Chapter 13 - The Reform Impulse

Dorothea Dix

• ^^Reformed prisons + almshouses + asylums^^
• 1843 - Presented findings of bad conditions in asylums to Massachusetts legislature
• Improved conditions for mentally ill
• During the Civil War she was in charge of female nurses

Seneca Falls Convention

• Led by Lucretia Mott + Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• 1848 - Meeting in New York
• “The Declaration of Sentiments” declared grievances for women’s suffrage
• Worked with Susan B. Anthony

Lyman Beecher

• 1832 - President of Lane Theological Seminary
• ^^Believed that American citizens require education + Christian teachings^^
• Wrote sermons + pamphlets
• Formed societies dedicated to social reform

Common School Movement

• 1837 - Begins in Massachusetts
• Goal of educating + converting people to Christianity
• Immigrant populations were assimilated into American culture
• Preservation of American civilization

Horace Mann

• 1837 - Served on the Massachusetts State Board of Education
• ^^Increased funding for schools & teacher salaries + revised curriculums^^
• Founded the 1st teacher-training school

McGuffey Readers

• First published in 1836
• Textbooks for children focused on improving reading + literary taste + morals
• Emphasized white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant values

Oberlin College

• Founded by missionaries in 1833
• ^^Believed that educating teachers would led to better citizens to further develop the American frontier^^
• Women + minorities could enroll

Second Great Awakening

• 1830-1850
• Believed that reforming society would improve the lives of Americans
• Departed from Calvinist + Reformed doctrines
• Variety in churches + forms of worship

Charles G. Finney

• 1835 - Served as a professor at Oberlin College
• Departed from Calvinist doctrines
• During camp meetings he practiced fervent preaching and softened hearts
• Used New Light methods
• ^^Criticized by conservative Old Light leaders^^

Circuit-Riding Preachers

• Missionary preachers rode on horseback to a different church each week
• Very popular
• Less adherence to orthodoxy (sound doctrine)

Maine Law

• 1851 - Secured by Neal S. Dow
• ^^Prohibited the manufacture + sale of alcohol^^
• The beginning of the Prohibition movement

Temperance Movement

• 1826
• Believed that the consumption of alcohol would lead to problems
• Organizations included the Women’s Christian Temperance Union + Anti-Saloon League
• Stated that the Constitution outlawed the production + sale of alcohol
  • Did this violate citizens’ freedom?

Lyceum Movement

• Belief that self-improvement would lead to widespread societal reform
• ^^Lyceums were popular public lecture halls for education + debates^^
  • Frequented by transcendentalists + scientists
• Prevalence of optimism

Hudson River School

• Paintings of vast landscapes + wilderness
• Spread the idea that there were many possibilities of American life

Phrenology

• 1819 - Franz Joseph Gall publishes research
• ^^Science explained human behavior + personality^^
• The study of different regions in human brain
• Findings were demonstrated in lyceums

Brook Farm

• Utopian community
• 1841-1847 - Tried creating perfect society
• Unitarian + Transcendentalist
• Focused on the beliefs of quality + universal education
• Because of the difficulty of farm life and bank management, it eventually went bankrupt

New Harmony

• Founded by Robert Owen
• ^^A spiritual sanctuary that later became a haven for international scientists, scholars, and educators who sought equality in communal living^^
• Only lasted a few years

Shakers

• 1774 - Founded by Mother Ann Lee
• 1840 - Reached peak membership
• Ideas of work + worship + simple life
• Spread to New England + beyond
• Because they were celibate, it was hard to propagate the faith

Oneida Community

• ^^1848 - Founded by John Humphrey Noyes in New York^^
• Shared all property
• “Complex marriage”
• Eventually became a silverware company

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Ideas of transcendentalism combined those of idealism + eastern mysticism
• 1841 - Publishes 1st essays
• Abolitionist

Henry David Thoreau

• Wrote Walden, which talked about higher laws to guide humans
• Opposed to Mexican War + slavery
• ^^The idea of “civil disobedience” was of passive resistance^^

Joseph Smith

• 1830 - Wrote Book of Mormon
• Founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement
• Leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
• Murdered in jail

Brigham Young

• 1847 - Served as the head of Mormons
• ^^Deseret^^ ^^was a colony in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake^^
  • 1850 - This settlement was eventually recognized as the Utah Territory

Mormonism

• 1826 - Founded by Joseph Smith
• Sent missionaries to Europe
• Opened path for transcontinental railroad
• Irrigated soil
• Because of their polygamy + militaristic practices, they were eventually persecuted

BIG PICTURE

• Age of Jackson - Humanitarian reforms + political advancement

• Reforms - Prohibition, mentally ill, women, slavery

• Religion + education - Common school movement + university

• Religious reforms - Transcendentalism, Unitarianism, Lyceum

• Utopia - Mormonism

• Alexander Hamilton’s Financial Plan

  • High protective tariff
  • National bank
  • Assumption of state debts + Continental Congress debts
  • DID NOT TAX EXPORTS

• Election of 1796

  • John Adams + Thomas Pinckney vs. Thomas Jefferson + Aaron Burr
  • President (1st place) + VP (2nd place)
  • President + VP were from different political parties
  • 12th Amendment - President + VP run on same ticket

• Chisholm v. Georgia

  • 1793
  • Citizen of South Carolina sued Georgia
  • 11th Amendment - State are sovereign + cannot be sued by citizens of other states

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