Key Antebellum Reform Movements Overview

Okay, let's get back to the real history here. We're going to talk about the Antebellum Reform movements. And obviously the thing that we talked about in class, we talked about the effects of the Second Great Awakening in the class. And we said the Second Great Awakening is going to create this era of reform in which we are going to try to reform. And the very first thing that we need to talk about is we see voluntary organizations that are going to be created to change behavior. So basically... people are creating organizations that are going to target certain behavior. For instance, it could be alcohol, it could be education, whatever the topic is. But there is voluntary organizations that are going to combine together to look at specific issues to reform. So let's talk about social reform. The very first social reform we're going to look at is education. Now, you understand most education at this point, were one-room schoolhouses. Typically, they would have underpaid, under-trained teachers, and they would only go to school for a few weeks during the course of a year. And as a matter of fact, even Lincoln, I want to give my best Lincoln voice, but let's see our next contestant, maybe, our next Lincoln voice. Here's what Lincoln said. There were some schools, so-called, in Indiana, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond reading, writing, and... Encyphering! In other words, we have Lincoln who was a little upset about the state of education throughout the country. It was pretty miserable. A guy by the name of Horace Mann, who's going to be a major reformer in this area of education, is going to attempt to create something called common schools, in which we're going to have a common standardization of schools across the board. And he's going to propose it to the Massachusetts School Board. And basically what these common schools are very much public schools would be tuition free tax supported Schools that have statewide standards. They're going to have textbooks and train teachers So basically he's going to call for Massachusetts and then eventually throughout the country going to call for putting money into education That is a very important piece of our growth of the United States throughout the 18 throughout the 1800s And so if you think about it by 9 By 1840, by the time we get to 1840s, we're going to have 91% literacy tests. And a lot of this is going to be literacy tests, literacy rates. A lot of this is going to be because of the development of the education system, and it's going to be because of Horace Mann. It's going to be because of people like Horace Mann who are kind of evolving the education. But another really important thing is when we're kind of looking at education under the topic of education is... the Webster's dictionary is going to be published for the first time and Webster's dictionary is going to create a standardization of spelling and pronunciation And so this is important, you know, you may you may find you some of the old texts if you guys remember seeing Puritans and they're they're spelling words all weirdly But what happens is this this Webster's dictionary is going to be a standardization of not only English but American English So there's going to be unique American spellings. And now that we have a standardization of spelling, this could be something that is taught in school. And then we start seeing the growth and the development of correct pronunciation, correct spelling, and the things of that nature. But also under the area of education, there was a push for higher education for women. And the problem is, for women, there were a lot of negative beliefs about women in education. So women, put your breath. This is not going to be a comfortable one. So, so some of the common beliefs, so of course antiquated beliefs are going to be for one, um, higher education was frivolous for women. So remember what is the pressure on women to have control of that home life, that cult of domesticity? What's the purpose of higher education? Um, it injured the feminine brain, which is, which is interesting. Um, it undermined, uh, the health of a woman this education does and it made them unfit for marriage so these are some negative beliefs especially on you know west of the east coast uh that are that are pervasive throughout society and and places like you know so when oberlin college oh when oberlin college is is going to be one of the first places that are going to accept um women graduates are going to accept women in their to matriculate through uh through college Well, there's a lot of criticism. As a matter of fact, 1855, we're going to graduate the first female class of women in Oberlin College. But this is a reform, right? We have to get to this point and we have to overcome a lot of those misconceptions about women in education. So another area of social reform. Again, you're going to see a lot of this stuff, a lot of these reforms will be led by women. Why? Because the women are being kind of engaged mostly with this second great awakening. But we have a push for change reforms in prisons and facilities for the mentally ill. And this is going to be led by a woman named Dorothea Dix, who is going to be from Massachusetts. And... What she does is she writes a letter to the legislature of Massachusetts and she discusses that the asylums, excuse me, what they do for the mentally ill is outrageous and what they do for prisons is outrageous. As a matter of fact, the same people who are in prison for criminality. Are also there in prison with people who are in debt. There's still kind of a push for people to be put in prison for debt at this time. Again, people who are in prison are also going to be people who are mentally ill. So we have the mentally ill, the indebted with criminals in prison. And so here's what Dorothea says to the legislature. See, and she kind of what she does is she investigates a bunch of prisons around the Massachusetts area. And here's what she says. I will tell what I have seen and she has seen people who are choked, excuse me, seen people who have been chained, naked, beaten with rods, lashed into obedience. So she starts focusing on these prison systems and these, to reform them, to kind of get it away from the physical beating of... of this of the prisons and she says that the prisons should not house the mentally ill anymore as a matter of fact prisons should folk as a matter of fact specific asylums which will be called insane asylums but specific asylums should be held for the mentally ill and so this maybe is still antiquated now this is a big development the people who are mentally ill are just thrown in prison and she said the people are mentally ill need to be treated and so what she does she goes around, uh, around to all the state legislatures in New York, in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and New Hampshire and New Jersey and Ohio and, and Virginia. And she gets these, these, uh, these states to pump money in creating asylums for the mentally ill. Again, asylums are a little bit antiquated now, but this is a major developed during this time. 15 States create new hospitals. Um, and asylums for the mentally ill. And also, because of her, they begin reforming prisons. There's a push for prison reform, in which prisons are now going to focus on rehabilitation. And though there's some, again, antiquated ways of rehabilitation, you kind of see it in this picture, one of the ways is kind of exercise, so they would put them on a wheel and get them to exercise and kind of... Rehabilitate, not necessarily. punish the person all right well that was fantastic let's get right back into it all right another social reform is going to be the temperance movement and the temperance movement is against alcohol they're trying to remove they're trying to get people to uh to uh to drink less alcohol in the united states 1826 is where we want to where we kind of see the start of this temperance movement and this is kind of crazy to think about the liquor consumption in america at this this time is three times. what it is today it's not per capita it is three times what it is today so there's a massive amount of alcohol being drunk and then and of course temperance is the they want you to be temperate which means stop drinking alcohol so in 1826 a new voluntary organization remember thousands of these voluntary organizations are springing up for all sorts of reasons called the american temperance society and the american temperance society is this massive organization as a matter of fact There are going to be thousands of little American temperance societies that will