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