Restless Visionaries : The Social Roots of Antebellum Reform in Alabama and Michigan

Quist, John W.

ISBN 10: 0807121339 / ISBN 13: 9780807121337

Published by Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA, U.S.A., 1998

About this Item

562 pages with index. In the decades before the Civil War, numerous Americans lent their enthusiasm to various social reform movements. In this ground-breaking work, John Quist explores reform movements in two individual counties--one in the Old Northwest, the other in the Deep South--to understand better how deeply and extensively the climate of reform penetrated American life. In both Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, and Washtensaw County, Michigan, Quist investigates those causes that eventually were carried forward by large voluntary associations: namely, evangelical benevolence, temperance, the colonization of blacks to Africa, and the abolition of slavery. He tracks the changes and continuities that occurred in the religious, social, and political constituencies of reform, and notes the development of the means and messages of the reformers.Quest finds a striking similarity in northern and southern reform campaigns. He maintains that the white Tuscaloosans' desire to protedct slavery did not temper their enthusiasm for other, "less radical" reform movements. Indeed, in their quest for temperance and in their commitment to the evangelical societies of the benevolent empire these southern reformers were nearly as active, employed many of the same techniques, and sought many of the same goals as their northern counterparts.

Seller Inventory # 006860

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Restless Visionaries : The Social Roots of Antebellum Reform in Alabama and Michigan
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807121339
• ISBN 13: 9780807121337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New Dust Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Alabama History

About this title

Synopsis

Decades before the Civil War, numerous Americans had enthusiasm to various social reform movements. Most studies by scholars have considered this enthusiasm to be only in the Northeast. John W. Quist explores reform movements in two individual counties-one in the Old Northwest and the other in the Deep South-and finds many similarities between the movements despite their differences in locations.