Day 51 : The Ferment of Reform and Culture

1. Day 51: The Ferment of Reform and Culture Baltimore Polytechnic Institute November 15, 2010 A.P. U.S. History Mr. Green

2. Rise of a Mass Democracy Objectives: Students will analyze antebellum reform movements including religion, education, prohibition, and women’s rights. Describe the widespread revival of religion in the early nineteenth century and its effects on American culture and social reform. Describe the cause of the most important American reform movements of the period, identifying which were most successful and why. AP Focus The Second Great Awakening releases a torrent of religious fervor, combining a belief in moral self-improvement and a wish to expand democracy by means of evangelicalism. Religion and Reform are among the new AP themes. From the 1830s to 1850s, the nation experiences a burst of reform activity. Various movements set out to democratize the nation further by combating what they see as institutions and ideas that thwart the expression of democratic values and principles.

3. Chapter Focus Chapter Theme The spectacular religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening reversed a trend toward secular rationalism in American culture and helped to fuel a spirit of social reform. In the process, religion was increasingly feminized, while women, in turn, took the lead in movements of reform, including those designed to improve their own condition.

4. Announcements Focus Questions Due for Chapter 15 on Tuesday. Submit Presidential Election Charts 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840-your are losing points if you have not submitted them for grading Decades Chart for the 1830’s due Wednesday Quiz on Tuesday covering Chapter 15

5. Reform and Culture How do you think the rise of industry in the United States before the Civil War will affect social aspects of American life? Deism Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason 1794 declared churches were “set up to terrify and enslave mankind” Deism was followed by Paine, Jefferson and Franklin reason over revelation, science over Bible, rejected original sin, Supreme Being created universe and gave humans capacity for human behavior Unitarians • Unitarians shunned the Trinity • goodness of human nature, believed in free will, salvation through good works, God as loving father, Appeal of intellectuals

6. Second Great Awakening liberalism in religion, 1800s converted souls, shattering and re-establishment of churches led to prison reform, temperance, women’s movement, abolition of slavery women were majority of new church members, turned to saving the society spread by camp meeting – 25,000 over several days Peter Cartwright, Charles Grandison Finney

7. Burned-Over District William Miller Western New York – blistered by sermons on “hellfire and damnation” Led Millerites – believed Christ would return on October 22, 1844. All met up but Jesus never showed Widened social lines Denominations in the East weren’t strongly affected Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Unitarians were wealthier, better educated Methodists, Baptists, new sects came from less prosperous groups Splits over slavery Southern Baptists and Methodists broke away from Northern sects over slavery, then Presbyterians

8. A Desert Zion in Utah Joseph Smith founded Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Opposition in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois voted as a unit, drilled their militia for defense, accusations of polygamy Smith killed in 1844, murdered and mangled Young led Mormons to Utah in 1846-1847 prosperous farming polygamy, many children European immigrants flooded in, converted to Mormonism Young became territorial governor in 1850 More struggles – antipolygamy laws in 1862 and 1882, statehood delayed in Utah until 1896

9. Free Schools for a Free People The schools would benefit the poor so they weren’t well supported for a while Eventually people realized if they didn’t educate the “brats” they’d grow up to be criminals, or uneducated people with a right to vote 1825-1850, tax supported schools established One room schoolhouses, open a few months of the year, ill-trained teachers, “readin, ritin, rithmetic” Horace Mann – MA board of ed, more and better schoolhouses, longer school terms, higher pay for teachers, expanded curriculum influence moved out to other states Schools were expensive for states to run Slaves forbidden from learning, even free blacks in north and south were excluded Noah Webster wrote textbooks and helped standardize the American language

10. An Age of Reform Reform was a way to escape the confines of the home, main focus was suffrage Many debtors were in prison, even some who owed less than a dollar State legislators gradually abolished debtors prisons Criminal codes being softened – number of capital offences reduced, brutal punishments eliminated 19th century idea was that mentally challenged were beasts, not humans Chained in jails or poor-houses with “normal” people Dix traveled the country and created reports of the conditions for mentally disabled Worked with MA government to improve conditions for them, and to prove they were just ill, not willfully perverse 1828 American Peace Society

11. Demon Rum-The Old Deluder Hard liquor, all the time – weddings, funerals, etc. Threatened families, women and children American Temperance Society, Boston, 1826 Gave way to about 1,000 local groups Ten Nights – happy village ruined by a tavern Temperance – stiffen will to resist; teetotalism – eliminate completely Maine Law of 1851 – prohibited manufacture and sale of alcohol. Other northern states started to follow suit. Some repealed

12. Women in Revolt Conditions for women Life was home, required to obey her master (husband), could not vote, subject to beatings, could not keep property after marriage Many women avoided marriage now, something they couldn’t necessarily do in the colonial period Female reformers Most female reformers were rich and white Joined in reform for temperance and abolition as well LucretiaMott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Blackwell, Margaret Fuller, Sarah and Angeline Grimke, Lucy Stone, Amelia Bloomer (bloomers – short skirt with Turkish pants) Rights convention – Declaration of Sentiments – demands for women – launched modern women’s rights movement Woman’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, NY - 1848

13. Homework • Finish reading all of Chapter 15 • 5 Question reading check at the beginning of class.