Reform Movements in the United States Sought Essay

As Americans entered an era of transition and instability, they sought to expand elective ideals in the smart set. In response to sudden changes occurring and traditional values macrocosm ch altogetherenged, various ameliorate movements during 1825-1850 began to focus on egalitarian ideals. The essay of ghostlike revivals, movements for equal rights and protecting liberties of different sociable groups, want to advance parliamentary procedure scientificly, and desire to bring order and control helped unsnarl the society to make love up to the nations founding ideals.Teaching them (I dont get who them is) the habits of thrift, orderliness, temperance and constancy was a way to non precisely better their lives but a way to instill certain participatory values and advance the perfection of society as a whole. The rise of popular religion and a series of apparitional revivals reinforced American democracy and liberty. The Second spacious Awakening was a huge religious re form movement that sought to re-captivate religious interest in America. single of its new breakthroughs is its representation of elective ideas, or a reworking of traditional religious institutions to better match the aver progress Americans sensibilities and frontier animationstyles (Second outstanding Awakening). In this attempt to capture interest, this new faith differed from the previous Calvinist viewpoint that nations predestined path to heaven or hell could and be altered by Gods choosing, in that the new theology emphatic individual free will, and equation in Gods eyes- a characteristic of democracy.These new theologies emphasized human choice. Reform of the individual human heart and in any case broader favorable institutions was indeed possible (Second Great Awakening). Church ministers were elected and churches believed in a priesthood of every(prenominal) believers. Such religious reforms sought to expand democratic ideals into the churches. The theology o f the Second Great Awakening can be divided into many an(prenominal) different subdivisions which all spread out and became part of many reform movements to come.Before examining such(prenominal) future movements, it must be noted that The pass along of the Age was also a reform movement that spread democratic ideals of around the same time frame as the Second Great Awakening. The Progress of the Age empowers all the new American technologies and social reforms in its time (around 1825-1846). clean technological reforms included adapting the time conserving sewing machine, and harnessing the effectiveness of the locomotive. Religion, politics, the economy, and virtually anything else in America was being influenced by echnological reforms, turning vivification in American as something Senator Webster describes The world has seen nothing like it in the lead (A Discourse, Delivered at Plymouth 61). The significance of all these technological advances lies in the inevitable so cial advances they initiated. The Progress of the Age focused on improving everyday brio with the adaption of machine labor, allowing for a large range of agricultural goods for the common man, more and more cheaper goods, less expensive books/newspapers, and faster travel.As these technological revolutions led to revolutions in habits, opinions, and moral values, hatful began to realize If machinery could be brought to such a nation of perfection, why not society (Maier 369)? With all the social ideas related to technological progress, none were associated with the Progression of the Age, as the expansions of democratic ideals were. With the new leaps in technological advances, people built the impression that No reform is straightaway deemed impossible, no enterprise for human betterment impracticable (Maier 369). Of all the social ideas, the democratic ideas of striving for social comparability, and benefitting the common good fit the technological age of progress best. Al ong with technological advancements, American literature was advancing too. New values such as favoring nature over Americas turn towards industrial capitalism and worst of all, the crass, money-grubbing materialism that seemed to grip more and more of their countrymen (Maier 371), as described in novels of James Fenimore Cooper, and Washington Irving were opened to their readers.The Transcendentalist movement, founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson was populated by his essay Nature, as swell up as other works such as Henry David Thoreaus Nature. The increase quality and affordability of such books as well as newspapers, with new perspectives and philosophies printed by new machines, allowed the common people access to new knowledge. Society was now exposed to knowledge such as philosophy, current events, and political reading which brought up the level of education of the common man.Not only were books make cheaper and more unattached, an abundance of higher quality goods and services such as better foods, clothes, and a better transportation system now became available to the society. As Horace Greenley of the New York Tribune accounts We have universalized all the beautiful and glorious results of industry and skill We have made them a common possession of the people. We have democratized the means and appliances of a higher life (Art and Industry 58). Greenley is grammatical construction that the Progress of the Age has brought high quality goods previously only for aristocrats cut out to the common people, raising the living standard of the common people a true democratic value. Out of all these technological breakthroughs, the railroad became the attribute of the Progress of the Age and the expansion of democratic ideals. Even artists of the Hudson River School such as Thomas Cole recognized the locomotive in their paintings. In River in the Catskills, Thomas Cole blends the locomotive with nature, suggesting a natural consonance between them as American s civilized the new lands.The locomotive became a token of the drive of civilization, spreading it and Americas democracy to new, undetected horizons. These unseen horizons were discovered through the reforms in the Antebellum Era, whose roots were mainly evangelistic religion tied into the belief that equality and salvation should be offered to everyone. This brought rear tensions between the North and South when slavery became an issue with those ideals, which made the acted reforms not just a movement towards equality, but towards democracy as well. matchless of the most important reform movements in American history was the humankind of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. The Declaration of Sentiments was established and those who called to join the society had to sign the document which pledged to secure to the colored populationall the rights and privileges that belong to them as men and as Americans. This reform was different than most, because the people involv ed decided to use the old tactic of moral view instead of violence. These society members campaigned across the U. S. especially aiming to influence the South. They published abolitionist newspapers and other literature to raise awareness, attempted to make antislavery societies in every state and every town, and eventually brought so many petitions to Congress that although the fray Resolution tabled them, the awareness it raised about slavery occurred everywhere. Not only was this the effect of the society, but it also showed Americans that all people could make a difference if joined together, not just the government, which expanded ideas of democracy.William Lloyd Garrison, among other lovesome abolitionists, acted as a leader in the fight for all-around equality in the United States. He dedicated his life to slavery abolition, issue the newspaper, The Liberator and writing in it, On this subject, I do not wish to think, to speak, or write, with moderationI am in earnest I will not equivocate I will not absolve I will not retreat a single butt and I will be heard. Not only did his linguistic process rage people enough to cause the bloody slave revolt in Virginia led by Nat Turner, but it also made abolitionists of others as well.His words inspired Frederick Douglass to publish his newspaper, North Star, at Rochester. They inspired Theodore Dwight Weld to throw an end to slavery and leave the Lane Seminary and their white society with 75 others by his side, naming themselves the Lane Rebels. He spent the rest of his life being a devoted member of the Ohio Antislavery Society and giving speeches throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania, encouraging the establishment of other antislavery societies. Abolitionists for womens rights like Henry B.Stanton who was also a Lane Rebel, and his wife, Elizabeth Cady Stanton were also strong leaders, as well as the Grimke sisters in taking on the roles normally given to men. These respectable reformers were able to influence the population to join them in reforms, creating the sense that they could all make a difference together, and reform the republic government to a democratic one instead. With the idea of equality comes the idea of democracy, so when reform movements for slavery abolition and womens rights began, so did the widespread belief of a new democratic government.