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The Cane Ridge Revival was a massive religious revival in Kentucky. Over 20,000 people gathered for the emotional preaching, conversion, and a spiritual renewal. The revival helped start The Second Great Awakening, this inspired many reform movements. Abolitionism was heavily influenced by this because they believed slavery was a sin. Image: “Cane Ridge Revival.” Disciples Historical Society, DisciplesHistory.org, discipleshistory.org/wiki/cane-ridge-revival/. -
The Underground Railroad was a secret network of free Black people and some white allies that helped enslaved people escape to freedom in the North. Southern slaveholders were angered and blamed the north for helping the enslaved people run away. This caused much distrust between North and South. Image: “The Underground Railroad: Free at Last.” A African American Registry, Aaregistry.org, aaregistry.org/story/the-underground-railroad-free-at-last/. -
William Lloyd Garrison, a Christian abolitionist, published the first issue of The Liberator. This demanded the immediate end of slavery. This energized the abolitionist movement and tensions heightened between the North and South. Image: “MHS Collections, Item #1698.” Massachusetts Historical Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, masshist.org/database/1698. -
In Philadelphia a national abolitionist organization is formed. This organization sought to fight slavery using speeches, petitions, and publications. The rapid growth of this organization deeply angered Southern slaveholders. Image: “American Anti-Slavery Society.” History on the Net, historyonthenet.com/american-anti-slavery-society/. -
Dorothea Dix exposed the mistreatment of mentally ill people after doing an investigation on prison and hospital conditions in Massachusetts. Dix's mental health reform showed how people in the North were focused on improving their society. Southerners felt this was an attack on them and the North was attempting to tell them how to run their states. This deepened the conflicts between the the regions before the Civil War -
Maine was the first to pass a state law banning the sale and production of alcohol. This was a major victory for the temperance movement. Temperance was strongest in the north and connected with other reform efforts like abolition. This shows the North and South drifting apart. Image: “Sitebuilder, Site #2619.” Maine Memory Network, Maine Historical Society, Maine Memory Network, mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/2619/display.