Reformers And Radicals Essay Research Paper Question

Reformers And Radicals Essay, Research Paper

Question: What means did reformers and radicals use to communicate their messages and how did these means influence their ideologies.

Over the first Century and a half of American History, Reformers and Radicals found many innovative and effective ways to communicate their ideas to the country. Today, sending a message across the country can be as easy as writing an e-mail, and mass communication can be achieved as easily as setting up a website or buying a television advertisement. It is hard for one to imagine a world without a computer, a TV, or even a telephone, but this was the world that made the task of delivering a message to the people such a daunting task in 19th Century America. Reformers and Radicals used methods such as public speech, writings, organizations, and even violence to communicate to the entire nation. Indeed, the method of conveying a particular message or ideology chosen was very important, as it would often play a large part in shaping that ideology in the eyes of the public.

Public speech was one of the most common methods that reformers used to reach the general public. Speeches had many advantages that made them a very appealing way for reformers to convey their message. The main advantage that they held was that they were cost efficient. It only takes one person to make a speech, and there is no other capital required. If someone wanted his or her view heard and had no other way to go about it, a speech was often the best option. Speakers did not even require venues to make their speeches. Although churches or other public buildings were often used, a speech could be made from the back of a horse driven cart. This style of riding from town to town was often seen in New England and upstate New York, where towns were close enough to make traveling from town to town practical. Speeches also appealed to reform groups who did not have a large contingency; a small group of speakers could often reach a large portion of the country easily.

Speeches functioned as great tools for inspiring and motivating people. A passionate and charismatic speaker could often change a group of people s view of the world with just a short speech. A perfect example of this phenomenon can be seen in the leaders of religious groups such as Matthias and Joseph Smith. These two men both possessed the ability to make people pick up and leave their lives in a heartbeat. Although their views on religion were extreme, people who were not happy with their lives were susceptible to their appeals to build new utopian societies.

Other great public speakers included men like Booker T. Washington, who, in his famous Atlanta Compromise , actually made the case that segregation could be a good thing for African Americans. Washington s masterful use of ambiguity (Walters lecture) allowed him to make appeals to African Americans to better their standing without offending or scaring the white population of the south. The ambiguity that could be used in public speech is another example of an effective tool that reformers and radicals could use to make their case to the public.

Public Speeches were a method utilized effectively by many different groups, but perhaps best mastered by the evangelical preachers of the early 19th Century. They used all aspects of public speech to make calls to the people of the United States to better themselves. From movements such as temperance to even anti-slavery, these preachers would utilize the pulpit as a forum of reform. The passionate sermons calling for a purer America were heard by millions of people across the country during the Second Great Awakening, a period of intense religious revival that lasted from the 1820 s to the 1840 s. Evangelical sermons spawned multiple reform groups. The country witnessed more reform activity than had been seen since the period of the revolution, the temperance and anti-slavery movements both had their roots in the Second Great Awakening. All of this was due to the actions of a relatively few number of preachers calling for Americans to engage in introspection and make themselves and their country better.

The power of the spoken word was undoubtedly powerful; it was even recognized by the founders of our country when writing the Bill of Rights. Being a protected right of all Americans, reform groups were able to take advantage and use speech to inspire the public of America to push towards reform. But public speech was not the only important method available to reform groups to communicate their message; indeed, the written word could be just as powerful.

Writing was a very common way for reformers and radicals to express their views. Writing offered some advantages that public speech could not offer. For one, a person could reach a much larger audience through writing than through speaking. A pamphlet or short book could reach millions of American s hands. A speech, by contrast, could only be heard by, at most, a few thousand, and in most cases, just a few hundred people.

Two types of writing dominated the texts of radicals and reforms over the first half of American history. The first can simply be called opinion writing. This type of writing could take the form of a pamphlet, such as Tom Paine s Common Sense, or the form a short book, such as David Walker s Appeal. A Journal or Magazine article was also