pop up all over the country. And even children, children are going to kind of get involved. You know, children are obviously great for helping out reform movements. And they would join what they would call cold water armies. And a cold water army is temperate and they don't drink alcohol. And instead, we're going to drink cold water. And people would be asked, so the American Temperance Society would... would ask people to sign pledges to be temperance and uh, and so they would go to people and sign a pledge and then individuals will sign a pledge and what they would people start doing is when they would sign their names they would put T at the end of their names and that T at the end of their names would show that they were tempered that they even endorsed temperance and and so it's interesting and this is maybe a word that is no longer used but they would call the people who would sign the T's at the end of their name to show this temperance as teetotallers which means that you are a person who abstains from drinking one of One of the major leaders of this American Temperance Society is going to be a guy by the name of Lyman Beecher. And he's going to lead him and many other people, but again, the people who really, the majority of the people who are leading these, or who are kind of the laborers of these reform movements, are going to be women, even though Lyman Beecher is the leader of this one. And he's going to lead the Temperance Society and help in the reduction of consuming alcohol over time. And the American Temperance Society is going to be a guy. key role in lemon beach is going to be a key role in 1951 a state is actually going to outlaw alcohol now the we're not to the point where we have nationwide prohibition yet but um this main law in 1851 called the dow law is going to outlaw the production sale and consumption of alcohol and that is because of the pressure that lyman beecher and the american temperance society is going to put on america remember what are they trying to do they're trying to create a perfect america that That's what these reform movements are doing. Oh, this is a great one. Utopian movements that spring up all over the country. Listen, again, one of the things that you see during this era of perfectionism is people want to create perfect societies. In creating perfect societies, people are... you know reforming society but also actually creating towns that are going to be the perfect representation of what they think society should be as a matter of fact you kind of look at this map the little dots all over the place there are 40 utopians communities that are going to be that are going to develop during this antebellum era as again as we purify our souls we begin to look ways to purify society and if you can't purify society make your own and so we see the rise of the these utopian movements. Brook Farm, Oneida, Shakers, New Harmony. So Brook Farm is a transcendentalist utopia. Now there is a new movement that is coming. It's a quasi-religious movement of transcendentalism, which believes that divinity or the spirit or God is ever-present in nature and in humanity, but they believe that to give us the ability to live in the get to the core of truth, you have to remove yourself from the things that individuals have soiled, things that the individual has corrupted. Because the Transcendentalists believe that a lot of the religions are corrupted by individualism. But God is in nature, and to get closer to nature and to be one with nature is to be one with God. And that's how you find truth. And in this, and so this book Brook Farm is this utopia where a lot of transcendentalist writers are going to go and they're going to be with nature and they're going to write many, actually there's a ton of books that actually come out of Brook Farm. But the problem with these utopias is we've got a lot of writers going and then they have to appeal to get other workers and people to supply with food and things of that nature and they need to sell their books in order to share that income in order to continue for Brook Farm to grow. So Brook Farm is going to be a failure. But again, what are they doing? They're trying to perfect society in the image that they see. People try to do this all throughout history. And Brook Farm is really only going to last five years because it's very difficult to keep one of these utopias together, specifically on the backs of transcendentalist writers. Now, going on to Oneida. Now, Oneida is a community of free love. I don't know how to put that. Maybe you should ask Ms. Winchester. It's... It is a community that is not bound by the restrictions of marriage. And people can love with other people. You know what? Right now is a great time for let's shoot another severed head. It makes me feel better because this is a very uncomfortable topic for me. Okay, back to the list. So Oneida, interesting about Oneida, Oneida actually was very successful, oddly enough. They were successful moving forward as they got a lot of revenue generated from a severed head. company that you may or may not know there's still an Oneida somewhere now they are no longer a free love community another very interesting community it's actually going to have several communities that it's going to be shaker communities shaker communities that the shakers are are a very, an interesting form of Christianity, an interesting form of religion that they're going to, not religion, there's utopia that they're going to create. And the Shakers believed in these communities, they believed in total celibacy. And that means... Precisely the exact opposite of the Oneida community. And so they always separated men and women. And the Shaker communities had people from all over that would live in these utopian communities, kind of be more religious and be more one with God. things interesting here in these utopian in these shaker villages their head there was really complete gender equality and let's move on to new harmony well we all know about new harmony and new harmony is also is going to be a commune and it's going to be a kind of a if a commune of shared goods but it's also going to be based off of kind of a it's going to be based science in the science hub in which people the founders really it's kind of the second founders of new harmony are going to create a community in which scientists can come from all over and they can practice their craft and then other people will come over and and they will practice their craft like a plant and crops and doing all sorts of things and they would just share their information with the world. Now, obviously the big problem with a lot of these communities is they're not going to get enough laborers who are willing to labor for the community. And then it's people who are making crops, making furniture, things of that nature. So the scientists can go science, if you will. But there are some interesting things that are going to come out of New Harmony that are unique. First of all, it's the first kindergarten that was going to come out of New Harmony. And that's going to be a trend that kind of spreads. early education and a free public library. This is something that's going to be unique to New Harmony. That's going to catch on all over the country. And it's really important. It's really important that it started here in New Harmony. Now we know New Harmony is going to fail ultimately, but these, these ideas, some of these ideas from these communities still live on. And we're back. Now let's talk about women's suffrage. In 1848 is going to mark the beginning of the New Harmony. beginning of the women's suffrage movement, a very, very important year. Um, a, a fact that is going to be asked many times on tests in this class. And so with women's suffrage, women, when we mean suffrage, we mean the right to vote and here's what happens is Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who are notable, um, abolitionists. We'll talk about abolitionists next. Um, they go to an anti-slavery convention in 1840 in London, England. And when they get there, they They find out that, you know, they travel all that way and they're not allowed to sit in the main hall with the men during, for this anti-slavery movement. So when they come back, they decide that they are going to be the founding members of the women's suffrage movement. And so when they come back, they're going to create a convention that is going to start calling for the rights of the right to vote for women called the Seneca Falls Convention. falls convention in 1840 of 48 put a big star by this this will be asked many times so the seneca falls convention is going to be noted as the start