UNIT 3 NOTES:

THE REFORM ERA

EDUCATION REFORM

EARLY SCHOOLS Early Characteristics

◦ One room, one stove, one teacher◦ Up to grade 8◦ Stayed open only a few months a year◦ Blacks in the South were legally forbidden to receive instruction in reading

and writing

School teachers were ill-trained, ill-tempered, ill-paid men◦ Often put more stress on “lickin” of discipline then “larnin”◦ Taught the 3 R’s

Readin’, ritin’, and rithmetic◦ Reform was desperately needed

Whigs were reformers who created the most advanced, expensive, centralized state school systems◦ Talked more about schools teaching character development◦ It was school’s first duty to teach youngsters to respect authority, property,

hard work, and social order◦ Schools would downplay class divisions, democratize the wealthy, civilize the

poor

TAX SUPPORTED EDUCATION Tax supported schools were scarce in the early years of

the republic◦ They existed chiefly to educate the children of the poor – the so-

called ragged schools◦ In mid-1800s local and state governments built tax supported

public school systems known as “common schools” Before this time children learned reading, writing, and

arithmetic at home, in poor local schools, private schools, or church sponsored schools

By 1830 Whigs and democrats agreed the providing common schools was a proper function of government◦ Both agreed that schools could equalize opportunity for both

rich and poor◦ Well-to-do conservatives realized that if they did not pay to

educate other “brats”, those brats would grow up armed with voting power

McGuffy Readers In 1833, a small publishing company called Truman and Smith

based in Cincinnati, Ohio, became interested in the idea of school texts.

They happened upon Rev. William Holmes McGuffey. ◦ This first reader of 1841 introduces children to McGuffey's ethical code. ◦ The child modeled in this book is prompt, good, kind, honest and truthful.

The second reader followed the same pattern. ◦ It contained reading and spelling with eighty-five lessons, sixteen

pictures and one-hundred sixty-six pages. ◦ It outlined history, biology, astronomy, zoology, botany; table manners,

behavior towards family, attitudes toward God and teachers, the poor

Millions of pioneer men and women were schooled with these texts

REFORM LEADERSHorace Mann (1796 – 1859)

◦ Graduated from Brown University◦ As Secretary of Mass. Board of Education he

campaigned for better schoolhouses, higher pay for teachers, expanded curriculum

Noah Webster (1758 – 1843)◦ Yale educated◦ Known as “Schoolmaster of the Republic”◦ His reading lessons were used by millions of children

in the 1800’s◦ Lessons often designed to promote patriotism◦ Devoted 20 years to his dictionary (1828) which

helped standardize the American language

The movement for women’s rights

The Movement for Women’s Rights

Main Idea: Although women were expected to devote their time to home and family in the 1800s, some women organized the women’s rights movement in the 1840s

Limits for WomenIndustrialization had a large impact on women’s

roles◦ Women in more comfortable households were freed

from chores such as growing their own food and making clothes

◦ The Industrial period made it so more timesaving products were available

With this free time, most believed women should remain in the home◦ The ideal of the stay-at-home woman that was

expected to raise the children, entertain guests, and serve their husbands was called the Cult of True Domesticity (or True Womanhood)

◦ Women could not vote, could not own property, and most had to turn wages over to a husband or father

Reform at HomeMany women were not lobbying for

political rights, they instead advised women to reform society from within their roles in the home◦Catherine Beecher tried to win respect

for women’s contributions as wives, mother’s, and teachers

◦She lobbied for the education of women◦Felt that women were the moral

background of the country

Women in ReformAs more women became educated,

they grew eager to apply their knowledge beyond the home◦Women played a prominent role in

every type of reform, from temperance to abolition

◦They marched in parades, participated in boycotts, and even gave speeches

A Women’s Rights Movement

Lucretia Mott◦ B. 1793◦ Teacher◦ Became a Quaker minister◦ Was also an abolitionist

Elizabeth Cady Stanton◦ Daughter of a Congressman◦ Studied law◦ Married an abolitionist lawyer

Both were angered when they were not allowed to participate in the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London

Seneca Falls ConventionTook place in Seneca Falls, NY

◦July 1848◦First women’s rights convention in U.S. history

Created a document titled the “Declaration of Sentiments”◦In the spirit of the Declaration of

Independence◦Passed 12 resolutions signed by 68 women

and 32 men◦Resolutions protested lack of political rights

for women◦The 9th resolution called for women’s suffrage

EffectsThe convention did not trigger wide

spread change◦Many shared Catharine Beecher’s view of

women’s influence being through the home◦Yet it did mark the beginning of an

organized movement for women’s rights

Impact on Education: No college admitted women in 1820 – thousands were graduating from colleges in 1890

People to KnowSojourner TruthCatharine BeecherLucrettia MottElizabeth Cady Stanton

Sojourner Truthhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=EsjdLL3MrKk

1851 Speech by abolitionist, women’s rights activist, poet, and writer – Sojourner Truth

The TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT

The temperance movement

The first and most widespread reform was the temperance movement◦This was an organized campaign to

eliminate alcohol consumption◦In the early 1800s America consumed more

alcoholic beverages per person than at any other time in our nation’s history

Reformers opposed drinking because it tended to make people lose control and was viewed as a threat to family life

PROBLEMS WITH ALCOHOL

Central to the party formation in the north were the evangelical Whigs who demanded that government regulate public social behavior

