The Reform Movements.

A reform movement is a kind of civil movement whose goal is to make a progressive change in certain aspects of society. Since the end of the revolutionary war, concerns about the values of the new society emerged. During the period between the end of the war of 1812 ans the antebellum period, a variety of grassroots movements flourished to address the social problems confronting the nation. This period is known as the age of reform.
The grassroots movements in the age of reform were successful in achieving their goals. In these movements citizens tried to confront the maladies that plagued their society. Such movements included included movements concerning women's rights, abolition, public education and prison reform.
The women's rights movement emerged mainly because of the common discontent among slaves and women of not having as much freedom or not freedom at all as men did. Led by Elizabeth Cady Santo and Lucretia Mott, women's rights advocates met at the Seneca Falls Convention were a Declaration of Sentiments was published. This declaration requested for legal equality for women.
Women accomplished some of the freedoms they wanted. They were given the responsibility to be educated women in order to follow the "republican motherhood" "code" which would ultimately help to create and secure a central position in the young minds of the nation. This meant that women would now have a better education provided for them.
Along with the women's rights movement came the abolitionist movement. This movement was probably one of the most controversial movements of the age of reform. Its goal was to end slavery for the abolitionist saw slavery as morally wrong. Some abolitionist leaders are Theodore Weld, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. These leaders contributed to the movement through many creations such as the Underground railroad and newspapers such as The Liberator. However, these movement did not saw its desired effects right away. Instead, the results would come along later on.
A movement for public education emerged as well. Its purpose was to have a more relevant curriculum and easier access to education. School reformers fundamentally expected to improve education so that children would become responsible citizens, sharing common national values. Horace Mann, an advocate for educational reform, made it possible to achieve the goals of the movement by making possible an increase in the money spent on schools, thus introducing the textbooks.
As with the mental health movement, the prison reform movement argued about about practices of humiliation and physical abuse to maintain order and discipline in prisons. Reformers requested for more humane measures such as rehabilitation through order and discipline.
The grassroots movements during the Age of reform saw their goals being accomplished. Women saw more job opportunities, prisons were better organized, abolitionist expressed and spread their ideas, and education was dramatically improved. These movements were also successful in arousing the government to initiate programs and policies to address society's problems.Unfortunately, the North and West were the only socially improved sides, for the south remained industrialized and traditional. Later on, it would take a war to set both sides equal.