Comparing and Contrasting Reform Movements

Introduction

All the reform movements aimed to better the society and produce people who were responsible and improved their living conditions. Temperance dealt with the increasing number of alcohol cases that had shocked the nation. The American temperance association was thus formed to combat increased cases of alcohol (Blocker et al., 2012). Temperance demanded reduced or complete abstinence from alcohol. Lyman Beecher was a leader who advocated for total abstinence. Therefore, temperance, asylums and feminists groups aimed to improve the lives of the people who had been affected negatively by the conditions they were passing through. Feminists concentrated on fighting for equality between men and women and ending the oppression that had long been meted on women by men. Elizabeth Stanton was at the forefront in fighting for the rights of women especially when she and others were denied a chance because they were women at the world anti-slavery convention (DuBois & Cándida, 2007). She formed many bodies that fought for the rights of both black and white women like voting.

The reformist on the asylums fought for the rights of the mentally and thus insane. Dorothea Dix was the reformer pushing for better treatment of the mentally ill and sick people who were kept in prisons and workhouses among others (Hermsen, 2011). She wanted the insane to be treated as humans. The current facilities were in poor conditions and the patients lived in total misery. She vouched for better living conditions that led to the establishment of asylums that had better conditions for the insane, and thus, mentally ill.

The reformers in public education like Horace Mann had the intentions of ensuring that the citizens were properly educated and that the system of education would benefit them later after they have finished (Volo J. & Volo, D., 2004). There was a greater reformation of public education in the north than the south.

Asylum and public education did well as compared to feminism and temperance. Various conditions were improved, and the neglected people were given a chance to improve their lives for the betterment of society.

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