of the women's rights movement now follow the trend here right we we this the second great awakening this antebellum period has really been a major change for women. And by the end of this antebellum period, we're starting to call for the right to vote for women. And here at the Seneca Falls Convention, of course, it's not going to be a lot of people in attendance, but it kicks off the movement. Now, this movement is going to take 70 years for them to finally get the right to vote. But at this movement, they draft something called the Declaration of Sentiment. And In the Declaration of Sentiments, they kind of use the language of the Declaration of Independence to call for equality for women. And in their Declaration of Sentiments, they say, say, we believe that is self-evident that all men and women are created equal. We know that's very similar to the Declaration of Independence where we say we believe that all men are created equal. And here's what they demand. In this declaration of sentiments, they demand a couple of things. Number one is suffrage, the right to vote. Number two is going to be property ownership in marriage. This is a time where still when you're married, the property Once you're married, the property is now owned by the man. And number three, and very importantly, child custody rights. In this time, if there was some sort of separation between the two, the women wouldn't get custody of the children. The man would. And so in the Seneca Falls Convention, they're asking for a lot. They said, we need to make this change in society. We need the right to vote. We need to own our own property. We need control of the children. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I said that we're going to talk a little bit more about more about the transcendentalist. And remember the transcendentalist or transcendentalism, it believes that there is a pure truth, that there is a spirit out there, a godly spirit out there. But things like religion and man's influence have corrupted it. And that we can get to the core of truth. We can get to truth with being in nature and really digging deep in our own psyche. Right? This is a whole new idea that's coming out of this time period. And one of the major writers that are coming out of this time period is a guy by the name of Henry David Thoreau. And he is going to write something very, very important called On the Duty of Civil Discipline. And this is in 1814. He writes this on the duty of civil disobedience, and he's writing this, it's really an anti-slavery piece, but he sets forth this idea of civil disobedience in which we are consciously... Breaking what we consider to be immoral laws. Now he's going to make the argument about slavery. But years later, Martin Luther King is going to use this idea of civil disobedience. by and he's going to pull from the ideas of Henry David Thoreau and where he starts where Martin Luther King is going to kind of put together this non-violent resistance to a policies in the South. Here's what Martin Luther King says. At this point, and he's planning the Alabama bus boycott, which we'll talk about far in the future, I began to think about Thoreau's essay on disobedience. I remembered how, as a college student, I had been moved when I first read this work. I became convinced that what we were preparing to do in Montgomery was related to what Thoreau had expressed. We were simply saying to the white community, we can no longer lend our cooperation with an evil system. So this transcendentalism and Henry David Thoreau, the transcendentalism doesn't really last very long, but these ideas that are coming out of these utopian communities, places like Henry David Thoreau, is going to change. One last reform movement that we're going to talk about, we are going to talk about abolitionism. Now remember, we've been talking about what slavery is doing to the country, the division that's developing, and we had also said... that by 1832 it becomes clear that that slavery is not going away and so we see a rise of abolitionism. Okay so it's important to know that the abolitionist movement is going to be the largest reform movement in the entire world and it's the largest reform movement that is caused by the Second Great Revolution. This is a tremendous, tremendous important. An abolitionist movement is really going to be divided into two different sides. One is going to be a moderate abolitionist and one is going to be a radical abolitionist. And even the radicals are going to be divided up themselves. A moderate abolitionist typically is someone who is anti-slavery, but they're more for gray. gradual emancipation of slaves. Mostly a moderate abolitionist would support compensating the slave owner. And we're going to look at one moderate kind of solution to this. slave to the slave problem here in a second radical abolitionists want slavery ended immediately they do not want to give compensating station to the slave owner and they are they believe that this is not only a moral blot but it's it's so bad that they are will they want the government to step in to end it immediately and uh but one of the one of the uh examples of a moderate abolitionist movement is going to be something called the American colonization society, because there's a big question. Once we abolish slavery, what is there to do with all these people who are just enslaved by the white population in the South? People like Abraham Lincoln was worried. He questions like, how could a population that had been damaged so much from the white planters in the South, how could they live with, in essence, the white people? after slavery. And so Lincoln actually was a supporter of this colonization. American Colonization Society as well early on. And this American Colonization Society is a moderate abolitionist group that of course would pay for the abolition of slavery but send them back to Africa. In particular, there was a kind of colony that was established, or a country that was established in Africa called Liberia, for specifically this American colonization society. And the idea was to send these newly freed African Americans back to Africa. As a matter of fact, by 1843, over 4,000 people are going to migrate to Liberia. But here's the problem. Most African American leaders are going to resist colonization because... listen this is their country too as a matter of fact the african slaves are in the south are quite arguably more american than the planters that own them quite possibly they were their descendants have been in america longer than than the people who own them so and that was obviously an argument that african-american leaders are going to make so the the american colonization society is not particularly successful but it was one possible solution of what's going to happen to with the issue of slavery. But when we look at major abolitionists, we're looking at radicals. And we're going to look at really two major radicals. One's going to be William Wood Garrison and the other's going to be Frederick Douglass, who actually turn out to be, they turn out to be very much allies and they kind of oppose each other a little bit later on. Now listen, we William Lloyd Garrison initially is going to be militantly anti-slavery. And as a matter of fact, any type of article that you get to read and it's sounding extremely militant... Chances are it's coming from William Lloyd Garrison. William Lloyd Garrison, definitely a radical abolitionist. He's going to establish a radical abolitionist newspaper in 1831. The date is not coincidental. Remember how I told you after the Nat Turner Rebellion, we start seeing the rise of these radical abolitionist movements. This liberator is radically anti-slavery. They're militantly anti-slavery. As a matter of fact, William Lloyd Garrison... would, though he is not for violence, though he is not for violence, he was, he would rather the South secede from the North than the, than the North participate in the slave system. But he wanted immediate, immediate removal of the slaves or immediate abolition of the slave. He also attempted to get the South to the use of what they call back this at that time called moral persuasion. And he wanted to, he was usually appealing to the fire and brimstone of the Bible to get people in the South convinced to free their slaves. In that sense, he was saying very clearly that the slave owners were going to hell. And here's a great quote. He said, the virtuous North should secede from the wicked South. That is very classic. So let's hear a really great, this is so William Wood Garrison. We have the natural right, therefore, to seek the abolition of. slavery throughout the