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Shakers
The Shakers was a religious community that had a significant impact on the world due to the success of it. They believed that the men and women were equal and that their works were equally important, abandoning traditional family life (Foner, 835). -
American Colonization Society
The American Colonization Society wanted for abolition of slavery with relocation of black Americans to Africa. Many people thought that black people could never fully be equal as slavery was so engrained with American life (Foner, 849). Important people such as Henry Clay, John Marshall, and Andrew Jackson supported this idea and many black Americans did end up moving to Africa. -
Perfectionism
Perfectionism was the idea that people had no definite improvement, they could always improve more. New reform movements came and the temperance movement went from moderation of alcohol to a complete ban on it (Foner, 840). -
New Harmony
New Harmony was a community in Indiana established by Robert Owen. One of the utopian communities, it used perfectionism as its basis of everyday life where children were educated in schools to help the common good. They did not base their teachers off of religious ideas and taught for the equality for the community (Foner, 839). -
The Temperance Movement
The Temperance Movement strived to end the consumption of alcohol not only for the heavy drinkers, but the occasional ones as well (Foner, 841). It convinced thousands of Americans to stop drinking alcohol to become better morally as a result of perfectionism (Foner, 841). -
Feminism
Feminism was the idea that women should have universal freedom and equality. The Seneca Falls Convention was a gathering in New York discussing the ideas of women's rights and talked about woman's suffrage, the right to vote. -
American Anti-Slavery Society
The American Anti-Slavery Society was a northern group devoted to the abolition of slavery. They used the argument from the bible saying that slavery was a sin and the people needed to change their ways (Foner, 856). Saying that slavery is a sin helped the abolitionist movement as the only way to respond was to abolish slavery (Foner, 856). -
Gentlemen of Property and Standing
Gentlemen of property and standing were mobs against the abolitionist movement and would disrupt meetings help in northern cities (Foner, 871). The group of people were mainly merchants who had connections with the south meaning that they would not benefit from abolition of slavery. If the south did not have slavery, there would be less product to trade with meaning less profits for the merchants. -
Gag Rule
The gag rule was in 1836 prohibiting the consideration of abolitionist petitions, basically ignoring the petitions written by abolitionist for their cause. It had major backlash and was later repealed in 1844 (Foner, pg 871). -
Liberty Party
The Liberty Party was an abolitionist political party nominating James G. Birney for president. It was based of the idea of making abolitionism a political movement, but did not end up working as most northerners thought it would be a waste to vote for it (Foner, 890). -
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix worked to advocate rights for the insane in mental asylums. She saw the cruel treatment of them and made efforts to create humane treatment for them, creating 28 mental hospitals during antebellum. -
Brook Farm
Brook Farm was based in Massachusetts and was full of writers and intellectuals showing that both manual and intellectual work could work together (Foner, 838). The farm hosted many activities that acted like a university in a sense and attracted many different groups of people to the farm (Foner, 838). -
Oneida
Oneida was another community that was based on the idea that someone could get moral perfection to an extreme. The community disregarded social harmony and had other things like "complex marriage" and created a sort of family full of all equals (Foner, 836). They were based off the perfectionist idea and influenced many other groups with their success. -
Woman Suffrage
Woman Suffrage was the movement that women should have the right to vote as citizens. It was led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Seneca Falls Convention was a gathering held in New York that talked about the woman's right to vote. They used the argument of how women could only have freedom if they were given the right to vote and if they weren't, the government was wrong (Foner, 878). -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe which was an antislavery book that went along with the abolitionist ideas. It created empathy for the slaves as it discussed the topic of splitting up families and bonds the slaves had created, appealing to sympathetic people (Foner, 867).