1. Reforming Society

2. AGE OF REFORM 1. Ante-Bellum—1820 to 1860 Romantic age
Reformers pointed out the inequality in society
Industrialization vs. progress in human rights
Primarily a Northern movement
Southerners refused reforms to protect slavery
Educate Society
Areas to reform:
Slavery women’s rights
Industrialization public school
Male domination temperance (alcohol)
War prison reform

3. Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality
Education
Temperance
Abolitionism
Asylum Reform
Women’s Rights

4. Religion & Social Order
Society during the Jacksonian = deep and rapid change
The Markets brought both economic growth and depressions.
To combat uncertainty, people sought stability and order in religion
Religion provided a means of social control in a disordered society
Church-goers embraced the values of hard work, punctuality, and sobriety
Revivals brought unity and strength and a sense of peace

5. The Age of Reform Reasons:
Individuals felt they could control their destiny and that “good deeds” will make the nation a better place
The middle-class feel that they should be models of behavior
Women are driving forces for reform because they are no longer kept at home and now have a voice (predominantly in the church)

6. Working-Class Reform
In America, the institution most in need of reform was the factory.
The reform movement gradually was adapted to the plight of workers and trade unions began to appear.
Skilled workers began to organize to protect their crafts and to negotiate better conditions.

7. The Rise of African American Churches
The Second Great Awakening is the “central/defining event in the development of Afro-Christianity”
This led to the formation of all-black Methodist and Baptist churches, primarily in the North
African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) had over 17,000 members by 1846
Baptists and Methodists converted large numbers of blacks

8. Other Churches Founded
Mormons – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Founded by Joseph Smith in western NY
While the Protestant revivals sought to reform individual sinners, others sought to remake society at large
In 1827, Smith announced that he had discovered a set of golden tablets on which was written the Book of Mormon
Proclaiming that he had a commission from God to reestablish the true church, Smith gathered a group of devoted followers

10. Antislavery Movement
The majority of abolitionists in America disagreed on how to reform slavery; most preferred religious education, political action, boycotts of slave-harvested goods, or downright rebellion.

11. The Temperance Movement
In 1830, Americans drink an average of 5 gallons of liquor a year
Reformers argue that drinking causes domestic violence, public rowdiness and loss of family income
The real problem is Americans have the habit of drinking all day

12. Temperance Movement
Sought to change society directly by eliminate social problems
Led largely by clergy, the movement at first focused on drunkenness and did not oppose moderate drinking
In 1826 the American Temperance Society was founded, taking voluntary abstinence as its goal.

13. Temperance Nineteenth century Americans drank to excess.
Early efforts at curbing the public’s consumption focused on moderation.
The American Temperance Society (1826) was dedicated to total abstinence.
The Society successfully used revival techniques of the Second Great Awakening to motivate “converts.”

14. The Temperance Movement
During the next decade approximately 5000 local temperance societies were founded
As the movement gained momentum, annual per capita consumption of alcohol dropped sharply

15. The Drunkard’s Progress From the first glass to the grave, 1846

16. Educational Reform
In 1800 Massachusetts was the only state requiring free public schools supported by community funds
Middle Class Reformers wanted a tax supported education – new economic order needed educated workers

17. Educational Reform Leader: Horace Mann 1830s Where: Massachusetts
Credits:
Adopted a school year
Teacher Training
Expanded Curriculum: Geography & History

18. Educational Reform By 1850s number of schools increased
Greatest success in the Northeast; Least success in the South
Southern planters opposed paying taxes to educated poor white children
Educational opportunities for women also expanded
1833 Oberlin College in OH became first coeducational college
1837 first all-female college was founed – Mount Holyoke, MA

19. Humanizing the Asylum
Some efforts of reform were aimed at organizations such as hospitals or asylums.
Dorothea Dix championed the cause of the mentally ill, believing adequate facilities and proper living conditions would go far to produce some sort of a “cure.”

20. The Asylum Movement (orphanages, jails, hospitals
The criminal, insane, ill were separated from society
Rehabilitation
Shift from confindment to personal character reform

21. The Asylum Movement Dorothea Dix, Boston School Teacher
Wanted state supported asylums
Wrote a report detailing the horrors of the Asylums
Being chained, kept in cages and closets, and beaten with rods

22. Asylums and Prison Reform
Dorothea Dix also discovered that people were placed in prisons for debt, people were subjected to cruel punishment and children were not treated any different than adults
She is responsible for ending cruel punishment and getting states to establish juvenile court systems
She argues that people can change if they are placed in proper environments and given an education