Reform Movements of the

Early 1800s

Social Reform Movements

While America was undergoing an "era of good feeling" there were many

problems lying under the surface. Reforms in the 1800s covered a wide variety

of areas, including religion, education, mental illness, special needs, and use of

alcohol. People began to involve themselves in these movements and began to

take notice of his/her responsibility to make better these social ills which

attacked society

This reform movement was led by people

who believed that America could do

anything if she put her mind to it.

Few areas escaped the notice of

reformers in the 1830's and 1840's

Horace Mann

An influential American educator who advocated education reform. He wanted

both men and women to have access to public education and believed that

education was essential to the success of democracy.

He helped to create the state Board of Education in Massachusetts. It was

eventually successful and the New England region had the highest literacy rate.

Horace Mann:

•Lengthened the school year to six months.

•Made improvements in the school curriculum.

•Doubled teachers’ salaries.

•Developed better ways of training teachers.

•Standardize textbooks

•Compel attendance

Education Reform

Led by Horace Mann, the great educational reformer, sought to improve and

better regulate public education. The idea that uneducated citizens could ruin

society scared many government officials into funding public schools and led

to the creation of mandatory public education in America.

Children had to attend single-room schools

which were very inefficient. Very cold in the

winter and very hot during the summer.

School Lunch Pail

Ink Well

In a lot of schools, teachers stood in the

doorway or school yard and rang the hand bell

to call their students to class. Desk

Text Book

Education Reform (cont.’)

Teachers were initially untrained (No college education required) and

underpaid. Taught only the three “R’s”: Readin’, Ritin’, and Rithmetic.

Children of color

were forbidden to

learn to read and

write in the South

and rarely in the

North.

Some scholars at the time frowned

upon girl’s education because they

believed it “injured the weak

female brain, undermined their

health, and rendered young

women unfit for marriage.”

Hornbooks were used by children in

colonial times to help them learn to

read. They were thin pieces of wood with

a handle. There was a single page

protected by a transparent sheet of horn.

At the left you can see what we used with

the children. The alphabet was one of the

things printed on the paper.

Punishments

•Boys and Girls Playing Together: 4 lashes

•For Wrestling at School: 4 lashes

•Fighting or Quarreling at School: 5 lashes

•Gambling or Betting at School: 4 lashes

•Playing at Cards at School: 10 lashes

•Swarin’ at School: 8 lashes

•For Misbehaving to Girls: 10 lashes

•Going to School with Dirty Faces and Hands: 2 lashes

Spelling Book

Temperance Movement

Many believed that excessive use of alcohol caused social problems such as

crime and poverty. Alcoholism was widespread during the early 1800s.

Reformers stepped up their campaign for temperance, or moderation in the

consumption of alcohol. Temperance groups formed all across the country.

Several groups joined together to form the American Temperance Union.

Temperance groups also worked for laws to prohibit the sale of liquor.

In the 1830s and 1840s national and state societies generated an enormous output

of antiliquor tracts, and hundreds of local temperance societies were founded to

press the cause, first of moderation in drink but increasingly of total abstinence

from liquor. The temperance campaign proved extremely successful, particularly

in New England and New York.

By the 1840s, liquor consumption had fallen and hundreds of thousands of men

had signed pledges of total abstinence through religious or marital pressure.

Some ministers denounced the evil

of drinking and promoted the

expulsion of drinkers from church.

Carrie Nation (1846-1901)

A prohibitionist. She believed that bars and other liquor-related businesses

should be destroyed, and was known for attacking saloons herself with a

hatchet.

In 1881, Kansas became the first state to outlaw booze. Teetotaler, Carry Nation takes to entering saloons with a

hatchet to destroy bottles of liquor.

She occasionally greeted bartenders with a cheery, “Good morning, destroyer of men’s souls,” before proceeding to

destroy the bar with her hatchet.

Abolitionist Movement

The effort to do away with slavery became a major reform issue in the 1830s

and dominated politics after 1840.

Women’s Rights Movement In the 1800s, many people believed that the home was the proper place for

women. The idea that women should be homemakers and be responsible for

the development of their children came to be known as “true womanhood.”

Women could not vote and if

married, they had no right to

own property or retain their

own earnings. They were also

discriminated in the areas of

education and employment, not

receiving the opportunities that

men possessed.

Women's Suffrage

Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote and to hold an elected office.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Major figure of the early women's rights movement. She helped organize the

first women's rights convention known as the Seneca Falls Conference in 1848.

Stanton's boldness shocked many when she used the occasion to call for

women's suffrage.

Susan B. Anthony

A supporter of both the temperance and abolitionist movements, Susan B.

Anthony is best known for joining with Elizabeth Cady Stanton to fight for

women's rights.

She continued to be a leader in the women's suffrage movement until her

death in 1906.

In 1979 Congress approved the Susan B. Anthony

dollar coin to be minted in her honor.

Seneca Falls Conference (1848)

In 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention was a gathering of women and the start

of an organized women’s movement. The convention adopted resolutions for

women’s rights. Among those adopted were a demand for women’s suffrage

and a diminution of sexual discrimination in education and employment.

Penitentiary Reforms

Some reformers worked to improve prison conditions. In the 1800s,

criminals of all kinds and the mentally ill were often crowded together in

prisons.

States began building new facilities to provide better conditions for prisoners.

Some people also worked for programs to help prisoners rehabilitate

themselves rather than simply locking them up. The new prisons, called

penitentiaries, were meant to be places where prisoners would learn remorse.

Dorothea Dix

Many people in the mid-1800s worked to reform various aspects of American

society. Dorothea Dix worked to improve conditions for the mentally ill, who

were often locked up in prisons.

Dorothea Dix

Patient in restraint chair

Mental patients were often

imprisoned, chained or held in

painful restraints, flogged and

tortured in a variety of ways,

denied ordinary comforts like

heat, light, company, and food

and drink, and sometimes

exhibited to public ridicule.

The Utica Crib was widely used to confine patients. Some cribs were made out of wood, some iron. The sides and lid were made of

spindles, which allowed airflow. The Utica Crib had a lid, which could be fastened over the patient. The person restrained could not sit

up, nor get out. The bottom was cushioned with layers of straw.

Mask for the criminally

insane often called

torture masks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn9YEfYmP-s