The Antebellum Reform Movements

1. The Antebellum Reform Movements While 19th Century excluded women from electoral politics and holding public office it did not exclude them from public life

2. The Reform Impulse Northeast, Midwest middle class women played active roles in benevolence and reform. Women members of religious, charitable and reform societies Habits of organization obligation to correct injustice and social ills Save souls Perform good works

3. The Reform Impulse Formed: Bible Societies Tract Societies Missionary Villages formed maternal societies/child rearing. Urban women united to support widows, orphans, run houses of industries and Sunday Schools redeem or assist the �worthy� poor.

4. The Reform Impulse A way to extend Republican Motherhood from hearth to community Emerging middle class lent itself to development of benevolent societies Had time Need to help Need to confirm their own status

5. The Reform Impulse Urbanization broke down old patterns of authority Left moral vacuum Provided new concentration of poor and impious.

6. The Reform Impulse The Second Great Awakening Religious revival rejected Calvinism Predestination Emphasized individual responsibility for seeking salvation, people could improve themselves and society. Promoted individualism and responsibility Large gatherings at revivals Emotional Revive/awaken religious faith Lasted 4-5 days.

7. The Reform Impulse Great Awakening Brought Christianity to African Americans Democratic impulse belief all people black and white belonged to same God. Baptists, Methodists open to blacks and whites Slaves in segregated seating , worshipped together, heard same sermons, sang same hymns. Heard promise of freedom in hymns and messages In East independent African American churches Richard Allen, Bethel African Church Philadelphia African Methodist Episcopal Church AME Provided schools Other services

8. The Reform Impulse Reform movements evangelical roots, adopted perfectionist goals, hoped to regenerate society through individual conversions Reform movements needed personnel-women were welcomed.

9. Transcendentalism Americans new pride in emerging culture Ralph Waldo Emerson philosophical and literary movement, emphasized living a simple life and celebrated the truth found in nature, in personal emotion and imagination. Exalted dignity of individual Encourage literature that stressed American ideas of optimism, freedom and self-reliance. Henry David Thoreau Walden Pond

10. Unitarianism Emphasized reason Appeals to conscience Attracted wealthy and educated

11. American form Ideal Communities Utopian Communities: Perfect place Varied philosophies, living arrangements Shared common goals self sufficiency New Harmony, Indiana Brook Farm, Massachusetts 1841 George Ripley �Prepare a society of liberal, intelligent and cultivated persons� more wholesome and simple life� away from pressure of our competitive institutions.� Shaker Communities: Ann Lee Shared goods Men and women equal, no marriage, no children

12. Early Reform Movements Reform Asylums and Prisons Dorothea Dix Prisons crowded with mentally ill 1843 Report of findings to MA legislature Result passed a law improving conditions 1845-1852 : 9 Southern states set up public mental hospitals Eastern State in Virginia; hospitalization for mentally ill. Emphasized rehabilitation, treatment that might reform the sick or imprisoned person to a useful position in society.

13. Health Reform Elizabeth Blackwell Medical education for women Opened New York Infirmary for women and Children Catherine Beecher: national survey on women�s health found 1 in 3 women healthy Amelia Bloomer: dressing for health, bloomers, loose fitting pants.

14. Temperance Reform �drunkards� Auxiliaries �Daughters of Temperance� found their own mission, protect �drunkards� victims, impoverished wives or children Mary C. Vaughan evils of alcohol 1833- 6,000 local temperance societies Held rallies Produced pamphlets Brought a decline into the 1860�s

15. ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT Captured moral fervor Female Anti-slavery society, liberate �scourged sisters� from slavery, debasement and abuse Led women into political arena Petition campaigns to Congress Addressed mixed audiences Defended women�s rights.

16. ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT Sarah and Angelina Grimke 1836 An Appeal to Christian Women of the South, Angelina Grimke, overthrow slavery Elizabeth Cady Stanton went to London on honey moon, refused admission to floor Anti-Slavery society Lucretia Mott- also refused Raised money, distributed literature Petitions

17. ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT William Lloyd Garrison supports women�s efforts

18. Women�s Rights Women�s rights movement stood on its own as more threatening than abolition Seneca Falls debate not a novelty women�s rights debated in Education Emma Williard Mary Lyon Reformers Frances Wright, Ernestine Rose Promoted married women�s property rights, divorce

19. Women�s Rights Anti-slavery: Abby Kelly Grimke sisters defend women�s right to campaign, reform