The Reform Movement, Essay Example

The Reform Movement in 19^TH Century America

The early middle part of the 19^th century in America – notably the 1830’s and 1840’s – saw sweeping social reforms across the country which greatly changed many aspects of American life.  Four reform movements that came out of this tumultuous era – specifically, the temperance movement, the public education reform movement, the asylum reform movement and the feminist movement – are compared and contrasted in this paper.

The Temperance Movement

One social problem which was addressed at this time was the problem of alcoholism, and the abuse of alcohol (mostly by men) which was causing great damage to American home life through problems of domestic violence and misspent wages; the solution offered by the Temperance Movement was the moderation, and eventually the prohibition of, alcohol (Burns, 2013, p.1).  The movement started with the formation of temperance unions in New York (1808) and Massachusetts (1813), and by 1853 there were nearly 6,000 such societies all across the United States (Encyclopedia Britanica, 2014, p. 267).   This led to the Women’s Temperance Union which was organized through the widespread cooperation of women, mostly in the Protestant churches, and used moral education and legislation to enact their goals (Burns, 2013, p. 2).

The Education Reform Movement

Like the Temperance Movement, the Education Reform movement was born from what was seen as another great social problem which faced 19^th century America: the problem of poor public education.  In the 19^th century, public schools often required attendance of its pupils for several weeks during the winter, and the schools were often poorly equipped and the teacher poorly trained (Public Broadcasting System, 2013, p. 1).   Unlike the Temperance Movement, whose leaders were largely women, the Education Reform movement began with the work of one man, Horace Mann, who sought to increase opportunities for children across the country and to help reduce the crime and poverty that was rampant in the 19^th century, particularly in the larger American cities (Chesapeake College, 2013, p. 6).  He did this largely through the establishment of public school surveys, teacher training schools, and increased funding for public education (Public Broadcasting System, 2013, p. 1), and, like the Temperance movement, promoted social change through legislation.

The Asylum Reform Movement

Like the movements for temperance and educational reform, the Asylum Reform movement came about in response to another social problem, the treatment of the mentally ill, which in early 19^th century America was practically nonexistent: the mentally ill were stigmatized and could often wind up in prisons (Floyd, 2012, p.1) or in alms-houses or under the poor supervision of their families (Hayes, 2012, p. 1).  Like the Temperance Movement, the asylum reform was started by women, specifically Dorthea Dix, who led this movement by establishing state supported asylums (Floyd, 2012, p.1) and who was a fierce proponent of the “moral treatment” idea which had come about within the medical community of the time and which held that with proper care and pleasant surroundings, that cures or improvements could be affected for the mentally ill (Hayes, 2012, p.1).  Unlike the temperance movement or the educational reform movement, the asylum reform movement had a scientific underpinning from the budding psychiatric community during this time.

The Feminist Movement

The feminist movement in America arguably began in 1848 with the Seneca Falls convention, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott (Larsen, 2003, p. 4).  In this Declaration of Sentiments, founded on Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, the Convention sought to reform the aspects of society which limited women’s freedom, namely the lack of educational and economic opportunities and the lack of voice in public debate (History, Art and Archives, United States House of Representatives, 2007, p. 1).  The movement would eventually come to focus largely on suffrage, or the right to vote, which would eventually be one in the 19^th Amendment in 1920 (Larsen, 2003, p. 4).  Like the other movements discussed in this paper, the feminist movement sought social change through legislation.

Conclusion

All four of the movements discussed in this paper were very much a product of their times, the spirit of reform which swept across the United States in the 1830’s and 1840’s.  All four of these movements were in reaction to what was seen as massive social problems: alcoholism, the poor treatment of the mentally ill, the poor state of public education and the oppressed status of women.  Some of these movements – the feminist, temperance and asylum reform movements specifically – were largely female-led, while men like Horace Mann were largely responsible for educational reform; of all of them, the asylum reform movement made the most of the new science of psychotherapy to help with its reform.  All four promoted social change through legislation, and to this day, all four of these movements continue to affect contemporary American life.

References

Burns, K. and Novick, L.  (2013). Roots of Prohibition.  Public Broadcasting System.

Chesapeake College Online Textbook.  (2013). 19^TH Century Education.  Retrieved from www.chesapeake.edu/library/EDU_101/eduhist_19thC.asp

Encyclopedia Britannica.  (2014). The Temperance Movement. Retrieved from www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/5865/temperence-movement

Floyd, Barbara.  (2012). Mental Health: From Quackery to Bacteriology.  University of Toledo Library.

Hayes, Brittany.  (2012). Making Their Voices Heard: Women and Mental Health Reform in the 19^th Century.  United States History Scene. Retrieved from www.ushistoryscene.com/uncategorized/mentalhealthreform.htm

History, Art, and Archives, United States House of Representatives, Office of the Historian (2007). Women’s Rights Movement, 1848-1920. Washington, D.C. United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved from www.history.house.gov/Exhibitions_and_Publications/WIC/Historical_Essays/No_Lady/Women’sRights

Larsen, Jennifer. (2008). The Mothers of a Movement: Remembering 19^th Century Feminists. Documenting the American South.  University of Chapel Hill Press.

Public Broadcasting System.  (2012). School: the Story of American Public Education. Retrieved from www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/innovation