The Spirit of Reform

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The Spirit of Reform

•  
• We are all a little wild here with numberless
  projects for social reform. But what is man born
  for but to be a Reformera restorer of truth and
  good?
• -Ralph Waldo Emerson

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During the 1800s, many Americans began to try to
reform the nations problems.

• Social Reform An organized attempt to improve
  what is unjust or imperfect in society.

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• Reformers sought reform through reform movements
  the religious movement, reform in education,
  through the abolitionist movement, and finally,
  in seeking to further womens rights.

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Religious ReformThe Second Great Awakening

• Predestination That God decides in advance who
  goes to heaven.
• Revivals Huge outdoor meetings that stir
  religious feelings.

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Charles Finney The Burned-over district was a
geographical area described by Finney himself as
a "hotbed" of religious revivalism, and it was in
this area (largely western New York State) that
he had much of his success.(http//en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Burned-over_district)

• What is the significance of this quote to you????

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The vast sea of human beings seemed to be
agitated as if by storm. I counted seven
ministers all preaching at once. Some of the
people were singing, others praying some crying
for mercy.-Eye witness of a revival

• How are people showing their desire to reform
  through their actions?

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He requires benevolence of us because it is
naturally obligatory on us. He made us in his own
image, that is, with a nature like His own, and
therefore He could not discharge us from
obligation to keep the law if He would, for our
own reason would still reveal and impose it on
us. We should perceive its obligation.
Charles G. Finney (http//www.gospeltruth.net/1
843OE/430329_way_to_be_holy.htm)

• How does this quote show Finneys message that
  people need to reform themselves?

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Helping the Mentally Ill and Reforming the Prison
System

• Conditions in the jails small, dark, unheated
  cells, no food
• Her solutions reported to legislators, inspect
  cells

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When asked why the jail was in these conditions
her answer was, "the insane do not feel heat or
cold" (http//www.webster.edu/woolflm/dorotheadix
.html)

• What kinds of people were thrown into jail?
  Mentally ill patients, debtors (people in debt),
  men, women, children (in the cell together)

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I proceed gentlemen, briefly to call your
attention to the present state of Insane Persons
confined in cages, closets, cellars, stalls,
pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and
lashed into obedience. -Dorothea
Dix 

• Why do you think this report was so shocking when
  Dorothea brought this to the attention of
  Massachusetts legislators???

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The Temperance MovementBattling Demon Rum

• Problems caused by alcohol domestic battery,
  child abuse, diseases, bankruptcy
• Possible Solutions getting people to drink less,
  banning the sale of alcohol (What was Carrie
  Nations solution?)

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Standing at nearly 6 feet tall and weighing 180
pounds, Carrie Nation, as she came to be
knownWielding a hatchet, she was downright
frightful. In 1900, the target of Nation's wrath
was alcoholic drink. Nation, who described
herself as "a bulldog running along at the feet
of Jesus, barking at what he doesn't like," felt
divinely ordained to forcefully promote
temperance. A brief marriage to an alcoholic in
the late 1800's fueled Nation's disdain for
alcohol. http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/1900/peoplee
vents/pande4.html

• How is Nations solutions to the problem of
  alcohol a little different than most temperance
  supporters?

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Improving Education

• Problems with schools few children attended
  school, run-down buildings, teachers poorly
  trained, students of all ages together
• (Horace Mann is on the left

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Horace Manns Solutions

• Got state for schools
• Built new schools
• Extended the school year
• Raised teacher pay
• Opened 3 teacher colleges to train teachers

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Improvements for the Deaf, Black and Blind

• Prudence Crandall A Conn. Quaker who began a
  school for African American girls. She taught
  even when she was jailed 3 times and rocks came
  flying through the window

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More Education Reformers

• Thomas Gallaudet Set up a school for the deaf
• Samuel Gridley Howe Invented raised letters and
  directed the first school for the blind
• Laura Bridgman A deaf and blind pupil of Howe
  who assisted him in teaching

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The Abolitionist Movement

• America is my home, my country.I mourn
• because the accursed shade of slavery rests
• upon it. I love my countrys flag, and I hope
  that
• soon it will be cleansed of its stains, and be
• hailed by all nations as the emblem of freedom
• and independence.
• Henry H. Garnet, an escaped slave

