Name__________________________________
Period__________
6.5 Reform Movements
Guided Notes
The Second Great Awakening
8.25(B) describe religious motivation for immigration and influence on social movements, including the
impact of the first and second Great Awakenings.
A newfound sense of spirituality deeply affected Americans in the antebellum period. This renewed interest
in religion, which began with the Second Great Awakening around the turn of the nineteenth century, swept
across the country primarily as a reactionary response to the Enlightenment and the so-called "Age of
Reason" that had inspired thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine.
Hundreds of preachers, including Charles Finney and Timothy Dwight, set up revivalist camps in rural
areas and attracted thousands of converts throughout the country. The Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints (Mormons) originated in upstate New York. Baptist and Presbyterian denominations also
flourished in the excitement of the Great Revival. Many denominations supported foreign missionary work.
Named for its abundance of hellfire-and-damnation preaching, the Burned-Over District in western New
York produced dozens of new denominations, communal societies, and reform movements. This region
was transformed from the economic changes it had undergone since the completion of the Erie Canal and
the rapid development of the new market economy. Influenced by so many new ideas, visionaries, and
forces, Americans in the Burned-Over District became some of the nation's greatest reform leaders.
In the spirit of the reform movement, more than 100,000 American men, women, and children between
1820 and 1860 searched for alternative lifestyles. Disenchanted with the world around them, Utopian
seekers aspired to a perfect society.
Revivalism had the greatest impact on women. Shut out from politics and most facets of the new
economy, women poured their energy into religion and reform. Many believed they could have a positive
impact on society by converting their family, friends, and neighbors.
Fueled by the Great Awakening, many progressive northerners, women in particular, strived to improve
society. They launched a variety of reform movements against prostitution, the consumption of alcohol,
and the mistreatment of prisoners and the insane. Other reformers tried to expand women's rights and
improve education. Many of these movements actually succeeded in convincing northern state legislatures
to enact new laws. Southern states, however, generally lagged behind, remaining socially conservative.
Reform Movements & Leaders
8.24(B) evaluate the impact of reform movements, including educational reform, temperance, the women's
rights movement, prison reform, abolition, the labor reform movement, and care of the disabled
Abolition
Leaders
Frederick Douglass
Sojourner Truth
William Lloyd Garrison
Temperance
Leaders
Led by women’s rights
advocates and religious
leaders
Education
Leaders
Horace Mann
Women’s Suffrage
Leaders
Lucretia Mott
Sojourner Truth
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Susan B. Anthony
Prison/Institutions
Leaders
Dorothea Dix
Purpose: Bring an end to slavery.
Started newspapers and made
speeches across the nation bringing
attention to the evils of slavery in
America. Important abolitionist
newspapers included Douglass’ North
Start and Garrison’s The Liberator
Purpose: Movement to ban the sale and
consumption of alcohol. Alcohol was
blamed for crime, poverty, poor
employment performance, workplace
injuries, and destruction of families.
Purpose: Advocated improvement of
quality and access of public schools in
America. Horace Mann, “Father of
Education,” believed all children were
entitled to an education. Led to
formation of first public schools.
Purpose: Suffrage and equal rights for
women. The struggle to gain women the
right to vote.
Seneca Falls Convention (1848) Seneca Falls, New York. A women’s
rights convention that brought attention
to the cause of women’s property rights
and suffrage. At the convention women
and men women signed the Declaration
of Sentiments, using similar language
originally drafted in the Declaration of
Independence.
Purpose: Prison and institution reform.
Due to poor living conditions observed
in prisons and mental institutions.