Chapter 11: Society, Culture & Reform

1820-1860

The Second Great Awakening

• Religious revivals that were a reaction against rationalism& Calvinist(Puritan) teachings of original sin & predestination were

rejected

• Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, helped usher in the second Great awakening by conducting campus revivals that led

hundreds of young men to become evangelist preachers

• In 1823, minister Charles G. Finney sparked numerous revivals in New York where he appealed to people’s emotions and preached

that people could be saved through faith and hard work• This religious movement also developed the Baptist and Methodist

religion

• William Miller founded the religion the Seventh Day Adventists by claiming the world would end on October21, 1844 so people must

immediately be saved but nothing happened

• Joseph Smith also created a new religion called Mormons in 1830 and led people west and when he died, Brigham Young took over

and led people to Utah where they founded some colonies

The Second Great Awakening(Con.)

• This religious movement also developed the Baptist and Methodist religion

• William Miller founded the religion the Seventh Day Adventists by claiming the world would end on October21, 1844 so people must immediately be saved but

nothing happened

• Joseph Smith also created a new religion called Mormons in 1830 and led people west and when he died, Brigham Young took over and led people to Utah where they founded

some colonies

Transcendentalists• Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau believed in

looking for one’s inner self and God in nature

• Thoreau conducted an experiment where he lived in the woods for two years to discover essential truths about life

• Brook Farm: George Ripley conducted a communal experiment to see how well people could interact living with each other– More experiments occurred because people wanted to create a

utopia—resulted in the formation of the Shakers, the New Harmony experiment and the Fourier Phalanxes

Public Asylums/ Important LegislationPublic Asylums

• Important events also concerned the erecting of public facilities like schools, prisons,

hospitals, mental hospitals, etc.

Important Legislation• In 1851, Maine was the first state to prohibit

alcohol and laws were enacted to protect seamen from being flogged

Women’s Rights Movement/Antislavery

MovementWomen’s Rights• Sarah and Angelina Grimke objected to the male opposition to

their antislavery activities– Sarah wrote: Letter on the Condition of Women and the

Equality of the Sexes• Seneca Falls: Feminists met at Seneca Falls, New York, which

was the first Women’s Rights Convention in the history of America

Antislavery Movement• The U.S. tried to move freed blacks out of the colonies by

creating a settlement for them in Monrovia, Liberia

• In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison published a newspaper called, The Liberator, which marked the beginning of the radical

abolitionist movement which caused a split in the abolitionist movement

• Nat Turner, a Virginia slave, led a revolt, killing fifty five white males and the whites retaliated by killing hundreds of blacks

Southern Reaction to Reform

• Antebellum Reform Movement had little impact on the South

• Southerners were committed to tradition and they were alarmed to see northerners support antislavery

• They viewed reform as a northern conspiracy against the southern way of life

• Southerners strongly opposed the antislavery movement

Political Issues

• Development of religious reforms derived from political beliefs, such as the policies of the Jacksonian democracy. • All of the religious revivals led to the Second Great

Awakening. • Aside from religion, political ideas started to lead to a

development of new institutions within the United States. •Mental hospitals, schools for the blind and deaf, prisons, and

public schools started to come into consideration through governments because of humanitarian reformers.

Social issues/ changes

• The Second Great Awakening led to divisions in society. More religions came into place separating the moral beliefs of citizens.

• There were many activists and religious groups that provided leadership within people and created organized voluntary society.

–Baptists & Methodists–Millennialism–Mormons

• Communal experiments: widespread more throughout the 19th century than ever. It was attempts to withdraw from conventional society into ideal communities, or utopias. The survival of these communities was minimal, but somewhat attainable with the extensive efforts.

• Arts, literature, and ideas formed a new type of culture within the people of the United States.

Social issues/ changes(continued)

• The new way of thinking morally led to the importance of artistic expression over the pursuit of wealth.

• Transcendentalists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, questioned doctrines of established churches and sought more for individualistic institutions through the essence of God.

• Women’s rights and changing the American families also started to come into play.

• There were many women’s rights movements that were initiated by the women reformers in the 19th century during a time where new definitions of male and female roles started to form.

• Antislavery movements also affected society perspectives. There were multiple abolitionists fighting to put an end to slavery, which reflected negative views of southern states.

Economic Issues/ changes

• As reforms increased, so did economic changes. With all of the proposals to create new institutions, more government funding was required to fill it.

• Public schools, for example, were campaigned through hopes of achieving “free’’ tax-supported school systems

Religious issues/ changes

•There was a strong reaction against rationalism during the 19th century. •More religions began to form around personal beliefs. There was a development of religions that were formed by educated people, leading to the Second Great Awakening. •This was sight of the independency and individual views of society that began to come into acceptation.

Agricultural issues/ changes

• With the artistic movements arising, agriculture coincided with it. Classical Greek styles formed into the structure of the modern Jacksonian era. It glorified the democratic spirit of the republic.

• One of the most identifying characteristics of Greek society still noticeable today is the columns that began to grace the common architectures.

Industrial issues/ changes

•Industrial American started to build up with all of the reforms proposing new institutions. •All of the new institutions, such as the prisons and hospitals, contributed to the ideas still alive in modern society.

Religion• Charles G. Finney: a Presbyterian

minister who in 1823, led a series of revivals in upstate New York; delivered sermons that appealed to people’s emotions• Preached that “anyone can be saved

through hard work and faith”

• Joseph Smith: founded the Mormon religion in 1830; based the Book of Mormon on Native Americans and the lost tribes of Israel; faced opposition; murdered; Brigham Young took over and led the followers to Utah

Ideas, Arts, and Literature• Ralph Waldo Emerson: 19th

century essayist and lecturer, evoked nationalist spirit of Americans ; urged Americans to not imitate European culture by creating a unique American culture

• Henry David Thoreau: transcendentalist philosopher; observe nature to discover truths about life and universe; advocate for nonviolent protest– Works influenced activists

such as Gandhi and MLK.

Temperance: Public Asylums• Dorothea Dix: former

schoolteacher whom dedicated most of her adult life to improving living conditions for the mentally ill; traveled across the nation to convince state legislatures to build mental institutions

• Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe: founded a school for the blind

• Thomas Gallaudet : established a school for the deaf

Temperance: Public Education/Women’s Rights

• Horace Mann: advocated for free public schools; worked for better students’ attendance, longer school year, and better teacher preparation; led to tax supported schools

• Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton: led for equal voting, legal, and property rights of women

Antislavery Movement• William Lloyd Garrison:

abolitionist newspaper The Liberator; argued for an immediate end to slavery, founded American Antislavery Society; burned the Constitution in protest; radical

• Frederick Douglass: former slave, author, spoke out against brutality and degradation of slaves, started antislavery journal The North Star