Reform Movements Jordan Davis and Amara Grider (1)
Reform movements started in the 1800's in a time of peace. Significant movements included the Second Great Awakening about the revival of religion and the transcendentalist movement about the goodness of man. These movements sparked other movements such as the abolitionist and womens' rights movements.
In the mid 1800's, both black and white Americans were speaking out against slavery. Some of the most important people in the abolitionist movement were William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina and Sarah Grimke, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman. Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth were both escaped slaves who spoke out against the evils of slavery. Harriet Tubman, also an escaped slave, helped conduct the Underground Railroad to help free slaves. All these people risked their lives to speak out against slavery.
The womens' rights movement occurred because of the inequality between men and women. They couldn't vote, hold office, or any wage or land they got belonged to their husband. The people that helped and supported the womens' rights movement were Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cody Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone. Mott and Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments about Womens' Rights. Slowly reform for womens' rights made progress.
http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Essays/No-Lady/Womens-Rights/
Dorothea Dix was a big supporter of the the prison reform movement. The mentally ill were treated bad, children were jailed with adults, there was little to no food, and prisoners were crowded into damp dark cells. Dix helped change what was happening by reporting to the state and demanding change.
Alcohol abuse was a widespread problem. In the late 1820s the temperance movement began. By 1850 Maine banned the sale of alcohol and soon after other states followed. While later these laws were repealed the movement would gain strength again in the late 1800s.
In the mid 1800s the education reform began. Few children attended school due to the high cost. Horace Mann spoke to citizens about the importance of public schools. Reformers saw this as a way to solve some problems in society. The citizens of Massachusetts voted to pay taxes to build better schools. Public schools were springing up across the country.