“Fires of Perfection”

1. “Fires of Perfection” Reform Movements 1820-1860

2. Usher in the Kingdom of God • Reform emerges in response to great amount of social, economic, & political change • Market revolution & Jacksonian Democracy created • Voluntary associations to take action • “moral suasion” – educate – public opinion – Missionary Impulse • Perfection of individual • Perfection of society • Both tied to salvation

3. Essential Questions: • How does Finney change the religious beliefs and practices? • Which reform movements sought social control and to reinforce the existing social and value structure? • Which reform movements sought to challenge the existing structures? • How do they reveal the paradox of the individual with in the community? How are they a response to economic and social changes of the period? • What is the impact of each movement – degree of success????

4. The Paradox • Radical • Seeks to change or challenge social institutions, values, norms, relationships • Seeks to free or liberate the individual • Conservative • Seeks social control and conformity in values, norms and relationships • Seeks to incorporate groups into the social order and to preserve it

5. Characteristics • Individualism and free will • Self reliance • Perfectionism – society can fulfill its potential • Optimism – can create change and a perfect society • Social activism and social responsibility-missionary impulse • Equality and democratization • Hard work, moderation, thrift, self control, temperance emphasized • Millenialism

6. Demands of Society v. Freedom of the Individual • Helps to deal with the anxieties of the period • Impact/emphasis differed N and S • Vision of society “individual within community” • Romanticism and reform

7. Catalyst: Second Great Awakening • Finney – salvation due to free will – a choice – free moral agency • Methods – emotionalism, Camp meetings, “the anxious bench” • Appeal – frontier, small town, middle class • Cane Ridge ------Rochester “Burned out” district

8. Second Great Awakening

9. Charles Finney

10. Lyman Beecher – Lane Seminary • Concerned – Finney too emotional and too much emphasis on perfection

11. The Benevolent Empire

12. NY: “Burned Over” district

13. Religious Growth - American Bible Society

14. Itinerant Preachers & Camp Meetings

15. African Methodist Episcopal Church • Richard Allen – autonomy & equality

16. Impact: • Ties religion to the market economy • Individualism and Opportunity • Middle class values dominate • Evangelical Protestantism = dominant religion in America

17. Cult of Domesticity • Doctrine of two spheres • Men – outer world • Women – home, religious and moral values • MC women – the home, the church, reform movements, sisterhood • C. Beecher – education for women

18. Middle Class Family Values • Decrease in birth rates • Children as investment • Romantic love and affection in marriage • New norms of behavior • Children as individuals

19. Childhood: Homer – Snap the Whip

20. Homer: The Berry Boy

21. Transcendentalism/Romantics • Truth through emotion; knowledge through nature – go beyond intellect • Importance of the individual • Emerson – the Oversoul; self reliance • Thoreau – Walden; Civil Disobedience • Dark and light romantics

22. Emerson and Thoreau

23. Hawthorne, Melville, Poe

24. Dickinson and Whitman I am nobody Leaves of Grass Who are you?

25. Hudson River School

26. Utopian Movements • Separate from society • Often more radical, challenging to society • Communitarian – “socialism” “communism” – no private property • Redefinition of traditional gender roles • Some religious, some secular

27. Examples: • Shakers- Ann Lee • Egalitarian, separate, celibate • Oneida – Noyes, complex marriage • Mormons – Smith – Book of Mormon • Polygamy, rigid social organization, kinship • New Harmony – Owens, socialist, no marriage • Fourier - socialists • Brook Farm – transcendentalists, salon

28. Mother Ann Lee & Shakers

29. Oneida Community

30. Joseph Smith - Mormons

31. Social Activism/Reform • Meets need of the market economy • Emphasis on social control • Middle class norms and values • Importance of environment

32. Temperance • Most popular and successful (women) • Drunkeness = social burden • Concern for families • Need for a sober work force • Alcohol associated with immigrants • Moderation v abstinence – political prohibition • Maine Law 1851

34. Education - Mann • Goal = public funding, tax support • Opportunity (women, immigrants) • Moral teachings and middle class values • Teacher training • Required education • Divided N/S • Divided immigrant & WC from MC

35. Asylum/Prison Reform: Dix • Rehabilitation and control • Schools for blind and deaf • Limited success

36. Abolition • Gradual v immediate emancipation • Emancipation with or without colonization • American colonization society -----American Anti-Slavery Society • Ideas of freedom – not property ownership – rather “freedom of oneself” and the ideals of the Declaration • Equality before the law (14th am) • Citizenship – birthplace not race

37. Abolitionist Leaders • Weld and Tappen – Lane Seminary – preach – create larger public support • Garrison – The Liberator • anti-government position • African American Abolitionists –powerful spokesmen • Douglass – The North Star - Voice • Walker – The Appeal – rebellion • Tubman – URR; Truth • Often faced internal racism for leadership and decision-making input

38. Frederick Douglass July 5, 1852 “What, to the American slave is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on earth more guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. “

41. Impact • Support – medium sized towns of N • Opposition – S, urban areas, WC – fears of job competition • Increase division N/S • Political impact – Gag rule • Pulls the party system • Uncle Tom’s Cabin – morality

42. Schism of 1840 • Role of women • Position on government and constitution

43. Women’s Rights • Empowered through reform activity • Declaration of Sentiment – Seneca Falls 1848 • Social freedom • Stanton, Grimke • Mott, Anthony

44. “We hold these truths to be self evident – that all men and women are created equal; they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights..”

45. Challenges of Reform • Reform as a necessary part of democracy – plays a stabilizing function – permits adjustment to changing conditions OR • Reform as a disruptive event – caused by malcontents • What factors cause reform periods • Does it serve the interests of some classes at the expense of others • What tactics are available to reformers in a democratic society?

46. Significance:Antebellum Reformers -Walters • Highlights areas of tensions – show the fault lines of society -- the disconnect between values and behaviors • Presents alternatives to consider – what’s possible • Process of adjustment to change – a democracy may need groups of private citizens who care deeply about certain issues – and who argue them loudly, persistently – even abrasively!