The Struggle for Reforms

1. The Struggle for Reforms Chapter 12, Lesson 3 4-5.7

2. The Second Great Awakening • The spirit of reform, or change, began sweeping across the country in the early 1800s. • This movement grew out of a new awakening of religious feeling. The movement was called the Second Great Awakening. • Like the first Great Awakening, this one stirred Americans to examine religion in their lives. • Meetings called revivals drew hundreds of people. They were called revivals because it “revived” or brought back and strengthened people’s religious feelings.

3. The Second Great Awakening • The Second Great Awakening brought the nation’s first great era of reform. • Some reformers attacked what they considered bad behavior, like gambling and drinking alcohol. • A major crusade to stop the drinking of alcohol began. It was called the temperance movement. • People in the temperance movement urged others to drink only small amounts of alcohol. • Reformers also had other causes. Bringing an end to slavery and gaining rights for women were important reform goals.

4. Fighting Against Slavery • In the North, anti-slavery groups had formed as early as the American Revolution. • In 1830s, the movement to end slavery took on new life. • Reformers attacked slavery as an evil that had to be erased, or abolished. Called abolitionists, these reformers made speeches and printed newspapers to spread their message.

5. Fighting Against Slavery • Frederick Douglass was a powerful voice for the abolitionists. • Born into slavery in Maryland, Douglass had escaped to New York City in 1838 by posing as a free sailor. • Soon, he was traveling around the North on speaking trips for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

6. Fighting Against Slavery • 1831, William Lloyd Garrison in Boston, started an abolitionist newspaper. • Another abolitionist, Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York in the late 1700s. She escaped and became a preacher. • She adopted the name Sojourner Truth to make clear her mission- to sojourn, or travel, spreading the truth. • Even though she could not read or write, Sojourner could quote the Bible to convince listeners of the evils of slavery. • She also preached in support of women’s rights.

7. Women’s Rights • Women in the early 1800s had few rights. • For example, married women could not own property. Anything they owned before they were married immediately became the property of their husbands after marriage. • Also, women were not allowed to vote, and most colleges did not accept women.

8. Women’s Rights • Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked hard for both temperance and abolition. • When they went to London to attend an anti-slavery convention in 1840, they were forbidden to speak or take any part in it. All they could do was sit in the balcony and watch. • In 1848, Mott and Stanton decided to take a stand for women’s rights by calling a convention in Seneca Falls, New York. • At Seneca Falls Convention, Stanton presented a Declaration of Sentiments based on the Declaration of Independence. She stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and WOMEN are created equal…” • Both men and women at the convention went on to debate a series of resolutions, or statements, of the rights women should have.

9. The Spirit of Reform • The first half of the 1800s, reformers identified a number of conditions in the U.S. that needed changing. • In addition to slavery and the unequal treatment of women, these included a poor educational system, very bad living conditions in prisons, and the terrible treatment of mentally ill people.

10. The Spirit of Reform • In Massachusetts, Horace Mann believed that education was a way to fight poverty. • Education, he said, could produce “intelligent and practical men” who would not remain poor. • So Mann led the way to expanding public education. • He got the school year in Massachusetts extended to at least six months. • He also established more high schools and improved teacher training. • Few reforms came quickly. Many would take decades to accomplish. However, reformers carried on their work.