1. An Era of Reform
Chapter 18

2. “Let Us All Speak Our Minds”
How would you describe the mood created by the lyrics?
Why do you think women would write and sing a song like this?
To what extent do you think the complaints mentioned in the song are still valid today?

3. Read Section 1 - Introduction
Page 339

4. The Spirit of Reform
Section 2

5. The Second Great Awakening
Revival of religious feeling
Large mobs of people gathered in tents and churches to hear sermons
Fire and brimstone preaching

7. Optimistic Ideas Ralph Waldo Emerson Transcendentalism
Former minister,
Central figure in transcendentalist movement
Transcendentalism
Go beyond logical thinking to reach true emotional understanding
Believed every human has unlimited potential

8. Ralph Waldo Emerson Writer, thinker and activist
Champion of individualism
Became friends with Henry David Thoreau in 1837

9. Optimistic Ideas “Transcend” purely logical thinking
Trust emotions and intuition
Questioned society’s rules
Look for the “God within” you

10. Optimistic Ideas Henry David Thoreau
Lived in solitude in the woods for two years
Wrote a 6000 page journal
Jailed for refusal to pay taxes as a protest of Mexican-American War

11. Purpose of Walden “To conduct an experiment: Could he survive,
possibly even thrive, by
stripping away all
superfluous luxuries,
living a plain, simple life in
radically reduced
conditions?"

12. Walden Pond

13. From Walden
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears.” --Henry David Thoreau

14. Model Communities Transcendentalist villages
Communes
1841- George Ripley created Brook Farm near Boston
Live in “brotherly cooperation”

15. Brook Farm

16. Model Communities
Shared farming, teaching, clothes making, and other chores
Brook Farm was one of hundred of communities started by reformers
Powerful expression of belief that good people could create the ideal society

17. Q: What word describes a person who follows a philosophy that taught people to trust emotions and intuition?

18. A: Transcendentalist

19. Q: What was Henry David Thoreau’s approach to individualism?

20. A: He questioned societies rules and institutions

21. Prison Reform
Section 3

22. Dorothea Dix Sunday School Teacher at a Boston jail
Witnessed harsh treatment of children and non-violent offenders

23. Dorothea Dix Visited jails, prisons and debtors prisons
Most people in debtors prison owed less than $20
People in debtors prison couldn’t make money

24. Treatment of Mentally Ill
Locked in dirty, crowded cells
Whipped for misbehavior
Dix and other reformers advocated treatment, not punishment

25. Campaigning for Better Conditions
Dix created a report for Massachusetts legislature
Created public asylums for mentally ill
By Dix’s death in 1887, states abolished debtors prisons
Created juvenile justice system

26. Q: Dorothea Dix dedicated her life to helping which group of people?

27. A: The imprisoned

28. Education Reform
Section 4

29. Horace Mann Father of American public schools
Worked on a farm as a boy
Limited time in school due to farming

30. The Need for Public Schools
Few public funded schools
Wealthy parents hired tutors
Most children did not attend school

31. The Need for Public Schools
Horace Mann became supervisor of education in Massachusetts
Massachusetts citizens voted to pay more taxes for better schools, higher pay for teachers, and special training for teachers
Children in urban cities stole, destroyed property, and set fires
Reformers believed public education would help these children
State of New York set up public elementary schools in every town by 1820

32. An Unfinished Reform
By 1850, most white boys in the north attended school
Even northern states passed laws to keep African Americans out of schools
Many public universities accepted women by 1860

33. An Unfinished Reform
Prudence Crandall was jailed in 1833 for opening a school for African American girls
Horace Mann became president of Antioch College in Ohio
One of the earliest co-ed schools

34. Q: What was the focus of Horace Mann’s reform movement?

35. A: Public Education

36. Q: Which group benefited most from efforts to establish early public school?

37. A: Boys

38. Movement to End Slavery
Section 5

39. How could America call itself “the land of the free” and still allow slavery?
By the 1830’s many people were asking this question
These people were called abolitionists

40. The Struggle Begins
Some Americans opposed slavery before the American revolution
Quakers stopped owning slaves by 1776
By 1792 all Northern states outlawed slavery

41. Abolitionists didn’t always agree on how to end slavery
Some tried to inspire revolts
Others searched for a peaceful way

42. Blacks and whites worked in the abolition movement
One African American journalist remarked, “As long as we let them think and act for us they will outwardly treat us as men, while in their hearts they still hold us as slaves.”

