You will choose the name of a reformer of the early nineteenth century. Your task is to create a biography sheet for the reformer. Your final product will be one page portrait, answering the questions below. Also include some icon or graphic to represent your reformer. Use your notes, the textbook and online credible resources to research. Please provide a citation list for any online resources (ok, so I know you will start with Wikipedia, but please don’t end there. Get your overview, and then go somewhere better. I do it, too.)

Questions to answer in your well-developed paragraph:

  1. What criticism of American society did the individual have?
  2. What methods did the person use to improve American life?
  3. What success did the individual have in promoting reform?
  4. What detail(s) of the person’s work made him/her an interesting historical figure?
  5. To what extent was the reformer obsessed with achieving an impractical goal through fanatical or impractical means? Or were they purely practical?
  6. What lasting impact did the person’s reforms have on American society?

Sign-Up / Reformers & Religious Leaders
Lyman Beecher
Father Theobald Mathew
Neal Dow
Dorothea Dix
William Lloyd Garrison
Wendell Phillips
Theodore Weld
Sarah and Angelina Grimke
Frederick Douglass
Harriet Tubman
Elijah Lovejoy
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Lucretia Mott
Robert Owen
George Ripley
Sojourner Truth
John Humphrey Noyes
Horace Mann
Elihu Burritt
Benjamin Lundy
Charles Finney
Joseph Smith
Sylvester Graham
Francis Willard

Then, please answer the following questions to help put the reformers of the early nineteenth century in historical perspective:

  1. List several evils that the reformers of the period 1820-1860 tried to eliminate.
  1. What factors created a climate favorable to reform in the early nineteenth century?
  1. What common vision of a better world did these individuals have?
  1. Would you characterize these individuals as idealists or practical reformers? Explain your reasoning.
  1. To what extent did these reformers achieve success in the period 1820-1860?
  1. To what extent did these individuals build a foundation for the realization of reforms in a later period?

Reformers Research Project Rubric

Points Possible / Points Earned
Paragraph for each reformer completely answers the six questions / 20
Formatting makes it easy to read and is consistent throughout the document / 5
Correct grammar and mechanics / 5
Citations are present and correctly formatted per the information sheet / 5
TOTAL / 35