Reform


 * REFORM MODULE**


 * My Website Spotlight blog posts that pertain to this module**

God in America (PBS) http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/view/ My Website Spotlight blog post http://thelearningprofessor.blogspot.com/2012/06/website-spotlight-god-in-america.html

Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Library of Congress) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html My Website Spotlight blog post http://thelearningprofessor.blogspot.com/2012/06/website-spotlight-religion-and-founding.html


 * Learning Objectives**:

Discuss the causes, characteristics, and consequences of the Second Great Awakening.

Indicate the ideas, leaders, and contributions of the following reform movements: temperance and the women's movement.

Discuss the growth of the antislavery movement, the difference between gradualists and immediatists, and the impact of the movement on American society.


 * Introduction to our module**

National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860 (Joyce Appleby) (Gilder Lehrman) Good on American Exceptionalism http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/essays/national-expansion-and-reform-1815%E2%80%931860

The First Age of Reform (Ronald Walters) (Gilder Lehrman) http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/first-age-reform/essays/first-age-reform

Unit 3: Voices across Time: Expansion & Reform []


 * Second Great Awakening**

Began around 1800 Democratized American religion—as voting was being democratized Rejected doctrine of predestination

Religion and the New Republic (Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, Library of Congress) []

Evangelicalism, Revivalism, and the Second Great Awakening (Divining America, National Humanities Center) []

Evangelicalism as a Social Movement, The Nineteenth Century (Divining America, National Humanities Center) http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/nevansoc.htm

Religion, Women, and the Family in Early America http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/erelwom.htm

A. On the frontier: West and South

Focus on individual salvation; no impulse to reform society

1. Camp meetings Attended by thousands Cane Ridge (1801): 10,000 participants

Cane Ridge Revival Kentucky (Google Images) http://bit.ly/TlvRqt

Cane Ridge Meeting House http://www.caneridge.org/ Plus: The Great Revival http://www.caneridge.org/revival.html

"The Meeting Continued All Night" (History Matters) []

Strange Behavior at Cane Ridge (Christianity.com) http://www.christianity.com/ChurchHistory/11630338/

2. Circuit riders

Methodist Circuit Riders (Google Images) http://bit.ly/Nmtd10

Peter Cartwright: excerpts from his autobiography (Toolbox Library, National Humanities Center) [] []

"A Religious Flame That Spread All Over Kentucky": Peter Cartwright Brings Evangelical Christianity to the West, 1801-04 []

Peter Cartwright: Colorful Preacher (Christianity.com) http://www.christianity.com/ChurchHistory/11630304/

God, Man, Woman, and the Wesleys (American Heritage) http://www.americanheritage.com/content/god-man-woman-and-wesleys?page=show

Pentecost in the Backwoods (American Heritage) http://www.americanheritage.com/content/pentecost-backwoods?page=show

Modern example of a circuit rider Circuit rider mixes preaching and horse sense : Robert Harris takes old-time religion to Southern hamlets (Los Angeles Times) []

B. In the north ("Burned-Over District")

Congregationalists and Presbyterians Small to medium-sized towns Northern revivals led to an impulse to reform society

Charles G. Finney

Key name in Second Great Awakening

New York lawyer Converted (1821) Finney became a full–time evangelist "I have a retainer from Jesus to plead his case" Focused initially on the small towns in western New York.

Arminianism==Free will A more democratic version of Christianity than predestination. Any person who wanted to be saved could be saved.

Finney's evangelistic approach

Was controversial for its time:

a. Protracted meetings. Revivals continued nightly for a week or more.

b. Anxious bench. "Almost saved" would sit up front Made an object of special prayer.

c. Women allowed to speak aloud and pray for male relatives

Charles Finney (God in America, PBS) http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/people/charles-finney.html

"I Have a Retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ" (Christianity.com) http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/evangelistsandapologists/finney.html

"What A Revival of Religion Is" (Learner.org) http://www.learner.org/courses/amerhistory/resource_archive/resource.php?unitChoice=8&ThemeNum=2&resourceType=2&resourceID=10024

"Measures to Promote Revivals" (George Mason University) http://chnm.gmu.edu/lostmuseum/lm/370/

"My Heart Was So Full of Love That It Overflowed": Charles Grandison Finney Experiences Conversion (History Matters) []


 * Converts organized into voluntary associations**

1810—Foreign Missions Board Students at Williams College: Haystack Prayer Meeting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haystack_Prayer_Meeting

"The New Mission Generation" (Christianity Today) http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/september/19.100.html

