U.S. History

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U.S. History

• Unit 3
• Chapter 9
• Religion Reform
• 1800 1850

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Few Problems

• Poverty, alcoholism, illiteracy, overcrowded
  housing, poor health care, abuse of women,
  declining moral values.
• These problems plagued cities early on.
• Many people felt cities needed to reform.
• It will begin with faith based reformers.

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Section 1 Middle Class Reform

• Protestant Revivalists believed that God was
  all-powerful but that God allowed people to make
  their own destinies.
• Charles Grandison Finney Central figure
• Preached with passion and fire!
• Lyman Beecher father to Henry Ward Beecher,
  Harriett Beecher Stowe, Catherine Beecher
• Warned America the vast extent of territory,
  our numerous and increasing population, . . .
  Diversity of local interests, the power of
  selfishness, and the fury of sectional jealousy
  and hate.
• Said good people would make a good country!

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Section 1 cont.

• Transcendentalists (rise above)
• Centered in Concord, Massachusetts
• Taught that the process of spiritual discovery
  and insight would lead a person to truths more
  profound than he or she could reach through
  reason. Humans are naturally good. Promote
  self-reliance.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Leader of the movement.
• (1803 1882)
• Recognized as a major American poet.
• Young wife died, so he questioned his beliefs.
• What is man born for, but to be a reformer, a
  reformer of what man has made, a renouncer of
  lies a restorer of truth and good . . . ?

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Henry David Thoreau

• Best works Walden, or life in the Woods
• Suffered tragedy to make him question
• Failed at teaching, broken engagement, death of
  brother.
• Built a cabin on lake Walden and spent 2 years
  writing and thinking.
• Where he wrote Walden.

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Henry David Thoreau (cont.)

• Why should we be in such desperate haste to
  succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a
  man does not keep pace with his companions,
  perhaps it is because he hears a different
  drummer. Let him step to the music which he
  hears, however measured or far away. --- Walden
  (1854)
• Strong opponent of war with Mexico.
• True to his beliefs, he protested in 1846 by not
  paying taxes.
• Jailed for this and later described it in his
  famous essay Civil Disobedience.
• In his later years, he devoted lots of time to
  the anti-slavery movement, or helping escaped
  slaves free.

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The Temperance Movement

• Social problem of the early 1800s.
• At this point, Americans consumed more alcoholic
  beverages per person than any other time in the
  country's history.
• An organized campaign to eliminate alcohol
  consumption.
• U.S. actually threatened with becoming a nation
  of drunkards. Greene and Delaware Moral
  Society, 1815
• Women reformers particularly saw it as
  threatening.
• Abstinence to not drink alcohol.

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Temperance Movement (cont.)

• By 1834 the American Temperance Society had 7,000
  local organizations with 1,250,000 members.
• Abraham Lincoln, young lawyer who saw Temperance
  Movement like American Revolution.
• He looked forward to the happy day whenthe
  victory shall be complete when there shall be
  neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth.
• Maine outlaws alcohol in 1851.
• Protests of brewers, distillers, and other
  citizens usually led to repeal of such laws.

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Public Education

• Public Education needed to be reformed too!
• Buildings were old, textbooks were scarce,
  teacher quality was poor.
• Many people began demanding tax-supported public
  schools.
• Democracy needs literate, informed voters and
  morally upright citizens.
• Opposition
• Tax payers with no kids, or kids went to private
  schools hated this suggestion
• Some families needed their kids to work and
  didnt want them going to school past a certain
  age.

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Horace Mann leads reforms!

• Self-educated
• Served in Mass legis.
• States 1st Sec. of Board of Ed.
• Believed in the absolute right to an education
  of every human being that comes into the world.
• Wanted to raise taxes for public ed.
• Divided schools into grade levels.
• Established first public high school in 1821.
• Fought against slavery.

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Moral Education

• Like other middle-class reformers, Mann wanted an
  education that promoted self-discipline and good
  citizenship.
• Schools taught kids how to behave, stand in line
  to wait turn, be polite to others, and respect
  authority.
• Learned through McGuffeys Readers.
• Promoted evangelical Protestant values.

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Limits of Reform

• Schools more common in North than South.
• Where schools did exist
• Girls discouraged from attending
• Free blacks often turned away or were segregated
  (separated according to race).
• Some African American colleges opened.
• Some private colleges became coeducational.
• For most part, only white males were welcomed at
  Universities.

