Reform Movements and Social Change in the 1800s

College Board Reform Movements

College Board refers to two different reform movements: mid-1800s reformers and Progressives.
It's crucial to distinguish which era is being discussed, as the College Board often includes both.
- Mid-1800s reformers are often referred to as social reformers.
- Progressives are generally associated with political and economic reforms.

Arose a century after the First Great Awakening.
Shared the common theme of encouraging people to attend church, similar to the First Great Awakening's emphasis on church attendance to combat the halfway covenant.
The Second Great Awakening encouraged people to get involved in various reforms and social movements.
Women participation was notable.
Camp meetings became a prominent feature.
- These camps resembled country music festivals, providing a space for religious engagement and community.
- Offered women opportunities beyond domestic roles, enabling involvement in social reforms.

Horace Mann: A key figure, associated with a major textbook publishing company.
Massachusetts as the starting point of public education movement.
Transition from parents paying for education to the state funding it, recognizing the societal benefit of widespread education.
Sixteenth section was sold on public education.
Mandatory attendance enforced, though enforcement varies by location (e.g., truancy).
Exclusion of free blacks from mainstream education led to the rise of black literary circles and self-help educational initiatives, particularly for women.
In the South, teaching slaves was illegal.
Features of the public education movement: standardized textbooks, longer school terms, and mandatory attendance.

Reforms aimed at improving the treatment of mental health patients and prisoners.
Introduction of activities and exercise for prisoners, a departure from complete confinement.
Even the most dangerous criminals get outside time.
- Example: Minnesota's Supermax prison, Oak Park Heights, provides limited outdoor exercise space for inmates.

Focus on promoting abstinence from alcohol.
Crazy Carrie, known for her radical methods.
Neal Dow from Maine, known as the father of prohibition, advocated for temperance laws.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848) in New York is the kickoff point of women's rights movement.
- A pivotal event that is frequently referenced on AP exams.
The movement spanned a long period, with women eventually gaining the right to vote in 1920.
Key Figures:
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Considered the "godmother" of the movement and a mentor to Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and the Grimké sisters.
Declaration of Sentiments: The document produced at Seneca Falls, mirroring the Declaration of Independence but focusing on women's rights, particularly the right to vote.

Sojourner Truth: A former slave, self-taught and self-educated, who worked in both abolition and women's rights movements.
Quakers: Regarded as the first abolitionists.
- The Grimké sisters, daughters of a South Carolina family, became actively involved in the abolition movement, which stood in contrast to their Southern background.

Transcendentalists: Often seen as the "hippies" of their time.
- Key figures: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau (known for civil disobedience), and Walt Whitman.
- Promoted the idea that everything is beautiful, wonderful, and has an internal light.
- Advocated for passivity, anti-slavery, and non-violence, rejecting the materialism of society.
- Thoreau's withdrawal from society to live in the woods exemplifies their desire to distance themselves from societal norms.
- Hostile to authority and formal institutions, seeing Transcendentalism as a uniquely American movement.
Utopian Communities:
- Communal living experiments that rejected the focus and materialism of mainstream society.
- Lived on farms, emphasizing communal and equal living arrangements.