Reforms: The Antebellum Period Before the Civil War

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The antebellum period before the Civil War was one of rapid changes in American society. During this time, Americans began to feel a growing belief in human goodness and perfection, resulting in a new commitment to improve the character of people. Many reformers developed their enthusiasm for the cause from religion. The Second Great Awakening encouraged a lively evangelicalism to spread throughout the country, inspiring these modern idealists to work for a perfected social order that would be free from cruelty, war, alcoholism, discrimination, and slavery. American reform movements between 1820 and 1860 reflected pessimistic views of human nature, but also showed a hopeful outlook towards American society regarding education, woman’s rights, and penal institutions. Great efforts were made between 1820 and 1860 in order to improve the American education system. Tax-supported public education was limited until conservative Americans began to think differently about its importance. The increasing number of people voting during the Jacksonian Era led to the belief that children needed to be educated so that they might not grow up to be ignorant voters. Laborers also thought it would be beneficial to have an educated future workforce. One potent figure in this movement was Horace Mann. As secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, he advocated for more and better schoolhouses, longer school terms, higher pay for teachers, and an expanded curriculum. Noah Webster also notably aided education by publishing a dictionary and especially by improving textbooks, which promoted patriotism and morality. The Second Great Awakening ignited an increase in the development of colleges, especially in the South and West. The new colleges g... ... middle of paper ... ...ns, asylums were treating the mentally ill as beasts, chained to walls in jails with sane people. The insane were thrown into these institutions because people didn’t know what to do with them. Dorothea Dix petitioned for humane hospitals for the insane. For eight years she traveled to many prisons, almshouses, and asylums and observed the appalling conditions which she used to plead her case to the Massachusetts legislature in 1843. Her efforts led to better conditions for the insane and the establishment of five mental hospitals in America. While prisons worked towards the reform of social America, asylums had proved that there were still cynical viewpoints on penal institutions. Works Cited https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxtcnNheWVyc2FwdW5pdGVkc3RhdGVzaGlzdG9yeXxneDoyNGE3ODJlZDc5M2FmMGM4 http://www.ushistory.org/us/26d.asp

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