Social Reforms

The Second Great Awakening

• The Second Great Awakening was a religious movement that stressed free will rather than predestination. One key leader of the Second Great Awakening was Charles Grandison Finney.

• The religious movement influenced the other social reform movements because people in the church wanted to fix other problems in society too.

Changes for Hospitals & Prisons

• The mentally ill were being kept in prison. One reform was to make special hospitals for the mentally ill instead of treating them as criminals. This effort was led by Dorothea Dix.

• Prisons were also reformed. Prisons were basically dungeons. Many people crammed together being abused and starved. Prison reform built better prisons, stopped cruel punishments, and minor offenses received shorter punishments.

Temperance Movement & School Reform

• The temperance movement was a campaign against alcohol abuse. It was lead by women, the church, and business owners.

• Schools were also reformed. Around this time, we start to see state sponsored public schools, several new colleges were built. African Americans in the north even began to be schooled. The blind and deaf also got their own schools. One key leader in educational reform was Horace Mann, who worked to build new schools, extend the school year, and raise teacher’s pay.

Review

• Why did the reforming spirit grow in the 1800s?

• How did Dorothea Dix help improve the treatments of the mentally ill?

• Why did many women join the temperance movement?

• Describe two educational reforms of the mid 1800s?