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Proposed Solutions

• American Colonization Society
• Ending slavery by setting up an independent
  colony in Africa for freed slaves

• Abolitionists
• A group of Americans who want to end slavery
  completely

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Important Abolitionists

• Frederick Douglass Born into slavery in
  Maryland, taught himself to read, escaped to
  Boston, powerful speaker, publisher of the North
  Star newspaper

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More Abolitionists

• David Walker published Appeal to the Colored
  Citizens of the World where he encouraged African
  Americans to free themselves by any means
  necessary.
• William Lloyd Garrison published The Liberator,
  founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society,
  wrote that slavery is an evil that needs to end
  immediately

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The Underground Railroad

• Harriet Tubman A woman who escaped slavery and
  led more than 300 slaves to freedom.
• The Underground Railroad A network of
  abolitionists who helped slaves escape North to
  freedom.

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More Abolitionists

• Angelina and Sarah Grimke Wealthy Southern
  daughters who moved North to fight slavery.
• Maria Stewart The first American woman to make
  public speeches.

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Speaking for Womens rights and the Abolitionist
movement

• Sojourner Truth
• I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as
  much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped
  and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man
  do more than that?

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Seeking Equal Rights

• Seneca Falls Convention A Meeting called by Mott
  and Stanton to draw attention to the problems
  faced by women (met in Seneca Falls, New York!)
• Lucretia Mott Persuasive speaker and organizer
  with a Quaker background.

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More Womens Rights Activists

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton Athletic and smart when
  young, teased by men in her fathers law office,
  popular speaker and proclaimer of womens rights,
  close friend of Susan B. Anthony

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More Activists

• Elizabeth Blackwell first woman in America to
  earn a medical degree
• Emma Willard opened a high school for girls in
  New York
• Mary Lyon opened Mount Holyoke Female Seminary
  in MA (first womens college)

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Susan B. Anthony

• Tireless traveler and speaker
• Would finish her speeches even when heckled and
  eggs were thrown at her
• Played a key role in gaining women the vote in
  1920

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We hold these truths to be self-evident that
all men and women are created equal that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that to
secure these rights governments are instituted,
deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed. Whenever any form of government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
right of those who suffer from it to refuse
allegiance to it, and to insist upon the
institution of a new government, laying its
foundation on such principles, and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their safety and happiness.
http//www.nps.gov/wori/declaration.htm

• Read the selection from the Declaration of
  Sentiments. In what ways did the authors liken
  this document to the Declaration of Independence?
• Why do you think they did this?

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American Literature and Art

• Herman Melville (Moby Dick) (illustration on
  right)
• One of the first American novelists to gain
  recognition

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The Beginnings of Transcendentalism

• Washington Irving (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)
  Illustration on left
• His stories gave Americans a sense of richness of
  their past

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James Fenimore Cooper (The Last of the Mohicans)

• Gave an idealized view of relations between
  whites and Native Americans
• Created a heroic frontiersman

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Transcendentalism

• Ralph Waldo Emerson Leading Transcendentalist
  who taught that the human spirit is reflected in
  nature
• Walt Whitman Poet who wrote about democracy and
  the common man
• Emily Dickinson Gained respect as one of
  Americas greatest poets
• Hudson River School NOT A SCHOOL
• A new style of art developed by Americans that
  focused on New York landscapes

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More Transcendentalists

• Nathaniel Hawthorne Drew from the history of
  America for his stories
• Edgar Allan Poe Became famous for his tales of
  horror and mystery
• Women writers Many women wrote stories about
  experiences of widows, orphans, and women who
  succeeded by working hard

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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 he hears.
-Henry David Thoreau

• How does this quote display Thoreaus beliefs as
  a Transcendentalist?
• As a Reformer? (hint note his beliefs concerning
  slavery)

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Essay Question

• Which reformer had the greatest impact on
  American society and why?
• Be sure to include the following
• - 3 reasons for why your reformer has had the
  greatest impact on American society (argue for
  it!)
• - An introduction and conclusion that are MORE
  than just a restatement of the question