Era of Reform How does overcoming obstacles lead to change? Spirit of Reform • A revival of religious feeling swept across the nation in the early 1800’s. • Church leaders called this the Second Great Awakening • This religious revival appealed to people’s emotions. The Second Great Awakening • People gathered to hear preachers give messages of hope. • People prayed, shouted, sang and some fell down in frenzies. • Preachers taught that people could be saved by doing good works. • People were now given a reason to work for the improvement of society. – Predict: What areas of society do you think needed to be improved during the mid 1800s? Transcendentalism A philosophy emphasizing that people should transcend, or go beyond, logical thinking to reach true understanding, with the help of emotions an intuition. • Urged people to question society’s rules. • Taught that people shouldn’t conform to other’s expectations. Prison Reform • 1841-Dorothea Dix agreed to teach Sunday school in jail. • She was horrified to see the conditions: –People bound in chains, locked in cages, children jailed with adults. –Dix found that other jails/prisons were the same. –Mentally Ill locked in dirty cages, whipped, etc Prison Reform “I come as the advocate of the helpless, forgotten, insane…men and women. I proceed…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 Prison Reform • Dix fought for prison reform until she died. • She accomplished several things: –Debtors no longer put in prison. –Special justice system for children. –Cruel punishments outlawed. –Special hospitals for mentally ill • She showed that reformers could make significant changes. Education Reform • Early 1800’s: –not many areas had public schools. –Wealthy parents sent kids to private schools. –Teachers weren’t very educated. –Most kids didn’t go to school. Education Reform • Horace Mann –Education reformer –“the father of American public schools” –Fought for more public schools –Got more money for schools –Better teacher training Education Reform “Our means of education are the grand machinery by which the raw material of human nature can be worked up into inventors and dicoverers, into skilled artisans and scientific farmers” -Horace Mann Education Reform • Oberlin College(1837)-first to allow men and women. • 1850’s… –Most high schools and colleges still didn’t allow girls. –Didn’t allow African Americans Pop Quiz 1. What was the Second Great Awakening? 2. Define Transcendentalism. 3. Describe one problem with the prison system in the early 1800’s. 4. Name one prison reformer. 5. Describe one problem with the education system in the early 1800’s. 6. Name one education reformer. The Movement to end Slavery • Abolitionist= a person who supports the ending of slavery. • By the 1830s abolitionists were asking this questionHow can a land of the free still allow slavery? How to End? • Abolitionists wanted to end slavery, but disagreed how to end it!!! 1. Rise up and revolt? 2. Peacefully end it immediately? 3. Give slaveholders time to develop farming methods? • Which way do you think would be most effective? Frederick Douglass • An escaped slave. • Became a leader in the abolition movement. • His autobiography was an instant best seller. • Brilliant-started his own newspaper – North Star Women get Involved • Grimke sisters: raised in the south by a slaveholding family – Went north and became Quakers – Spoke out against slavery – Paved the way for other women to speak in public • Sojourner Truth: Former slave – Strongly spiritual – An outstanding speaker – Felt God would end slavery peacefully Equal Rights for Women • Women abolitionists were in a strange position. –Fighting to end slavery –But they couldn’t vote or hold office. –Raised money for the abolition movement –Men controlled their money –Spoke out against slave beatings –Were beaten by their husbands • Women agreed something needed to be done about the injustices suffered by women The Movement Begins • Women’s right movement was started by two women. –Lucretia Mott: 47 yrs old, active reformer, Quaker –Elizabeth Cady Stanton: 25 yrs old, newly married, never spoken in public Seneca Falls Convention • Stanton and Mott organized a women’s convention in Seneca Falls, NY. • They presented the Declaration of Sentiments. – D.O.S. was written like the D.O.I. – Started with, “We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men and women are created equal. – Listed the ways men violated their rights. Right to Vote • At the Seneca Falls Convention women discussed voting. • Some women thought demanding voting rights was going too far. • Frederick Douglass argued that A.A.’s and women should both demand voting rights. Legacy of Seneca Falls • Created an organized campaign for women’s rights • Sojourner Truth became a prominent figure in the movement • NY gave women the right to control property and wages, MA passed liberal divorce laws