Warm-Up: Tues, 9/27

You are part of the Fort Collins High

School nation. How would you reform
or improve your society?

Learning Target
I can identify the key players and
arguments for the significant reform
movements of the 1830s.

Why?
Every one of these reform
movement issues is still
relevant today education,
gender rights, black lives,
substance abuse, prison reform,
evangelicalism

Reforms: Extreme Makeover

Why important?
Key leaders & movement ideals
Religion &
Spirituality

Women

Abolition

Education

Temperance

Mentally ill &

Imprisoned

I see
I think

I wonder

Reforms: 1820s & 1830s

The Second Great Awakening tent revival

Who: Led by Protestant preachers called revivalists

Got Americans excited about religion, but church v. state
African-Americans = eternal freedom from oppression
Evangelical (emotional) speakers like C. G. Finney

What: Religious movement that encouraged

Americans to reform/improve society
Where: Started in Kentucky and
spread north and south
Problems? Discrimination against
non-Protestants including Jews,
Mormons & Catholics

Reforms: 1820s & 1830s

Utopias & Transcendentalism

Who: Robert Owen (utopian society), Ralph Waldo

Emerson & Henry David Thoreau (transcendentalists)

What: Spiritual movements to create perfect

societies (utopias) and reconnect with nature
Utopian communities sharing property, labor & family
Transcendentalists truth through nature (transcend)

Where: New Harmony, Indiana & Brook Farm, MA;

transcendentalists in New England
Legacy? Most utopian societies failed;
however, Thoreaus Civil Disobedience
would inspire future civil rights movements

Reforms: 1820s & 1830s

Education

Who: Noah Webster, Horace Mann

What: Creation of tax-funded, public school system
Shared curriculum The American Spelling Book
creating a set of national values/ understanding
Increase literacy and work skills
Educate citizens in a democracy all men are equal

Where: Started in New England (Puritan

values) and spread across nation
Significance? This new country needed
skilled workers and informed citizens;
public education was a way to ensure equality

Reforms: 1820s & 1830s

Helping the mentally ill & imprisoned

Who: Dorothea Dix

What: Movement to help the poor and sick and to
emphasize penitence (sorrow) for criminals
Promoted more humane treatment of people with mental
illnesses creation of modern mental hospitals
Focus on religious reflection through penitentiary
movement rather than just punish

Where: Pennsylvania & New York

Significance? Reflected desire to
improve society by focusing on
those often ignored

Reforms: 1820s & 1830s

Temperance (anti-alcohol)

Who: Neal Dow, American Temperance Society

What: Movement to limit or ban liquor which they
saw as the cause of many social problems (crime,
poverty, domestic violence)
Published pamphlets warning people about wasting money
on alcohol that could be spent feeding their families
Public meetings for counseling

Where: Mostly cities, Maine

Significance? Would start the
movement towards anti-liquor
legislation culminating in the
18th (and 21st) amendments

Reforms: 1820s & 1830s

Abolitionist/ Anti-Slavery (African-Americans)
Who: Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison,
Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner
What: Fought to abolish (end) of slavery

Anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator

Nat Turners slave revolt

Where: Most abolitionists in the

North and Midwest
Legacy? The issue of slavery
would soon divide this
new nation

Reforms: 1820s & 1830s

Womens Movement

Who: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott

What: Women taking a more active role in public
life and fighting for equal rights (property, voting)
The 2nd Great Awakening put women center stage
as reformers, speakers, writers
Entering the workplace brought some economic freedom
and social independence (friendships outside family)

Where: Womens Rights Convention

at Seneca Falls, NY
Legacy? Women gained
some property rights &
would get the vote in 1920

Reform Issues TODAY

Get into 6 groups by reform theme (women,
education), research current issues, and create a
poster on what is happening today with that issue.
Ms. Opper will assign your group a theme (race,
gender, religion)
Briefly discuss your opinions and
brainstorm common themes and ideas
What is the challenge your group is trying to overcome?
What problem are they trying to solve?

Make a poster depicting the challenge/ problem

and create a rallying cry (motto, #) to gain
support

Include 2-3 reasons why people should support you