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Antebellum Reform Movements

Antebellum Reform Movements. American History. Lyman Beecher. Protestant minister Leads the Second Great Awakening Religious revival Women heavily involved and seen as moral saviors of men. Transcendentalism.

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Antebellum Reform Movements

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  1. Antebellum Reform Movements American History

  2. Lyman Beecher • Protestant minister • Leads the Second Great Awakening • Religious revival • Women heavily involved and seen as moral saviors of men

  3. Transcendentalism • TRANSCENDENTALISM = a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the SPIRITUAL over the MATERIAL and EMPIRICAL • The ultimate truth transcends the physical world

  4. Transcendentalists and Nature • Nature was the source of deep Human inspiration • Helps individuals see truth within their souls • Genuine Spirituality come through communion with nature

  5. Ralph Waldo Emerson • Leader, Unitarian Minister, devoted to Transcendentalism • Wrote Essays, Lectures, Very Popular Advocated the commitment of the individual to full exploration of the inner capacities.

  6. RW Emerson: essay 1841 “Self Reliance” • Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind” • Self Reliance: • was a quest for unity of the Universe • The wholeness of god • The great spiritual force/essence of spiritual soul • Each person has innate capacity to find divinity personally

  7. Henry David Thoreau • Transcendentalist • Individuals should: • Work for self-realization • Resist conformity • Should respond to own instincts • Walden- in the Concord (Mass) Woods • Most famous book • Lived alone for 2 years

  8. Thoreau • “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to confront only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what It had to teach. • And not when I came to die I discover that I had not lived”

  9. Thoreau • Went to jail briefly • Refused to pay a Poll Tax • Protested Slavery • 1849: Essay “Resistance to Civil Government” • An individual’s personal morality has first claim on his actions • Government that violated personal morality had no legitimate authority • An individual response should be • Civil Disobedience or Passive Resistance

  10. Temperance • Religious based movement against Alcohol • “The church must take… on subject of Temperance, the moral reform, all the subjects of practical morality.” • Crime, disorder, povertycaused by alcoholism • Drinking was especially a problem for Women- husband abuse them, and kids, and drink their money.

  11. Temperance • Will later evolve into national movement through the 19th century • Eventually will lead to prohibition of alcohol18th Amendment to the Constitution [1920-1933]

  12. Education • Public Education not widely established • Some progress in Massachusetts • New interest in Pub Ed • To create a stable social values=conformity • Horace Mann is the leader

  13. Education • Mann • “An educated electorate is essential to the working of a free Political system.” • Education “only way to counter…the tendency to domination of capital and servility of labor.” • Advocated protestant values- thrift, order, discipline, punctuality, respect for authority • No wide spread change comes from this movement.

  14. Asylum and Prison Reforms • Rehabilitation is the key • Asylum=mental health • Prison= criminals • Rise of the Penitentiary • “A place to cultivate penitence” • Through discipline Problem- Mentally ill and criminals kept in terrible conditions Reform is key • Dorothea Dix • Some progress

  15. Women’s Rights Movement • Lucretia Mott • Elizabeth Cady Stanton • Susan B. Anthony • Strong connection between Women’s Rights and Abolition movement

  16. Seneca Falls Convention 1848 • Elizabeth Cady Stanton • Susan B. Anthony • Lucretia Mott • Frederick Douglass • Declaration of Sentiments • Emulated Declaration of Independence

  17. Abolitionism • 1830s – Opposition to slavery begins to change • Before, abolitionists would promote gradualism or colonization • Abolition wants an immediate end to slavery with no compensation to slaveholders • Garrison establishes the Liberator newspaper.

  18. David Walker • Publishes Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World in 1829. • Speaks of the conditions of African Americans in the United States. • [Read about it for homework]

  19. Garrison in the Liberator • “I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; -- but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD.”

  20. Other Abolitionist Leaders • Other protestant ministers • Wealthy financers • Followers of the women’s movement [Lucretia Mott] • Grimke sisters • Free African Americans • Frederick Douglass

  21. Response to Abolition • Seen as a threat to labor and social system • Economic problems for the North • South is becoming increasingly reliant on slave labor • Not industrializing • Slave rebellion

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