The Ferment of Reform 1830 - 1860

By Clifford S. Griffin

EXCERPT: "So great was the ferment of reform in the pre-Civil War United States that to understand it, to grasp the motives of the reformers, the nature of their work, their successes and failures, is to understand much about the American nation as a whole. To be sure, there was more to antebellum history than reform. At the same time that the reformers were trying to change men's ideas and actions, other Americans were holding fast to traditional concepts and ways of doing things. Even as the reformers were battering the walls of unrighteousness, both they and other men were taming wild nature for human use, expanding the nation's boundaries and settled areas at the expense of Indians and Mexicans, adapting its political institutions and political parties to the needs of a restless and growing people, wrestling with the thousand and one problems inherent in the pursuit of happiness. Yet historians have believed that the myriad of reforms and reformers offer a meaning for much of the whirl of confusion and change that was America in the antebellum years. They offer as well, some historians have claimed, valuable insights into the difficulties the Americans encountered when they tried to give concrete meaning to their cherished ideals-so often voiced, so little understood-of democracy and freedom."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0882957384
• ISBN13: 9780882957388
• Release Date: January 1967
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.1"
• Grade Range: Grades 11 to 12

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to antebellum reform historiography.

In this work, Griffin provides an excellent and brief summary of the major issues debated by historians surrounding antebellum reform. The first third of the book is spent in an insightful discussion surrounding the nature and definition of reform. He explores some of the problems encountered when historians portray reformers as the reformers portrayed themselves. Ultimately he suggests that reform be analyzed as a part of human nature and not be limited to the study of particular groups. The middle third of this work discusses the varieties of reform. Griffin examines the methods and goals of the reformers. While finding some common ground in their ultimate goals, Griffin concludes that no single theme emerges from the study of antebellum reform. Variety and diversity are its nature. Griffin concludes his work by exploring the successes and failures of reform. Accusing historians of finding in antebellum reform what they wanted to find, Griffin declares that true understanding of the reformers will be gained only if we do not care how well the reformers served their subjects and the nation. While this work is now outdated, Griffin's insights remain valuable. His calls for more synthesis in this field have, for the most part, gone unheeded. In a field of with little historiography, I recommend this book as an excellent introduction to the historical scholarship (through 1967) of antebellum reform.