1. Reforming American Society
Chapter 8
Reforming American Society

2. 8.1 America’s Spiritual Awakening
A new look on how to achieve salvation.

3. The Second Great Awakening
Beginning in the 1790s, a new Christian movement began concerned on how to achieve salvation.
Preached that individuals were responsible for their own salvation.
Church memberships grew across the nation.

4. More women and African Americans joined churches.

5. Transcendentalism and Utopian Communities
Transcendentalism, rising above material things such as money and personal belongings.
Started by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau
Utopian communities were built on transcendenalist values.

6. Prison Reform
Dorothea Dix helped make prison reforms and reforms for the mentally ill.
Special facilities for mentally ill, different sentences for child offenders, improved conditions, and rehabilitation.

7. Education in America
Reformers believed that education would help Americans to become good citizens and good workers.
New England had the most schools. The South and West had the fewest.
The most used text books in schools was McGuffey’s Readers. Taught students about morals and social values.
The rich sent their kids to private schools, the poor to public. Fewer girls went to school.

8. The Common-School Movement
Horace Mann was the leader in school reforms. He wanted all children to be able to get an education.
Increase budget and teacher salaries. Extended school year. Teacher training schools.

9. 8.2 The Movement to End Slavery
Abolition- Movement to end slavery.
Emancipation- To free immediately.

10. Abolition
Quakers were among the first religious groups to speak out against slavery.
Robert Finley started the American Colonization Society. Founded a colony in Liberia, Africa.
Some African Americans such as David Walker opposed colonization. Felt they were just as American as whites.

11. Spreading the Abolition Message
Editor of the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley spread the abolitionist word.
William Lloyd Garrison was a white abolitionist and editor of The Liberator. He helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society. Wanted immediate emancipation.
Angelina and Sarah Grimke’, father was a slave owner. Tried to bring other southern white women in the cause.

12. Frederick Douglass was a former slave that started the newspaper North Star. He went on many speaking tours in the U.S. and Europe.
Sojourner Truth was a former slave that also spoke on behalf of the women’s rights movement.

14. The Urban South Most southern cities were like those in the north.
On plantations, slaves did the majority of the work.
In cities, slaves worked as domestic servants, in mills, at ship[ yards, and skilled jobs.

15. Free African Americans
More than half of free African Americans were living in the South.
Free African Americans living in the city did a variety of jobs. Most were skilled artisans.
Churches served as the center of social life.
Faced constant discrimination and limited rights.

16. The Slave System

17. Slaves and Work Most slaves worked in the fields.
Drivers were slaves that made sure other slaves followed orders and sometimes, handed out punishment.
Slaves that worked skilled jobs could sometimes buy their freedom.

18. Life Under Slavery Slaves were viewed as property, not people.
Received the bare necessities for life.
Slave codes were passed to make them more obedient. Could not teach a slave to read or write.

19. Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Believed he had been chosen by God to lead a slave rebellion. Killed close to 60 white people in Virginia.
In retaliation, whites killed more than 200 blacks. Most of which had nothing to do with the rebellion.
Strengthened southerners defense on slavery
Led to stricter slave codes.

20. Opposition to Abolition
Many white northerners were worried that if slaves were freed, they would move north and take jobs away from them.
Between 1836 and 1844, the House of Reps imposed a Gag Rule which prohibited the discussion of antislavery.
Many white southerners thought slavery was vital to the southern economy.
Some white southerners said slavery protected African Americans.

21. 8.3 Women’s Rights
Women that were for women’s rights wanted to join forces with the abolition movement. Strength in numbers.
The Grimke’ sisters and Sojourner Truth became leaders in this cause.

22. Women’s Rights
Women wanted better educational opportunities, the right to vote, and to be able to own property.
Some women and men were against women suffrage. Said women were not able to handle things without a man.

23. Seneca Falls Convention
Elizabeth Cady Stanton went to the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England. Women were not allowed to participate and had to stand outside. In protest, William Lloyd Garrison sat with her.
Lucretia Mott, Stanton’s friend, an abolitionist also, was tired of how women were being treated.

24. Both launched a women’s rights movement called the Seneca Falls Convention. This was the first women’s right meeting in the U.S.
A Declaration of Sentiments was written based on the Declaration of Independence.
The only resolution that was not unanimously voted on was women’s right to vote.

25. Lucy Stone became a big voice in the women’s rights movement as well the abolition movement.
Susan B. Anthony was responsible for turning the women’s rights movement into a political movement. Argued that women should receive equal pay for equal work. Also wanted to change women’s property rights.

26. Women’s Education
Catharine Beecher was the leader in women’s education reform.
Emma Willard founded the first female college, Willard’s Troy Female Seminary.
Oberlin College in Ohio became the first co-ed college in the U.S.

27. Campaigning against Alcohol Abuse
Many reformers believed that alcohol abuse caused many social problems such as family violence, poverty, and crime.
Temperance movement urged people to stop drinking hard liquor and limit drinking beer and wine.

29. 8.4 The Changing Workplace
Machines cause large factories to be built.
Slashed production time as well as cost.
Allowed for unskilled workers to have jobs.
Women leave their homes for factory jobs.

30. Lowell Mill Workers

31. The Lowell System
Lowell built a water powered loom based on what he saw in Britain.
He hired unmarried women from local farms.
Wages were higher than any other work women could find.
On their free time, women were encouraged to take classes and join women’s clubs.

33. Workers Organize
The need for craftsmen became less as more factories were built. Factories produced goods faster and cheaper.
As more and more people competed for jobs, the wages began to get lower and lower.
With a large influx of immigrants, competition for jobs grew and that caused wages to go down as well.

34. Immigrants from Europe made long, dangerous voyages to the U. S
Immigrants from Europe made long, dangerous voyages to the U.S. to escape economic and political problems.

35. Waves of Immigrants Most immigrant came from Ireland and Germany.
Irish were fleeing the potato blight and economic problems. Most came with no money.
Irish moved into the cities and competed for low wage, unskilled work. Accused of taking jobs from Americans.

36. Irish Potato Famine

37. Competition for jobs also increased when the country went through a depression. Panic of 1837
As wages went down, so did working conditions.
Skilled workers began to form labor unions. Tried to improve pay and working conditions.
Employers often refused to hire workers in unions.

38. When unions wanted companies to meet their demands, sometimes they would strike.
The more people in a union, the more power they had.
Courts and police usually supported the company owners.