Lesson 87: Humanitarian Reforms

     The Age of Reform was time of change in the thought of the traditional ways because of the newly emerging industry and economy.  This was a time that urged attempts at the perfection of human beings.
     One of these attempts at perfection was the provision of care for mentally and physically ill people.  Thomas H. Gallaudet started the first American school for the deaf in Connecticut.  His son would later found the Columbian Institution for the Deaf and Dumb.  Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe began a school for the blind and taught a twelve year old blind, deaf, and dumb girl to use sign language.
   
   

Lesson 86: Utopian Movement

     In the 1800s experimental communities were started in order to create a peaceful, perfect society.  These were sometimes called Utopian Movements.  Most of these communities failed because of certain flaws in their social or economical structure.
     One community, Brook Farm in Massechusettes, was considered an "intellectual haven" for transendentalism.  It failed after only five years due to the lack of incentive among the people to be productive.
     Another utopian experiment was the Shaker community, which was started by Ann Lee in 1774. Although it lasted for about a hundred years after Ann Lee's death in 1784, the Shaker community eventually dwindled away because they did not believe in reproducing.  Rather, they believed in living single, joyful religious lives.
     Not all of the Utopian movements failed, some still exist today.  One of these is the Church if Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was started by Joseph Smith in 1831.  This community was more successful, but was eventually relocated outside of the United States to what is now Salt Lake City.
   

Lesson 85: The Second Great Awakening

   The Second Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals sponsored by Timothy Dwight in 1795.  The sermons spoke of a good and kind God who desired all men, women, and children to be saved by believing in Jesus Christ, unlike the Puritan predictions of a vengful God's judgement.
The Revival spread quickly across the American frontier and converted thousands.
 One thing that was allowed at these revivals unlike before was the great attendance of women and slaves.  This was not a common thing back then and it allowed more recognition to these minor groups.  Although it did cause different church denominations to split up over their difference in belief on how slaves and women should be treated.

Lesson 84: Transcendentalism

      Transcendentalism was formed form Romanticism which had started during the nineteenth century.
 Romanticism was all about getting close to nature and contemplating it.  Another thought that  came from this was that there was more to experiencing nature than could be infered from logic.
Transcendentalists believed that everyone posssesed an inner light and were focused on developing themselves.