Reforming American Society

1
Reforming American Society

• Chapter 8

2
Religion Sparks Reform

• Charles Grandison Finney was on e of the most
  famous preachers of the era
• He inspired emotional religious faith, using a
  speaking style that was as much high drama as
  prayer or sermon
• His duty was to spread the word of personal
  salvation to others
• This religious activism--or evangelism--was part
  of an overall era of reform that started in the
  late 1830s
• Reforms of this period included the following
• Womens Rights
• School Reform
• Abolition

3
2nd Great Awakening

• The Second Great Awakening or the Great Revival
  was the second great religious revival in United
  States history
• The preachers of the 2nd Great Awakening rejected
  the 18th century belief that God predestined
  ones salvation--meaning whether or not they went
  to heaven or hell
• Christian churches split over these ideas, as
  various denominations competed to proclaim the
  message of God

4
Revivalism

• The forums for their messages were large
  gatherings called revivals
• At the revivals, preachers could gather audiences
  of up to 20,000 at an outdoor camp
• A revival would typically last 4-5 days
• During the day, they would study the Bible and
  examine their souls
• At night, they would hear emotional preaching,
  which is said to have caused them to cry out,
  burst into tears, and tremble with fear
• Revivalism had a strong impact on a culture.
• For example
• In 1800, only 1 in15 people were church members
• In 1850, 1 in 6 people were church members

5
The African-American Church

• The 2nd Great Awakening brought Christianity to a
  major role in the lives of enslaved
  African-Americans
• There was the idea during this time that all
  people, regardless of race, belonged to the same
  God
• For example
• Slaves in the South worshipped in the same
  churches, though segregated by pews as their
  owners
• However, they interpreted the message of
  Christianity as a promise of freedom to their
  people

6
African Methodist Episcopal Church

• This church would become a social, political,
  cultural center for African-Americans
• It provided schools other services that were
  denied to them by whites
• The church leader was Richard Allen, who inspired
  his congregations to strengthen its faith as well
  as to fight slavery
• He organized the first black national convention
  (Philadelphia, 1830)

7
Transcendentalism

• A philosophical literary movement that
  emphasized living a simple life
• 2 main figures Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry
  David Thoreau
• Both are accomplished writers/poets
• Example of how they lived
• Thoreau lived by himself on Walden Pond
• His cabin cost him only 28.12 to build and he
  borrowed tools to build it
• They also believed in individual freedom, meaning
  people should be guided by their own definition
  of right wrong

8
Slavery Abolition

• Section 2

9
Slavery Abolition

• African-Americans were joined by whites in public
  criticism of slavery
• Abolition is the call or the term to outlaw
  slavery
• The most radical white abolitionist was William
  Lloyd Garrison
• He started his own newspaper, The Liberator, to
  deliver the uncompromising message of immediate
  emancipation--or the freeing of slaves with no
  payment to the owners
• Garrison was also the founder of the New England
  Anti-Slavery Society
• David Walker, a free black advised blacks to
  fight for freedom rather than to wait for slave
  owners to end slavery

10
Frederick Douglass

• Born into slavery in 1817, Douglass had been
  taught to read write by the wife of his owner
• However his owner ordered her to stop because
  reading would forever unfit him to be a slave
• He realized that his studies were his way to
  freedom, so that made him more determined to do
  better in school
• He escaped in 1838, using the disguise of a free
  black sailor
• Performed odd jobs for over 3 years
• Quoted saying No work too hard or too dirty
• In 1841, he became a lecturer in the anti-slavery
  movement for the next 50 years
• In the 1840s he protested segregated trains by
  sitting in cars reserved by whites
• After his refusal to leave, a group of men tried
  to pull him out of his seat
• As a result, the men pulled the railroad seat out
  of the floor of the car with Douglass still
  hanging on

11
Rural Slavery vs. Urban Slavery

• (1) Rural Slavery
• Men, women, children worked from dusk to dawn
• The whips of the overseer compelled them to work
  faster
• Most slaves lived on plantations or large farms
  that employed ten of more slaves
• (2) Urban Slavery
• They worked in industries such as mining lumber
• Slave owners hired out their slaves to factory
  owners
• In return, slave owners collected the pay of
  their slaves without having to supervise them

12
Turners Rebellion

• Nat Turner was born into slavery in 1800 in
  Virginia
• Turner believed that he had been chosen to lead
  his people out of bondage
• He used a solar eclipse to be a divine signal for
  action
• With 80 followers, Turners band attacked and
  killed almost 60 whites
• Turner was captured, tried, and hanged
• In retaliation, whites killed as many as 200
  blacks, who had no connection with the uprising

