Page 301 - American Stories, A History of the United States

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12.1

Learn about some key topics related to this chapter with
12.2 the MyHistoryLab Video Series: Key Topics in U.S. History

1 quarter of the nineteenth century, in the wake of the
12.3 The Republic of Reform: 1820–1850 During the second
Second great awakening, the United States saw the
growth and spread of a variety of reform movements.
This video discusses the movements, for temperance,
abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and prison and
asylum reform. These movements sought to alleviate
numerous social problems and inequalities. inspired by
faith as well as democratic principles, they not only added a religious dimension to their reforms, but they
also resulted in the development of new spiritual movements and sects.
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part in the religious convictions and identity of U.S. citizens during the early nineteenth century and 2
The Second great awakening This video focuses on the revivals of religious faith and spiritualism in
american society known as the Second great awakening. The frontier experience played an important

resulted in the development of entirely new and uniquely american religious groups, such as the
Mormons and the Unitarian church.
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3 David Walker’s “appeal” The “appeal,” penned by a former slave, David Walker, is one of the earliest

documents calling for the abolition of slavery and emancipation. This video examines the historical
context in which it was written during the 1820s, as well as Walker’s demands and his belief in the
armed resistance of slaves.
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themselves as well. This video discusses the events and concerns that brought those women together, 4
Seneca Falls Convention The reform movements of the nineteenth century involved many outspoken
women. in 1848, a number of them in gathered at Seneca Falls, new York, in order to demand rights for

and their demands for full equality with men. The leaders at Seneca Falls, chief among them lucretia
Mott and elizabeth Cady Stanton, borrowed the language of the Declaration of independence to write
their own Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions for women.
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and employees. if enough people enlisted in the evangelical crusade, Finney proclaimed, the
millennium would be achieved within months.
Finney’s call for religious and moral renewal fell on fertile ground in Rochester. The bustling
boomtown on the erie Canal was suffering from growing pains and tensions arising from rapid
economic development. Leading families were divided into quarreling factions. Workers were
threatening to break free from the control their employers had exerted over their lives. Most of
the early converts were from the middle class. businessmen who had been heavy drinkers and
irregular churchgoers now abstained from alcohol and went to church at least twice a week.
They pressured the employees in their workshops, mills, and stores to do likewise. More rigorous
standards of proper behavior and religious conformity unified Rochester’s elite and increased
its ability to control the rest of the community. As in other cities the revival swept, evangelical
Protestantism gave the middle class a stronger sense of identity and purpose.
but the war on sin was not always so unifying. Among those converted in Rochester and else-
where were some who could not rest easy until the whole nation conformed to the pure Christianity
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