4.11 An Age of Reform

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain how and why various reform movements developed and expanded from 1800-1848

INTRODUCTION

  • Several historic reform movements began during the Jacksonian era and following decades

    • Antebellum period (before civil war)

      - mix of reformers dedicated themselves to establishing public education, improving treatment of mentally ill, temperance, winning equal rights for women, and abolition of slavery.

      - stemmed from puritan sense of mission, enlightenment belifs in human goodness, religioun, democracy, changes in realtionships, social classes, and ethnic groups

IMPROVING SOCIETY

  • Reform movements evolved during the antebellum era

    • Leaders of reform hoped to improve behaviors through moral persuasion

      - hoped to appeal to individuals sense of right and wrong

      - moved on to political action and ideas for creating new instituitons

TEMPERANCE

  • High alcohol consumption rates—→ reformers blaming alcolhol for crime, poverty, abuse of women, and other social ills.

    • American Temperance Society

      - tried to persuade drinkers to take pledge of total abstinence

    • Washingtonians

      - groups of recovering alcholics

      - agrued alchol was diseases that needed practical, helpful treatment

    • Germans and Irish opposed temperance campaign

      - lacked political power to prevent reforms

    • Factory owners and politicals

      - supported temperance (would increase worker output on jobs

    • States of Maine placed taxes on liqour and prohibited manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor

      - twelve states followed within decared

      - slavery soon overshadowed temperence movement

      - regained strength with support from Woman’s Christian Temperance Union—→ 18th amendement banning sale of intoxicating liquours.

MOVEMENT OF PUBLIC ASYLUMS

  • Humanitarian reformers called attention to increasining criminals, emotionally disturbed persons, and paupers

    • People were found to be living in poor conditions

      - reformed proposed setting up public institutions (state-supported prisons, mental hospitals, poorhouses)

      - hoped inmates would be cured and live a disciplined patter of life

MENTAL HOSPITIALS DOERTHEA DIX

  • Former school teacher found mentally ill person locked up in unsanitary cells with convicted criminals

    • launched corss-country crusade critizing awful treatment

      - built new mental hospitals or improved istutions to begin professional treatment

SCHOOLS FOR BLIND AND DEAF PERSONS

  • Thomas Gaullaudet started school for deaf

  • Dr. Samuel Gridley Hower started school for the blind

    • Specials schools modeled after the work of these reformers had been established

PRISONS

  • Pennsylvania took lead in prison reform

    • Built penitentiaries

      - placed prisoners in solitary confinement to force them to reflect on sins and repent

      - experiment was dropped because of high suicide rates

      - Prison reforms reflect asylum movement (structure and discipline would bring moral reform)

    • Auburn system

      - enforced rigid rules of discipline while providing moral instruction and work programs

PUBLIC EDUCATION

  • Reform movement focused on establishing free piblic schools for children of all classes

    • Middle-class reformers

      - had growing fears of uneducated poor—both immigrants and native-born.

      - worker groups generally supported reformers’ campaign for free (tax-supported) schools.

FREE COMMON SCHOOLS

  • Horace Mann led common public school movement

    • Mann worked for compulsory attendance for all children, longer school year, and increased teacher perparation

      - movement for public schools spread rapidly to other states

MORAL EDUCATION

  • Educational reformers wanted to educate children on literacy and moral principals

    • Series of elementary textbooks became widely used to teach reading and moralisty

      - McGuffey readers extolled virtues of hardwork, punctuality, and sobriety (traits needed in society)

      - Public schools reflected protestant beliefs of community—→ Roman Catholics forming private schools for Catholic children

HIGHER EDUCATION

  • Second great awakening fuled growth of private colleges

    • Various protestant dominations founded small colleges

      - base din mainly western states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, & Iowa)

