ANTEBELLUM REFORM : MOVEMENTS CALLING FOR CHANGE BEFORE THE CIVIL
WAR
THERE WERE MANY DIFFERENT REFORM MOVEMENTS PRIOR TO THE CIVIL WAR
2.05/2.06: Reform Movements of the Antebellum Era
Religious Reforms
When you finish your notes, put the pages in your notebook: P. 17: Religious & Other Reforms P18: African American Reforms P19: Women & Labor Reforms
Then…finish the last section of your G2 study guide
2nd Great Awakening
Religious movement emphasizing individual responsibility for salvation
N & S churches split over slavery
Revivals
Religious gatherings with passionate speeches
Increased church membership
Charles Finney: Father of Revivalism
African American Churches
Slaves were forced to go to their owner’s church
Sermons are promise of freedom
Church gave slaves a sense of community Acted as the social,
cultural & political center for slaves
Other Reform Movements
EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS THAT TRIED TO CREATE A “UTOPIA” OR PERFECT PLACE
Utopian Communities
Education Reform
Horace Mann: wanted school reform Create teacher
training programs
Prison Reform
Dorothea Dix: Helped get laws passed for prison reforms & help for the mentally ill
African-American Reform Movements
Abolition
Reform movement wanting to outlaw slavery
William L. Garrison
Radical white abolitionist
Wrote “The Liberator” Newspaper preaching
abolition
Emancipation
The immediate freeing of slaves
Slave owners will not be paid
Not all abolitionist supported emancipation!
David Walker
Free African American who urged others to fight for their freedom
Supported the use of violence
Frederick DouglassBelieved education was
the path to freedom
Wrote “The North Star” & urged others to run away to freedom
Promoted peaceful separation
Political activism was the way to gain freedom
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Slave rebellion that killed 55-60 whites in Virginia
Turner & several others were captured & killed
Southern Response to Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Many argued for immediate emancipation avoid more revolts…
Revenge was enacted against many blacks – most who had nothing to do with the rebellion Abt. 200 blacks were killed
Virginia Debate: State legislature defended slavery
& voted against abolition
Gag Rule: Limited the debate on slavery
Slave Codes: Stricter controls placed on slaves
Can’t own gun Can’t testify in court Can’t assemble Can’t buy alcohol Can’t get an education
Women’s Reform Movement
Cult of Domesticity
Traditional “women’s work” Caring for children,
cooking, cleaning
Grimke Sisters
Angelina Grimke: Wrote “An Appeal to Christian Women of the South” Asked women to
overthrow the system of oppression
• EFFORT TO PROHIBIT ALCOHOL
• INFLUENCED BY RELIGION & WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
Temperance
F E W E D U C AT I O N A L O P P O R T U N I T I E SSchools were burned down!!
W O M E N W E R E I N V E RY P O O R H E A LT HRestrictive clothing
Lack of bathing!
Women’s Education & Health
Seneca Falls Convention
1st Women’s Rights convention Supported by
abolitionists b/c fighting for similar rights
Leaders: Elizabeth Cady
Stanton Lucretia Mott
Sojourner Truth
Former slave who traveled the country speaking for abolition & women’s rights
Labor Reform Movement
Immigration
Increased between 1830-1860
Many from Ireland & Germany
Avoided South Not needed due to slave labor
Settled in North & worked in factories Low wages Used as strike breakers
Created more job competition
Trade Unions
Workers began to organize into unions & wanted better wages & working conditions
Commonwealth v Hunt
Upheld the rights of workers
Strikes were legal
