US History
Fort Burrows
Reform and a New American Culture
15.1 -- The Reforming Spirit
Early 1800s – The Second Great Awakening starts
1831 – The famous publisher William Lloyd Garrison started publishing his
famous newspaperThe Liberator
1837 – Education reform is led by Horace Mann in Massachusetts
1837 – Interesting Fact – The first kindergarten was started in Europe
1837 – Panic of 1837 – financial panic caused by Jackson’s domestic policies
1841 – Dorothea Dix begins crusade to improve treatment of the mentally ill
1848 – 1st Convention on Women’s Rights meets in Seneca Falls, New York
Elizabeth Cady Stanton takes control
1851 – Herman Melville publishes Moby Dick
social reform – an organized attempt to improve what is unjust or imperfectin society
predestination – Protestant idea that GOD decided in advance in which people would
attain salvation after death
Second Great Awakening–widespread religious movement in the US in theearly1800s
revival – huge outdoor religious meeting
debtor – person who cannot pay money he or she owes
temperance movement – campaign against alcohol consumption
era – period of time associated with a particular moment in history
formal education – learning program that is completed in a public or
private school system
salvation – being saved from sin or evil
vigorous – done with great force or energy
American Colonization Society – early 1800s organization that proposed to end slavery by helping African Americans move to Africa
abolitionist – person who wanted to end slavery completely in the United States
The Liberator – most influential antislavery newspaper; began in 1831
Underground Railroad – network of black and white abolitionists who secretly helped slaves escape to freedom in the North or Canada
crusade – major effort to change something
influential – compelling or affecting the actions, behavior, or opinions of others
public opinion – the collective opinion of many people on an issue or problem
Presidents:
1st / 1789 / – / 1797 / 2 terms / George Washington - 572nd / 1797 / – / 1801 / 1 term / John Adams - 61
3rd / 1801 / – / 1809 / 2 terms / Thomas Jefferson - 57
4th / 1809 / – / 1817 / 2 terms / James Madison - 57
5th / 1817 / – / 1825 / 2 terms / James Monroe – 58
6th / 1825 / – / 1829 / 1 term / John Quincy Adams - 57
7th / 1829 / – / 1837 / 2 terms / Andrew Jackson - 61
8th / 1837 / – / 1841 / 1 term / Martin Van Buren - 54
9th / 1841 / – / 1841 / Died / William Henry Harrison - 68
10th / 1841 / – / 1845 / 1 term / John Tyler - 51
11th / 1845 / – / 1849 / 1 term / James K Polk - 49
12th / 1849 / – / 1850 / Died / Zachary Taylor - 64
13th / 1850 / – / 1853 / 1 term / Millard Fillmore - 50
14th / 1853 / – / 1857 / 1 term / Franklin Pierce - 48
15th / 1857 / – / 1861 / 1 term / James Buchanan - 65
16th / 1861 / – / 1865 / 2 terms / Abraham Lincoln - 52, assassinated in office
17th 1865 – 1869 1 term Andrew Johnson – 57
18th 1869 – 1877 2 terms Ulysses Simpson US Grant – 47 .
BE READY !!!! BE READY !!!! BE READY !!!! BE READY !!!!
The Reforming Impulse
Had both political and religious roots; social reform
THE REFORM MOVEMENT
Political Ideas & Origins
The ideas of liberty and equality in the Declaration of Independence inspired people to try to
improve society
During Jackson era, more people could vote than ever before Introducing Democratic Party
Critics said slavery and other injustices violated democratic ideals
The Second Great Awakening and Religious Influences
Second Great Awakening stressed free will rather than predestination
Revivals encouraged people to reform their lives
Finney taught that individual salvation was the first step to reform of a society
The Second Great Awakening
In the early 1800s, a dynamic religious movement swept through the nation;
Second Great Awakening
They taught that individuals could choose to save their own souls
Preachers stirred this feeling with revivals
Revivals lasted for days and attracted thousands of people
Inspired new efforts to improve society
Charles Grandison Finney, a Presbyterian Preachercalled"The Father of Modern Revivalism."
***He was a Freemason.
TAKS 8.25C ¿¿ How did the push for social reform during the 1800s begin ?
______
Hospital and Prison Reform
One of the most vigorous social reformers was Dorothea Dix
A Boston school teacher
Reforms for the Mentally Ill
In 1841, Dix visited a jail for women in Boston
She discovered that some prisoners were not criminals but mentally ill
They were considered to be ‘lunatics’
“I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of Insane Persons confined… in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience.”
Dorothea Dix, “Memorial to the States Legislatures of Massachusetts”
She did not stop with Massachusetts, she went to jails in Louisiana and Illinois, filing persuasive reports to the respective legislatures to treat the
Prison Reform
Dix and others joined together to improve conditions in prisons
Crammed together in cold damp rooms with no food; unless they had money to buy food
from the jailers ( corruption )
5 out of 6 people in Northern jails were debtors
While in jail, you could not earn money to pay off debt, so you stayed in jail
Changes in this system, led by Dix and others, resulted in prison cells that housed only one or two inmates
Cruel punishment was to be banned
Minor crimes received shorter sentences
Slowly, states stopped treating debtors as criminals
The Temperance Movement
In the early 1800s, alcohol abuse was widespread
Men…women…children… all drank and sometimes drank heavily
Whiskey was sold at barbershops and candy stores
Toward the end of the 1820s, women took the lead role against alcohol;
temperance movement
Women believed the ‘Demon Rum’ led to wife-beating, child abuse, and family breakups
Their 1st victory over alcohol came in 1851 when Maine banned the sale of alcohol; 8 others states followed with similar anti-alcohol laws
Most states repealed the laws, but the movement continued
Improving Education
Few children attended school
Only Massachusetts required free public school; paid for by the community
Teachers were poorly trained and poorly paid
They argued a republic required educated citizens
Girls and boys were usually taught together in elementary school, in high school, however, they were often separated
New technologies, such as the invention of the steel pen and the blackboard,changed classrooms in the 1800s
Physical punishment was common in schoolrooms. A popular saying advised…”Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child”
Growth of Public Schools
1841, New York passed laws requiring local governments to set up tax supported school districts
Horace Mann became the head of the Massachusetts Board of Education
Mann got the legislature to provide money to build new schools,
extend the school year, and raise teacher’s pay
Schools in the South improved slowly
¿¿ What reforms were made in education ?
