Social Reform
...oup pressure on the weak-willed. “The Drunkards Progress: From First Glass to the Grave in 1846” was an example of a poster used by temperance advocates to illustrate the harmful effects of drinking (Doc. H), an indication of the expansion of religious revivalism. The temperance crusade revealed the many practical motivations for Americans to join reform societies. Struggling to restore American society, some reformers preferred to work not to influence individuals but to change institutions such as asylums, almshouses, prisons, schools, churches, and factories. Reformers expanded the democratic ideal of fair treatment of criminals. Colonial families or communities cared for orphans, paupers, the insane, and criminals. Beginning early in the nineteenth century, states built asylums, houses of refuge, reform schools, jails, and other institutions to uplift and house social victims to improve the society. It was written in the Fourth Annual Report of 1829 that, “…our young country…was the first to adopt the penitentiary system of prison discipline and the first to prevent the commission of crimes…and by religious and moral instruction rescuing them from vice and rendering them valuable members of society” (Doc. A). Instead of confining youthful criminals, reformers created the House of Refuge, stopping crimes before they start by forming orphanages and charities. Charles Finney expressed his desire to “awaken and reform” the churches to convert “harlots, drunkards, infidels, and all sorts of abandoned characters” (Doc. B). When churches are reformed, then reformation of the sinners would follow. Finney understood that the human agency of individuals and ministers were crucial in causing a revival. Finney used logic as well as emotion to bring about conversions, the purpose of which was to play a role in the perfectionist reform of society. The goals of the struggle against slavery and subtle forms of racism and sexism often seemed as distant and unrealizable as the millennium itself. Yet antislavery and feminist advocates persisted in their efforts to abolish what they believed were concrete, visible, ingrained social wrongs. As the United States neared mid-century, slavery emerged as the most divisive issue. Against much opposition, the reformers had made slavery a matter of national political debate by the 1840s. Reformers expanded the democratic ideal of freedom for blacks and women in their campaigns. The antislavery movement revealed more clearly the difficulties of pursuing significant social change in America. The image of an imploring slave was one of the favorite abolitionist devices. As in Document C, the caption often asked, “Am I not a Women and a Sister?” The text suggested that abolitionism was a religious duty and drew upon the idea that slavery was a sin. American women pursued several paths to achieve greater personal autonomy in the antebellum era. Some women found an outlet for their role as moral guardians by attacking the sexual double standard. Women gained from abolitionism a growing awareness of the similarities between the oppression of slaves and of women. Collecting antislavery signatures and speaking out publicly, they continued to face denials of their right to speak or act politically. Women reformers met in annual conventions and worked by resolution, persuasion, and petition campaign to achieve equal political, legal, and property rights with men. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in a declaration for equal rights for women, stated, “We are assembled…to declare our right to be as free as man is free” (Doc I). Most abolitionists and temperance reformers were anti-Jackson Whigs. Jackson and most Democrats repudiated the passionate moralism of reformers. Many individuals attacked the beliefs of the reformers and disagreed that reform was beneficial for the United States; however, people who campaigned against the reform movement recognized that certain democratic ideals were being expanded. Samuel F.B. Morse, in Imminent Dangers to the Free Institutions of the United States, proclaimed t...