      - several colleges began to admit women

    • Adult education was furthered y lyceum lecture societies

      - brought speakers to small-twon audiences

CHANGES IN FAMILIES AND ROLES FOR WOMEN

  • American socierty was mainly rural

    • Growing cities & impact of industiral revolution—→ redifining families

      - reduced economic value of children

      - birth control reduced average family sizes (mainly for middle-class)

      - women had leisure time to devote to organizations for religion or moral uplift (The New York Female Moral Reform Society helped improverished women from prostitution)

CULT OF DOMESTICITY

  • Industrialization changed roles within families

    • Men took jobs outside of homes to work for salaries and wages

      - became more absent in their households

      - women took charge of household and children

      - idealized view of women as moreal leader in the home is know as the cult of domesticity

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

  • Women reformers resented way men relegagted them to secondary roles

    • Men prevented women from taking part fully in policy disucssions

      - Sarah Grimke & Angelica Grimke (Letters of Equality of the Sexes, The Condition of Women)

      - Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton (campaigned for women’s rights after being barred from speaking at antislavery convention)

SENECA FALLS CONVENTION (1848)

  • Feminist convention at Seneca Falls, New York

    • The first women’s rights convention in American History

    • Declaration of Sentiments

      - listed women’s greivences against laws and customs that discriminated against them

      - decalred “all men and women are created equal” (closely modeled after the Declaration of Independence)

    • Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led campaign 4 equal rights

      - issues of women’s rights were overshadowed by crisis of slavery

ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT

  • Opponents of slavery ranged from moderates to radicals

    • Moderates

      - advocated for gradual abolition with compensation for slave owners to ease economic impacts and maintain stability

    • Radicals

      - demanded immediate abolition with no compensation, ephazized moral urgency and rejected legitimacy of slavery

    • 2nd Great Awakening—→ Christians believing slavery was a Sin

      - moral view made compromise with supporters of it difficult

AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY

  • Society meant to help transport those freed from slavery back to Africa

    • Appealed to some opponents of slavery and white americans who wanted to remove all free Black Americas from US society

    • Established an african american settlelment in Monrovia, Liberia

      - nenver proved practical

      - free African Americans did not want to leave land where their ancestors were born

      - only a few went back to Africa, while enslaved population grew in US

AMERICAN ANTISLAVERY SOCIETY

  • William Lloyd Garrison started the newspaper, The LIberator

    • Marked the beginning of radical abolitionist movement

      - Garrison advocated for immediate abolition w/o compensation for slave owners

    • American Antislavery Society

      - also founded by Garrison, and other abolitionist

      - condemned and burned constitution as proslavery document

      - Garrison argued for “no Union with slaveholders” until they repented for their sins by freeing slaves

LIBERTY PARTY

  • Garrison’s radicalism—→ split in abolitionist movement

    • Liberty Party (1840)

      - believed political action was more practical than moral crusade

      - James Birney was nominated as their candiate for 1840 and 1844

      - party mainly wanted to end slavery by political and legal means.

BLACK ABOLITIONIST

  • Freed and escaped slaves were among most outspoken in movement

    • Fredrick Douglass

      - spoke about brutality and degration of slavery from his experience

      - later advocated both political and direct action to end slavery and predjudice

      - started antislavery journal, The North Star

    • Harriet Tubman, David Ruggles, Sojourner Truth, and William Still

      - other African American leaders who helped organize effort to assist fugitive slaves

VIOLENT ABOLITIONIST

  • Abolitionist David Walkers & Henry Highland Garnet argued enslaved should rise against their owners

    • Enslaved Nat Turner led revolt

      - 55 whites were killed, but whites killed hundreds of African Americans in response

      - fear of future uprisings + Garrison’s rhetoric put down brief antislavery sentiment in south

OTHER REFORMS

  • Efforts to reform individuals and socierty included several other smaller movements

    • American Peace Socierty

      - had the objective of abolising war (actively protested against war w Mexico)

    • laws to protect sailors, dietary reforms, dress reforms for women, pherenology reform