Reform Movements From 1825 To 1850

Mr. Hammond
Q2 Essay2
11/24/13
Reform Movements Democratic ideals are either personal qualities or standards of government behavior that are felt to be essential to the continuation of a democratic policy. Democratic ideals led to Reform movements from 1825 to 1850 such as the 2nd great awakening and the change of views on slavery. The 2nd great awakening was the central of the rest of the reform movements and there were three steps to trying to abolish slavery. One of the steps to removing slavery was when the people wanted to free the slaves and send them back to Africa. It didn't work because the citizens that have slaves didn't want to get rid of them because they just spent all their money on them and don't want to give them right back. Some slaves still ended up getting freed and went up north because all of the free states were
northern.
Another step was when abolitionists started to demand immediate end to slavery. Someone who wanted to end slavery was David Walker, he made an appeal to the colored citizens of the country. He pretty much told the slaves to revolt against their owners and fight for their freedom. Another man who was against slavery was William Lloyd Garrison, he pretty much said the same thing as David Walker but in more of a less threatening tone, his nickname was the liberator. There was something called the three pronged attack, first was that freeing slaves appealed to religious people because it was against the religious law to be salve owner. In 1835 abolitionists started a petition to end slavery and it had different reactions. Something that came up was the gag rule. The gag rule made it so that
there could be no public discussion of anything in particular. So basically they were not aloud to have a petition saying that they wanted to get rid of slavery. The last “prong” was slaves escaping their owners. Some escaped by ship that took them up north, some followed the north star, while others took the underground railroad, which was when white people would let slaves into their homes when they tried to escape, hide them, feed them, and lead them to another house like theirs. The nature of the 2nd great awakening was when there was a great conversion of religion. One was that people used to be predestined which meant that they were destined to either heaven or hell at birth. But then there was a new religious theory that you could change your destiny. This made people a lot of things because they were supposed to already be determined and then out of no where they can change their destiny. It also terrified people because if they could change their destiny that meant they could also go to hell instead of heaven. So they started to ask what they could do to save themselves from eternal damnation. Also there were some social changes because of the 2nd great awakening. For example society wanted to become more educated so they started to home school their children. The basic goal was to teach them to read and write but they also had mini lessons in them. They had moral lessons, more specifically christian morals. Also some of them had democratic purposes that taught them politics to try and inform voters. Then there were certain people that were racist to the Irish and Germans because they thought that all they do is drink and sabotage the political ballots. Another big problem was beer. There was propaganda that tried to discourage drinking by showing the steps to what happens when you drink. It starts off just innocent having one drink then having another after another then getting into trouble and ending up killing yourself and leaving your family behind. Most of the people who came up with these ideas were woman because they were usually the ones who were affected the most. There was a lot of change during the 2nd great awakening and views on slavery. Slavery more people wanted to get rid of it because they knew it was against their religious laws. During the 2nd great awakening people became more racist towards the Irish and Germans, people wanted more education, and wanted prohibition from alcohol.