Radical and Reform Movements in American History

During the 1950's the mainstream historical thinking concentrated on the idea that the American Revolution was a conservative movement which did not cause great political or social upheavals. Many looked at the later French Revolution as an example of a more radicalized and revolutionary movement and determined that the American Revolution was tame by comparison. And while it is true that many of the legal and political arguments made by the Americans were based in English legal tradition, much of the spirit of the Revolution came from the ideals of the Enlightenment. It is because of this combination of origins that the American Revolution did not become as violent or chaotic as the one in France. However, it is also because of this combination that the American Revolution started out as a conservative movement to reclaim traditional rights American colonists felt were being usurped, but eventually evolved into a radical social transformation.

‘Reform movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to the years 1825-1850.’

Abraham Lincoln started all that before he was in office, so imagine what he did when he became president of the United States. When Lincoln was elected there was a long series of policy clashes between the South and the North. The clash wasn’t just about slavery. It was a clash of elites. The Northern elite wanted economic expansion. Such as, free land; free labor, free market, and much more. Lincoln had all of this in mind, even the slaves. The slaves saw Lincoln as their ticket to freedom. The South was for slavery, so when they notice Lincoln was trying to abolish slavery they started to secede from the union. Lincoln tried to get some of the states back and more seceded. The confederacy was formed; the civil war was on.

The American Revolution had a very intense fundamental change on American society between the years 1775 to 1800. The thirst for independence resulted in the revolution which caused many political, social, and economic changes. When the revolution began, the people were drowning in jingoism, and after the seven years of fighting for our independence, several changes had to be made. Although some political, social, and economic parts of society seem to have remained the same, America experienced drastic fundamental changes throughout these years and set the standards for even more changes to come.

In the last several centuries, countless reform movements have attempted to shape and expand democratic ideals in the United States. A democratic ideal is the personal qualities and behavior of a government that are necessary to its continued democracy. Such as life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, diversity, truth, religious freedom, and patriotism. All constitutionally given rights we all, as Americans, have in one way or another as a result of early reform movements.

Many historians throughout the history of our young nation have debated whether to characterize the American Revolution as radical or conservative, and the argument still continues to this day. Both arguments have points that are valid and convincing. The book the radicalism of the American Revolution written by Gordon wood, and the book the ideological origins of the American Revolution by Bernard bailyn are two examples of this argument. Gordon wood argues that the American Revolution was much more than a fight for American independence, but rather a radical sudden move that not only changed the political ideology of the colonies, but that also had a great social impact on how people lived and thought of themselves as members of society and where the entire way of life and society were changed

Although Abraham Lincoln wanted to free African American slaves and thought slavery was wrong he did not believe they should have the same social and political rights. The mid 1800s was a time that separated the black and white race immensely. The northern states and the southern states of the United States was divided on the issues of slavery among other reasons which led to the civil war. The civil war was the beginning of struggling African American slaves journey to freedom with the help of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Slavery in the northern states never reached the severity in most plantations that it did in the South, and it was common knowledge that being a slave in the South was, in a way, more harsh than the North, leading to a much larger number of slaves being held captive in southern states. Many people in the southern states used biblical passages to justify slavery and said that if slavery was abolished there would be unquestionable chaos and unemployment. Despite all of the people that did not think that slavery was wrong, one man stood and took the blunt of the judgement by the people named Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln viewed slavery as wrong, but knew that the nation’s founding fathers struggled with how to address the issue of slavery. There were several ideas on how abolish slavery during the 1800s, including colonization and the Emancipation Proclamation, but these ideas were not introduced into law because the general public

The American Revolution, one of the most significant events in our world’s history, has established a huge impact on not only life back in the eighteenth and nineteenth century but our society today. The Acts of Parliament highly benefited the British but did not afford those same rights to the colonists until the formal issuing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, in which colonial freedom was granted. The most controversial issue is which group caused it; a result of propaganda by the colonists. Multiple acts and protests contributed to this war, three influential ones being the Stamp Act, Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