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Reforming Prisons

• In 1800s many states built prisons for those who
  committed crimes.
• Supposed to be in isolation here for years.
• Prisoners were supposed to lead regular,
  disciplined lives, reflect on their sins, and
  maybe become law abiding citizens.
• But Dorothea Dix, a Boston schoolteacher, found
  out otherwise

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Dorothea Dixs Discovery

• She discovered all kinds of people (men, women,
  young/old, sane/insane, first-timers, and repeat
  offenders) all together in bad conditions.
• Dressed in rags
• Poorly fed
• Chained together in unheated cells
• Spent next 2 years going to all prisons in Mass.
• Submitted findings to Mass legislature.
• Treating the Mentally ill as criminals rather
  than patients, is to condemn them to mental
  death.
• She convinced state to improve conditions and
  create separate institutions for the mentally
  ill.
• 15 others states did the same!

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Utopian Communities

• Most reformers worked to improve society at
  large, while some formed Utopian Communities.
• Small societies dedicated to perfection in social
  and political conditions.
• Utopia, appeared in literature earlier.
• Described a place where human greed, sin, and
  egotism did not exists, and people lived in
  prosperity as equals.
• Utopian reformers, angry about urban problems,
  believed these kinds of societies would be
  possible.

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Not so much

• First half of 1800s, 100 communities arose.
• Most famous New Harmony, Indiana
• Founded in 1825 by Scottish man Robert Owen.
• Owen wanted a town with well-educated and
  hardworking people, sharing property in common
  and living in harmony.
• Fell victim to laziness, selfishness, and
  quarreling.
• Most were religiously oriented.
• Shakers (from Quakers) established their first
  community in New Lebanon, NY in 1787.
• Lead lives of productive labor, moral perfection,
  and equality among men and women.
• Best known today for great furniture!
• Peaked in 1840 with 6,000 members, few survived
  into late 1900s.

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Section 2The Antislavery Movement

• David Walker spread his message interestingly.
• He bought cloths from sailors returning to port,
  put copies of his pamphlet Appeal to the Colored
  Citizens of the World in them, and then resold
  the.
• He said white people should all cooperate so that
  all Americans can live in peace and happiness
  together.
• But if they would not listen he warned, We must
  and shall be freein spite of white people, for
  America is as much our country as it is yours.
• Angry southerners in response to antislavery
  literature, ban anti-slavery publications and
  made it illegal to teach slaves to read.
• Yet, fighters of the ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT (the
  movement to end slavery), continued to fight!

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Roots of Abolitionism

• Earliest known antislavery protest came from the
  Mennonites, Christian sect of German immigrants,
  who declared in 1688
• There is a saying, that we should do to all men
  like as we will be done ourselves making no
  difference of what generation, descent, or colour
  they are. And those who steal or rob men, and
  those who buy or purchase them, are they not all
  alike?
• From 1777-1807every state north of Maryland
  passes laws that gradually abolish slavery.
• No more importing slaves after 1808.

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Different Approaches

• A Quaker, Benjamin Lundy, founded an antislavery
  newspaper called The Genius of Universal
  Emancipation.
• The paper called for a gradual program of
  EMANCIPATION, freeing of slaved persons.
• He wanted to stop the spread of slavery to new
  states and end the slave trade within the U.S.
  first.
• By the end of the 1820s, nearly 50 African
  American antislavery groups had formed in the
  nation..

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Different Approaches ContinuedThe Colonization
of Liberia

• Early 1800s some abolitionists favored
  COLONIZATION, a program to send free blacks and
  emancipated slaves to Africa.
• Thinking Af. Amers. would never be treated
  equally, these abolitionists formed the American
  Colonization Society in 1816.
• They established the West African country of
  Liberia (sounds like Liberty!) in 1822.
• Many white supporters of this didnt believe in
  racial equality.
• Many wanted to rid the US of slavery African
  Americans.
• Some felt this would be good and not allow for
  slave revolts!
• Tended to offend African Americans.
• By 1831, only about 1,400 free African Americans
  had migrated to Liberia.

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Radical Abolitionism

• Most famous was William Lloyd Garrison.
• We will learn about him later.
• Another famous abolitionist was Frederick
  Douglass.
• We will learn about him later as well.

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Divisions Among Abolitionists

• 1.) Divisions over Womens Participation
• Most Americans didnt approve of womens
  participation in politics.
• 2.) Divisions over Race
• For Af Amers the movement was personal and had an
  urgency which many white people didnt
  understand.
• Some black reformers felt that white reformers
  regarded them as inferior.
• We find ourselves occupying the very same
  position in relation to our Anti-Slavery friends,
  as we do in relation to the pro-slavery part of
  the community a mere secondary, underlining
  position.
• Dr. Martin Delany, one of first black students to
  graduate from Harvard

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More Divisions of Abolitionists

• 3.) Divisions over Tactics
• Some felt Constitution supported slavery, so
  winning by passing new laws is pointless b/c any
  new laws would be unconstitutional.
• Some disagreed and wanted to focus on legal
  means.
• Whereas others will resort to violence!