globe. It is our special duty to make Massachusetts free soil. So at that moment, the fugitive slave stands upon it. He shall take his place in the ranks of the free. God commands us to hide the outcast and be ray, not him that wandereth. I say, I will let the will of God be done. That is the head and the front of my fanaticism. That is the extent of my infidelity. that comprehends all of my treason the will of God be done In his Liberator newspaper, which again, it's a hit in the antebellum era, he goes on and says this, Every slave is a stolen man. Every slaveholder is a man-stealer. By no precedent, no example, no law, no compact, no purchase, no bequest, no inheritance, no combination of circumstances is the slaveholding right or justifiable. While a slave remains in his fetters, the land must have no... Rest after that 1832 bull guys people start turning up pressure. As a matter of fact, in 1833, William Lloyd Garrison and several people are going to establish the American Anti-Slavery Society, another one of those voluntary societies to help reform the country. Probably the most significant and definitely the greatest of all the free black abolitionists. And I would say Without a doubt the most significant abolitionist is going to be Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass is going, he actually starts out as a slave, and he's taught to learn how to write by the wife of his slave owner. He's going to escape to the north, and he is going to become, he learns how to give this, he's got this great oratory style in which he goes around and he gives speeches about the plight of the slave. light of the slaves. And this is really important to see. This is Frederick Douglass, who has learned to write better, speak better, think faster than anybody who is standing around him. And remember when we looked at the pro-slavery arguments, the pro-slavery arguments are saying all these derogatory things about the nature of the African slave. And here stands Frederick Douglass, more eloquent than the vast majority of people that are in the North. And he goes on the speaking tour. in which he gives this speech and talks about slavery. And he too starts out as this moral suasionist where he's using the rhetoric of the Bible to convince people of the South that they should free their slaves. Why are they using rhetoric of the Bible? Because this is during the second great awakening. Of course they're going to appeal to the Bible. And Frederick Douglass, he starts, he's basically, he's going to actually, he's kind of a, if you think of an understudy of... William Lloyd Garrison, but he ends up breaking away from the American Anti-Slavery Society and William Lloyd Garrison and Liberator and creates his own newspaper, the North Star, which is too, is radically abolitionist. He is, but what he's going to do, he's really, he's radical, he wants abolitionist, abolition to end, but he's going to look to politics to end slavery. And when he looks to politics and slavery, he's going to be supremely influential to help kind of guide. to kind of nudge and guide Lincoln to issuing things like the Emancipation Proclamation. And his most important piece, it's actually writes a couple of these, he writes a narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass which becomes a worldwide hit. And the narrative of life's Frederick Douglass, he's basically recounting his life as a slave and this becomes such a worldwide hit. And he gives again, he's giving these, you know, not only after he's done giving the tours from earlier, he's giving tours, talking about this book and selling these books. He's like carrying these books around with them and he sells them and he's making a decent amount of money. But what this narrative does, this is a direct affront to all of the pro-slavery arguments, right? He is the embodiment of the anti-slavery movement. He's the embodiment of the counter argument against the pro-slavery message. And this is a very important part of the story. This narrative life writer, Douglas, is a worldwide bestseller. He goes overseas to sell it. And he becomes this true focus. And I mentioned in class, he becomes a rock star. He is a rock star in the antebellum period. As a matter of fact, I think he is the most photographed person from the antebellum period. He is truly a traveling rock star when he's going out, even though there are some people that dislike him as well. A tremendous, tremendous. tremendously important major abolitionists that we'll talk about a little bit later on in class. But we also see people who are serving both roles, and again, this is women primarily, and women are huge pieces to the abolitionist movement. But we have women who are both dedicating their lives to abolitionists, but also to women's rights. Some great examples are Angelina and Sarah Grimke, who come from families of slave owners, and they become they moved to Massachusetts to become a major piece of the abolitionist movement. People like Sojourner Truth, who is going to also be both an advocate for both women's rights and abolition. And Sojourner Truth is, again, she writes better than most people. She is the walking embodiment, just like Frederick Douglass, of everything that is against that pro-slavery argument. A very important piece to this too, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be the Underground Railroad. You guys have all heard about the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman is going to be an escaped slave. She is going to be a very important piece of this Underground Railroad. And Underground Railroad, as you know, is not an actual railroad. It's multiple paths to the north, and in particular to Canada specifically, because we're going to find out they're not specifically free once you get to the north. She's going to take 19 trips to Canada overall because herself is going to save 300 slaves. And now as more, she becomes this major piece, again, this is another form of resistance, another form of this radical abolitionist. And more escaped slaves begin going north through this Underground Railroad. Some of these Underground Railroads are, we have places here in Evansville and in Indiana in which they're just houses in which anti-slavery people live and they help them escape. And as people start going north, the states now have to get involved. And many people of states refuse to help them, help slave catchers catch the slaves. slaves because so Pennsylvania tries to prevent African Americans of being pulled out of the state by slave catchers and and this obviously turns into a law that is going to be sent to the Supreme Court in Prigg versus Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court rules that Pennsylvania cannot prevent slave catchers from taking the slaves back out of the states again this is going to be a hit to the abolitionist movement and so it basically what they're saying is prohibiting the capture of slaves is unconstitutional so states must now either allow it or not prevent it and again how do that's why you're really not safe in the north and so pennsylvania begins passing these personal liberty laws and these personal liberty laws that are going to be passed are laws that are going to allow people to object to helping for the capture of slaves so it is your personal liberty to not help in the capture of slaves. You don't have to report, you don't have to do anything. And so this is kind of the state of Pennsylvania's counter-argument to that pre-versus-Pennsylvania, where they're going to pass personal liberty laws, and now, listen, if we... can't prevent it from happening, these personal liberty laws, we're not going to help at all. No state resources are going to help remove these slaves from, these captured slaves from the states. And so what happens in the North, these personal liberty laws begin to spread all over the North. And this of course is kind of increasing the anger in the South. And so the Southern response to abolition is going to be, they are going to now prevent any abolitionist literature being sent to the mail. And it goes a bit farther. So the House of Representatives is going to issue this gag rule in 1836, which basically says that no anti-slavery literature, no anti-slavery rhetoric, no anti-slavery rhetoric, no anti-slavery No anti-slavery bill can be introduced on the floor of the House of Representatives. There cannot be any discussion of prohibition in the House of Representatives. So what we're doing is we're shutting down discussion on it. We're shutting down literature that criticizes it in order to protect the system in the South. Ladies and gentlemen, we're on the road to a true division.

