Women in Antebellum Reform

by Ginzberg, Lori D.

• ISBN13: 9780882959511
• ISBN10: 0882959514
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-18
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

"This is a soul-stirring era," remarked the Reverend William Mitchell in 1835, "and will be so recorded in the annals of time." Countless antebellum reformers agreed. The United States was awash in efforts to change itself, a 'sisterhood of reforms' emerging to characterise the efforts of hundreds of thousands of Americans. In all of this, women played an important role. This book offers a view of women and antebellum reform through two lenses: one focused on the ideas about women, religion, class, and race that shaped reform movements; and another that observes actual women as they participate in the work of social change.

Author Biography

Lori D. Ginzberg is Associate Professor of History and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University. In 1995-96 she was a Fulbright senior teaching fellow at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Lori Ginzberg lives in Philadelphia.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. v
Preface	p. ix
The Roots of Reform	p. 1
A Changing Society	p. 3
A Woman's Sphere	p. 8
Charity and the Relations of Class	p. 15
The Worthy Poor	p. 16
Female Benevolence	p. 18
Organizing the Work	p. 22
Helping One's Own	p. 29
Drink, Sex, Crime, and Insanity	p. 33
Temperance	p. 33
Moral Reform	p. 39
Prison Reform	p. 44
The Care of the Insane	p. 48
Buildings and Ballots	p. 51
Antislavery	p. 57
The Origins of Antislavery	p. 60
The Moral Problem of Slavery	p. 64
Antislavery Efforts	p. 70
Response from the Opposition	p. 74
Life as an Abolitionist	p. 81
Woman's Rights	p. 90
Roads Not Taken	p. 91
Reformers and the Woman Question	p. 97
The Declaration of Sentiments	p. 105
The Brith of the Woman's Rights Movement	p. 110
Conclusion	p. 118
Bibliographical Essay	p. 122
Index	p. 137
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