-The Second Great Awakening took place in the 1790's and 1840's in America.

-It was mainly a Protestant movement.

-Slavery and abolition resurfaced as well as transcendentalism.

-Education improved and hospitals for the mentally ill were tranformed.

The Second Great Awakening

Major Leaders in Education

-Horace Mann made schools required for children.
-He created government funded public schools which led to an increase of secondary schools and universities.
-He pushed for teacher-training and improved facilities.
-Textbooks were published.
-Later, Mann became the Secretary of MA Board of Education.

Horace Mann

Dorothea Dix

Pro-Slavery Arguments

-Many Southern plantation owners and white ministers used the Bible to defend slavery.
-If slavery was abolished, then owners would not be able to make profit, so they fought against the abolitionist movement.
-The argument for slavery was that in the Bible, it states that servants should obey their masters and that enslaving blacks benefited them because they would become a part of "a prosperous and Christian civilization".
-Also, the myth of a "happy slave" was invented to convince the masses that slaves were happy to work in the fields and not be free.
-In 1836, Southern plantations secured the gag rule which stated that every debate on an issue will be limited or prevented.
-The gag rule was repealed in 1844 because it violated the right to petition.