I. Religion in Antebellum Society

A. Second Great Awakening (1790’s-1840’s)
1. Began in East Coast and spread West
2. Led by Presbyterians and Congregationalists
3. As in the past, large weeklong revival camp meetings
4. Used ‘exercises’ and ‘classes’
5. Methodist denomination grew to be the largest US protestant denomination by 1844 due to success in the West

B. Eastern Revivals
1. Led by puritan descendants
2. Presbyterian minister Charles Finney was a prominent leader
3. Finney encouraged cooperation among protestant denominations
4. Finney believed that people had the power to live ‘perfectly’, therefore he rejected Calvinist notions of predestination
5. Women were not only participants but often took the lead in Finney’s revivalism

C. Unitarians
1. Disliked the ‘irrationality’ of revivals
2. Composed of religious liberals- often wealthy and highly educated
3. Almost exclusively in New England
4. Also rejected Calvinists view of predestination

D. Mormons
1. One of the few religions that originated entirely in America
2. Started by Joseph Smith who claimed to have received the Book of Mormon, a previously unknown ‘continuation’ of the Bible.
3. Smith claimed to receive ‘revelations’ including one which allowed followers to practice polyginy (more than one wife)
4. Smith viewed himself as a prophet (the Second Mohammed)
5. Mormons were persecuted and moved further and further west. Smith was killed by an angry mob in Illinois. (Brigham Young takes over leadership)

E. Shakers
1. Founded by Mother Ann Lee in 1770’s
2. Lived in separate communities
3. Known for their crafts (especially furniture)
4. Prohibited sex and kept genders segregated in their communities


II. The Age of Reform

A. The Temperance Movement
1. Most successful of era’s social reform movements
2. Revivalist Lyman Beecher established American Temperance Society- appealed to religious, upper classes, and women
3. Washington Temperance Societies- worker based, began during Panic of 1837
4. New laws, particularly in New England regulated alcohol consumption
5. Alcohol consumption declined 50% between 1820 and 1840

B. Public School Reform
1. Led by Horace Mann of Mass.
2. Called for publicly funded schools with “grading” and standardized curriculum
3. Increased length of school year and school day
4. Emphasized punctuality and assimilation (except for black children)
5. Often criticized by Irish for adherence to protestent values
6. Compulsory education often opposed by farmers who needed children for farmwork

C. Abolition
1. Initially the most unpopular of the reform movements
2. Between 1800-1830, antislavery issue was promoted by the American Colonization Society, some free blacks and Quakers
3. William Lloyd Garrison- uncompromising, dedicated leader who started “The Liberator” (1831)
4. Prominent black leaders included Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth
5. Most abolitionists refused to work with blacks
6. With the exception of garrison, most abolitionists tried to limit women’s roles in the abolitionist movement
7. Still, women became deeply involved and prominent leaders like the Grimké sisters

D. Women’s Rights
1. Leaders: the Grimké sisters, Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, Elidabeth Stanton and Abbey Kelley
2. Seneca Falls Declaration (1848)