4.11 An Age of Reform

Religious roots of reform

The Second Great Awakening sparked evangelical revivalism emphasizing individual perfectionism and salvation through good works. Preachers like Charles Finney inspired believers to improve society, fueling movements like temperance, abolition, and utopian communities such as Oneida and Brook Farm that sought to model ideal social/religious life.

Social reform movements

Reformers targeted societal problems: temperance (Sons of Temperance) fought alcohol abuse; education reform, led by Horace Mann, pushed for public schooling; Dorothea Dix advocated for humane treatment of the mentally ill; and prison reform promoted rehabilitation over punishment, reflecting a belief in societal improvability.

Abolition and women's rights

Abolitionism grew radical with William Lloyd Garrison's *The Liberator* and Frederick Douglass's activism, splitting the movement over tactics. Women reformers, often first active in abolition, organized the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), producing the Declaration of Sentiments demanding suffrage and equality, marking the formal start of the women's rights movement.

Key terms

Second Great Awakening

Early 19th-century religious revival emphasizing perfectionism and salvation through good works; inspired reform movements.

Horace Mann

Reformer who championed free, universal public education in Massachusetts as a model for the nation.

Dorothea Dix

Reformer who advocated for humane treatment and dedicated institutions for the mentally ill.

William Lloyd Garrison

Radical abolitionist who published The Liberator and demanded immediate emancipation of enslaved people.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

First women's rights convention in the U.S.; produced the Declaration of Sentiments demanding suffrage and equality.

Try an AP-style question

This document most directly advocated…

1. equal rights for women, including voting
2. temperance and prohibition
3. the immediate abolition of slavery
4. public schools for all children