From abolition to rights for all : the making of a reform community in the nineteenth century / / John T. Cumbler

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910827478503321
• Autore: Cumbler John T
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Philadelphia, : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2008
• ISBN: 0-8122-0382-8
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (251 p.)
• Disciplina: 973.7114
• Soggetti: Abolitionists - United States - History - 19th century; Social reformers - United States - History - 19th century; Antislavery movements - United States - History - 19th century; United States Social conditions 1865-1918
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [165]-225) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: "Till Every Yoke Is Broken" -- Chapter 1. The People and the Times -- Chapter 2. "With Other Good Souls" -- Chapter 3. "All the Great Men and Men of Respectability Stood Aloof' -- Chapter 4. "To Do Battle for Justice and the Oppressed" -- Chapter 5. "The Issue Is Universal justice" -- Chapter 6. "Blessed Are They Who When Some Great Cause... Calls Them ... Come" -- Chapter 7. Bringing Together the Professional and the Political -- Chapter 8. "Public Society Owes Perfect Protection": The State and the People's Rights -- Chapter 9. "A Relative Right" -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Index -- Acknowledgments
• Sommario/riassunto: The Civil War was not the end, as is often thought, of reformist activism among abolitionists. After emancipation was achieved, they broadened their struggle to pursue equal rights for women, state medicine, workers' rights, fair wages, immigrants' rights, care of the poor, and a right to decent housing and a healthy environment. Focusing on the work of a key group of activists from 1835 to the dawn of the twentieth century, From Abolition to Rights for All investigates how reformers, linked together and radicalized by their shared experiences in the abolitionist struggle, articulated a core natural rights ideology and molded it into a rationale for successive reform movements. The book ; follows the abolitionists' struggles and successes in organizing a social movement. For a time after the Civil War these reformers occupied major positions of power, only to be rebuffed in the later years of the nineteenth century as the larger society rejected their inclusive understanding of natural rights. The narrative of perseverance among this small group would be a continuing source of inspiration for reform. The pattern they established-local organization, expansive vision, and eventual challenge by powerful business interests and individuals-would be mirrored shortly thereafter by Progressives.