43. William Lloyd Garrison started a abolitionist newspaper The Liberator
Extremely religious
Garrison demanded the immediate freeing of all slaves. “I will be as harsh as truth, I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard!”
Angry proslavery groups destroyed Garrison’s printing press and burned his house.

44. Frederick Douglass Speaks Out
Garrison heard Douglass speaking at a meeting of abolitionists
An escaped slave
Described harsh conditions of slavery to whites

45. Frederick Douglass
Quickly became a leader in the abolitionist movement
Autobiography was an instant best seller
Eventually started his own newspaper, North Star
“Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren [brothers].”

46. Women Get Involved
Many women were inspired by religious reform movements
Angelina Grimke spoke against slavery
An anti-abolition mob threw stones at her
Burned the building she was speaking in

47. Women could not vote at this time
Abolitionists were a minority, even in the North
The antislavery fight helped pave the way for the women’s rights movement

48. Q:What was the name for people who were focused on eliminating slavery?

49. A: Abolitionists

50. Q: How did Fredric Douglass spread his message of freedom?

51. A:Newspapers

52. Q: What was an obstacle for women who were trying to end slavery?

53. A: They could not vote

54. Q: What motivated William Lloyd Garrison to join to anti-slavery movement?

55. A: His religious beliefs

56. Equal Rights for Women
Section 6

57. “What then can woman do for the slave, when she is herself under the feet of man and shamed into silence?” Angelina Grimke

58. The Movement Begins
Sparked by the friendship between Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Met in 1840 at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London

59. Outraged that women could not speak at the convention
The men who ran the convention made women sit in the balcony, behind a curtain.

60. Lucretia Mott
47 years old
Mother of four children
Active reformer

61. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
25 years old and newly married never spoken in public
As a young girl, she had overheard women beg her father, a judge, to protect them from husbands who had beaten them
Attended Troy Female Seminary, the nation’s first high school for girls

62. Unequal Treatment
Fine education like Stanton’s did not mean equal treatment

63. Elizabeth Blackwell Country’s first female doctor
Studied mathematics, science, and history
Rejected by 29 medical schools before one finally accepted her

64. The Seneca Falls Convention
Women’s convention in Seneca Falls, New York
Nearly 300 people, including 40 men
Local housewives, farmers, and factory workers

65. Declaration of Sentiments
Proposal for women’s rights
Based on the Declaration of Independence
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” the document began, “that all men and women are created equal.”

66. Declaration of Sentiments
Stanton’s presentation of the declaration at the convention was her first speech
Listed “acts of tyranny”

67. Debate About the Right to Vote
Stanton proposed that women demand the right to vote
Stanton receives support from Fredric Douglass
Convention approves the final resolution

68. Legacy of Seneca Falls
Created an organized campaign for women’s rights
Control over property and wages
Liberal divorce laws
Eventually…The right to vote

69. Q: In which ways were the lives of slaves and women similar?

70. A: Both groups were denied rights

71. Q:Why did Elizabeth Blackwell have a difficult time getting into medical school?

72. A: Most medical schools would not accept women

73. Q: What was being denied to women in 1848?

74. A: Control over property and wages

75. Q: What was the model for the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments?

76. A: Declaration of Independence

77. Q: What was an immediate effect of the Seneca Falls Convention?

78. A: It created an organized campaign for women’s rights