n 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 revolu...