15.3 Social and Cultural Change pp. 484-487

Objectives: Consider changes in the treatment of the mentally ill in the mid-1800s. Explain the effects of the Second Great Awakening.

A. Reforming Prisons (pp. 484-485) At the beginning of the 1800s, debtors, juvenile delinquents, and the mentally ill were regarded as criminals and often locked up in jails with murderers and thieves. Reformers like Dorothea Dix and Josiah Quincy worked to shift the focus of prisons from punishment to rehabilitation. Quincy suggested separating very young offenders from their adult counterparts.

B. Rescuing Mentally Ill Prisoners (p. 485) Over a two-year period, Dorothea Dix investigated 18 state penitentiaries, 300 county jails, and more than 500 poorhouses. As a result of her efforts, Massachusetts passed a law to build mental hospitals where mental illness could be treated as a disease rather than a crime. By 1852 she had persuaded 11 states to open hospitals for the mentally ill.

C. Crusading for Temperance (p. 485) Reformers considered alcoholism a major cause of crime. Reformers who were concerned that alcoholism undermined American values began a campaign known as the temperance movement. Some asked that people drink less alcohol, while others insisted that the sale of alcohol be banned altogether (prohibition).

D. The Campaign Against Alcohol (p. 486) Temperance societies used propaganda to win support for their cause. They sang songs like “Drink Nothing, Boys, but Water” and “Father, Bring Home Your Money Tonight.” By 1857 several states had passed prohibition laws. Many Americans protested the laws, and most of the laws were later repealed.

E. The Second Great Awakening (p. 486) A revival, or reawakening, of religious faith and social feeling occurred in the early 1800s. Preachers who moved from town to town urged listeners to renew their faith and cure the evils of societies. This movement, called the Second Great Awakening, filled many Americans with determination to make social reforms.

F. Ideal & Religious Communal Groups (pp. 486-487) Some reformers wished to reorganize American society. Many “Utopian” communities were organized in the hope of creating heaven on earth. The Shakers, founded by Ann Lee in 1772, secluded themselves from the rest of the world, and their handiwork, especially furniture, is highly valued by collectors today.

Review: What two types of institutions did Dorothea Dix work to improve? What issue did the temperance movement work to address? What was the name of the religious movement that swept through the nation in the early 1800s?