And the very first thing that we need to talk about is we see voluntary organizations that are going to be created to change behavior. So basically... people are creating organizations that are going to target certain behavior.

For instance, it could be alcohol, it could be education, whatever the topic is. But there is voluntary organizations that are going to combine together to look at specific issues to reform. So let's talk about social reform.

The very first social reform we're going to look at is education. Now, you understand most education at this point, were one-room schoolhouses. Typically, they would have underpaid, under-trained teachers, and they would only go to school for a few weeks during the course of a year.

And as a matter of fact, even Lincoln, I want to give my best Lincoln voice, but let's see our next contestant, maybe, our next Lincoln voice. Here's what Lincoln said. There were some schools, so-called, in Indiana, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond reading, writing, and...

Encyphering! In other words, we have Lincoln who was a little upset about the state of education throughout the country. It was pretty miserable. A guy by the name of Horace Mann, who's going to be a major reformer in this area of education, is going to attempt to create something called common schools, in which we're going to have a common standardization of schools across the board.

And he's going to propose it to the Massachusetts School Board. And basically what these common schools are very much public schools would be tuition free tax supported Schools that have statewide standards. They're going to have textbooks and train teachers So basically he's going to call for Massachusetts and then eventually throughout the country going to call for putting money into education That is a very important piece of our growth of the United States throughout the 18 throughout the 1800s And so if you think about it by 9 By 1840, by the time we get to 1840s, we're going to have 91% literacy tests. And a lot of this is going to be literacy tests, literacy rates. A lot of this is going to be because of the development of the education system, and it's going to be because of Horace Mann.

It's going to be because of people like Horace Mann who are kind of evolving the education. But another really important thing is when we're kind of looking at education under the topic of education is... the Webster's dictionary is going to be published for the first time and Webster's dictionary is going to create a standardization of spelling and pronunciation And so this is important, you know, you may you may find you some of the old texts if you guys remember seeing Puritans and they're they're spelling words all weirdly But what happens is this this Webster's dictionary is going to be a standardization of not only English but American English So there's going to be unique American spellings. And now that we have a standardization of spelling, this could be something that is taught in school. And then we start seeing the growth and the development of correct pronunciation, correct spelling, and the things of that nature.

But also under the area of education, there was a push for higher education for women. And the problem is, for women, there were a lot of negative beliefs about women in education. So women, put your breath.

This is not going to be a comfortable one. So, so some of the common beliefs, so of course antiquated beliefs are going to be for one, um, higher education was frivolous for women. So remember what is the pressure on women to have control of that home life, that cult of domesticity?

What's the purpose of higher education? Um, it injured the feminine brain, which is, which is interesting. Um, it undermined, uh, the health of a woman this education does and it made them unfit for marriage so these are some negative beliefs especially on you know west of the east coast uh that are that are pervasive throughout society and and places like you know so when oberlin college oh when oberlin college is is going to be one of the first places that are going to accept um women graduates are going to accept women in their to matriculate through uh through college Well, there's a lot of criticism.

As a matter of fact, 1855, we're going to graduate the first female class of women in Oberlin College. But this is a reform, right? We have to get to this point and we have to overcome a lot of those misconceptions about women in education. So another area of social reform. Again, you're going to see a lot of this stuff, a lot of these reforms will be led by women.

Why? Because the women are being kind of engaged mostly with this second great awakening. But we have a push for change reforms in prisons and facilities for the mentally ill. And this is going to be led by a woman named Dorothea Dix, who is going to be from Massachusetts.

And... What she does is she writes a letter to the legislature of Massachusetts and she discusses that the asylums, excuse me, what they do for the mentally ill is outrageous and what they do for prisons is outrageous. As a matter of fact, the same people who are in prison for criminality.

Are also there in prison with people who are in debt. There's still kind of a push for people to be put in prison for debt at this time. Again, people who are in prison are also going to be people who are mentally ill.

So we have the mentally ill, the indebted with criminals in prison. And so here's what Dorothea says to the legislature. See, and she kind of what she does is she investigates a bunch of prisons around the Massachusetts area.

And here's what she says. I will tell what I have seen and she has seen people who are choked, excuse me, seen people who have been chained, naked, beaten with rods, lashed into obedience. So she starts focusing on these prison systems and these, to reform them, to kind of get it away from the physical beating of... of this of the prisons and she says that the prisons should not house the mentally ill anymore as a matter of fact prisons should folk as a matter of fact specific asylums which will be called insane asylums but specific asylums should be held for the mentally ill and so this maybe is still antiquated now this is a big development the people who are mentally ill are just thrown in prison and she said the people are mentally ill need to be treated and so what she does she goes around, uh, around to all the state legislatures in New York, in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and New Hampshire and New Jersey and Ohio and, and Virginia. And she gets these, these, uh, these states to pump money in creating asylums for the mentally ill.

Again, asylums are a little bit antiquated now, but this is a major developed during this time. 15 States create new hospitals. Um, and asylums for the mentally ill. And also, because of her, they begin reforming prisons.

There's a push for prison reform, in which prisons are now going to focus on rehabilitation. And though there's some, again, antiquated ways of rehabilitation, you kind of see it in this picture, one of the ways is kind of exercise, so they would put them on a wheel and get them to exercise and kind of... Rehabilitate, not necessarily. punish the person all right well that was fantastic let's get right back into it all right another social reform is going to be the temperance movement and the temperance movement is against alcohol they're trying to remove they're trying to get people to uh to uh to drink less alcohol in the united states 1826 is where we want to where we kind of see the start of this temperance movement and this is kind of crazy to think about the liquor consumption in america at this this time is three times.

what it is today it's not per capita it is three times what it is today so there's a massive amount of alcohol being drunk and then and of course temperance is the they want you to be temperate which means stop drinking alcohol so in 1826 a new voluntary organization remember thousands of these voluntary organizations are springing up for all sorts of reasons called the american temperance society and the american temperance society is this massive organization as a matter of fact There are going to be thousands of little American temperance societies that will pop up all over the country. And even children, children are going to kind of get involved. You know, children are obviously great for helping out reform movements.

