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The Age of Reform Mr. Websters Class

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The Age of Reform During the early to mid-1800s, a new spirit of reform took hold in the United States. This spirit brought changes to American religion, education, and literature. During this time period, American artists also began exploring American topics and developed a purely American style.

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The Abolition Movement Among the reformers of the 1800s were abolitionists, who sought the end of slavery. Even before the Revolution, some Americans had tried to limit or end slavery. By the early 1800s, the Northern states had officially ended slavery there. The reform movement of the early and mid- 1800s gave new life to the antislavery cause. A growing number of Americans were coming to believe that slavery was wrong.

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The Colonization Plan In 1816, a group of powerful whites formed the American Colonization society to send free African Americans to Africa to start new lives. The society acquired land for a colony, and the first settlers arrived in Liberia in 1822. In 1847, Liberia declared itself an independent republic. The Colonization Society did not stop the growth of slavery, and in the end, only about 10,000 formers slaves resettled in Africa.

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Uncle Toms Cabin By the 1830s, slavery was Americas most pressing social issue. Many abolitionists influenced public opinion through writing. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowes novel Uncle Toms Cabin became a wildly popular best-seller. The book portrayed slavery as a cruel and brutal system. Sale of it was banned in the South.

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Frederick Douglass Free African Americans in the North especially supported the goal of abolition. Frederick Douglass is the best-known African American abolitionist. Born into slavery in Maryland, Douglass escaped to freedom and settled first in Massachusetts. Douglas became a powerful speaker and he often spoke at abolitionist meetings and prestigious events.

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Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth was another powerful voice for abolition. Truths given name was Isabella Baumfree, and she was born into slavery in Ulster County, New York. Baumfree escaped to freedom as a young adult, and became a leading spokesperson for the abolitionist and womens rights movements. In 1843, Baumfree chose a new name for herself: Sojourner Truth. She chose this name because she felt the Lord chose her to declare the truth to people.

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Defending Slavery White Southerners fought abolitionism with arguments in defense of slavery. White Southerners argued that slavery was necessary to the Southern economy, and that enslaved people were treated well. Many whites also believed that African Americans were better off under white care than on their own.

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Womens Rights / The Seneca Falls Convention In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott helped organize the first womens rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY. The convention issued a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, which called for an end to laws that discriminated against women. The declaration also included a demand for womens suffrage.

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The Growth of the Womens Movement The Seneca Falls Convention helped launch a wider movement. Among the movements leaders was Susan B. Anthony. Anthony called for equal pay and college training for women, as well as coeducation. Opportunities for women increased greatly in the late 1800s. In 1890, Wyoming became the first state to grant suffrage to women.

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Women Make Gains Prior to the mid-1800s, women had few rights. They depended on men for support, and anything a woman owned became the property of her husbands when she married. Women had few options if they were in an unhappy or abusive relationship. Women also had few career choices. Slowly but surely, this began to change in the mid- to late-1800s.

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Create Your Own Abolitionist Newsletter worth 30 points For this assignment, you must read through the sources you have been provided, and imagine that you are an abolitionist living in the early to mid-1800s. You have decided to create your own newsletter to spread your thoughts and ideas on abolition. Your newsletter should be 1-page (both front and back), and it should contain an article (or series of articles) that will hopefully convince others to join the abolitionist cause. Your article can be in the form of a news story or a persuasive essay, or it can be a combination of both. You may also include a poem or illustration (similar to those you have been provided) as well to help get your point across. The illustration, however, should not take a large amount of space. I will be grading as follows: Accuracy and Relevancy of Content 10 points Completeness (1-page front and back) 10 points Grammar & Punctuation 5 points Neatness / Creativity 5 points