Reforms and Reformers early 1800’s Liberty and equality to all Americans as stated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Change in religion, politics, education, art, literature
Religion Second Great Awakening Started in west with revivals Improve life & world Temperance Movement Alcohol = poverty, family breakups, crime Little or no drinking Maine Education –Founded early colleges (men only)
Education Public education..1850’s –Free to public and supported by taxes –Trained teachers –Mandatory attendance Horace Mann –Lengthen school year (to 6 months) –Improved curriculum –Doubled teacher salaries –Improved teacher training Normal schools
Education..cont. Women –Limited education –Needlework or music (no “man” subjects) –Limited higher education Oberlin College of Ohio Special needs –Thomas Gallaudet..hearing impaired –Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe..visually impaired –Dorothea Dix..mentally ill and prison conditions
Literature and Art Transcendentalists –Margaret Fuller..women rights –Ralph Waldo Emerson..fight prejudice –Henry David Thoreau..civil disobedience American poets –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow –John Greenleaf Whittier –Edgar Allen Poe –Walt Whitman Women writers and poets –Emily Dickinson..personal & emotional poetry –Harriet Beecher Stowe..injustices of slavery