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Susanna Haswell Rowson's novel, "Charlotte Temple," is published in the U.S.
Many women read this novel for guidance on marriage. Women in the 19th century were more cautious about marriage, and as a result, courtships became much more important ("Susanna Rowson"). -
The Greene & Delaware Moral Society warns against drinking
The Society wrote that the U.S. was "threatened with becoming a nation of drunkards." Thousands of local temperance societies were formed to promote abstinence from alcohol ("Temperance Movement"). -
Joseph Smith publishes "The Book of Mormon"
The book foretold of a simpler church without ministers, known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormons received lots of persecution from people of other faiths, and were forced out of their original home in the Burned-Over District of New York ("Joseph Smith - History"). -
Charles Grandison Finney moves to New York City
The lawyer turned Presbyterian minister was influenced by the democratic principles of the 2nd Great Awakening. He drew enormous crowds to his speeches, which promoted the power of the individual to reform himself ("Charles Grandison Finney"). -
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the American Anti-Slavery Society
The Society gained 150,000 members in two years, and each year published millions of pamphlets that denounced slavery. A key leader of this Society was Frederick Douglass, who gave impassioned antislavery speeches ("William Lloyd Garrison"). -
Horace Mann becomes the first Massachusetts Secretary of Education
Under his leadership, Massachusetts began a system of grade-level schools with standard curricula. His accomplishments encouraged other states in America to create public schools ("Horace Mann"). -
Boston schoolteacher Dorothea Dix visits a Massachusetts prison
She discovered that inmates were treated horribly. Her efforts persuaded Massachusetts and 15 other states to create asylums for the mentally ill ("Dorothea Lynde Dix"). -
The Oneida Utopian Community is founded by John Humphrey Noyes
The community adopted socialism as their system of order and engaged in such weird practices as complex marriage (in which everyone is married to each other) and perfectionism (in which they would bring about Jesus' millennial kingdom and end all sin). This community showed how crazy utopian societies could become ("The Rich, Sexy History of Oneida"). -
Slave Harriet Tubman escapes from Maryland plantation
Tubman escaped on the Underground Railroad, a vast network of routes that provided protection and transportation for fugitive slaves. She went on to help more than 300 slaves escape to freedom, earning her the nickname "Black Moses" (Larson). -
Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden
Thoreau taught that simple living and private searching would lead to profound truths. The works of transcendentalists attracted a generation of young thinkers and writers ("Walden, 1854").