Antebellum Era Essay Sample
As Americans entered the Antebellum epoch shortly after the Era of Good Feeling had ended. Americans sought to spread out democratic ideals to ensue in equality. autonomy. and the chase of felicity. A series of reform motions including faith. abolishment. political relations. moderation. and women’s rights rapidly spread throughout America in 1825-1850 to run into those democratic ideals sacredly. socially. and politically that Americans had urged for.
The Second Great Awakening was a major spiritual reform motion that sought to reacquire American’s spiritual involvement. From Massachusetts to Ohio educated curates re-motivate faith which resulted in new spiritual groups every bit good as the diverseness within faiths. This spiritual resurgence called for people to demo their religion to god with good workss within society every bit good as moving with moral rightness. Charles G. Finney. a sermonizer during the Second Great Awakening. strongly believed that even “harlots. and rummies. and heathens. and all kinds of abandoned characters” could be inspired and awakened to move with the moral rightness that was needed in America ( Document B ) . This spiritual resurgence besides led to community experiments where the society longed for a Utopia which was about impossible to accomplish due to the fact that non everything can be made perfect. The Second Great Awakening rapidly diffused through out the state and resulted in assorted other reforms that included political. societal. and educated related motions.
The Second Great Awakening shed a new visible radiation upon bondage since it spread the idea of equality. Abolition was truly taken earnestly and fought for within the epoch of Antebellum. Many Americans opposed of bondage and ended up revolting against it. Nat Turner lead a rebellion in 1831 with fellow slaves that resulted in the deceases of 55 Whites and ended when the Whites retaliated by slaughtering the slaves. When violent. extremist. and even peaceable abolishment such as Frederick Douglass’ Bouchie were committed. it still did non alter the fact that slaves could non vote and merely on rare occasions did free inkinesss get the right to vote. This ended in a failure to spread out democratic ideals. but decidedly did non set a bound on democracy because American’s still fought for the freedom of slaves and true equality.
Although abolishment did non beef up American’s democratic ideals every bit much as they had hoped. the moderation motion had. In the beginning of 1825 certain groups formed that believed imbibing intoxicant caused bad moral behaviour in the United States. The “Drunkard Progress. From The First Glass To The Grave” portrayal promotes the moderation motion by portraying that ingestion of intoxicant will merely ensue in work forces going gamblers and darnels. deceases and self-destructions. go forthing female parents throughout society to pull off life on their ain with their kids ( Document H ) . Ending the ingestion of liquor in America was a democratic determination and an effort to sublimate the American society.
Another democratic ideal that was made to do American’s society a better topographic point were both the instruction reform and the prison/hospital reforms. Horace Mann was responsible for advancing public schooling for all kids in Massachusetts every bit good as the constitution of unvarying public school policy for the full state. This was favored politically because authorities leaders were get downing to go concerned with the hereafter of the United States due of the population of uneducated people quickly increasing. As the uneducated population was increasing. the sum of juvenile delinquents was besides increasing which resulted in the prison reform. America was the first to set up penitentiaries which used new thoughts such as lone parturiency to do serious felons reflect on their incorrect behaviors and “rescuing them from frailty and rendering them valuable members of society” . trusting this would farther sublimate America ( Document A ) . During this clip Dorthea Dix sought out the mentally sick patients and publish them into new mental establishments that were passed through the Massachusetts Legislature. Dix besides persuaded provinces in the South to put up infirmaries for the mentally sick. These three reform motions coincided with American’s democratic ideals.
