ASSIGNMENT: PERFECTION ERA PAPER

Assignment: Perfection Era Paper

The Perfection Era Colonial expansion spread colonists both west- and southward, causing many colonists to settle far from the churches that had been established in the north. New communities and churches were being built and many of the ideals of the Enlightenment were being questioned. The ideals of the Great Awakening and those who were members of this movement believed in the desire to create a perfect, equalitarian society, and the Perfection Era held along side those beliefs. The Second Great Awakening began with the evangelical Protestant church, including Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist, becoming the dominant form of Christianity (Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, and Stoff, 2006). Evangelicalism emphasized each person’s ability to create his or her salvation and by catering to the masses. Along with Charles Finney’s (a minister) optimistic doctrine of perfectionism, the revivals of the evangelicals reinforced the American belief in democracy and society. This belief also questioned the long held belief that African Americans as well as women were second class citizens, and throughout several church communities, women and African Americans were allowed to speak, preach and vote in church and on matters of the church (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). The Perfection Era brought about many changes for women and slaves. The role women played in the Awakening was an important one due mostly to the changes in the lives they lead. Many women, due to marriage because of love rather than arrangement, turned to religion to heighten their sense of purpose and widen their social circles, as well as to increase their chances of marriage (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Along with the uncertainty of marriage, other changes were happening for women who were mothers and wives during this time. With the economy changing, husband’s going away from the home to work, the pressures of maintaining the home fell on the wives. The continued separation of the home from the workplace meant that home was the place the husband could come to at the end of the workday and relax with the wife at the center holding it all together (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Domesticity was born. A man’s world was the factory, the office, or the fields and the woman’s world was the home, where she was to help teach both her husband and her children moral values while doling out love and comfort to both (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Women were held on a moral pedestal, therefore were held to a higher standard of sexual purity. A man could have an affair and no one would think anything of it. If a woman had an affair, then she was disgraced (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Although women began to hold important roles in the family and the church, they were still considered as a part of their husbands and not as individuals. The Second Great Awakening was another attempt at large-scale revivals among the many facets of Christianity to apply Christian principles to the secular world. Women and African Americans were extremely important in to the success of this movement and were empowered by the democratic ideals of the first Great Awakening. William Lloyd Garrison became the symbol of the transition from a hesitant antislavery movement to a full blown antislavery movement (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). He developed extremely radical views on the antislavery movement, even more so than Benjamin Lundy who was the editor of a leading antislavery newspaper in the country (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Garrison was imprisoned about a year after moving to Baltimore because of his extreme beliefs and upon his release went straight into Baltimore and published his first issue of the Liberator (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Abolitionism was born with this first publication on January 1, 1831. Although Garrison attracted the most attention, many others spoke with as much conviction. Wendell Phillips, from a prominent Boston family, Lewis Tappan and his brother Arthur, who were New York City silk merchants, James G. Birney, an Alabama slaveholder and converted abolitionist, and many others spoke just as loud and with just as much conviction as Garrison (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Abolitionists felt that slavery was a question of morality not economy and contradicted the principles of the American Revolution that all humans were created with natural rights (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Abolitionism spread and along with it so did opposition. Mobs were forming and reformists were dividing. Even the abolitionists were starting to separate. Conservative reformers wanted to use the church and politics to stop slavery; however, Garrison and his followers believed that the violence that was being demonstrated by the mobs proved that something more was going on and it stemmed from the American institution and values; things that needed to end (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Garrison believed that no one with a conscience could participate in a political system that condoned slavery, and along with this endorsed women’s rights as an integral part of abolitionism (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). Of all the things Garrison preached about, equal rights for women got the most negative response. Most abolitionists divided over the issue of female participation and many women found they could relate with how the slaves felt. After being made to sit behind a curtain during a world anti-slavery convention in England, two abolitionists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, started the women’s rights movement (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). The women’s rights movement had about one hundred supporters, and during the convention in Seneca Falls, New York, created a declaration that started off, “All men and women are created Equal” (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, p.334, 2006). From there, resolutions were approved for women to have more opportunities for education and professions, and to have more legal rights regarding their property and their children (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006). The only resolution that was not approved was a woman’s right to vote. Although the defeats outweighed the victories, the movement did result in greater control for women over their property and in some cases made divorce easier. By the time the Civil War came around, many of the leaders of the women’s rights movement had already established themselves at the forefront and they included Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Isabella Beecher Hooker (Davidson, Gienapp, et al, 2006).

References
Davidson, J., Gienapp, W., Heyrman, C., Lytle, M., and Stoff, M. (2006). Nation of nations: A concise narrative of the American Republic (4th ed. Vols. 1, 2, and Combined). Boston: McGraw Hill.