Section One: Improving Society An Age of Reform Section One: Improving Society

The Reforming Spirit Encouraged by expanding democracy in the Age of Jackson Belief that all men and women have legal rights Others supported abolishing Slavery

The Second Great Awakening People’s own actions determined their salvation. Held outdoor revivals Emotional sermons People believed that if they could improve themselves, they could improve society.

The Temperance Movement End alcohol abuse. Whiskey cheaper than milk or beer. Safer than water Many called for prohibition

Prison Reform and Reform for the Mentally Ill. Horrified with prison conditions Horrified that prisons were also used to house the mentally ill. New asylums provide treatment, not punishment. Debtors are no longer sent to prison. Dorothea Dix worked to convince state legislatures to build new, sanitary prisons and separate institutions to treat mental illnesses.

Horace Mann – Education Reform “If we do not prepare children to become good citizens; if we do not develop their capacities, if we do not enrich their minds with knowledge….then our republic must go down to destruction as others have gone down before it.” Horace Mann

Education Reform First schools were for a religious purpose Mass. set up the first public schools Poorer children rarely received education outside of the home. Reformers believed that education would help immigrant assimilate. Horace Mann created colleges to train teachers, raise salaries of teachers, and lengthen the school year. Southern and Western states lagged in public ed.

Education for Afican Americans In most areas, African Americans had little chance to attend schools. Much opposition to educating A.A. Prudence Crandall – Connecticut Some free A.A. did attend colleges Harvard, Dartmouth, First A.A. college – Lincoln University in Pennsylvania