Purifying the Nation

• Out of the Great Awakening, people wanted to reform society.

•They developed a “social conscience” for improving the quality of life in society

•Reformers questioned the value of material progress in an age of industrialization if it were not accompanied by progress in solving the important human problems•Southerners resisted reform movements because it feared abolition of slavery

•Reformers sought to purify the nation by removing sins of slavery, intemperance (alcohol), male domination and war…..•Reformers used education, newspapers in inform public of their issues…..

• Some removed themselves from society and tried to create Utopian societies based on

• Some removed themselves from society and tried to create Utopian societies based on

Revivals = “giving new life,” to bring back to life specifically Popular Religion (1830s)

►Spread Christian ideas of equality and morality.Spread Christian ideas of equality and morality.

• Second Great Awakening • Widespread Christian Movement• Revival meetings= new life• Emotional Sermons• Increased the amount of people participating in

churches (particularly women)• Abolition and Temperance movement are directly

linked to 2nd Great Awakening

Transcendentalism

• TRANSCENDENTALISM = a philosophy that asserts theSPIRITUAL over the MATERIAL and EMPIRICAL

• The ultimate truth transcends the physical world

Ralph Waldo Emerson (link)

• Leader, Unitarian Minister, devoted to Transcendentalism

• Wrote Essays, Lectures, Very PopularAdvocated the commitment

of the individual to

full exploration of

the inner capacities.

Henry David Thoreau

• Transcendentalist• Repudiated repressive forces• 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

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

Temperance Movement

Temperance Movement

• The most significant reform movements of the period sought not to withdraw from society but to change it directly

• Temperance Movement — undertook to eliminate social problems by curbing drinking– Led largely by clergy, the movement at

first focused on drunkenness and did not oppose moderate drinking

– In 1826 the American Temperance Society was founded, taking voluntary abstinence as its goal.

• The most significant reform movements of the period sought not to withdraw from society but to change it directly

• Temperance Movement — undertook to eliminate social problems by curbing drinking– Led largely by clergy, the movement at

first focused on drunkenness and did not oppose moderate drinking

– In 1826 the American Temperance Society was founded, taking voluntary abstinence as its goal.

•Anti-Alcohol movement•American Temperance Society formed at Boston-----1826

• sign pledges, pamphlets, anti-alcohol tract10 nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There10 nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There

•“Demon Drink”•stressed temperance and individual will to resist

•Lucretia Mott

The Temperance Movement

The Temperance Movement

• During the next decade

approximately 5000 local

temperance societies were

founded

• As the movement gained

momentum, annual per capita consumption of alcohol dropped

sharply

• During the next decade

approximately 5000 local

temperance societies were

founded

• As the movement gained

momentum, annual per capita consumption of alcohol dropped

sharply

From the first glass to the grave, 1846

From the first glass to the grave, 1846

The Drunkard’s Progress

The Asylum Movement(orphanages, jails,

hospitals)

The Asylum Movement(orphanages, jails,

hospitals)

• Asylums isolated and separated the criminal, the insane, the ill, and the dependent from outside society

• “Rehabilitation” – The goal of care in

asylums, which had focused on confinement, shifted to the reform of personal character

• Asylums isolated and separated the criminal, the insane, the ill, and the dependent from outside society

• “Rehabilitation” – The goal of care in

asylums, which had focused on confinement, shifted to the reform of personal character

The Asylum Movement

The Asylum Movement

• Dorothea DixDorothea Dix, a Boston schoolteacher, took the lead in advocating state supported asylums for the mentally ill

• She attracted much attention to the movement by her report detailing the horrors to which the mentally ill were subjected – being chained, kept in cages and closets, and

beaten with rods• In response to her efforts, 28 states

maintained mental institutions by 1860

• Dorothea DixDorothea Dix, a Boston schoolteacher, took the lead in advocating state supported asylums for the mentally ill

• She attracted much attention to the movement by her report detailing the horrors to which the mentally ill were subjected – being chained, kept in cages and closets, and

beaten with rods• In response to her efforts, 28 states

maintained mental institutions by 1860

Growth of slavery

Growth of slavery

AbolitionismAbolitionism• William Lloyd Garrison,

publisher of the The Liberator, first appeared in 1831 and sent shock waves across the entire country – He repudiated gradual

emancipation and embraced immediate end to slavery at once

– He advocated racial equality and argued that slaveholders should not be compensated for freeing slaves.

• William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the The Liberator, first appeared in 1831 and sent shock waves across the entire country – He repudiated gradual

emancipation and embraced immediate end to slavery at once

– He advocated racial equality and argued that slaveholders should not be compensated for freeing slaves.

The LiberatorThe Liberator

Premiere issue January 1, 1831Premiere issue January 1, 1831

AbolitionismAbolitionism• Free blacks, such as Frederick

Douglass, who had escaped from slavery in Maryland, also joined the abolitionist movement

• To abolitionists, slavery was a moral, not an economic question

• But most of all, abolitionists denounced slavery as contrary to Christian teaching

• 1845 --> The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass

• 1847 --> “The North Star”

• Free blacks, such as Frederick Douglass, who had escaped from slavery in Maryland, also joined the abolitionist movement

• To abolitionists, slavery was a moral, not an economic question

• But most of all, abolitionists denounced slavery as contrary to Christian teaching

• 1845 --> The Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass

• 1847 --> “The North Star”

Anti-Slavery AlphabetAnti-Slavery Alphabet

Sojourner Truth (1787-1883)

or Isabella Baumfree

1850 --> The Narrative of Sojourner Truth R2-10

The Underground Railroad “Conductor” ==== leader of the

escape

“Passengers” ==== escaping slaves

“Tracks” ==== routes

“Trains” ==== farm wagons transporting the escaping slaves

“Depots” ==== safe houses to rest/sleep

Significance of reformers

Temperance Sojurner TruthFrederick DouglasUnderground Railroad (Harriet Tubman)William Lloyd GarrisonDorothea Dix Elizabeth Cady StantonClara BartonTranscendentalistsUncle Tom’s CabinHorace Mann