Leaders in American Reform Movements
Background on Reform Movements and Leaders
American Education
Horace Mann, often called the Father of the Common School, began his career as a lawyer and legislator. When he was elected to act as Secretary of the newly-created Massachusetts Board of Education in 1837, he used his position to enact major educational reform. He spearheaded the Common School Movement, ensuring that every child could receive a basic education funded by local taxes. His influence soon spread beyond Massachusetts as more states took up the idea of universal schooling.
Mann's commitment to the Common School sprang from his belief that political stability and social harmony depended on education. Mann believed that public schooling was central to good citizenship, democratic participation, and societal well-being. He observed, "A republican form of government, without intelligence in the people, must be, on a vast scale, what a mad-house, without superintendent or keepers, would be on a small one."
Mann was influential in:
- The development of teacher training schools.
- The earliest attempts to professionalize teaching.
- The actual establishment of the first Normal Schools in Massachusetts.
- The improvement of the quality of education offered in rural schools.
- Therecruitment of women into the ranks of teachers.
For additional information see
Temperance
The Temperance Movement was a movement to curb (lessen) the use of alcohol. Many men under the influence of alcohol would abuse their wives and children, or abandon their families altogether. It was fairly common for a man to get paid on Friday and spend all of his pay on alcohol without ever going home to his wife and children. Abraham Lincoln addressed the temperance issue as early as 1842.
Although there were attempts at reform during the 19th century, it was only in the 20th century that the Temperance Movement finally gained the victory it sought with the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919. This amendment banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol within the United States. The amendment was repealed in 1933.
Women’s Suffrage
In 19th century America, women could not vote, sit on juries, or hold public office. There were few opportunities for education because it was believed that a woman’s place was in the home. In 1848, a convention organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton met in Seneca Falls, NY, and released a document modeled on the Declaration of Independence. In this Seneca Falls Declaration, the leaders called for women to have the right to vote, exercise authority over their property, educational and employment opportunities, and the right of self-determination.
For a long time, nothing much came of this document or convention. It was more than 70 years later, in 1920, before women were finally given the right to vote innational elections by the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Abolition
The Abolitionist Movement had as its goal the ending of slavery. Some people objected to slavery on moral grounds, believing that it was wrong for one human to own another. Others believed that slavery made America look bad on the world stage and was bad for American business.
There were many leaders in the Abolitionist Movement. William Lloyd Garrison started publishing an anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator, in 1831. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, was a lecturer and publisher of another newspaper, The North Star. Sojourner Truth traveled through the North speaking against slavery and for women’s rights.
The passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, the 14th Amendment, which conferred citizenship and provided for due process, and the 15th Amendment, which guaranteed the right to vote to adult males, was the capstone for the efforts of abolitionists.
Prison and Mental Health Reform
Dorothea Dix is best rememberedas a social and political activist whose work on behalf of the mentally ill precipitated major prison reform beginning in the 1840's.In March of 1841 she entered the East Cambridge Jail whereshe volunteered to teach a Sunday School class for women inmates. Upon entering the jail she witnessed such horrible images that her life was changed forever. Within the confines of this jail sheobserved that prostitutes, drunks, criminals, retarded individuals, and the seriously mentally ill were all housed together in unheated, unfurnished, and foul-smelling quarters. When asked why the jail conditions were so bad, the answer she was given was that “the insane do not feel heat or cold.”
Her documentation of the deplorable prison conditions across the country and overseas led to the establishment of many new mental institutions.
For additional information see
Name______
Reform Movements in 19th Century America
Answer in complete sentences. Issues should be answered in the form of a question.
Movement:Educational Reform
Issue:Example: Should free public education be established for all children?
Leader(s):______
Why is reform needed: ______
How did reform change things:______
Movement:Temperance
Issue:______
Leader(s):______
Why is reform needed: ______
How did reform change things:______
Movement:Women’s Suffrage
Issue:______
Leader(s):______
Why is reform needed: ______
How did reform change things:______
Movement:Abolition
Issue:______
Leader(s):______
Why is reform needed: ______
How did reform change things:______
Movement:Mental Health and Prison Reform
Issue:______
Leader(s):______
Why is reform needed: ______
How did reform change things:______