The American Founders aimed to take human nature for what it was, as something less elevated and constructing a government characterized for limited power. They questioned the legitimacy of every existing government and even questioned their own practices, such as slavery. Abraham Lincoln and the tragedy of the Civil War compelled the enforcement of the Declaration of Independence. It is a restoration of the principle underlying slavery and the argument of human enslavement between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Lincoln said that slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s nature-opposition to it, in his love of justice. Self interest by itself is too base a foundation for America. Selfishness is part of our nature, but it is not the best part. From Lincoln’s position, our children are not really ours; we do not own them but we own ourselves. (821-822)

Slavery in the United States of America started with the arrival of the first slaves from Africa in 1619. Slavery continued even after it was abolished; it greatly influenced the events in the country. From the very beginning, anti-slavery movement and slave resistance played a big role in the efforts to uphold the values of the new, rising nation and its belief that all men are equal. Advocates for the anti-slavery movement were not united from the start; some supported gradual emancipation of slaves, others were for immediate and radical abolishment, while free-soil activists argued for restriction of slavery to certain areas in order to prevent its spread across the country. Radical abolition movement was part of the reform movements related to religious revivals in an effort to create a righteous society that would fulfill the high ideals of America. These reforms were a response to economic and social changes which historians termed as “the market revolution” and the “transportation revolution”. After the 1812 war, a tremendous development occurred; improved roads improved transport and increased profits among many farm entrepreneurs, artisans, and manufacturers. In the eyes of many religious leaders, America was dominated and obsessed with materialism and greed and they started to question the fundamentals of human life, justice, and sinful motives. Before the 1930s, the anti-slavery movement was not what one would consider well-organized. However, at that time

In the time period of 1862 to 1865, when Lincoln takes office in March 4th to his assassination, the United States was dealing with the issues of preserving the Union. In determining whether Lincoln’s goals to preserve the Union by freeing the slaves, one must assess the knowledge of their relationship. Politically, President Lincoln tried to convince the political groups that abolishing slavery would help preserve the Union; intellectually, he gave the idea of ending slavery to the citizens through speeches; and socially, after Lincoln freed the slaves, they were pursued to join the war for the Union’s cause. In order for Lincoln to save the Union, he would find it inevitable to end the slavery issue.

From the beginning of the Civil War all the way up to the end of Reconstruction, the United States endured a similar type of revolution than it had dealt with in the previous years. In this time, many social and constitutional advancements brought about great change and discord in the country. However, some of these constitutional developments ended up causing conflict such as the civil rights bills and Emancipation Proclamation, in addition to the social developments such as the Black Codes, Ku Klux Klan, and the Freedman’s Bureau. All together, these important events helped put the country into a revolution.

The American Revolution, perhaps the most significant event in the history of the United States, was indeed radical enough to be considered a true revolution. One historian stated that, “The founding generation articulated enduring political questions and provided the structures by which we still conduct our political lives” (Kerber 25) to emphasize the enormous impact that the revolutionaries had on contemporary American society. These questions and structures however do not only pertain to America’s political system and ideals; they also greatly changed American social standards and practices throughout the years directly preceding and following the revolution.

Prior to the Civil War, the United States experienced several different reform movements. These movements included the temperance movement, education movement, prison movements, women's rights movement, and the anti-slavery movement. When glanced together, there may initially seem to be little connection between these various different movements. However, they were actually supported by a common theme, the liberation of the human spirit. This idea that all humans should be free provided the support for all of the different movements. The temperance movement was based on the idea that humanity should be free from its own vices. The education movement linked knowledge and freedom. The prison reform movement was not based on physical liberation, but on the idea that the spirit-crushing punitive emphasis of old fashioned prisons would not create any possibility of change in the inmates. The women's rights movement was based upon the notion that women should not be treated as inferior to men because of gender. Finally, the anti-slavery movement did not focus solely on the idea that slavery, as an institution, was inherently bad because it deprived people of their physical liberty without just cause, but also on how slavery was practiced in the antebellum South and the indignities that accompanied it.

Reform was the goal of the Progressive movement, and with that in mind the reformers had great success. Progressive reformers were made up primarily of middle class men and women whose two main goals were to limit the trusts and to improve conditions of life and labor. These people were part of both political parties at the time, as well as in all regions of the country, and in all levels of the government. They wanted to remove bribed members of the legislature so that just laws and regulations were made that would benefit the people rather than the power-hungry corporations. This major movement altered all aspects of life creating a better living and working environment for people. The Progressive Era reformers and federal