1. Religious/Philosophical Reform in the early 1800’s

2. Religion – The Second Great Awakening
Many 18th Century preachers rejected the Calvinistic principle of predestination – salvation was possible for all people
Revivalism – Charles Finney led large revivals (emotional religious meetings) in western New York. Many were in Rochester

3. African Americans
In many parts of the South slaves attended the same churches as whites
In parts of the north, separate black churches emerged.
Richard Allen, a black religious leader in Philadelphia organized the first black national convention in They discussed the possibility of a settlement in Canada for free blacks and fugitive slaves.

4. Ralph Waldo Emerson – New England writer Henry David Thoreau
Transcendentalism – a philosophical and literary movement that emphasized living a simple life and celebrated the truth found in nature and imagination
Ralph Waldo Emerson – New England writer
Henry David Thoreau
lived in a cabin on the shore of Walden Pond (near Concord, MA) for two years and wrote Walden (1854)
believed in civil disobedience – refusing to obey unjust laws; because he opposed slavery and the US war with Mexico, Thoreau refused to pay taxes and went to jail

5. School and Prison Reform
Dorothea Dix – led prison reform movement to have the mentally ill placed in separate hospitals
Education reform
Before the Civil War only Massachusetts and Vermont had compulsory education (school attendance law)
Most schools were not divided by grade (one room school house) and most students quit by age 10
Pennsylvania created the first supported public school system in 1834.
Horace Mann – served as Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education – instituted teacher training programs and reformed school curriculum