Chapter 8 Section 2 A REFORMING SOCIETY

Reforming Education  Since Colonial times most children taught at home by their parents  Some communities established schools  The American Spelling Book- popular school book created by Noah Webster in 1780s  Reformers see education in America as inadequate  Public School Movement- sought to establish a tax supported public schools  Education needed to give Americans knowledge and intellectual tools needed to make decisions as a citizen

Horace Mann Leads the Public School Movement  Horace Mann- great school reformer  He grew up poor with little education, saw 1 st hand the need for it  He was a leader in Massachusetts Senate  Helped create a state board of education  Resigned from senate in 1837 to chair the board  Mann’s Impact  Require by law for children to attend school  Argued for state oversight  School calendars  Adequate school funding

Women and their role in Education  Catharine Beecher & Emma Willard-establish schools in Connecticut, Ohio and New York  Elizabeth Blackwell & Ann Preston-help establish medical training for women in the 1850’s

Helping the ill and Imprisoned  Dorothea Dix teaches Sunday school in Massachusetts prison  Notices people with mental illness and disorders  Writes to state legislature that these people shouldn’t be housed with criminals.  Helps build hospitals for those with mental illnesses  Penitentiary Movement  Prison Reform where criminals would fell penitence or sorrow for crimes

The Temperance Movement  Effort to end alcohol abuse and the problems it created  Temperance means drinking alcohol in moderation  The American Temperance Society- held meetings to encourage people from drinking alcohol  Only real success of the movement is when reformers won changes in the law  Neal Dow- famous for speeches on alcohol abuse  Become mayor of Portland Maine  Creates “Maine Law”- which prohibited the sale of alcohol in Maine