Amsco chapter 11

Section 1: Overview of Antebellum Reform Movements

• The antebellum period (1820-1860) saw a diverse range of reform movements in America, focusing on social equality and moral improvement.

  • Key movements included:

    • Establishment of free public schools

    • Improved treatment of the mentally ill

    • Temprerance movement aimed at reducing alcohol consumption

    • Women's rights movement

    • Abolition of slavery

  • Historic motivations: Puritan mission, Enlightenment ideals, Jacksonian democracy, and religious beliefs.

Section 2: Religious Influence: The Second Great Awakening

• Revivalist movements emerged, countering Enlightenment rationalism with emotional appeals for salvation.

  • Revivals led by charismatic leaders, like Reverend Timothy Dwight, promoted accessible evangelical preaching.

  • Charles G. Finney's revivals in New York emphasized emotion, leading to the 'burned-over district' known for intense religious fervor.

  • Baptists and Methodists gained popularity, with circuit preachers bringing faith to new audiences.

Section 3: Key Religious Groups

• Millennialism: A belief in the imminent second coming of Christ, exemplified by William Miller's predictions.

• Mormons: Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, faced persecution leading to migration under Brigham Young to Utah, establishing the New Zion.

• The Second Great Awakening initiated divisions within Christianity and spurred social reform movements, particularly in the northern states.

Section 4: Culture and Romanticism

• Shift from Enlightenment to Romanticism in arts and literature, emphasizing intuition and nature.

  • Transcendentalism:

    • Key figures included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

    • Emerson promoted self-reliance and critiqued materialism.

    • Thoreau’s Walden and advocacy for civil disobedience highlighted individualism and naturalism.

Section 5: Communal Experiments

• Various utopian communities emerged seeking to embody idealistic social and economic structures.

  • Brook Farm (1841): A transcendentalist community promoting intellectual and manual labor, ultimately dissolved by debt.

  • Shakers: Known for communal living and gender separation, but dwindled in membership.

  • Oneida Community: Advocated for social and economic equality, practicing communal marriage; faced societal backlash for their practices.

  • New Harmony: A secular socialist utopia established by Robert Owen which eventually failed due to internal conflicts.

Section 6: Arts and Literature

• Artistic movements reflected democratic and reformist impulses; genre painting depicted everyday life.

  • Hudson River School: Focused on American landscapes, emphasizing nature's beauty.

  • Literature also reflected American themes with works from Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Melville exploring moral complexities and frontier life.

Section 7: Reforming Society

• Reform movements began with moral persuasion but evolved into political action when initial strategies met resistance.

  • Temperance Movement: Aimed to address high alcohol consumption, leading to organizations like the American Temperance Society.

  • Public Asylums: Advocated by Dorothea Dix for better treatment of the mentally ill, resulting in improved facilities.

  • Education Reforms: Led by Horace Mann, stressed the need for public schooling funded by taxes and moral education through McGuffey readers.

Section 8: Changes in Families and Women's Roles

• The Industrial Revolution altered family structures and roles, with women increasingly taking charge of home life.

  • Cult of Domesticity emerged, idealizing women's moral authority at home.

  • Women's participation in social reforms sparked early movements for women’s rights, highlighted by the Seneca Falls Convention (1848).

Section 9: Antislavery Movement

• Varied approaches to abolition arose, with the Second Great Awakening creating a moral imperative to oppose slavery.

  • Abolitionist Organizations: Garrison’s The Liberator was pivotal in radicalizing the movement; the American Antislavery Society promoted immediate abolition.

  • Liberty Party: Advocated political solutions to end slavery through legislative means.

  • Black Abolitionists: Figures like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman used personal experiences to advocate for freedom and rights.

Section 10: Southern Reaction to Reform

• Reforms primarily emerged from the North; the South was resistant, associating social reform with threats to their traditional way of life.

  • The division highlighted contrasts in societal goals and values during the antebellum era.