1816—American Bible Society—distributed Bibles in the West

1825—American Tract Society—to seamen and urban poor


 * Benevolent Empire**

Lyman Beecher (God in America, PBS) []

Revivals, Burned-Over District, Benevolent Empire (George Mason University) []


 * Perfectionism**

Converted should confirm their status as Christians
 * Live a godly life: give up vices
 * Individual self-improvement
 * Convert others
 * Ask them to perfect themselves

Reformers organized associations to address pressing social ills:

Prison reform (US History.org) http://www.ushistory.org/us/26d.asp

Treatment of the mentally ill

Dorothea Dix: Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts (Disability Museum) http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=737


 * Temperance**

A campaign against the use of alcohol was one of the key reform efforts.
 * Evangelicals considered drinking a sin
 * Forsaking alcohol a part of conversion
 * The sale of whiskey often involved a Sabbath violation
 * Whiskey destroyed families

Alcohol consumption was cut

Ordinary women formed Martha Washington societies

Cold Water Army. No drinks but cold water.

Cold Water Pledge insignia (Memorial Hall) http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/collection/itempage.jsp?itemid=17958

Teetotalers. Total abstinence for all drink.

Employers complained that drinkers took St. Monday as a holiday to recover from Sunday.

Demon rum became a prime target of reformers.


 * Temperance goals shifted over time**:

From the moderate use of alcohol Debate on how to define "alcohol": beer, wine, whiskey To voluntary abstinence To total prohibition

See also:

Temperance and Prohibition (Today in History, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct28.html

Prohibition (Ken Burns) http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/roots-of-prohibition/

What caused the temperance movement? (Teaching History.org) http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25571

Temperance movement (Ohio History online) http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=560

Temperance Archive (George Mason University) http://chnm.gmu.edu/lostmuseum/searchlm.php?function=find&exhibit=temperance&browse=temperance


 * Women's movement**


 * Seneca Falls Woman's Rights Convention** (1848)

Rights for Women: The Suffrage Movement and its Leaders (National Women's History Museum exhibition) [use this and the links from this URL for everything I need in this section] http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/SenecaFalls.html

Seneca Falls Convention (Today in History, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul19.html http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul20.html

1. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott the organizers:

Susan B. Anthony []

Elizabeth Cady Stanton []

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Today in History, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov12.html

Elizabeth Cady Stanton obituary (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1112.html

Lucretia Mott [|http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/people/lucretia-mott.htm]

Lucretia Mott (National Park Service) http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/lucretia-mott.htm

Lucretia Mott obituary (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0103.html

2. Felt that American society treated women no better than slaves

The Seneca Falls Convention (American Treasures of the Library of Congress) []

3. Offered a "Declaration of Sentiments" http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/declaration-of-sentiments.htm "All men and women are created equal"

See also:

Seneca Falls Convention (Finding Dulcinea) http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/multi-day/virtual-tourist/week-10/wed-seneca-falls.html

The Seneca Falls Convention (History Now) http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/first-age-reform/essays/seneca-falls-convention-setting-national-stage-for-women%E2%80%99s-su


 * Antislavery Overview**

//**We should all ask ourselves the question: Would I have been an abolitionist?**//

Antislavery was not a unified movement at first

Its adherents differed over several issues:
 * a. How hard to push the issue
 * b. The rights of women
 * c. The place of free blacks in American society

The issue of slavery eventually became so compelling that it consumed all the other reforms we have discussed.

See also:

Abolitionists https://youtu.be/aLuZylQXyp4 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/trailer/abolitionists-extended-preview/

Abolitionism (Africans in America) []

American Abolitionism and Religion (National Humanities Center) http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/amabrel.htm

Abolition: The African-American Mosaic (Library of Congress Exhibition) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam005.html

Abolition (African American Odyssey, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart3.html

Abolition and Antebellum Reform (Ronald Walters) (Gilder Lehrman) http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/slavery-and-anti-slavery/essays/abolition-and-antebellum-reform

Abolition and Religion (Robert Abzug) (Gilder Lehrman) http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/slavery-and-anti-slavery/essays/abolition-and-religion

DC Abolishes the Slave Trade (Today in History, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep20.html


 * Gradual emancipation**:

1. American Colonization Society (founded in 1816)

American Colonization Society (Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/daghtml/dagamco.html

2. Advocated gradual emancipation of former slaves

3. Suggested resettlement in Africa

Colonization: The African-American Mosaic (Library of Congress Exhibition) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam002.html

4. Liberia was set up for this purpose Its capital, Monrovia, named for President James Monroe

Maps of Liberia http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/libhtml/libhome.html

