Key Terms

abolitionist

a believer in the complete elimination of slavery

colonization

the strategy of moving African Americans out of the United States, usually to Africa

immediatism

the moral demand to take immediate action against slavery to bring about its end

millennialism

the belief that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth and that God would reign on earth for a thousand years characterized by harmony and Christian morality

moral suasion

an abolitionist technique of appealing to the consciences of the public, especially slaveholders

Mormons

members of an American denomination of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that emphasized patriarchal leadership

phrenology

the mapping of the mind to specific human attributes, later considered pseudoscience

pietistic

the stressing of stressed transformative individual religious experience or piety over religious rituals and formality

Second Great Awakening

a revival of evangelical Protestantism in the early nineteenth century

Seneca Falls

the location of the first American conference on women’s rights and the signing of the “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments” in 1848

Shakers

a religious sect that emphasized communal living and celibacy

teetotalism

complete abstinence from all alcohol

temperance

a social movement encouraging moderation or self-restraint in the consumption of alcoholic beverages

transcendentalism

the belief that all people can attain an understanding of the world that transcends rational, sensory experience