Central to this fight was the issue of alcohol drinking had been a part of American life since

colonial times withering authority and the market revolution had led

to increased public drunkenness and a perceived increase in alcohol led violence and social problems

Heavy drinking decreased efficiency of labor It also fouled the sanctity of family and threatened

spiritual welfare

GOALSTwo plans of attack:

◦Stiffen individual will to resist alcohol◦Eliminate alcohol by law

By encouraging total abstinence, reformers hoped to halt the creation of a wave of new drunkards◦While abstinence relies on self discipline the

hope was to fade alcohol out through social pressure and expectations

◦Many churches made temperance a condition of religious conversion or jobs as a condition of employment

REORMERS Lyman Beecher

◦ Temperance core beliefs were based on writings from Lyman Beecher’s Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance (1826)

◦ Beecher declared alcohol an addictive drug

T.S. Arthur◦ Novel: Ten Nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There (1854)◦ Described a once happy village ruined by Sam Slade’s tavern

American Temperance Society ◦ The temperance crusade began in 1826 when northeastern

evangelicals founded the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance, or American Temperance Society

◦ They implored drinkers to sign temperance pledges, handed out brochures and pamphlets, and lectures

◦ Between 1815 and 1840 thousands of temperance societies formed◦ Members urged people to take pledges not to drink alcohol

Efforts against alcohol In the mid 1830s Whigs made temperance a political issue

◦ They realized voluntary abstinence would not put an end to drunkenness◦ They first attacked licenses granting establishments rights to sell it◦ The goal was to outlaw all public drinking places

Neal Dow of Main “Father of Prohibition”◦ sponsored the Main Law of 1851 which banned the sale of alcohol◦ This attempt proved feeble as taverns would operate anyways or would

find ways around laws◦ 1838 Massachusetts Fifteen Gallon Law

Democrats agreed that Americans drank too much, they warned that government intrusion into areas of private choice violated republican liberties◦ Eventually prohibition laws were abolished◦ The temperance movement did have a significant effect: ◦ Between 1830 and 1860 alcohol consumption in the U.S. dropped

dramatically

The anti-slavery movement

The abolitionist movement Another social movement began to gain momentum:

abolition The abolitionist movement was an effort to end slavery Even during colonial times there were people outspoken

against slavery but it in the early 1800s it became widespread

At first, most anti-slavery approaches were moderate◦ Quaker Ben Lundy proposed gradual emancipation in 1821◦ Emancipation is the freeing of slaves◦ He favored stopping slavery from being used in new states◦ Wanted to end slave trade in the U.S. as a gradual step

By the end of the 1820s, free African-Americans had created over 50 anti-slavery groups

American colonization societySome abolitionists favored colonization

◦ Many were convinced that African Americans would never receive equal treatment in American society

◦ Colonization favored a plan to send emancipated slaves and free African Americans to form new societies in Africa

The American Colonization Society formed in 1817◦ They established the west African country of Liberia

for this purpose◦ This plan offended many African Americans as they

considered themselves Americans and did not want to be sent to a far away country

William lloyd garrisonFamous, radical abolitionistWhite BostonianIn 1831 he began publishing an

anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator

Frederick Douglass One of the most popular and influential speaker in the anti-

slavery movement was Frederick Douglass◦ He was an accomplished writer, publisher, and speaker◦ He was the son of a white father and slave mother◦ He was raised by his grandmother and at age 8 was sent to Baltimore to

be a house slave◦ His owners ignored common law at the time and educated him

At age 17 he was considered unruly and was sent to a “slave breaker” to become cooperative◦ He later defended himself against the breaker and later said it was the

story of “how a man became a slave and a slave became a man” In 1838, at age 21 he disguised himself as a sailor and escaped

to Massachusetts◦ After rousing speeches he soon became leader of the American Anti-

Slavery Society He started an abolitionists newspaper called the North Star Throughout his life he became a important influence in the

abolitionist movement

Frederick Douglasshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=7j0jvj4e4XU&feature=relmfu

Divisions among abolitionistsWhile abolitionists shared a common goal, they

had different tactics to achieve those goalsThese different ideas cause divisions in the

movementWomen’s Participation

◦ Many Americans did not approve of women’s involvement in politics

Race◦ Many African Americans felt that white abolitionists

treated them as inferiorTactics

◦ Some insisted on only legal methods◦ Many believed legal methods were too long-term

The underground railroadWith tremendous human suffering, many would

not wait for long-term strategies to workRisking arrest and their lives, abolitionists

created the Underground RailroadThis was a network of escape routes that

provided protection for slaves escaping to the north

Historians disagree on the number, but somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 slaves escaped on these routes

They traveled along rivers routes, through eastern swamps, along mountain passes

Resistance to abolition These abolition movements provoked intense opposition in the

North and South◦ Most white Americans viewed abolition as a radical idea◦ Northern merchants worried that the anti-slavery movement would

hurt business from southern customers◦ White workers feared that freed slaves would take their jobs by

working for lower wages Even though many thought slavery was wrong, most northerners

felt African Americans were socially inferior and did not want them living in their communities

These movements made southerners even more determined to defend slavery◦ In 1830s it became dangerous for a southerner to speak out against

slavery◦ Southern postmasters refused to deliver literature about abolition

Southern Congressmen succeeded in passing what many called a Gag Rule◦ It prohibited anti-slavery petitions from being read or acted upon in

the House for 8 years

FEMALE ABOLITIONISTSHarriet TubmanSojourner Truth

Harriet Tubmanhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=Bdno2YLm4Ms