Reform Movements Notes

The Owenites

  • Founded by Robert Owen.
  • Created the Harmony community in Indiana.
  • Aimed to establish a new "moral world" where:
    • Workers would not be exploited.
    • Children would be raised communally.
    • Complete equality between men and women would be practiced.

Brook Farm

  • Founded by Transcendentalists.
  • Transcendentalism:
    • An intellectual movement emphasizing the primacy of individual judgment over societal norms.
    • Rooted in Romanticism.
  • Key Figures:
    • Ralph Waldo Emerson
    • Henry David Thoreau
  • Core Beliefs:
    • Emphasis on "self-reliance."
    • Rejection of modern society stifling the "individual."
    • Advocacy for simplifying lives and reducing obsession with wealth, as urged by Thoreau.

The Temperance Movement

  • Historical Context:
    • Annual alcohol consumption was approximately 7 gallons per person.
  • The American Temperance Society (1826):
    • Aimed to "redeem" both habitual and casual drinkers.
    • By 1830, it urged all Americans to renounce drinking.
  • Evolution:
    • The movement eventually became synonymous with advocating for the complete prohibition of alcohol.
  • Religious Ties:
    • Strongly linked to religious beliefs.
    • Opposed to the excesses of liberty, aiming to liberate Americans from the "slavery" of drink, poverty, and sin.
  • Criticism:
    • Critics, known as "Liberty Loving Citizens," argued against the right of any individual to dictate the behavior of others.
    • Opposition from American Catholics and German immigrants.

The Invention of the Asylum

  • Early American Society:
    • Lacked a uniform system of punishment or reform.
    • Punishments included whipping, fines, or other physical penalties.
    • The poor were supported in their homes, orphans lived with neighbors, and families cared for their mentally ill.
  • Reform Movements:
    • Establishment of specialized institutions:
      • Jails for criminals.
      • Poorhouses for the destitute.
      • Asylums for the insane.
      • Orphanages for children.
  • Key Figure:
    • Dorothea Dix: A leading advocate for asylum reform, who initiated the first mental health reforms.

The Common School

  • Significance:
    • The most numerous of the institutions built.
    • Tax-supported state school systems open to all children.
  • Visionary:
    • Horace Mann: A leading educational reformer.
  • Goals:
    • To unite children from diverse backgrounds through a shared curriculum and experience.
    • To provide less privileged children with opportunities for social advancement.
  • Parallel with Westward Expansion:
    • Aimed to provide greater opportunity.
  • The "Silent Curriculum":
    • Designed to prepare students for work in the industrial economy.

The Crusade Against Slavery

  • Initial Reform Focus:
    • Slavery received less initial attention from reformers compared to issues like drinking and illiteracy.
  • Early Opposition:
    • Primarily from Quakers, enslaved people, and free Black Americans.
  • Momentum Loss:
    • The antislavery movement lost momentum after the Revolution, with only occasional events like the Missouri Compromise (1819-1821) bringing it back into focus.

Colonization

  • General Belief:
    • Many white Americans who opposed slavery believed in colonization.
  • Definition:
    • Sending freed slaves to Africa, the Caribbean, or Central America.
  • American Colonization Society (1816):
    • Promoted gradual emancipation and relocation of Black Americans to Africa.
    • Established Liberia on the West African coast as a destination for freed Black Americans.
    • Named its capital Monrovia after President James Monroe.
  • Criticism:
    • Harriet Martineau criticized colonization as a way for slave owners to ease their consciences without truly challenging the system.
  • Key Supporters:
    • Figures like Henry Clay, John Marshall, Daniel Webster, and President Andrew Jackson supported the Colonization Society.
  • Motivations:
    • Some northerners saw it as the only viable way to end slavery.
    • Southern supporters aimed to remove free Black Americans, viewing them as "degraded" and a threat to white society.
    • Belief among some that racism was too deeply entrenched for Black Americans to ever achieve equality in the U.S.
  • Underlying Principle:
    • Based on the idea that America was inherently a white society, similar to the rationale behind Native American removal.

Black Americans and Colonization

  • Migration to Liberia:
    • Several thousand Black Americans moved to Liberia before the Civil War with the Colonization Society's help.
  • Motives:
    • Some were freed slaves on the condition of leaving the U.S.
    • Others chose to go, hoping to spread Christianity and civilization in Africa.