Social Reform

Social Reform

Multiple Choice

What time period are we discussing?

• 1600's

• 1700's

• 1800's

• 1900's

Why did education need to be reformed?

• Most schools had little money, and many teachers lacked training. Some people opposed the idea of compulsory, or required, education.

• Parents often kept girls at home. They thought someone who was likely to become a wife and mother did not need much education. Many schools also denied African Americans the right to attend.

Multiple Choice

Who helped reform education in the mid 1800's

• Horace Mann

• Thomas Jefferson

• Susan B. Anthony

• Lyman Beecher

education was a key to wealth and economic opportunity for all

Why was education important to Horace Mann?

Abolitionists

Multiple Choice

What is an abolitionist?

• Someone who tries to abolish something

• Someone trying to get rid of the institutiton of slavery

• Someone fighting for women's rights

• Someone who fights for education reform

How to stop Slavery

1. Stop the slave trade

2. Gradually phase it out in souther states to give the economy time to adjust

3. Individual states decided what to do

Multiple Choice

When did states and colonies try to end slavery?

• Before the Revolution

• After the Revolution

• Before the Civil War

• After the Civil War

Slavery

By the early 1800s, the Northern states had officially ended slavery there. The practice continued in the South. In fact, the rise of the Cotton Kingdom increased the use of enslaved labor.

Multiple Choice

Which region was slavery part of the economy

• North

• South

• East

• West

Slavery early ideas

Gradualism and colonization remained the main goals of antislavery groups until the 1830s. At this time, abolitionists began arguing that enslaved African Americans should be freed immediately. Slavery became America's most pressing social issue.

Abolitionists

Free African Americans in the North especially supported the goal of abolition. Most lived in poverty in cities and had trouble getting good jobs and decent housing. They were often subject to violent attacks. Yet these African Americans were proud of their freedom. They sought to help those who remained enslaved.

Reaction to Abolitionists

Abolitionists stirred strong reactions. Most white Southerners believed abolition threatened their way of life, which required enslaved labor.

Even in the North, only a few white people supported abolition. Many white Northerners worried that freed African Americans would never blend into American society. Others feared that abolitionists could begin a war between the North and South.

As a runaway, Douglass faced the danger of capture and a return to slavery. Still, he joined the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. He traveled widely to speak at abolitionist meetings. He even appeared at events in London and the West Indies. Douglass was a powerful speaker who often moved listeners to tears. He also edited the antislavery newspaper North Star.

Douglass made his home in the United States because he believed abolitionists must fight slavery at its source. He insisted that African Americans receive not just freedom but full equality with whites as well.

Frederick Douglass is the best-known African American abolitionist. Born into slavery in Maryland, Douglass escaped in 1838.

Frederick Douglass

Important Abolititionists

Women's Movement

Seneca Falls Convention

In July 1848, Stanton and Mott helped organize the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. About 300 people, including 40 men, attended.

A highlight of the convention was debate over a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. These resolutions called for an end to laws that discriminated against women. They also demanded that women be allowed to enter the all-male world of trades, professions, and businesses.

Multiple Choice

What is women's suffrage?

• The right to vote

• The right to vote for women

• The right to be equal

• The ability to work in the same jobs as men

Declaration of Sentiments

The first women's rights convention called for women's equality and for their right to vote, to speak publicly, and to run for office. The convention issued a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions modeled on the Declaration of Independence. Just as Thomas Jefferson had in 1776, women are announcing the need for revolutionary change based on a claim of basic rights:

Rights women fought for

1. Voting

2. Coeducation

3. Professions