1. Period 4: Chapter 15 – Early American Reform and Culture
Religious Reform
School and Prison Reform
Reforms for Women
The Temperance Movement
The Suffrage Movement
Utopian Communities
Artistic Activity
Literature
Romanticism
Transcendentalism
Uniquely American writers

2. Religious Reforms – Second Great Awakening2
Pre-Revolution…Remember the first? – Anti-predestination, individualism, fiery sermons, etc.
Revolutionary reaction:
Age of Reason – by Thomas Paine (churches are meant to control and enslave society).
Deism becomes more mainstream with founding fathers – anti-original sin, God doesn’t intervene, creator made humans with the ability to morally reason.
Unitarians – God as ONE (not the trinity), God is kind supreme being, and humans are morally good.

3. Religious Reforms – Second Great Awakening3
2nd Great Awakening - a reemphasis of religious matters into the daily lives of individuals.
THEY were responsible for seeking salvation and improving society (Anti-Calvinistic and Anti-predestination).
Led “camp meetings” with passionate sermons and multi-day revivals.
Charles Finney – notable evangelistic minister.
Area of high activity – Western NY (“Burned out District” – named for the use hellfire and damnation rhetoric.).
Happening while common citizens gain greater political rights (aka. voting rights – again, an emphasis on the power of the individual).
Many differing views of Christianity & scripture led to many denominations.

4. Religious Reforms - Mormons4
Mormons (Church of the Latter day saints).
Practiced polygamy (multiple wives) and were hated in Illinois – against federal laws.
Leader - Joseph Smith (destroyed a printing press and was jailed and eventually murdered by a mob).
Successor - Brigham Young led the Mormons to Utah (Salt Lake City) where (community grew and prospered).
Due to religious practices – Federal Gov. delayed Utah’s statehood until 1896.

5. School Reform 5
No uniform educational policy existed in the US - states began passing compulsory attendance laws and created public schools.
By 1850’s, every state had some form of basic education.
Horace Mann (first sec. of education in Mass) - argued for better school houses, longer school terms, and an expanded curriculum.
Noah Webster – created first American dictionary (also wrote “reading lessons” to promote patriotism.
Also, McGuffey’s readers were published – prompted morality and patriotism.
School purpose – created good Christian American citizens!!!
Women - Colleges were opened just for women to improve education (Mount Holyoke and Oberlin).
Traveling lecturers – used the lyceum association to promote education nationwide.

6. Prison Reform 6
The US prison system - behind European standards of the time (horrible conditions…really horrible).
Violent criminals were often locked up in the same cells as the mentally ill and debtors.
Dorothea Dix helped improve the system, especially for the mentally ill.
Her theory - prison could be a rehabilitation (became a goal of the time period).

7. Women’s Reform – Temperance Movement7
Women were expected to be at home – cult of domesticity (housework and childcare only).
Areas of issues: pay, voting, ownership rights, and parenting rights.
Started with the Abolition Movement – Sarah and Angelina Grimke who were daughters of a slave owner.
Realized they had poor rights too while speaking out against slavery.
Temperance Movement – stopping the consumption of alcohol would reduce domestic violence and would be a Christian value
Led to the American Temperance Society – promoted sobriety pledges, anti-alcohol laws.(ex. Maine Law of 1851)

8. Women’s Reform – Suffrage Movement8
Women found a voice first in abolitionism and the temperance movement.
Encouraged states to provide educational opportunities to girls.
New clothing styles improved health – Amelia Bloomer.
All this fed the growth of the women’s movement.
Women’s Suffrage (right to vote) – leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott held the first women’s right convention called the Seneca Falls Convention.
- Wrote a statement called the Declaration of Sentiments (after Dec. of Independence – All men and women are equal).
G. Sojourner Truth – freed slave who spoke for ALL women’s rights (slave and white).

9. Utopian Communities 9
Some religious and social groups tried to form “utopias”, or perfect places - most quickly failed.
New Harmony (founded in Indiana) - some hard working members, but attracted radicals and criminals (eventually destroying itself).
Oneida community - lasted over 30 years, but eventually failed.
Shakers - died out (prohibited all marriage and sex – no future members born).

10. Art and Architecture 10
Buildings style – Federal style (borrowed from Classical Greek and Roman examples).
Showed balance and symmetry.
Use of columns and domes.
Illustrated a birth of Greek Revival .
Meant to illustrate the birth of an American republic.
Painting style – Humanistic portraits and landscapes of America’s wild and raw beauty.
Led to the creation of the Hudson river school.

11. Literature Continued 11
Before 1800’s - most Americans not focused on literary or artistic matters (more practical activity). WHY?
Lack of a larger wealthy class - few people with the financial resources to support/purchase art (no patrons).
Artists had to travel to England for training (many of them often stayed).
After the War of 1812, a distinctly “American” form of literature emerged (embodied Romanticism ideals – focused the power of nature, individual importance, and truth).
Washington Irving (Sketch Book, including The Legend of Sleepy Hollow).
James Fenimore Cooper (The Spy, Last of the Mohicans).
Herman Melville (Moby Dick).
Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven, the Gold Bug).
Emily Dickinson (Various poems).
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women).
Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter).

12. Transcendentalism 12
Transcendentalism – Philosophical and literary movement emphasizing the simple life and finding truth through nature (stressed freedom and self-reliance).
Ralph Waldo Emerson – New England writer, wrote Nature and Self Reliance.
Henry David Thoreau – wrote Walden, story of him living alone in the woods .
Promoted the idea of civil disobedience – peacefully refuse to follow a law.