______
15.2 - Opposing Slavery
Roots of the Antislavery Movement
Declaration of Independence stated, “All men are created equal”
Thomas Jefferson and others believed this statement was NOT meant to include
enslaved African Americans
Early Efforts
Religious beliefs led reformers to oppose slavery
A ‘sin’ against GOD to own a human being; all people are equal in GODs eye
Second Great Awakening called for Christians to join a crusade to stamp-out slavery
In 1800, 50,000 slaves in the North – nearly one million in the South
The Abolitionist Movement Grows
Abolitionist wanted to end slavery completely in the US
Some would settle for a gradual end to slavery by not allowing slavery
in the new Western territories
Others demanded an end to slavery everywhere; AT ONCE
Frederick Douglass - February 1818 – February 1895
while he was still an enslaved, Frederick Douglass bravely fought slavery. He suffered beatings for resisting commands and was once jailed for trying to escape. Even after he finally did escape, Douglass was in constant danger of being captured and returned to the South. Despite the risk, he did not hesitate to speak out against slavery.
In 1845, Douglas wrote his autobiography. Fearing for Douglass’ life, an abolitionist friend warned him not to publish it. Douglass did so anyway. Two years later, friends raised money to buy Douglass his freedom at last.
Frederick Douglass is the best known African American abolitionist
Born a slave in Maryland
As a child, he ignored ‘slave-codes’ by learning to read
He escaped to New England in 1838
He began lecturing across the United States and Great Britain
In 1847, he began publishing an antislavery newspaper, The North Star
William Lloyd Garrison
Garrison is known as the most outspoken white abolitionist
He believed slavery should end IMMEDIATELY
He wrote the most influential antislavery newspaper, The Liberator
Front Page, First Issue – “…I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice… I am in earnest… I will not excuse – I will not retreat a single inch – and I WILL BE HEARD.”
1832, he helped found the New England Antislavery Society
¿¿ Discuss the roles of Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison in the abolitionist movement…
Douglas______
Garrison______
The Grimké Sisters
White sisters, Angelina and Sarah Grimké, daughters of a South Carolina slave holder, hated slavery so much they moved to Philadelphia to lecture at antislavery meetings
Some male abolitionists, opposed females speaking out in public
Sarah responded, “Whatsoever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do”
The Underground Railroad
Not a real railroad, but a network of black and white abolitionists secretly helping runaway slaves escape slavery by moving the freedom seekers to ‘safe’ houses, or stations, were the slaves could spend the night, get something to eat, and rest as they made their way North and to Canada
Conductors safely guided the run away slaves to a series of homes, churches, or even caves along the route, like a railroad rest stop
Some hid slaves in hay wagons with false bottoms; the slave would hide under stacks of hay as the conductor traveled North – incognito!!!!
Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave, was a very successful conductor; she was responsible for leading more than 300 slaves on their trip to freedom
Nicknamed, ‘Black Moses’; Moses was the leader of the Israelites and led them out of slavery from Egypt
Slave owners offered a reward of $40,000 for her capture
She was good! A real good conductor!
Opposition to Abolition
By mid-1800s, slavery only existed in the South
Abolitionist Douglass and Garrison had made enemies not only of Southern slave holders, but
also some whites in the North
Reaction in the North
Northern mill owners, bankers, and merchants depended on cotton for their livelihood
Northern blue-collar workers feared that free African Americans would come North and
take their jobs for lower pay
NOTE TO STUDENT -- Never mess with someone’s paycheck
In Boston, a mob dragged William Lloyd Garrison through the streets at the end of a
hanging rope
Sometimes, this scare tactic backfired; a person in the crowd saw Garrison being treated so harshly and commented, “I am an abolitionist from this very moment”
Reaction in the South
Most anti-abolitionist white Southerns accused abolitionists of
‘preaching violence’
Nat Turner did -- his rebellion led to the deaths of 60 white men, women, and children
They used knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt instruments instead of firearms
Nat called on his group to "kill all whites”
Nat Turner died a slave at the age of 30; he was first hanged, then beheaded
Southern Plantation owners – “if slaves were treated well, they would love their masters and serve him faithfully”
…“slaves are better off than Northern factory workers that work long hours in dusty,
airless factories”
Even non-slave owners in the South feared a ‘personal’ economic loss if slavery was
abolished
1. How did political and religious ideals provide inspiration for reform ?
Political______
Religious______
2. Why did Dorothea Dix seek to reform the treatment of prisoners and
the mentally ill ?
______
3. What were the goals of the temperance movement ?
______
4. How did reformers improve American education ?
______
5. Who would have been most likely to make this statement ?
“My suffering only whetted in me my appetite for the sweetness of freedom.”
A. John RusswurmB. Frederick Douglass
C. Maria StewartD. William Lloyd Garrison
6. How did the antislavery movement begin and grow ?
______
7. How did the Underground Railroad help slaves reach freedom ?
______
8. Why did many white Northerns and Southerns oppose the campaign to abolish
slavery ?
Northerns______
Southerns______
1 of PRINTER NOTES 14.C 15.1 + 15.2 MAR 2017