The Grassroots Movements Success and Failures During The Age of Reform

American reform movements in the early to mid 1800’s strived at improving our developing society. America was growing larger, and with the expanding population, many new ideas were instituted. Conflicting opinions between the people of the United States caused the emergence of an Age of Reform, where people tried to change things such as the lives of women, the educational system, prison life, and the institution of slavery. These movements were the result of our nation’s self-determination and interest in improving the society we live in. Between the 1820’s and 1860’s, Americans were trying new things and promoting different ideas and ways of thinking. The Grassroots movements in the Age of Reform were both successful and unsuccessful in achieving their goals of women’s suffrage, public education, prison reform, and abolition movements.



The term women’s rights refers to the freedoms inherently possessed by women and girls of all ages, which may be ignored or suppressed by law, custom, and behavior in a particular society. During the Age of Reform, women and black slaves during the time were seen as equals. They both could not vote and they both could be beaten. When women married all of their property was passed to their husbands and slaves could not own property. The Age of Reform was a time for women all across America to seize their liberty and create their own future. The Second Great Awakening was a second great religious revival in United States history that consisted of renewed personal salvation. The Second Great Awakening, being the birth place of the Age of Reason, the stage was set for women to twist their fate. During the Age of Reform women were successful in only a few ways. One was the Seneca Falls Convention which marked a drastic swift in ideals in America. A decade before, the Industrial Revolution had introduced the “Cult of Domesticity” which produced the total opposite of what such reform leaders as Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony believed in. Women during that time were totally dependent on their husbands and were not able to fend for themselves. The one failure women reformers brought about was that women not being able to make a complete transition from dependence to independence. This one flaw in the reformers plan in a way, increased the time in which women claimed their rights.



Consequently, if the nation was to be completely free of a monarchy, Americans had to raise their young to uphold the good name of the Republic. Many children at the time were schooled by their mother or father by means of Republican Motherhood, but not all were that lucky. The Industrial Revolution had introduced such inventions as the cotton gin, mechanical reaper, and the steamboat. Children during the Age of Reform were busy reaping the rewards that the Industrial Revolution had provided. Most did not have the time or money to commit to school. Horace Mann believed that to create a healthy Republic, the future must be taught the lessons of the past. Many other tactics were implemented to help boost the popularity of public schools including that of Noah Webster “The Schoolmaster of the Republic”. While white girls and boys were provided with education and safety from the outside world, the reality was and still is that not everyone is treated equally. Black children were still in the fields suffering the worst reality humanly possible, slavery. The one major flaw in the public education system was that not everyone collected the benefits of “education for all”. Even to this day not everyone is given the respect and reward they deserve for serving as the backbone of this young nation.



It wasn't a good idea to be mentally ill in America 150 years ago. America virtually had no mental hospitals. People who were mentally ill were just locked up in poor houses and jails, or transferred to whoever would care for them the cheapest. Jails during that time were sub-par at best. People such as debtors were even locked up in these soiled holes, for the crime of threatening the American economy. During the early 1800’s something had to be done. Such radicals as Dorothea Dix fought to provide equal rights for the mentally ill and criminals alike. The idealism during the Age of Reform changed from just trying to keep them apart from society to trying to teach them the wrong in their actions. But not all was right in prison life. One blemish in prison reform was the lack of rehabilitation. The extent of prisoners rehabilitation at that time was, being in jail was supposed to teach them the errors of their ways.



The imperfection in society and the development of the economy, slavery was both beneficial and harmful to American society. Slaves have been used in America since its creation. Slavery has influenced elections, territorial expansion, and a way of life. Slavery as a whole was also a deciding factor of the Civil War. Some wished to destroy the variable, and rid America of slavery altogether. These abolitionists were mostly black citizens such as Fredrick Douglas and Harriet Tubman. But many white northerners such as William Lloyd Garrison and Lucretia Coffin Mott risked their lives for doing what they thought was right for the society. Without slavery the inventions such as the streetlight and gas mask would not exist. The abolition movement during the Age of Reform was essential to the freedom of a race and a population. The abolitionists did neglect the effects eliminating America of slaves would have on the economy. The abolition movement was vital to the survival of a race but was not fully realized until the mid 1900’s.



The Grassroots movements in the Age of Reform were both successful and unsuccessful in accomplishing their goals of women’s suffrage, public education, prison reform, and abolition movements. These movements created the standards of which our society is based on today. Reform leaders such as Susan B. Anthony, Horace Mann, Dorothea Dix, and William Lloyd Garrison were able to put their own needs aside for that of America’s. Not all of their dreams became realities. For example during the late 1900’s a de-institutionalization bill was passed that moved the mentally ill out of hospitals because it was too costly and now a huge majority of the homeless are mentally ill. Sometimes the best intentions can have un-intended consequences.