13
Women and Reform

• Section 3

14
Women Reform

• In the early 19th century, women had limited
  options.
• Customs demanded that women restrict their
  activities after marriage to the home family
• Cult of Domesticity the tradition where
  housework child care were the only appropriate
  activities for women
• Roles of Women
• 1 in 10 single women worked outside the home
  (only earned 1/2 of what men did)
• Women were often not considered guardians of
  their children

15
Key Players

• Lucretia Mott
• Very talkative as a child (her mother called her
  long tongue)
• Born raised in Nantucket, Mass., where most of
  the men spent months at a time away on whaling
  voyages
• Her ideologies revolve around Who was
  responsible for running the town while the men
  were away?
• She realized that women were capable
  independent and this sought to recognize this

16
Key Players

• Sarah Angelina Grimke
• Grew up wealthy prominent in Charlestown, SC
• Their family owned hundreds of slaves
• Although unlikely candidates for the abolition
  movement, they spoke out strongly for it.
• Both taught slaves to read write which was a
  violation of South Carolina Law

17
Temperance Movement

• Effort to prohibit the drinking of alcohol
• This movement was another offshoot of the
  influence of the churches
• In the early 1800s, alcohol flowed freely in
  America
• Example of use helped wash down heavily salted
  meat fish, used to sedate patients before an
  operation with whiskey or brandy

18
A Serious Problem

• Many Americans realized that alcohol was a
  serious problem
• Lyman Beecher (minister) would begin to lecture
  against all alcohol in 1825
• In 1826, the American Temperance Society was
  founded
• By 1833, over 6,000 temperance societies were
  founded

19
Prohibition

• Nearly a century after the American Temperance
  Society was founded, the nation ratified the 18th
  amendment
• This outlawed the manufacturing, sale, or
  transportation of alcohol
• The law was easier to pass than enforce
• For Example millions of Americans continued to
  drink _at_ underground saloons or speakeasies
• Illegal liquor distribution became a lucrative
  violent business, which spawned the growth of
  issues.

20
Womens Rights Movement

• As women fought to improve conditions for others,
  they realized that they too were 2nd class
  citizens
• Had few rights privileges in American society

21
The Changing Workplace

• Section 4

22
Industry Changes Work

• Moving production from the family to the
  factories did the following
• (1)split families
• (2)created new communities
• (3)transformed traditional relationships between
  employers employees
• The textile industry pioneered the new
  manufacturing techniques that would affect rules
  and behavior required of most Americans

23
Early Factories

• Textiles were the first, but other areas of
  manufacture shifted from the home to the factory
• For example
• Artisans produced items that a family could not
  make for itself, such as furniture and tools
• The most experienced artisans had titles
• Master was the highest skilled in a specific
  trade
• Journeyman a skilled worker employed by a master
• Apprentice a young worker learning a craft
• The spread of factory production revolutionized
  industry
• The cost of making household goods and clothes
  dramatically dropped

24
Lowell Mills

• Mill owners hired females because they could pay
  them lower wages then men
• However, to the women, textile work was better
  pay than the alternatives (teaching, sewing,
  domestic work)
• The workday began at 5 a.m. ended at 730 p.m.
• These hours didnt seem long to the girls, but
  heat, darkness, and poor ventilation contributed
  to their discomfort
• Overseers would nail windows shut to seal in the
  humidity they thought prevented the thread from
  breaking
• In the 1830s mill workers also increased their
  pace
• They tripled the number of spindles and looms,
  but hired only 50 more workers to operate them
• Then they organized a 15 wage cut
• 800 mill girls conducted a strike to protest the
  wage cut

25
Lowell continued

• Criticized by the Lowell press and clergy, most
  of the strikers agreed to return to work for
  reduced wages
• The mill fired the strike leaders
• In the 1840s the mill girls took their argument
  to the political arena
• In 1845, they founded the Lowell Female Reform
  Association to petition Massachusetts for a
  ten-hour workday

26
Irish Immigrants

• Irish immigrants settled in the large cities of
  the East
• Nearly 1 million, Irish immigrants had settled in
  America between 1815 1844
• Between 1845 and 1854, Irish immigration soared
  after the Great Potato Famine killed as many as 1
  million of the Irish people and drove over 1
  million to homes in America
• Irish immigrants faced bitter prejudice both
  because they were Roman Catholic and poor
• Their willingness to work for low wages under
  terrible conditions made them the easiest target
  for employers
• More than half of the Irish Immigrants were
  women, who became textile workers to break
  strikes with cheap labor