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Developing American Identity 1820-1880 (Temperance (High rates of alcohol…
Developing American Identity 1820-1880
Temperance
High rates of alcohol consumption
Led reformers to use it as the cause of social ills and become the most popular reform movement
5 gallons of hard liquor per person in 1820
American Temperance Society
Tried to persuade drinkers to take a pledge of abstinence
Washingtonians
Recovering alcoholics arguing that alcoholism is a disease that needs practical treatment
German and Irish Immigrants
Opposed temperance movements but did not have political power to prevent the passing of reforms
Factory owners and politicians
Joined reform as temperance showed a decrease in crime and poverty and would increase worker's output
Action taken
Maine prohibited the manufacturing and sale of intoxicating liquors
12 states followed Maine's actions
Women
The movement's ranks were mostly filled by women who, with their children, had endured the effects of drinking by many of their men
Increased Involvement
By 1840, there were various temperance movements with more than 1 million members combined
Abolitionist Movement
American Colonization Society
Idea of transporting freed slaves to an African colony
Appealed to moderate antislavery reformers and politicians
Colonization was not a practical course of action as slave population still grew rapidly
Mainly supported because racism wanted to remove free blacks from society
American Antislavery Society
William Lloyd Garrison began publicating an abolitionist newspaper, marking the beginning of the movement
Advocated immediate abolition of slavery without compensation for slaveowners
Garrison founded American Antislavery Society and burned the Constitution by viewing it as proslavery
He argued for no union with slaveholders until they freed the slaves, as it was seen as a sin
Liberty Party
More practical route than Garrison's
Formed by a group of northerners who pledged to bring an end to slavery by political and legal means
Black Abolitionists
Frederick Douglass, a former slave, spoke out about the brutality of slavery and advocated for political and direct action to end slavery and prejudice
Along with other African American leaders, Douglass organized an effort to assist fugitive slaves to escape to free territory in the North or to Canada
Violent Abolitionism
David Walker and Henry Highland Garnet, two northern African Americans, argued that slaves should take action themselves and revolt
Nat Turner's revolt killed 55 whites and in retaliation hundreds of African Americans killed and rebellion stopped
Revolt created fear for future uprisings
Education
Need
Establishing free public schools for children of all classes
Middle-class reformers were afraid of a future of uneducated poor, both immigrants and native born
Workers' groups supported free schools
Free Common (Public) Schools
Horace Mann secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education was leading advocate
Worked for mandatory attendance of all students, longer school years, and more teacher preparation
Moral Education
Wanted children to learn basic literacy AND moral principles
William Holmes McGuffey, Pennsylvania teacher, wrote elementary textbooks used to teach reading and morality to students
Readers of these textbooks showed the behaviors wanted and needed for the new society: hard work, punctuality, and sobriety
Objection
Roman Catholics founded private schools for children as they did not agree with the Protestant tone of public schools
Higher Education
Second Great Awakening influenced growth of private colleges
Many Protestant branches founded small denominational colleges, especially in the western states
Admittance of women to these institutions also began such as the Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and Oberlin College in Ohio.
Lecture societies brought speakers to small-town audiences in order to further adult education; speakers included people like Ralph Waldo Emerson
Religion/Utopian Society
Aftermath of Enlightenment and American Revolution
Religious revivals swept nation and were a reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment and American Revolution
Calvinist teachings of original sin and predestination had been rejected by those believing more liberal doctrine
Second Great Awakening
Counterattack on liberal views and began among educated people such as the president of Yale College, Reverend Timothy Dwight
Dwight motivated evangelical preachers
Preachers were becoming more audience-centered and easily understood by the uneducated and poorer people. They spoke about opportunity for salvation to all
New York ("Burned Over District") Revivalism
Charles G. Finney started revivals among New Englanders by appealing to people's emotions and fears of damnation rather than sermons based on rational arguments
Many declared their revived faith and preached that people could be saved through hard word and faith - appealed to middle class
Baptists and Methodists
In the South and western frontier, Baptists and Methodists would travel to different locations delivering their dramatic preaching at outdoor revivals or camp meets; example would be Peter Cartwright
Activated faith of many who never belonged to a church and became the largest Protestant denomination
Millennialism
Enthusiasm due to belief that the world was about to end with the second coming of Jesus
William Miller predicted a specific date (October 21, 1844), nothing happened, but these people continued as a Christian sect called Seventh-Day Adventists
Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
Founded by Joseph Smith and based on the Book of Mormon tracing a connection between the American Indians and lost tribes in Israel
Following in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois; then killed by mob and Mormons under Brigham Young migrated far west and established the New Zion
Cooperative social organization and practice of polygamy (hostility of US government)
Women
Changes
Took birth control to reduce average family size and more affluent women had leisure time to devote to religious and moral uplift organizations
Cult of Domesticity
When men took jobs outside the home to work for salaries in an office or a factory, women took charge of the household and children.
Viewed as moral leaders in the home
Women's Rights
Resented the way men relegated them to secondary roles in the movement and prevented them from taking part in policy discussions
Sarah and Angelina Grimke objected to male opposition to their antislavery activities and wrote the "Letter on the Condition of Women and the Quality of the Sexes."
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton campaigned for women's rights
Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
First women's rights convention in American history
Issued a document modeled after the Declaration of Independence; declared that all men AND women are equal and listed the grievances against laws and customs that were discriminating against them
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony led the campaign for equal voting, legal, and property rights for women