And they would join what they would call cold water armies. And a cold water army is temperate and they don't drink alcohol. And instead, we're going to drink cold water. And people would be asked, so the American Temperance Society would... would ask people to sign pledges to be temperance and uh, and so they would go to people and sign a pledge and then individuals will sign a pledge and what they would people start doing is when they would sign their names they would put T at the end of their names and that T at the end of their names would show that they were tempered that they even endorsed temperance and and so it's interesting and this is maybe a word that is no longer used but they would call the people who would sign the T's at the end of their name to show this temperance as teetotallers which means that you are a person who abstains from drinking one of One of the major leaders of this American Temperance Society is going to be a guy by the name of Lyman Beecher.

And he's going to lead him and many other people, but again, the people who really, the majority of the people who are leading these, or who are kind of the laborers of these reform movements, are going to be women, even though Lyman Beecher is the leader of this one. And he's going to lead the Temperance Society and help in the reduction of consuming alcohol over time. And the American Temperance Society is going to be a guy.

key role in lemon beach is going to be a key role in 1951 a state is actually going to outlaw alcohol now the we're not to the point where we have nationwide prohibition yet but um this main law in 1851 called the dow law is going to outlaw the production sale and consumption of alcohol and that is because of the pressure that lyman beecher and the american temperance society is going to put on america remember what are they trying to do they're trying to create a perfect america that That's what these reform movements are doing. Oh, this is a great one. Utopian movements that spring up all over the country.

Listen, again, one of the things that you see during this era of perfectionism is people want to create perfect societies. In creating perfect societies, people are... you know reforming society but also actually creating towns that are going to be the perfect representation of what they think society should be as a matter of fact you kind of look at this map the little dots all over the place there are 40 utopians communities that are going to be that are going to develop during this antebellum era as again as we purify our souls we begin to look ways to purify society and if you can't purify society make your own and so we see the rise of the these utopian movements. Brook Farm, Oneida, Shakers, New Harmony. So Brook Farm is a transcendentalist utopia.

Now there is a new movement that is coming. It's a quasi-religious movement of transcendentalism, which believes that divinity or the spirit or God is ever-present in nature and in humanity, but they believe that to give us the ability to live in the get to the core of truth, you have to remove yourself from the things that individuals have soiled, things that the individual has corrupted. Because the Transcendentalists believe that a lot of the religions are corrupted by individualism.

But God is in nature, and to get closer to nature and to be one with nature is to be one with God. And that's how you find truth. And in this, and so this book Brook Farm is this utopia where a lot of transcendentalist writers are going to go and they're going to be with nature and they're going to write many, actually there's a ton of books that actually come out of Brook Farm. But the problem with these utopias is we've got a lot of writers going and then they have to appeal to get other workers and people to supply with food and things of that nature and they need to sell their books in order to share that income in order to continue for Brook Farm to grow.

So Brook Farm is going to be a failure. But again, what are they doing? They're trying to perfect society in the image that they see. People try to do this all throughout history.

And Brook Farm is really only going to last five years because it's very difficult to keep one of these utopias together, specifically on the backs of transcendentalist writers. Now, going on to Oneida. Now, Oneida is a community of free love. I don't know how to put that.

Maybe you should ask Ms. Winchester. It's... It is a community that is not bound by the restrictions of marriage.

And people can love with other people. You know what? Right now is a great time for let's shoot another severed head. It makes me feel better because this is a very uncomfortable topic for me.

Okay, back to the list. So Oneida, interesting about Oneida, Oneida actually was very successful, oddly enough. They were successful moving forward as they got a lot of revenue generated from a severed head.

company that you may or may not know there's still an Oneida somewhere now they are no longer a free love community another very interesting community it's actually going to have several communities that it's going to be shaker communities shaker communities that the shakers are are a very, an interesting form of Christianity, an interesting form of religion that they're going to, not religion, there's utopia that they're going to create. And the Shakers believed in these communities, they believed in total celibacy. And that means...

Precisely the exact opposite of the Oneida community. And so they always separated men and women. And the Shaker communities had people from all over that would live in these utopian communities, kind of be more religious and be more one with God. things interesting here in these utopian in these shaker villages their head there was really complete gender equality and let's move on to new harmony well we all know about new harmony and new harmony is also is going to be a commune and it's going to be a kind of a if a commune of shared goods but it's also going to be based off of kind of a it's going to be based science in the science hub in which people the founders really it's kind of the second founders of new harmony are going to create a community in which scientists can come from all over and they can practice their craft and then other people will come over and and they will practice their craft like a plant and crops and doing all sorts of things and they would just share their information with the world. Now, obviously the big problem with a lot of these communities is they're not going to get enough laborers who are willing to labor for the community.

And then it's people who are making crops, making furniture, things of that nature. So the scientists can go science, if you will. But there are some interesting things that are going to come out of New Harmony that are unique.

First of all, it's the first kindergarten that was going to come out of New Harmony. And that's going to be a trend that kind of spreads. early education and a free public library.

This is something that's going to be unique to New Harmony. That's going to catch on all over the country. And it's really important.

It's really important that it started here in New Harmony. Now we know New Harmony is going to fail ultimately, but these, these ideas, some of these ideas from these communities still live on. And we're back. Now let's talk about women's suffrage. In 1848 is going to mark the beginning of the New Harmony.

beginning of the women's suffrage movement, a very, very important year. Um, a, a fact that is going to be asked many times on tests in this class. And so with women's suffrage, women, when we mean suffrage, we mean the right to vote and here's what happens is Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who are notable, um, abolitionists.

We'll talk about abolitionists next. Um, they go to an anti-slavery convention in 1840 in London, England. And when they get there, they They find out that, you know, they travel all that way and they're not allowed to sit in the main hall with the men during, for this anti-slavery movement.

So when they come back, they decide that they are going to be the founding members of the women's suffrage movement. And so when they come back, they're going to create a convention that is going to start calling for the rights of the right to vote for women called the Seneca Falls Convention. falls convention in 1840 of 48 put a big star by this this will be asked many times so the seneca falls convention is going to be noted as the start of the women's rights movement now follow the trend here right we we this the second great awakening this antebellum period has really been a major change for women.

And by the end of this antebellum period, we're starting to call for the right to vote for women. And here at the Seneca Falls Convention, of course, it's not going to be a lot of people in attendance, but it kicks off the movement. Now, this movement is going to take 70 years for them to finally get the right to vote.

But at this movement, they draft something called the Declaration of Sentiment. And In the Declaration of Sentiments, they kind of use the language of the Declaration of Independence to call for equality for women. And in their Declaration of Sentiments, they say, say, we believe that is self-evident that all men and women are created equal.

