Antebellum Social Movements

Early Labor Unions

• Early labor unions fought for:
  • Free public education
  • Abolition of debtors' prisons
  • 10-hour workday (precursor to the 8-hour workday)
• National Trades Union:
  • Formed in 1834
  • Held 150+ strikes in the decade
  • Successfully pushed for 10-hour workday for skilled workers
• Impact of Panic of 1837: Decimated union membership

Nativism and Working-Class Conflicts

• Native-born white working-class feared immigrants (especially Catholics)
• Joined nativist organizations to limit immigration and political rights of Catholic immigrants
• Embraced temperance to distinguish themselves from immigrant working class
• Beliefs:
  • Black workers should be confined to worst jobs
  • Opposition to women in the workplace

Nativist Sentiment

• Depicted in anti-immigrant cartoons
• Fear of immigrants bringing disease, poverty, and different religious practices

Changing Perceptions of Women

• Before 1830s: Women seen as less moral (Eve as sinner)
• After 1830s: Women seen as more virtuous, spiritual, and moral
• Evangelicals promote women as moral superiors
• Emphasized roles of mothers and family in response to economic/political changes

The Cult of True Womanhood

• Middle-class white women's role: Family and home
• Biological determinism: Separate social roles for men and women
  • Men: Public, competitive world
  • Women: Religion and morality in home
• Separate spheres: Men (public roles), Women (private roles)
• Terms "public man" (politician) vs. "public woman" (prostitute)
• Birth rate fell; expectations for motherhood rose

Tenets of True Womanhood

1. Purity: Sexual purity, loss leading to madness or death in fiction
2. Piety: Religious devotion expected of women
3. Domesticity: Focus on home duties
4. Submissiveness: Women subordinate to men to maintain order

• Emphasis on distinct gender roles
• Majority could not live up to True Womanhood ideals

Social Reforms by Women

• Early focus on fighting coverture (legal subjugation under husband's identity)
  • Push for married women's property rights
  • Married women's legal id covered by husband's: couldn't own property, testify, sign contracts
  • Panic of 1837 increased calls for married women's property rights
  • First reform: Mississippi, 1839 (focused on protecting enslaved property)
  • New York: More liberal Married Women's Property Act (1848)
• Women engaged in public activities related to their domestic roles

Temperance Movement

• Largest reform movement of the era
• Led by Lyman Beecher
• Aimed for abstinence from alcohol as a path to moral and economic improvement
• Increased employer control over workers' lives
• Heavy alcohol consumption in 1790-1830 period
• Alcohol was more accessible and often safer than water
• Whiskey became the most popular beverage post-Revolution
• Alcoholism epidemic and social issues addressed by temperance
• Movement included broad societal participation, passed laws for abstinence and moderation

Impact

• Reduced per capita alcohol consumption dramatically
• Altered American drinking patterns permanently
• Led to half the consumption of hard liquor in the 1830s
• Temperance seen as a hallmark of middle-class respectability
• Addressed social fears and declines prompted by the market revolution
• Promoted individual behavior regulation as key to success
• Created the "cold water army" for total abstinence

Social Stratification

• Temperance movement exacerbated class and ethnic tensions
• Washingtonian Society (1840): Formed to help workers survive depression by adopting temperance ethics

Key Concepts

• Labor unions fought for workers’ rights (10-hour workday)
• Nativism affected working-class attitudes towards immigrants
• Perceptions of women shifted, leading to "Cult of True Womanhood"
• Temperance aimed to curb alcoholism and foster economic/moral progress

Quiz Review Points: Effects of Market Revolution, Women's Participation in Reform Movements