Student Exemplar Essay 2013
Chapter 12: Free Response Essay
The antebellum period was the time period before the civil war where rapid
changes in society were believed to make America reach a state of perfection. During the
antebellum period, the Puritan impression and goal of a mission to create an example of
moral and good living, the growing belief in human goodness and perfection, the
Jacksonian Democracy, numerous religious movements, and the expansion of the idea of
equality had all contributed to the establishment of reform movements in America.
American reform movements between 1820 and 1860 reflected both optimistic and
pessimistic views of human nature and society regarding education, woman’s rights, and
penal institutions.
Great efforts and contributions were made to improve education in America
between 1820 and 1860. The increased number of people voting during the Age of Jackson
led to an expanding belief in the need for an educated electorate. In addition, laborers and
employers generally agreed on the benefits of an educated workforce, for it promoted a
better future for America. One of the greatest reformers of this movement was Horace
Mann. Horace Mann advocated for tax-supported schools, enforced a necessary
requirement for the attendance of all children, supported positive reinforcement over
physical punishment established by Calvinistic ideals, created longer school years,
improved teacher training in Massachusetts, and allowed educators better payment. The
Second Great Awakening sparked an increase in colleges, especially in the western states
due to public education being common in New England. In the 19th century, institutions of
higher education helped a plethora of young men to transition from a rural, agricultural
lifestyle to professional and urban occupations. This allowed for upward mobility. However,
elite colleges served upper class students, and colleges became more exclusive. Although
the “common schools” that Horace Mann had created meant to serve people of all social
classes and religions, many were often class-based and gender-based. About 72% of white
children in the North were enrolled in school, while about 33% of white children were
enrolled in school in the South; the public education system in the South wasn’t very
organized, but wealthy plantation owners had provided tutors. Blacks had no opportunity
to be enrolled in school, and the working class received little benefits. Despite the great
contributions to educational reform, there were still efforts to be made, making education
in the 19th century reflect both optimistic and pessimistic views of human nature and
society. Woman’s rights also established a reform movement towards equality.
The changing ideals of gender relations caused by urbanization and
industrialization encouraged the women’s rights reform movement in America in the 19th
century. As female reformers resented secondary roles assigned to women, they rose and
took action. Sarah and Angelina Grimke both objected to male opposition to their
antislavery contributions and activities. Later on in 1837, Sarah Grimke wrote Letter on the
Condition of Women and the Equality of the Sexes to further make her point on women’s
rights. Furthermore, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other women reformers
worked to campaign for women’s rights after being blocked from participating in their
antislavery convention. One of the most important women’s rights conventions was the
first women’s rights convention in US history: the Seneca Falls Convention. It was a
meeting of leading women reformers at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. At this particular
convention, women discussed and argued how they should fight for women’s rights and
equal treatment. Through this convention, reformers issued the Declaration of Sentiments
which was closely related and modeled to the Declaration of Independence back in 1776.
The Declaration of Sentiments called for equal treatment of men and women under law and
voting, declared that “all men and women [were] created equally”, and listed the grievances
and complaints women had against discriminating laws and traditions. Another convention
regarding the women’s rights reform movement was the National Women’s Right
Convention. This specific convention resolved to secure legal and social equality for women.
Many reformers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony led campaigns for
women’s voting rights, legal rights, and property rights. Fortunately, women slowly began
to gain rights. However, in the 1850s, the issues declared on the Declaration of Sentiments
and the entire movement was overshadowed by the slavery crisis. The idea that women
were not allowed to fight for the abolition movement led women to realize that they didn't
have all of the rights that they thought they should have. Men continued to dislike the
freedoms that women thought were inherited to them by nature including the right to vote,
right to work, right to own property, religious rights, parental rights, etc. Although the
women’s rights reform movement had brought positive changes to America, the battle
between optimistic and pessimistic views on the reform movement reflected human nature
and society. Penal institutions in America also created controversy.
Penal institutions were widely accepted in America, for people had more optimistic
views on this particular reform movement rather than pessimistic views. However,
pessimistic perspectives existed. The Auburn System was the system in which prisoners
were kept in separate cells and were forbidden from socializing. This was the system in
which America used to isolate its criminals and the mentally challenged. Many reformers
such as Enoch Wines and Theodore Dwight had advocated for prison reform, and they
worked to make certain that prisons were concentrated on the rehabilitation of the people,
not punishment. A plethora of people supported prison reform because they believed that
criminals could be reformed through isolation and work, thus, improving America socially.
People with mental illnesses who had no family or friends to care for them were taken care
of by individuals who contracted with the towns to care for the mentally challenged.
However, this system was fraught with abuses. Due to the creation of mental asylums, the
mentally ill were technically thrown into asylums because the people did not know what to
do with them. A penal institutions reformer, Dorothea Dix, was very contributive to
asylums and hospitals. She worked with state legislatures to provide funding for mental
hospitals. Funding offered professional staff and treatment for mental patients. One of Dix’s
contributions included the effort to pass a national bill supporting the mentally ill.
Unfortunately, President Franklin Pierce had vetoed the bill, for he believed that the states,
not the federal government, was responsible for social welfare. This established the idea
that penal institutions had reflected both the optimistic and pessimistic views of human
nature and society.
All in all, education, women’s rights, and penal institutions between the years 1820
and 1860 reflected both the optimistic and pessimistic views with regards to human nature
and society. Even though Horace Mann had worked towards better-funded schools, there
was division among those who attended school and those who didn’t. Although women
were achieving slow recognition by America, men were not optimistic or open towards the
idea of equality between the sexes. While prisons offered security to the people and
worked towards the reform of social America, asylums had proved that there were
pessimistic ideals and perspectives on penal institutions. These reform movements had
proved of both optimistic and pessimistic perspectives as future issues in America reflected
the controversy faced by these movements.