Ch 12 RMQ - The Fires of Perfection (1820-1850)

The reform movements of the 1820s and 1830s emerged

• in response to the tumultuous economic and social changes of Jacksonian America.

• because the stability of the era gave Americans the opportunity to reflect on the need for moral reform.

• when President Andrew Jackson began to encourage Americans to restore their traditional values.

• as an effort by political leaders to limit the influence of church leaders on American society.

Charles Grandison Finney preached

• that human beings were depraved and beyond self-redemption.

• a doctrine of quiet piety and peaceful meditation.

• a doctrine of free will and human perfectibility.

• that God had chosen a select few for eternal salvation.

The revivalism of the 1830s

• reflected preindustrial ideals and encouraged Americans to resist the dehumanizing influence of the factory system.

• was directed toward wealthy Americans who could make large financial contributions to the movement.

• encouraged Americans to give up their worldly possessions and begin to lead lives of Christian poverty.

• reinforced the middle-class values necessary to succeed in the new market economy.

Evangelical religion in the North proved strongest

• in New England.

• in coastal seaports where the market economy was strongest.

• in isolated backwaters.

• in frontier areas just entering the market economy.

One result of the emerging market economy in America by 1850 was

• smaller families.

• larger families.

• younger families.

• blended families.

The utopian communities of the Age of Reform

• were founded on the pessimistic belief that human beings could not achieve moral perfection.

• offered their members a viable alternative to industrialization through collectivism.

• sought to replace competitive individualism with a sense of group cooperation.

• created regulated lives that would make their members efficient industrial workers.

The temperance movement enjoyed the success it did for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

• it reflected the ideals of democratic capitalism.

• it received support from the federal government.

• it strongly appealed to women.

• temperance helped achieve upward mobility.

The abolition movement

• appealed to community leaders, who saw it as a means of preserving the established order.

• was a popular movement that faced resistance only because of the political strength of the South.

• had powerful support in the North where most Americans believed in racial equality.

• faced resistance throughout the nation and suffered from internal disputes as well.

In the American democracy

• government coercion promised the most realistic means of imposing moral reform.

• individual conversion and moral persuasion offered the best way to change society.

• Democrats welcomed reformers because they brought a strong moralism to the party.

• both parties recruited reformers because their enthusiasm strengthened partisan loyalties.

As they were excluded from the reform movements, women reformers increasingly

• gave up on moral causes.

• formed their own abolition organization.

• saw the right to vote as the best means to improve society.

• accepted the fact that they were second-class citizens.