Antebellum Reforms

  • Religion

    • Unitarianism- stressed goodness of human nature and salvation through good works; appealed to intellectuals (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

      • single entity

    • Deism- reliance on science rather than the Bible and a Supreme Being who created a knowable universe and gave humans the ability for moral behavior

    • The 2nd Great Awakening (1800-1850)

      • mostly benefited Methodists and Baptists

      • people against growing liberalism in religion brought new religious revivals

      • reform to live out founding principles

      • more religiously diverse

      • Charles Finney & Peter Cartwright- preachers at camp meetings where thousands would gather to “get religion”

    • Denominational Diversity

      • Burned-Over District- western New York

        • Millerites- believe William Miller knows when Jesus is coming back to Earth

          • Great Disappointment- many abandon him when Jesus doesn’t show up

      • Mormons- Joseph Smith had an angel appear to him and give him a set of tablets that became the Book of Mormon

        • belief in bigamy/polygamy

        • Brigham Young takes Mormons to Salt Lake City when Smith is killed

      • The Shakers- shake/dance to get ride of sin; promoted celibacy and quickly died off

      • The Oneida Community- thought 2nd coming already happened so people didn’t follow the laws of men

        • everyone married to each other so women didn’t belong to one man

  • Penitentiary Reform- believe people can be rehabilitated; separate men/women, adults/children, mentally ill/criminals

    • Dorothea Dix- established asylum in 1849

  • Temperance Movement- movement against alcohol

    • Carry A. Nation, Hatchet Granny (1846-1911)- would break saloon bars; against alcohol

    • wives of drunks usually advocate for temperance

  • Educational Reform- secular education and government funded schools

    • Horace Mann (“Father of American Education”)- says children are clay for teachers to mold; against corporal punishment; train qualified teachers

    • McGuffey Eclectic Readers- use religious parables to teach skills, values, and morality

      • 3 Rs- reading, writing, arithmetic

    • Women Educators- given more educating opportunities

      • Troy- school that helps train female teachers

      • Oberlin- first co-ed college

  • Women’s Right and Cult of Domesticity

    • women’s job was to “civilize” her family

    • women were dependent on men as providers/protectors

    • Early 19th century: men worried that women may think they can be president, women treated as minors under the law, single women have more rights and could own property

    • cult of domesticity compared to slavery

      • many women involved in temperance, abolition, and education

    • denied entry at anti-slavery convention in London, so they has the conference at Seneca Falls

      • Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott

      • Declaration of Sentiments- all men and women are equal; fought for suffrage

  • Abolitionist Movement

    • many women were abolitionists

    • created free slave state in Liberia, West Africa

    • Sectionalism and Specialization: north = industry, south = cotton, west = food

    • Distribution of Slave Labor- many worked in cotton fields; most while people didn’t own slaves because they couldn’t afford it

      • Planter Class- people with many slaves and large estates; politically and economically control the south

    • William Lloyd Garrison- considered radical; believed slavery undermined republican values; wanted slavery to end; northerner

      • no compensation to slave owners when slaves were emancipated

      • The Liberator- newspaper

      • blames the Constitution

    • Lewis and Arthur Tappan, James Birney

    • people argued slavery is bad for blacks and whites because whites have to compete with someone with no salary

    • David Walker- more radical and militant; appeal that blacks should unite and fight for freedom

    • Frederick Douglass- most photographed African American in 19th century; less radical and militant; uses pen and paper; becomes feminist

    • Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree)- wrote about treatment as slave; criticizes black men because of sexism

    • Harriet Tubman- “Moses” of her people; Underground Railroad

      • The Underground Railroad- slaves could be captured and sent back; many ran to Canada; Quakers primarily provide runaways shelter

    • Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South

      • Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vesey- both led by preachers

      • Nat Turner- led rebellion in VA where over 60 white people were killed