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The Underground RR

• Some reformers relied on other means to attack
  slavery, both legal and illegal.
• Some risked their lives and created the
  Underground RR a network of escape routes that
  provided protection and transportation for slaves
  fleeing north to freedom.
• Men women acting as conductors acted as guides
  to these escaped slaves.
• Number of escaped slaves varies from 40-100,000.

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Resistance to AbolitionismIn the North?!?

• Northern merchants were worried that the
  antislavery movement would sour trade relations.
• White workers and labor leaders feared
  competition from escaped slaves willing to work
  for lower wages.
• Many people did not want Af Amers in their
  community, viewed them as socially inferior.
• At public events of abolition, violence could
  erupt.
• Stones and rotten eggs thrown at speakers
• Voices drowned out with horns or drums.
• Buildings were burnt down.
• Sometimes people were shot and killed, like
  Elijay P. Lovejoy.

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Opposition in the South

• Most southerners were angered by the criticisms
  leveled at slavery.
• Attacks by abolitionists made many more
  southerners determined to defend slavery.
• It was very dangerous for southerners to speak
  against slavery.
• Southern postmasters refused to deliver
  abolitionist literature.
• In 1836, southerners passed the GAG RULE, for the
  next eight years prohibited antislavery petitions
  from being read or acted upon in the House.
• This was proof for abolitionists that slavery
  threatened the rights of all Americans, white and
  black.

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Section 3The Movement for Womens Rights

• Reformers believed that women were central to
  success of a strong, democratic nation.
• Some women suggested start by reforming society
  from within the home.
• Cultural and Legal Limits on Women
• Many lower class women worked in factories.
• Middle class women were freed from cooking and
  making cloths, as more products appeared on
  shelves.
• What should they do then?
• Remain in the Home? Raise/educate children?
  Entertain guests? Serve husbands? Do community
  service?
• Certainly not dabble in politics!

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Strict Legal Limitations

• Women could not vote.
• In most states, married women could not own
  property.
• Women, generally, could not keep money they
  earned.
• Instead they gave it to their husband or father.

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Public Roles for Women

• More women are becoming educated, more grow eager
  to apply their knowledge and skills beyond the
  home.
• Became angry with laws/attitudes that prevented
  them with doing so.
• Participating in a movement!
• 1st taste of the world outside family.
• Marched in parades, participated in boycotts,
  gave lectures at public assemblies.
• Many women began to identify with each other in
  their bad positions in society.

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Fighting for Abolition

• Battle to end slavery is how women emerged into
  the political world.
• Women compared their situation with that of
  enslaved African Americans.
• Neither group could vote or hold office.
• Both were denied full rights of citizens.
• Women began to attend meetings, gather petitions,
  give public talks, and write pamphlets/books.

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Male Opposition

• Many men were horrified with this development.
• Some men found it distasteful for women to be
  involved politically.
• Many people did think that women were more
  virtuous then men, but that they should use it in
  the home rather than the public.

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A Womens Rights Movement

• 1840 first World Anti-Slavery Convention in
  London.
• American women were not allowed to attend.
• Two delegates said, hey, lets throw our own!
• July 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York first
  womens rights convention in US History.
• Seneca Falls Convention
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the Declaration
  of Sentimate.

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Excerpt fromDeclaration of Sentimates

• The history of mankind is a history of repeated
  injuries and usurpations seizure of power on
  the part of man toward women, to establish
  absolute tyranny over herBecause women do feel
  themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently
  deprived of their most sacred moral rights, we
  insist that they have immediate admission to all
  the rights and privileges which belong to them as
  citizens of the United States.

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Seneca Falls Convention

• They passed 12 resolutions.
• Signed by 68 women and 32 men.
• They urged women to demand equal legal and
  political rights.
• 9th resolution called for womens suffrage.
• This resolution split women all over the world.

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Slow Progress for Womens Rights

• The S.F. Convention did not trigger an immediate
  downpour of rights.
• Most Americans still felt as though women should
  do improve society in the home only.
• By 1890 more than 2,500 women/year graduated
  from college.
• Educated women began to appear in jobs that they
  had once been forbidden to do.
• For African American women, the issue of
  emancipation was more pressing as opposed to
  womens rights.