We know that's very similar to the Declaration of Independence where we say we believe that all men are created equal. And here's what they demand. In this declaration of sentiments, they demand a couple of things. Number one is suffrage, the right to vote.

Number two is going to be property ownership in marriage. This is a time where still when you're married, the property Once you're married, the property is now owned by the man. And number three, and very importantly, child custody rights.

In this time, if there was some sort of separation between the two, the women wouldn't get custody of the children. The man would. And so in the Seneca Falls Convention, they're asking for a lot.

They said, we need to make this change in society. We need the right to vote. We need to own our own property.

We need control of the children. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I said that we're going to talk a little bit more about more about the transcendentalist. And remember the transcendentalist or transcendentalism, it believes that there is a pure truth, that there is a spirit out there, a godly spirit out there. But things like religion and man's influence have corrupted it. And that we can get to the core of truth.

We can get to truth with being in nature and really digging deep in our own psyche. Right? This is a whole new idea that's coming out of this time period.

And one of the major writers that are coming out of this time period is a guy by the name of Henry David Thoreau. And he is going to write something very, very important called On the Duty of Civil Discipline. And this is in 1814. He writes this on the duty of civil disobedience, and he's writing this, it's really an anti-slavery piece, but he sets forth this idea of civil disobedience in which we are consciously...

Breaking what we consider to be immoral laws. Now he's going to make the argument about slavery. But years later, Martin Luther King is going to use this idea of civil disobedience.

by and he's going to pull from the ideas of Henry David Thoreau and where he starts where Martin Luther King is going to kind of put together this non-violent resistance to a policies in the South. Here's what Martin Luther King says. At this point, and he's planning the Alabama bus boycott, which we'll talk about far in the future, I began to think about Thoreau's essay on disobedience.

I remembered how, as a college student, I had been moved when I first read this work. I became convinced that what we were preparing to do in Montgomery was related to what Thoreau had expressed. We were simply saying to the white community, we can no longer lend our cooperation with an evil system. So this transcendentalism and Henry David Thoreau, the transcendentalism doesn't really last very long, but these ideas that are coming out of these utopian communities, places like Henry David Thoreau, is going to change.

One last reform movement that we're going to talk about, we are going to talk about abolitionism. Now remember, we've been talking about what slavery is doing to the country, the division that's developing, and we had also said... that by 1832 it becomes clear that that slavery is not going away and so we see a rise of abolitionism. Okay so it's important to know that the abolitionist movement is going to be the largest reform movement in the entire world and it's the largest reform movement that is caused by the Second Great Revolution.

This is a tremendous, tremendous important. An abolitionist movement is really going to be divided into two different sides. One is going to be a moderate abolitionist and one is going to be a radical abolitionist. And even the radicals are going to be divided up themselves.

A moderate abolitionist typically is someone who is anti-slavery, but they're more for gray. gradual emancipation of slaves. Mostly a moderate abolitionist would support compensating the slave owner. And we're going to look at one moderate kind of solution to this.

slave to the slave problem here in a second radical abolitionists want slavery ended immediately they do not want to give compensating station to the slave owner and they are they believe that this is not only a moral blot but it's it's so bad that they are will they want the government to step in to end it immediately and uh but one of the one of the uh examples of a moderate abolitionist movement is going to be something called the American colonization society, because there's a big question. Once we abolish slavery, what is there to do with all these people who are just enslaved by the white population in the South? People like Abraham Lincoln was worried. He questions like, how could a population that had been damaged so much from the white planters in the South, how could they live with, in essence, the white people?

after slavery. And so Lincoln actually was a supporter of this colonization. American Colonization Society as well early on.

And this American Colonization Society is a moderate abolitionist group that of course would pay for the abolition of slavery but send them back to Africa. In particular, there was a kind of colony that was established, or a country that was established in Africa called Liberia, for specifically this American colonization society. And the idea was to send these newly freed African Americans back to Africa. As a matter of fact, by 1843, over 4,000 people are going to migrate to Liberia. But here's the problem.

Most African American leaders are going to resist colonization because... listen this is their country too as a matter of fact the african slaves are in the south are quite arguably more american than the planters that own them quite possibly they were their descendants have been in america longer than than the people who own them so and that was obviously an argument that african-american leaders are going to make so the the american colonization society is not particularly successful but it was one possible solution of what's going to happen to with the issue of slavery. But when we look at major abolitionists, we're looking at radicals. And we're going to look at really two major radicals. One's going to be William Wood Garrison and the other's going to be Frederick Douglass, who actually turn out to be, they turn out to be very much allies and they kind of oppose each other a little bit later on.

Now listen, we William Lloyd Garrison initially is going to be militantly anti-slavery. And as a matter of fact, any type of article that you get to read and it's sounding extremely militant... Chances are it's coming from William Lloyd Garrison.

William Lloyd Garrison, definitely a radical abolitionist. He's going to establish a radical abolitionist newspaper in 1831. The date is not coincidental. Remember how I told you after the Nat Turner Rebellion, we start seeing the rise of these radical abolitionist movements.

This liberator is radically anti-slavery. They're militantly anti-slavery. As a matter of fact, William Lloyd Garrison...

would, though he is not for violence, though he is not for violence, he was, he would rather the South secede from the North than the, than the North participate in the slave system. But he wanted immediate, immediate removal of the slaves or immediate abolition of the slave. He also attempted to get the South to the use of what they call back this at that time called moral persuasion.

And he wanted to, he was usually appealing to the fire and brimstone of the Bible to get people in the South convinced to free their slaves. In that sense, he was saying very clearly that the slave owners were going to hell. And here's a great quote.

He said, the virtuous North should secede from the wicked South. That is very classic. So let's hear a really great, this is so William Wood Garrison. We have the natural right, therefore, to seek the abolition of.

slavery throughout the globe. It is our special duty to make Massachusetts free soil. So at that moment, the fugitive slave stands upon it.

He shall take his place in the ranks of the free. God commands us to hide the outcast and be ray, not him that wandereth. I say, I will let the will of God be done. That is the head and the front of my fanaticism.

That is the extent of my infidelity. that comprehends all of my treason the will of God be done In his Liberator newspaper, which again, it's a hit in the antebellum era, he goes on and says this, Every slave is a stolen man. Every slaveholder is a man-stealer.

