In which ways did reformers attempt to change social institutions?
Art
Education
Prisons & Asylums
Temperance
kindred spirits
"embodied the marriage of naturalism and idealization"
Hudson River School
poetry
symbolism
led to reflect on ideals of the time
changed from American Romanticism to more cynical
Mark Twain
Henry Mellville
post civil war --> more cynincal aka realism reflecting on America
Scarlett Letter, finding the good out of the evil (Antebellum Era)
Dorothea Dix --> suffered from "malaise" or what is now known as clinical depression
dealt with her depression by traveling and came across the atrocities of mentally ill patients living conditions
began advocating getting rid of the idea that mental illness meant criminal
improved standards for care of mental illness patients
3 important components
education for the "common man and woman"
greater access to higher education for women
schooling for free blacks
particular type of education available to all (excluding African American or Irish Catholics)
Mt. Holyoke
the common school movement failed to mention racial discrimination and segregation
Horace Mann
Mary Lyon
John Chavis
Education for black slaves was forbidden --> the abolitionist movement provided educational opportunities for African Americans
Temperance Movement --> the belief that alcohol was bad and was a threat to the nations success
American Christian Temperance Union
Many women thought that this movement would support women's suffrage however these were run by men and a lot would not let women join.
However alcohol became popular again throughout the civil war
Post civil war
The US economy shifted from factories to farming leading to issues which some believed were cause by alcohol
Protests began --> mostly women. Women (mostly white and well known women) were able to voice their opinions on this topic.
The idea of the alcohol banned shifted into the idea of people wanting progressive reforms in the US