Religion and Reform Movements

Second Great Awakening

• Charles Grandison Finney was the leader of the movement. It was a religious revival that began in the U.S. in the early 1800s and lasted until almost 1850.

• Preacher, known as revivalists, emerged because they wanted to revive the role of religion in America.

• Began in the Kentucky frontier• Evangelical style of worship appealed to the

emotions of the people.

Charles Grandison Finney

Continued

• Lyman Beecher – a Yale-educated minister- traveled widely and became the president of Lane Theological Seminary, which trained more evangelical preachers to join the revival.

Lyman Beecher

African Methodist Episcopal

The AME church was established at this time.

Richard Allen, a former slave led the church in 1787.

By 1826, the AME Church had nearly 8000 members.

Religious Groups Form

• Mormons, led by Joseph Smith, formed as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

• Unitarians formed and argued that, instead of the Trinity, people should see God as a divine single being.

Mormons

• Faced persecution for their beliefs

• Settled in Nauvoo, Illinois

• 1844- Joseph Smith decides to run for President and is killed by an angry mob.

• Brigham Young takes over the leadership of the Mormons and leads them to Salt Lake City, Utah to settle.

Mormon Trail Map

Shakers• Shakers were a religious community of New

England.• They believed that men & women were

equal, no fighting for any reason, and they shared their goods with each other.

• They are well known for the style of furniture they created.

• Shakers vowed to never marry; therefore, they could not keep their community alive.

Religion & the Slavery Debate•African Americans interpreted Christian messages as a promise of freedom for their people.

•The Second Great Awakening brought people of all races together to worship together.

•The North voiced it’s religious opposition to slavery, especially as it became more industrial.

George Whitefield (Quaker) Stands Against Slavery

Religion & the Slavery Debate•Proslavery advocates used the Bible to defend slavery (citing passages about obedience).

•They believed that slavery benefited blacks by making them part of a prosperous, Christian civilization.

•Nat Turner, a Virginian slave and preacher, interpreted an eclipse as a divine sign and lead a slave rebellion.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

Utopian Communities

• During the early 1800s, some Americans wanted to distance themselves from the evils of society.

• Organizers of utopias hoped their settlements would foster virtue in the members and inspire others.

• Brook Farm (Boston) and New Harmony (Indiana) were two utopian communities.

Utopian Communities Continued

• Utopian societies attracted more than 1000 people.

• Brook Farm failed after only six years.

• New Harmony lasted only two years.

• Most of the 50 other utopian communities were short-lived, as well.

Shakers

• Mother Ann Lee was the leader.• She had lost three children in childbirth and determined

that God was punishing her for not remaining celibate.• Shakers set up independent communities in New

Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Illinois.• Men and women lived in separate housing and did not

marry or reproduce.• The community grew only when new adults joined.• Famous for their high-quality craftsmanship, especially in

furniture.

Mother Ann Lee

Education

• Horace Mann was a leading education reformer.

• Created a state board of education in Massachusetts.

• Advocated free public education• Fought for compulsory attendance laws• Led the fight to abolish corporal

punishment• Worked to establish training for teachers

Education Continued

• State legislatures across the country set aside funds for public schools.

• Percentage of children attending school doubled• Women played key roles in school reform.• Catharine Beecher and Emma Willard

established schools for women in Connecticut, Ohio and New York.

• Elizabeth Blackwell and Ann Preston established medical training for women by the 1850s.

Horace Mann

Education Continued

• Noah Webster created The American Spelling Book. This remained the most popular school book for a while.

• Webster developed special spelling forms that he felt were representative of America’s honesty and directness (nationalistic).

Noah Webster

Penitentiaries and Asylums

• Dorothea Dix campaigned for reform in prisons and for the mentally ill.

• She discovered that patients suffering from mental illness were placed alongside hardened criminals in prisons.

• She spent two years visiting prisons, poorhouses, and hospitals. She campaigned for change based on her findings.

Penitentiaries and Asylums Continued

• Her work led to the creation of the first modern mental hospitals.

• Prison reform was aimed ad helping to rehabilitate criminals.

• Prior to this reform, the idea behind prison was only to punish criminals for their crimes.

Dorothea Dix

Temperance

• Crime, sickness, poverty, and family violence all were tied to alcohol abuse.

• Reformers advocated drinking alcohol only in moderation.

• They argued that drinking alcohol led to violence and crime.

Women’s Rights Movement•The Women’s Rights Movement of the 1830s was led by two female abolitions, Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott

•They were inspired by the abolition movement to make changes for women

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Lucretia Mott

Women’s Rights• Reformers wanted more educational

opportunities and healthcare

• In 1848, a women’s rights convention was held called the Seneca Falls Convention.

• There, the women issued a Declaration of Sentiments outlining the rights to which women were entitled.

Sojourner Truth An

abolitionist who spoke

out for women’s

rights

Labor Reform

• Workers began to demand higher wages & shorter workdays

• Trade unions were established, groups of workers within the same trade that organized strikes

Abolition Movement

• The movement to end slavery

• Called for the immediate emancipation of slaves, without compensation to the slave owner

William Lloyd Garrison

A white abolitionist and editor of the abolition newspaper, The Liberator.

Frederick Douglass

• Born into slavery, but was taught by his master’s wife to read and write

• Escaped slavery• Became a famous

abolition speaker• Started a newspaper

called The North Star

The Conclusion of Goal 2