Reform Movements
By; Ellie (Slide Maker), Griffin (Researcher), Emily (Notetaker,
Researcher), Ethan (Presenter), and Asa (Presenter)
Notes
RELIGION Religious activism (evangelism) was part of reform period in 1830s (women's rights, schools,
slavery etc.) After 1790 "Second Great Awakening". Preachers rejected 18th century Calvinistic belief
(heaven or hell). 19th century promoted individualism and responsibility. Christian churches split b/c of
these ideas. Revival-emotional meeting designed to awaken religious faith through passionate preaching or
prayer. 1800 1 in 15 Americans belonged in a church...1850 1 in 6 Americans were a member.
Democratic impulse-believe all people black or white belonged same God/worshiped in same churches.
Enslaved African Americans took Christian message as promise of freedom for their people. Ralph Waldo
Emerson (writer) lead group practicing transcendentalism (living simple life, truth found in nature, personal
emotion and imagination). Unitarians emphasized reason & appeals to conscience as paths to perfection.
Utopian communities-experimental groups who tried to crate perfect society (Shakers).
PRISONS Alexis de Tocqueville concluded that even though society gives liberty, prisons are too controlled.
1845-1852 Dorothea Dix worked to improve prison conditions. States began to separate mentally ill persons
from the prison population.
SCHOOLS Massachusetts and Vermont were only states before Civil War to pass compulsory school
attendance law. Few children continued school after 10. 1830s Americans started to demand tax-supported
public schools. 1837 Horace Mann became first secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education. By 1850s
every state had provided some sort of publicly funded school
WOMEN’S RIGHTS Customs demanded that women limit activities after marriage to home and family.
Women began to resist the custom and demand a bigger role in public life: voting rights, right to work, right
to speak in public, etc. 1850 -1 in 5 women worked for wages a few years before marriage. Earned about
1/2 pay men got/couldn't vote/couldn't sit in juries in early 1800. Tradition of women not doing anything after
marriage became known as cult of domesticity. Temperance movement-effort to prohibit drinking of
alcohol (another offshoot of churches and women). 1826-temperance society founded. By 1833 6,000 local
temperance societies dotted country. 1820s - girls started to care about education. 1821 - Emma Willard
opened one of the nations first school for girls in Troy, New York-1833 first black girls schools-later was
forced to leave town. Fashions were unhealthy – women found it hard to breathe.
Religion
Activism: the doctrine or practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means
of achieving political or other goals, sometimes by demonstrations, protests.
Religious activism was similar to a sudden flurry of importance and attention
surrounding religion.
In 1800, 1 in 15 Americans attended a church. Fifty years later, 1 in 6
Americans attended a church. The change was more than half the old number
Prisons and Schools
Alexis de Tocqueville - A political thinker, one
statement he mentioned was that though society
does give liberty, prisons are too controlled.
Few children continued school after the
age of ten.
In 1837, Horace Mann became the first
secretary of Massachusetts Board of
Education.
Dorothea Dix - American activist who worked to
improve prison conditions. She also worked to
separate prisoners with mental illnesses from
prisoners who, mentally speaking, were healthy.
By the 1850s, every state had some sort of
publicly funded school
Women's Rights
In 1821, Emma Willard (to the left) opened
one of the nations first school for girls.
Women began to resist the custom, which In the 1820s, girls began to care about their
demanded that women limit their activities
education.
after marriage to the house and family. The
In 1833, the first school for black girls was
custom became known as the cult of
started, but it was later forced to shut down
domesticity.
and its founder to leave town.
Women demanded a bigger role in public
life - that they should have voting rights,
work rights, the right to speak in public,
and more. Women were not payed the
same amounts as men were, nor could
they vote or sit jury.