The Pursuit of Perfection 1800–1861

1. 12 The Pursuit of Perfection1800–1861

2. Revival Meeting, 1850 Christians respond emotionally at an open-air revival meeting. Oil on panel by Jeremiah Paul, c1850. The Granger Collection, NYC.

3. The Pursuit of Perfection1800–1861 • The Rise of Evangelicalism • Domesticity and Changes in the American Family • Reform Turns Radical

4. Redeeming the Social Class • 1830–1831—wave of religious revivals swept northern states • Finney of Rochester converted hundreds in Evangelical crusade • Rochester was economic boomtown, evangelical Protestantism gave middle class stronger identity

5. Redeeming the Social Class (cont’d) • Religious reformism also inspired crusade against social and political institutions • Abolitionism movement challenged the Southern states and helped trigger civil war

6. The Rise of Evangelicalism

7. The Rise of Evangelicalism • Separation of church and state gave all churches the chance to compete for converts • Pious Protestants formed voluntary associations to combat sin, “infidelity”

8. The Second Great Awakening • Camp meetings contributed to frontier life • Provided emotional religion • Offer opportunity for social life • Camp meeting revivals conveyed intensely personal religious message • Camp meetings rarely led to social reform

9. The Second Great Awakening (cont’d) • New England reformers led by Timothy Dwight defended Calvinism against the Enlightenment • Nathaniel Taylor: Individuals are free agents and can overcome natural inclination to sin • Lyman Beecher and evangelical Calvinism

10. The Second Great Awakening (cont’d) • Charles G. Finney • Departed radically from Calvinist doctrine • Appeal is based in emotion not reason • Finney preached in upstate New York and stressed revival techniques • Beecher and others disturbed by emotionalism of Finney’s methods • Revivals led to organization of more churches

11. From Revivalism to Reform • Northern revivals stimulated reform • Middle-class participants adapted evangelical religion to preserve traditional values

12. Temperance Propaganda warned that the drinker who began with “a glass with a friend” would inevitably follow the direct path to poverty, despair, and death. (Source: “The Drunkard’s Progress,” Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, Massachusetts.)

13. From Revivalism to Reform (cont’d) • "The benevolent empire" of evangelical reform movements altered American life • For example, temperance movement cut alcohol consumption by more than 50%

14. Domesticity and Changes in the American Family

15. Domesticity and Changes in the American Family • New conception of family’s role in society • Child rearing seen as essential preparation for self-disciplined Christian life • Women confined to domestic sphere • Women assumed crucial role within home

16. The Cult of Domesticity • "The Cult of True Womanhood" • Placed women in the home • Glorified home as center of all efforts to civilize and “Christianize” society

17. The Cult of Domesticity (cont’d) • Middle- and upper-class women increasingly dedicated to the home as mothers • Women of leisure entered reform movements

18. The Discovery of Childhood • 19th-century child the center of family • Each child seen as unique, irreplaceable • Ideal to form child’s character with affection

19. The Discovery of Childhood (cont’d) • Parental discipline to instill guilt, not fear • Train child to learn self-discipline • Family size declines from average of 7.04 children to 5.42 by 1850

20. The Extension of Education • Public schools expanded rapidly from 1820 to 1850 • Means of advancement for working class • Means of inculcating values of hard work, responsibility to middle-class reformers

21. The Extension of Education (cont’d) • Horace Mann argued schools saved immigrants, poor children from parents’ bad influence • Many parents believed public schools alienated children from their parents

22. Reform Turns Radical

23. Reform Turns Radical • Most reform aimed to improve society • Some radical reformers sought destruction of old society, creation of perfect social order • Antislavery movement

24. The Rise of Radical Abolitionism • Moderates sought gradual end to slavery and colonization of freed slaves to its colony of Liberia • Radicals like William Lloyd Garrison demanded immediate emancipation • 1831: Garrison founded The Liberator • 1833: American Anti-Slavery Society

25. The Rise of Radical Abolitionism (cont’d) • Weld an itinerant minister converted by Finney • Adapted his revivalist techniques to abolition • Successful mass meetings in Ohio, New York

26. Black Abolitionists • Former slaves related the horrible realities of bondage • Prominent figures included Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth • Black newspapers, books, and pamphlets publicized abolitionism to a wider audience • Blacks were also active in the Underground Railroad

27. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who escaped from slavery in 1838, became one of the most effective voices in the crusade against slavery.

28. Freedom Calling Harriet Tubman, far left, is shown here with some of the slaves she helped escape on the Underground Railroad. Born a slave in Maryland, she escaped to Philadelphia in 1849. She is said to have helped 300 African Americans flee slavery. She led many of them all the way to Canada, where they would be beyond the reach of the Fugitive Slave Law. (Source: Smith College, Sophia Smith Collection, Northampton, Massachusetts.)

29. From Abolitionism to Women’s Rights • Abolitionism opened to women’s participation • Involvement raised awareness of women’s inequality

30. From Abolitionism to Women’s Rights (cont’d) • Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 • Organized by Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton • Prompted by experience of inequality in abolition movement • Began movement for women’s rights

31. A Mother’s Movement Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leader of the women’s rights movement, reared seven children. In addition to her pioneering work, especially for woman suffrage, she also lectured on family life and child care.

32. Conclusion: Counterpoint on Reform

33. Conclusion: Counterpoint on Reform • Reform encountered perceptive critics • Nathaniel Hawthorne allegorically refuted perfectionist movements suggesting the world was inherently an imperfect place • Reform prompted necessary changes in American life

34. Timeline