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American Reformers, 1815-1860
Book by Walters, Ronald G
235 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
About the author
Ronald G. Walters
9 books4 followersRonald G. Walters is Professor of History at The John Hopkins University.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 16, 2021
This book looks boring from the outside, but I really enjoyed. it. Read this initially for the two intro chapters tying reform to the Second Great Awakening and the chapter on Antislavery, but the whole book is worthwhile for someone interested in the topic. The chapters on communitarianism and temperance are particular highlights. I felt like the "institution and uplift" chapter that closed the book was rushed with a few too many topics dashing across the page. I've got a whole reading list as a result of this one.
Probably not a major rec for a casual read, but the starting point for any project that touches on the history of American social movements.
Probably not a major rec for a casual read, but the starting point for any project that touches on the history of American social movements.
July 24, 2021
Informative. Required reading for a college class. Presents information in an interesting way.
May 6, 2010
A great book that shows exactly how enamored antebellum Americans were with every variety of reform, from dietary to antislavery. As Emerson said, everyone at the time seemed to have a plan for reforming all of society in his back pocket.
Not surprisingly, Walters traces the urge back to the evangelical movement (and even earlier protestant ministers, back in 1710 Cotton Mather in "Bonifacius: An Essay Upon the Good" urged his readers to create their own "REFORMING SOCIETIES" devoted to moral uplift). The evangelical Second Great Awakening, beginning in 1800, led to an outpouring of nondenominational movements (the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians agreed to a "Plan of Union" in 1801) to proselytize mind and body. Religious groups formed the American Bible Society in 1816, the American Sunday School Union in 1824, and the American Tract Society in 1825. The American Tract Society soon began distributing anti-slavery literature, and in 1844 it formed the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor (AICP) to continue its alms-giving mission, realizing that a spiritual awakening could not take place in the fetid and impoverished slums of the cities. Thus the movement spread from the purely religious to the personal and political.
Sometimes it went much further into outright utopian communism. John Humphrey Noyes said that "the line of socialistic excitements lies parallel with the line of religious Revivals." Noyes himself started the Oneida Community, which embraced "complex marriage." He discouraged "excluisve attachments" and recorded every sexual encounter between members, and created community property centered around a factory producing animal traps and silverware. The connection between these communist experiments and other reform movements was often explicit. Adin Ballou, founder of the Hopedale commune (although an anarchist he encouraged the formation of an "industrial army"), ventured out regularly to participate in anti-slavery and peace campaigns. These communes were the fringe of the reform movement surely, but they were embraced by a surprising number of powerful and influential people. The Brook Farm commune was celebrated by Transcendentalists from Margaret Fuller to Elizabeth Peabody to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Robert Dale Owen, creator of the New Harmony commune, met with President Madison and John Quincy Adams and even addressed Congress (imagine a commune promoter addressing Congress today). Starting in 1819 there was even a New York Society for Promoting Communities. A society for creating societies!
The central reform movement, however, was antislavery, but its principals, like William Lloyd Garrison, often branched out into everything from the peace movement to womens' rights. The Women's rights movement, beginning with the Seneca Falls convention in 1848, surprisingly focused on "equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce," and almost voted down a resolution urging expanding the vote. By 1853, however, acquiring the vote became the cynosure of the numerous groups and gradually women's rights morphed into the "suffragette" movement. The peace movement, often associated with the womens' movement, began early in US history. One revolutionary solider even proposed a Peace Office to compliment the current War Office (take that Kucinich), but it was after the War of 1812 that people like David Low Dodge acquired a real following. The Civil War, however, drew many of these "non-resistors," who were also anti-slavery, into the fight.
As Walters points out these were all overwhelmingly middle-class, Northeastern movements, but obviously they succeeded in having a national effect. While some of the movements garner modern disdain (temperence, phrenology), Walters shows how many of these idealistic movements made a real, and worthwhile, difference.
Not surprisingly, Walters traces the urge back to the evangelical movement (and even earlier protestant ministers, back in 1710 Cotton Mather in "Bonifacius: An Essay Upon the Good" urged his readers to create their own "REFORMING SOCIETIES" devoted to moral uplift). The evangelical Second Great Awakening, beginning in 1800, led to an outpouring of nondenominational movements (the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians agreed to a "Plan of Union" in 1801) to proselytize mind and body. Religious groups formed the American Bible Society in 1816, the American Sunday School Union in 1824, and the American Tract Society in 1825. The American Tract Society soon began distributing anti-slavery literature, and in 1844 it formed the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor (AICP) to continue its alms-giving mission, realizing that a spiritual awakening could not take place in the fetid and impoverished slums of the cities. Thus the movement spread from the purely religious to the personal and political.
Sometimes it went much further into outright utopian communism. John Humphrey Noyes said that "the line of socialistic excitements lies parallel with the line of religious Revivals." Noyes himself started the Oneida Community, which embraced "complex marriage." He discouraged "excluisve attachments" and recorded every sexual encounter between members, and created community property centered around a factory producing animal traps and silverware. The connection between these communist experiments and other reform movements was often explicit. Adin Ballou, founder of the Hopedale commune (although an anarchist he encouraged the formation of an "industrial army"), ventured out regularly to participate in anti-slavery and peace campaigns. These communes were the fringe of the reform movement surely, but they were embraced by a surprising number of powerful and influential people. The Brook Farm commune was celebrated by Transcendentalists from Margaret Fuller to Elizabeth Peabody to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Robert Dale Owen, creator of the New Harmony commune, met with President Madison and John Quincy Adams and even addressed Congress (imagine a commune promoter addressing Congress today). Starting in 1819 there was even a New York Society for Promoting Communities. A society for creating societies!
The central reform movement, however, was antislavery, but its principals, like William Lloyd Garrison, often branched out into everything from the peace movement to womens' rights. The Women's rights movement, beginning with the Seneca Falls convention in 1848, surprisingly focused on "equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce," and almost voted down a resolution urging expanding the vote. By 1853, however, acquiring the vote became the cynosure of the numerous groups and gradually women's rights morphed into the "suffragette" movement. The peace movement, often associated with the womens' movement, began early in US history. One revolutionary solider even proposed a Peace Office to compliment the current War Office (take that Kucinich), but it was after the War of 1812 that people like David Low Dodge acquired a real following. The Civil War, however, drew many of these "non-resistors," who were also anti-slavery, into the fight.
As Walters points out these were all overwhelmingly middle-class, Northeastern movements, but obviously they succeeded in having a national effect. While some of the movements garner modern disdain (temperence, phrenology), Walters shows how many of these idealistic movements made a real, and worthwhile, difference.
December 6, 2023
Good info dump
August 11, 2016
This book goes into the political and social stages of Jacksonian America. Ronald G. Walters describes reformation and radicalism issues from slavery, women's rights, religion, and scientific theories. Furthermore, Walters illustrates how reformers and radicals shaped and formed these theories, and how these theories paly a significant role in America today. It's a must have for any historical library.
July 23, 2008
American history,2008-Winter,antebellum,social reformers,abolitionists,womens' rights,temperance,TAH,non-fiction
November 16, 2009
Does the job - especially on influence of milennarianism.
March 15, 2011
Interesting read, but to all you footnote readers out there....there are no footnotes. Kind of disappointing to learn knowing that the book is written by a JHU professor.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews