Do Now! Temperance Movement: The effort to end alcohol abuse. Horace Mann: An educator who advocated for school reform. Dorothea Dix: A reformer who campaigned for humane treatment in mental hospitals.

EQ: What were the main features of the public school, penitentiary, and temperance reform movements? The students will be able to analyze and evaluate the concepts of religion, religious freedom, and reform movements.

Ch 8 Sec 2: A Reforming Society In the early and middle 1800s, many Americans worked to reform American society. They especially wanted to help the poor and those who could not help themselves.

Many reformers thought that education in America was terrible. There were no tax- supported schools. Children were not required to go to school, and most children did not. The public school movement supported state-run schools. Reformers thought that education would give Americans the intellectual tools needed to keep the nation strong. They worked to change schools by making them more economical in their operations.

One famous school reformer was Horace Mann. Reformers like him tried to make sure that schools had funding as well as good teachers. Over the next few decades, public schools became common nationwide. Many women, such as Catharine Beecher, played key roles in the school reform movement.

Horace MannCatharine Beecher

Some reformers tried to help the mentally ill. Dorothea Dix discovered that many mentally ill patients were placed in prisons along with criminals. She said that states should build humane hospitals for the mentally ill. Her work led to the creation of the first modern mental hospitals.

Dorothea Dix

A tranquilizing chair used to hold the mentally ill in the 19 th century.

Dorothea Dix also worked with the penitentiary movement. Prison reformers thought that prisons should make criminals feel penitence, or sorrow for their crime. This reform movement tried to change prisons and make them less cruel. Over time, prisoners were less isolated and received better treatment.

Some reformers blamed the abuse of alcohol for many problems in society. They blamed alcohol for crime, poverty, and neglected families. Reformers launched the temperance movement to end alcohol abuse. Temperance means drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation. Reformers warned the public that drinking alcohol led to many social problems.

The temperance movement had some success when it won changes in the law. Neal Dow, a lecturer on alcohol abuse, succeeded in securing the passage of the “Maine Law”, which restricted the sale of alcohol. Within a few years, a dozen states had passed similar temperance laws. Temperance would remain an enduring issue for the next hundred years.

EXIT SLIP How did leaders of the temperance movement try to solve the problems of crime and poverty?