1988 Essay Outline

Thesis- Between the years of 1820 and 1860, the American Reform Movements reflected both optimistic and pessimistic views of human nature and society. The movements include the abolition movement, the Utopian committees movement, and the women's rights movement.

I. The abolition movement of 1833 was a political movement the sought to abolish the practice of slavery and the worldwide slave trade.

-antislavery Society, campaigners against slavery and slave trade.

-The majority of the Northerners rejected the extreme positions of the abolitionists.

-Lincoln did not want the movement.

-the abolitionist movement was strengthed by the activities of free African- Americans.

-Underground railroad was helping to oppose slavery.

II. Another movement that had both optimistic and pessimistic views was the Utopian communities movement. This movement was also known as the "perfectionist" movement.

-Utopian communities had become institutionalized in the 1840s.

-Transcendentalists believed that the true path lay in perfection of the individual, instead of reform or the larger society.

-Brook Farm residents hoped to free themselves for competition of the capitalist world so as to work as little as possible.

-a rejection from American society.

-formed themselves around religion.

III. The women's rights movement typically refers to freedoms inherently possessed by women. These freedoms may be institutionalized or ignored by law in a particular society.

-Some