The Reform Impulse Of 1800-1860 Made It Possible For Mankind

The antebellum period was full of social reform movements based on the urge to eradicate evil and improve human conditions in society. Despite the attempt to deal with a wide variety of reforms to provide positive changes to society these reform movements were met with varying degrees of success. This essay will focus on five of the major social reform movements of that era discussing their accomplishments, failures and impacts on America as a whole. They are the reforms of abolition, women’s suffrage, temperance, institutional and educational reforms. The reform movements of the 1830’s and 1840’s were largely due to humanitarian reasons because of a period of Enlightenment in the previous century which emphasized rational over

The Second Great Awakening revolved around the new concept of national reform through religious and moral changes. These changes and transitions occurred for the benefit of the country, by withdrawing the negative aspects of society such as alcohol overuse, low quality education and prisons, and most notably slavery. Religious leaders encouraged salvation and worshipping the Christian God to be best solution for successfully reforming and improving the nation’s predicaments. Religious ideas had a remarkable role constructing reform movements in the first half of the nineteenth century in behalf of religion offering the most moral and logical path towards a better society. People of the United States were in necessity of reforms, applying the religious ideas opened up new resolutions for all classes, races, and groups of people.

After 1815, a women’s status in society was shaped both by the “market revolution” and the “Second Great Awakening”. The “market revolution” was a drastic change in the nation's economy through transportation, education, legal reforms. Examples of these reforms would include the creation of canals, roads, railroads, and the technology needed to commute between places, an increase in teacher wages, school terms, and curriculum, and the spreading awareness of massive movements such as the temperance, abolitionist, and prison reform movement. The “Second Great Awakening” was a revival of religious spirit that attracted social minorities, such as women, African-Americans,and native Americans, that produced many new sects of Protestantism, such

The 19th century America gave way to the social and moral reform that created the Second Great Awakening, focusing on various beliefs such as temperance, reformation of religious views on slavery and women’s inequality. Many of this reformist wanted to save America from its “sins”, from slavery to inequality. Though it was called the Second Great Awakening, it was very different from the First Great Awakening. The First Great Awakening focus on the person’s individuality, while the Second Great Awakening focused on the community/country as a whole.

The reform movements, such as those concerning women’s rights, education, temperance, abolition, and humane prisons/ asylums occurred because they were either integrated with the ideals of the Declaration of Independence or Christianity. The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival movement that happened in the beginning of the nineteenth century that emphasized faith and called for liberty and equality. Just like the first great awakening, the time period expressed the idea that people could be saved through revivals. It brought forward new Christians and branched out many new denominations.The Second Great Awakening stimulated the establishment of many reform movements designed to get rid of all the evils of society and to resolve social problems before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

During the time period of the American Revolution in 1776, many Americans were influenced by the ideals of the Enlightenment, Deism, and logical thinking. In addition to the growth of rationalism, there was a decline in the practice of religion. However, starting from around the early 19th century, many religious leaders such as Charles G. Finney and Peter Cartwright began to preach ideas of the Second Great Awakening to reject those of the Enlightenment. This included a rejection of predestination and the idea that everyone can achieve salvation through self improvement and societal reform. The dispersion of these ideas of the Second Great Awakening encouraged social reform movements such as the antislavery movement, the women’s rights

In 1825 to 1855, antebellum reform movements such as asylum and prison reforms, abolition, and women's rights led to the expansion of democratic ideals such as equality, justice, and the common good by increasing the moral value of the people and teaching them to become more useful members of society. However, some reform movements such as alcohol temperance did not expand democratic ideals because it took freedom away from the people. One way that democratic ideals were limited socially was through the promotion of alcohol temperance, while asylum and prison reforms expanded democratic ideals socially. Politically, democratic ideals were also expanded through abolition by abolition groups trying to change laws on slavery and women's rights by activists fighting for the equality of women.

Throughout history, political, social, and economical issues have erupted and caused society to reform. These reform movements are created in order for the people of America to have the ability to resolve the issues they see in their communities. Some of the movements that have been most prominent in the united States during the early 19th century are the Women’s Reform Movement, the Prison Reform and the Education reform. All of these developments allowed awareness to be created about the problems that everyday citizens were experiencing and how they were going those change problems into resolutions.

During the Second Great Awakening from 1825-1850, people in the United States came to aspire for a more democratic country. There were several reform movements throughout the awakening that sought to expand democratic ideals. Reform was attempted in several different areas of American life. Attempts to improve and refine women's’ rights, abolitionism, education, religion, immigration, and utopianism in the United States were made.

From 1825-1850 many reform movements arose mainly due to the Market Revolution. The Market Revolution produced the idea that society will forever be fluctuating. This concept led to the Second Great Awakening, which ultimately inspired many positive movements of change including women's suffrage, abolitionism, workers rights, prison reforms, educational improvements, and respecting the mentally ill. Some reforms actually restricted liberties, such as prohibition, nativism, and the increase of utopian societies. The majority of these reform movements sought to expand democratic ideals. However, some reform movements were too focused on creating a better society where democratic ideals were compromised.

While the reforms of  the 1820s through the 1850s were well intended, what began as a moral reform transformed into one of secular interest.

This idea carried into the Antebellum Period and was the backbone for the reforms that occurred in it. The belief of a perfect Community meant that there should be equality even in skin color. For example, the Abolitionist Movement, lead by people like William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman, was a movement to end slavery and discrimination of African-Americans. The Abolitionist Movement was a movement for equality. Equality was one of the main goals and influences in The Second great Awakening that carried into the Antebellum Period. The religions created in the The Second Great Awakening also included the creation of perfectionism. Perfectionism was not fully supported by Baptists and methodists because they did not believe it would stop all sins. The main sin they did not think could be stopped by perfectionism was drinking alcohol. In the Antebellum period, the Temperance Movement was one of the biggest social reforms. The Temperance Movement was a movement during the Antebellum Period that was against the consumption of alcohol because drunkenness was considered a sin. The Second Great Awakening influence in the Antebellum Period is clearly shown with the pursuit of perfectionism that transferred into the Antebellum Period. Without

In the early nineteenth century time period there was a major reform in the United States. The Antebellum Reform is the period before the civil war and after the war of 1812. Preachers and believers saw society and the environment of the country capable of improving conditions. They saw that the society was able to perfect and strive to be more like God. The Second Great Awakening played a large role in the development of the reformist impulse. The Awakening pressured the concept of personal responsibility of a person to the sins of neighbors. Seeking perfection and living righteousness, also redeeming sinners was widely spread. The reform was encountered with a network of church affiliated reform organizations. The reform impulse was not only major in the United States, but Europeans also had reform efforts. There were different types of reform movements during the nineteenth century in the United States. Overtime groups and were separated. There were many women who worked in the reform movement. However, women had a great impact in

In his book Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville highlights the importance of religion within America, stating how the Christian religion, specifically the Protestant vein, had a great influence over the hearts of American men and women. This influence can be seen through the Second Great Awakening, which galvanized many social and literary reforms within American society, including transcendentalism, the temperance movement, the education reform movement, abolitionist movement, prison reform movement, and the women’s rights movement. Although these reform movements, incited by new, heightened religious growth, changed the political and social climate of America during 1825 and 1855, they more greatly impacted America by spurring the

     The Age of Reforms also brought new hope to women’s rights. Women had often played a lesser role in societies around the world, especially in America. They were never involved in politics and nearly all women at the time stayed home to take care of the house chores. The women’s rights movement that arose in the 1920’s really started during the Age of Reforms, in the 1800’s.