By no precedent, no example, no law, no compact, no purchase, no bequest, no inheritance, no combination of circumstances is the slaveholding right or justifiable. While a slave remains in his fetters, the land must have no... Rest after that 1832 bull guys people start turning up pressure. As a matter of fact, in 1833, William Lloyd Garrison and several people are going to establish the American Anti-Slavery Society, another one of those voluntary societies to help reform the country.

Probably the most significant and definitely the greatest of all the free black abolitionists. And I would say Without a doubt the most significant abolitionist is going to be Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass is going, he actually starts out as a slave, and he's taught to learn how to write by the wife of his slave owner.

He's going to escape to the north, and he is going to become, he learns how to give this, he's got this great oratory style in which he goes around and he gives speeches about the plight of the slave. light of the slaves. And this is really important to see.

This is Frederick Douglass, who has learned to write better, speak better, think faster than anybody who is standing around him. And remember when we looked at the pro-slavery arguments, the pro-slavery arguments are saying all these derogatory things about the nature of the African slave. And here stands Frederick Douglass, more eloquent than the vast majority of people that are in the North. And he goes on the speaking tour. in which he gives this speech and talks about slavery.

And he too starts out as this moral suasionist where he's using the rhetoric of the Bible to convince people of the South that they should free their slaves. Why are they using rhetoric of the Bible? Because this is during the second great awakening. Of course they're going to appeal to the Bible. And Frederick Douglass, he starts, he's basically, he's going to actually, he's kind of a, if you think of an understudy of...

William Lloyd Garrison, but he ends up breaking away from the American Anti-Slavery Society and William Lloyd Garrison and Liberator and creates his own newspaper, the North Star, which is too, is radically abolitionist. He is, but what he's going to do, he's really, he's radical, he wants abolitionist, abolition to end, but he's going to look to politics to end slavery. And when he looks to politics and slavery, he's going to be supremely influential to help kind of guide.

to kind of nudge and guide Lincoln to issuing things like the Emancipation Proclamation. And his most important piece, it's actually writes a couple of these, he writes a narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass which becomes a worldwide hit. And the narrative of life's Frederick Douglass, he's basically recounting his life as a slave and this becomes such a worldwide hit.

And he gives again, he's giving these, you know, not only after he's done giving the tours from earlier, he's giving tours, talking about this book and selling these books. He's like carrying these books around with them and he sells them and he's making a decent amount of money. But what this narrative does, this is a direct affront to all of the pro-slavery arguments, right?

He is the embodiment of the anti-slavery movement. He's the embodiment of the counter argument against the pro-slavery message. And this is a very important part of the story. This narrative life writer, Douglas, is a worldwide bestseller.

He goes overseas to sell it. And he becomes this true focus. And I mentioned in class, he becomes a rock star.

He is a rock star in the antebellum period. As a matter of fact, I think he is the most photographed person from the antebellum period. He is truly a traveling rock star when he's going out, even though there are some people that dislike him as well. A tremendous, tremendous.

tremendously important major abolitionists that we'll talk about a little bit later on in class. But we also see people who are serving both roles, and again, this is women primarily, and women are huge pieces to the abolitionist movement. But we have women who are both dedicating their lives to abolitionists, but also to women's rights.

Some great examples are Angelina and Sarah Grimke, who come from families of slave owners, and they become they moved to Massachusetts to become a major piece of the abolitionist movement. People like Sojourner Truth, who is going to also be both an advocate for both women's rights and abolition. And Sojourner Truth is, again, she writes better than most people.

She is the walking embodiment, just like Frederick Douglass, of everything that is against that pro-slavery argument. A very important piece to this too, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be the Underground Railroad. You guys have all heard about the Underground Railroad.

Harriet Tubman is going to be an escaped slave. She is going to be a very important piece of this Underground Railroad. And Underground Railroad, as you know, is not an actual railroad.

It's multiple paths to the north, and in particular to Canada specifically, because we're going to find out they're not specifically free once you get to the north. She's going to take 19 trips to Canada overall because herself is going to save 300 slaves. And now as more, she becomes this major piece, again, this is another form of resistance, another form of this radical abolitionist.

And more escaped slaves begin going north through this Underground Railroad. Some of these Underground Railroads are, we have places here in Evansville and in Indiana in which they're just houses in which anti-slavery people live and they help them escape. And as people start going north, the states now have to get involved.

And many people of states refuse to help them, help slave catchers catch the slaves. slaves because so Pennsylvania tries to prevent African Americans of being pulled out of the state by slave catchers and and this obviously turns into a law that is going to be sent to the Supreme Court in Prigg versus Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court rules that Pennsylvania cannot prevent slave catchers from taking the slaves back out of the states again this is going to be a hit to the abolitionist movement and so it basically what they're saying is prohibiting the capture of slaves is unconstitutional so states must now either allow it or not prevent it and again how do that's why you're really not safe in the north and so pennsylvania begins passing these personal liberty laws and these personal liberty laws that are going to be passed are laws that are going to allow people to object to helping for the capture of slaves so it is your personal liberty to not help in the capture of slaves. You don't have to report, you don't have to do anything.

And so this is kind of the state of Pennsylvania's counter-argument to that pre-versus-Pennsylvania, where they're going to pass personal liberty laws, and now, listen, if we... can't prevent it from happening, these personal liberty laws, we're not going to help at all. No state resources are going to help remove these slaves from, these captured slaves from the states.

And so what happens in the North, these personal liberty laws begin to spread all over the North. And this of course is kind of increasing the anger in the South. And so the Southern response to abolition is going to be, they are going to now prevent any abolitionist literature being sent to the mail. And it goes a bit farther.

So the House of Representatives is going to issue this gag rule in 1836, which basically says that no anti-slavery literature, no anti-slavery rhetoric, no anti-slavery rhetoric, no anti-slavery No anti-slavery bill can be introduced on the floor of the House of Representatives. There cannot be any discussion of prohibition in the House of Representatives. So what we're doing is we're shutting down discussion on it. We're shutting down literature that criticizes it in order to protect the system in the South. Ladies and gentlemen, we're on the road to a true division.

Transcript for:Key Antebellum Reform Movements Overview

Transcript for:
Key Antebellum Reform Movements Overview