1820-1860. social reform is an attempt to improve what is unjust or imperfect about society
TRANSCRIPT
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