AMERICAN SOCIETY & ECONOMY TRANSFORMED

Second Great Awakening

Began in New England in the 1790s, but spread across the country

Camp meetings became common: Large audiences listened to many different preachers Speakers called on worshippers to ask for

forgiveness & prepare for the Second Coming Largest meeting took place in Kentucky in 1801

Second Great Awakening

Charles Finney: Former lawyer & gifted

speaker Used language that all

could understand Advocated that anyone

could achieve salvation Argued that human

nature was not necessarily dominated by sin

Eventually became president of Oberlin College

Religious & Utopian Societies

Shaker Society

Established a number of communities in several states

Hoped to be self-sufficient & became known for their furniture & handicrafts

The movement peaked between 1820-1860

Era of Reform

There were many groups attempting to improve society, including followers of:

Temperance Public Education Abolition Women’s Rights

Alcohol & Temperance

Alcohol abuse was seen as a major problem

Religious reformers saw alcohol consumption as immoral

Factory owners complained about productivity & quality

Alcohol & Temperance

The American Society for the Promotion of Temperance began in 1826:

Encouraged abstinence pledges

Lobbied states for the prohibition of alcohol

Rates of alcohol consumption had dropped in half by the 1840s

Public Education

For many years, public education was considered to be a family’s responsibility & was not required

Horace Mann became a leading reformer in Massachusetts & the US

Mann’s Education Reforms

School attendance was made mandatory & the school year was extended

Curriculum was standardized & began to emphasize practical education

Many states adopted similar reforms in order to educate children & assimilate immigrants

Abolition

Quakers advocated the abolition of slavery in the years following the American Revolution

American Colonization Society called for the removal of free blacks from the US

American Colonization Society

Founded in 1817

Believed in the following: Gradual emancipation of

slaves with compensation for slave owners

Former slaves should be transported to the African nation of Liberia

Slavery was wrong, yet blacks were inferior to whites

American Colonization Society

Paul Cuffe provided ships & money to former slaves hoping to travel to Liberia

Not many slaves earned their freedom – it was very expensive

Many former slaves had no desire to live in Africa

Abolition

Black abolitionists such as David Walker, Sojourner Truth, & Frederick Douglass were also active

William Lloyd Garrison called for the immediate abolition of slavery

Women in the Abolition Movement

Angelina Grimke was born to a slave-holding family in South Carolina

She & her sister spoke to anti-slavery audiences

Some criticized the Grimke sisters for speaking to mixed audiences

Women’s Rights

Margaret Fuller received an education in the classics

Wrote that women must be allowed to develop their own intellectual abilities

Other women’s rights advocated included Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Seneca Falls Convention

Held in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848

Participants protested women’s lack of property rights & suffrage

Created a Declaration of Sentiments – “All men & women are created equal”