Founding of Liberia (Historian of the State Department) https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/liberia

Liberia: The African-American Mosaic (Library of Congress Exhibition) http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam003.html


 * Immediate emancipation**

Immediatism surpassed gradualism as dominant anti-slavery approach


 * a. Immediate—right now
 * b. Complete—no other labor contract
 * c. Uncompensated—owners not paid a thing

Contrast between "old" abolitionism: American Colonization Society "new" abolitionism: Garrison and American Anti–Slavery society

American Anti-Slavery Society (Ohio History online) http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=832

[]
 * William Lloyd Garrison**

William Lloyd Garrison []

Garrison was a white abolitionist

He argued for immediate emancipation

His newspaper, //The Liberator//, began publication in 1831 []


 * Free blacks**

Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period (African American Odyssey, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/aopart2.html

Washington Spalding Discusses the Condition of Free Blacks (History Matters) http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6383/

Almost 250,000 in south by 1860

Highly discriminated against by whites Legal status somewhere between slave and free Whites feared free blacks would lead slave uprisings States enacted "Black codes" to control movement of free blacks


 * Black abolitionists**

Much of abolitionism was run by free blacks

By 1830, blacks had organized some 50 abolitionist societies


 * Notable free blacks**:


 * 1. Frederick Douglass**

Frederick Douglass []

This Far by Faith. Frederick Douglass | PBS http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/frederick_douglass.html

Frederick Douglass (Today in History, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep03.html

Online version of Frederick Douglass' autobiography (University of Virginia) []

Frederick Douglass (Africans in America) []

"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" (Africans in America) []

Frederick Douglass obituary (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0207.html

Frederick Douglass https://www.learner.org/series/amerpass/unit07/authors-4.html


 * 2. Harriet Tubman**

Harriet Tubman []

Harriet Tubman (Africans in America) []

Portrait of Harriet Tubman (Africans in America) []

Harriet Tubman (African American Odyssey, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart3.html

Harriet Tubman https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/u/0/exhibit/GwIC_10DOod5KA


 * 3. Sojourner Truth**

Sojourner Truth []

This Far by Faith. Sojourner Truth | PBS http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/sojourner_truth.html

Sojourner Truth (Today in History, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov26.html

Sojourner Truth (National Women's Rights Historical Park) http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/sojourner-truth.htm

Sojourner Truth (National Women's History Museum) http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/Truth.html

Sojourner Truth (African American Odyssey, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart3.html

Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman (History Matters) http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5740


 * Underground Railroad**

Map

Underground Railroad (Africans in America) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944.html

Fugitives Arriving at Indiana Farm (painting) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1558.html

8 Key Contributors to the Underground Railroad http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-key-contributors-to-the-underground-railroad

Underground Railroad Interactive (National Geographic) http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/multimedia/interactive/the-underground-railroad/?ar_a=1

Underground Railroad (American Experience) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/lincolns-underground-railroad/


 * Women abolitionists**
 * Women more prominent in abolition than other movements
 * Women could not vote
 * Women expected to "keep their place" in the background

American antislavery movement split over women's participation: One group: ok for women to speak to mixed gender audiences Other group: not ok

http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/grimke-sisters.htm
 * Angelina and Sarah Grimke** (National Park Service)

Angelina and Sarah Grimke []

Angelina and Sarah Grimke: Abolitionist Sisters (Carol Berkin) (Gilder Lehrman) http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/slavery-and-anti-slavery/essays/angelina-and-sarah-grimke-abolitionist-sisters

White daughters of a South Carolina slave owner Moved to the North Became involved in anti-slavery and women's rights Attacked the concept of subordination of women to men


 * Opposition to abolitionists**: **Murder of Elijah Lovejoy**

Elijah Lovejoy (Today in History, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov07.html

Elijah Lovejoy killed by a pro-slavery mob (Library of Congress) http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/reform/jb_reform_lovejoy_1.html

Many white Americans violently opposed abolitionism They did not want to compete with freed blacks Hostile whites threatened abolitionist editors and speakers An example of this opposition was the murder of Elijah Lovejoy He was a white abolitionist newspaper editor Murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois (1837).

Northerners outraged: Not because they supported abolition But because they wanted to preserve free speech

In the South, mobs blocked distribution of antislavery pamphlets


 * Gag rule**

Many Northern church women signed anti-slavery petitions Sent these petitions to Congress

From 1836 to 1844, Congress refused even to open or read the petitions Southerners were happy

Northerners felt their free speech was violated.

Struggles Over Slavery: The "Gag" Rule https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/treasures_of_congress/page_10.html#