Convention In 1848, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

organized a convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

A Declaration of Sentiments, outlining the aims of the convention was read during the convention. The language was modeled after the

Declaration of Independence. The convention inspired many women, including

Amelia Bloomer, who published a newspaper called The Lily. Susan B. Anthony became a leader in the fight

for women’s suffrage– the right to vote.