CHAPTER 8

REFORMING AMERICAN SOCIETY

Second Great Awakening

• Reject Calvinism

-Unitarianism:

Individual responsibility for salvation

• African American Church- AME Church

-also cultural, political and social center.

• Developed strong political voice

TRANSCENDENTALISTS

Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau

TRANSCENDENTALSIM

• Emphasized simple life & truth in nature; not organized religion.

• Humanitarian reforms-civil disobedience

• Utopian societies begin to form.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the Essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach and Not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. Henry David Thoreau

Inside Thoreau’s Cabin at Walden Pond.

Sleepy Hollow CemeteryConcord, Massachusetts

Emerson

Thoreau

Women’s Rights Movement

• Seneca Falls, NY 1848: Women publicly demand the right to vote for the first time.

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal…” Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments July 20, 1848

Women’s Rights Movement, cont’d.

Voting rights Education Abolition Temperance

Idea of Cult of Domesticity begins to fade.

SCHOOLS & PRISONS UNDERGO CHANGE

POINT TO PONDER: Is it me, or do you find it ironic that jails and schools are mentioned in the same section?

SLAVERY IN 1800s

• Pro slavery beliefs:-biologically inferior-intellectually inferior-barbarians-heathens -some actually thought they were doing

Africans a service.

NAT TURNER’S REBELLION

• August, 1831-Nearly 60 whites killed.-Turner executed

• Resolve to control slaves strengthened.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS• Former slave• Educated illegally

• Published newspapers:

-The North Star

• Became a leading abolitionist.

• Believed nation never fully

understood deep hurt slavery

afflicted on African people.

LADIES! Are you sick and tired of sitting at

home and never going anywhere? Are you weary of your husband telling

you what to do? Do you have few or no marketable

skills? We have an opportunity for you!

THE LOWELL MILL!• Cutting-edge mid-19th century technology at its finest! Behold the miracle of

steam!• All brick construction is here to stay…and so are you!• Waterfront property (if you can call that sludge in what used to be a river water) • Amenities: non-existent (what do you think this is? You’re here to work!)• You don’t have to worry about your husband bossing you around because you’ll

have an “understanding” manager who’ll do it for him!• Earn pennies upon the dollar…a week!

• What’s not to like?

• ACTUALLY: conditions were so bad that workers went on strike several times. 15% pay cuts, 12.5% board charges, illness, etc…it was that bad.

IRISH IMMIGRANTS

• Potato famine forced 1 million + Irish to America.

• Eager to work for low wages and in horrible conditions.

• Easy prey for employers looking to break a strike.

NATIONAL TRADES’ UNION

• Artisans began to work together for better Artisans began to work together for better wages/conditionswages/conditions

• Commonwealth v Hunt (1842):Commonwealth v Hunt (1842): workers have workers have right to strike.right to strike.

• Workers now have a weapon against unfair labor practices of employers.Workers now have a weapon against unfair labor practices of employers.