Age of Reform-Women's Rights

Frederick Douglass:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Abolitionist

2. Worked with Lincoln on the civil war and the abolitionist movement

3. Inspired and furthered the abolitionist movement and inspired the civil rights movement

William Lloyd Garrison:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Abolitionist and human and women’s rights advocate

2. Spoke to groups of people and issued newspapers about abolishing slavery

3. Popularized the idea of the immediate need to abolish slavery

Sojourner Truth:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Abolitionist and women’s rights activist

2. Delivered speeches and preached God’s word

3. Major promoter of women’s suffrage and helped free the enslaved

Angelina/Sarah Grimke:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Abolitionists and women’s rights advocates

2. Wrote books, publicly spoke, and both sisters together were the first women to speak to a mixed audience

3. Convinced those of the horrors of slavery and that it needs to end and helped pass the 13th amendment which outlawed slavery

Elizabeth Cady Stanton:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Women’s rights advocate

2. Led a convention where she compared justices against men and women, worked with Susan B. Anthony, and founded the Seneca Falls convention with Lucretia Mott

3. Drafted the 19th amendment

Lucretia Mott:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Abolitionist and laid foundation for women’s rights movement

2. Mentored Elizabeth Stanton who went on to be a leader of the feminist movement. Created Seneca Falls convention which was the first anti-slavery convention that let women attend. Part of the underground railroad

3. Publicly spoke about abolition and feminism

Dorothea Dix

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Advocate for free healthcare

2. Preached to the state government and made a bill that would have established asylums for the mentally ill but it was vetoed

3. Established many mental hospitals, and increased the standard of healthcare for the E.R.

Horace Mann:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Wanted education to be available for all

2. Helped black people and women get educated through preaching and activism, and created Massachusetts Board of Education

3. Many more people received an education.

Neal Dow:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Temperance (no alcohol)

2. Advocated for restrictions on the distribution of alcohol

3. Leader in Temperance Movement and helped pass Maines law in 1851 which prohibited the sale of alcohol in Maine.

Henry David Thoreau:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Abolitionist, environmentalist, Civil Rights advocate

2. Wrote “Walled In” and “Civil Disobedience”

3. Helped promote the need for civil rights through books

Henry Highland Garnett:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Believed education and churches were not good in areas of poverty and predominately black communities

2. Delivered speeches and sermons while traveling and spoke in the House of Representatives to argue that more money should be spent on schools and churches

3. Spread the message that there will always be work to be done on the education and spiritual communities in black and impoverished areas

Catharine Beecher:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Promoted women’s suffrage (especially that women should be teachers) and was a prominent advocate for early childhood education

2. Wrote books about why women should be educated and established an all girls school in Hartford, Connecticut with her sister.

3. Promoted the idea that women should be educated and provided a voice for female teachers and women who were refused schooling.

Susan B. Anthony:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Women’s rights advocate

2. Delivered speeches and held meetings

3. Led protests and conventions that helped create the 19th amendment. Arrested for attempting to vote and was put on trial

John Humphrey Noyes:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Thought community was bad

2. Started United Community (Utopian), he was a religious person who believed Jesus already came back, and he believed in complex marriage: you don’t get married to a single other person, you marry everybody

3. Controversial ideas about marriage

Charles Grandison Finney:

1. Criticism of American Society

2. Methods the person used to improve American life

3. Lasting impact of the figure and the reforms he/she pushed for

1. Thought people were neglecting their religion by committing sins against Christianity. Believed in Christian Perfectionism: Idea that you can be a perfect person (directly leads to the Age of Reform). His belief in this idea led him to become an abolitionist and women’s rights advocate

2. Created a school to educate black people and women

3. Helped abolish slavery, create an equal education system, and improved women’s rights

List several evils that the reformers of the period 1820-1860 tried to eliminate.

 Slavery, denying women rights, education issues

What factors created a climate favorable to reform in the early nineteenth century?

Increase of communication allowed ideas to spread quickly as well as the tensions surrounding slavery

What common vision of a better world did these individuals have?

No slavery and increased education and rights of women

Would you characterize these individuals as idealists or practical reformers?  Explain your reasoning.

There is a mix of both. Noyes was an idealist because he wanted to create a utopia, but others such as B. Anthony used practical ways to revolt and prove their causes

To what extent did these reformers achieve success in the period 1820-1860?

Many achieved great success. B. Anthony, the Grimke sisters, and Mott were all direct causes of women gaining the right to vote through the implication of the 19th amendment

To what extent did these individuals build a foundation for the realization of reforms in a later period?

The ideas and contributions of all of these reformers inspired further generations to carry on their cases and fight for change through civil disobedience

Describe women in colonial times.

• Performed traditional household chores

• Partnered with husbands in farm work

• Risked early death

• Typically remarried if widowed

• Legally inferior to men

Describe the second generation of women.

• Sons did more of the farm work

• Deborah Sampson

  • Fought for America during the Revolutionary War

  • “American Mulan”

• Molly Pitcher

  • Fake person that represented the idea of women who fought in the war

• Mercy Otis Warren

  • “The Conscious of the American Revolution:

  • Similar to Thomas Paine

Mary Wollstonecraft

• Argued in favor of equal education of men and women

• Felt women and men should be subject to the same moral expectations

• Often considered one of the earliest feminist writers (wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”

Define Republican Motherhood.

• Idea that women’s new role was to spread republican values to children

• Sons were expected to grow up to be strong and virtuous leaders

• Daughters were expected to teach these values as well

• Early precursor to women’s rights

Describe early 1800’s women.

• Unable to vote

• Legal status of a minor

• If you were single, you could own property

• If you were married, you had no control over her property or her children

• Could not initiate divorce

• Couldn’t make wills, sign a contract, or bring suit in court without husband’s approval

Describe women’s suffrage in New Jersey

• New Jersey constitution allowed women and black people

• As the revolution progressed, the laws change

Describe the Cult of Domesticity.

• A woman’s “sphere” was in the home

• Elevated moral status (women are kind and gentle)

• More religious than men, submit to husbands and stay at home

• Role was to “civilize” men and their families

Describe the causes for revolution in the north.

• Women can work and have money

• Gaining independence pushes the movement further

Describe the Second Great Awakening.

• Intersectional: combining women’s rights with abolition

  • Come from parallels drawn between the lives of slaves and women

• Led to the Seneca Falls Convention

What was the Seneca Falls Convention.

• Organized by Mott and Stanton

• Marks the beginning of organized women’s rights

• Produced the Declaration of Sentiments

  • Modeled after the Declaration of Independence as a reminder of the principles of equality

Who at does the Seneca Falls Convention inspire?

Amelia Bloom

• Wants equality for women in ALL things

• Wore pants under her dress (that’s why they’re called bloomers!)