Chapter 8 An Age of Reform Chapter focus question: HOW DID REFORMERS AND WRITERS INSPIRE CHANGE AND SPARK CONTROVERSY?

I. Improving Society Section Focus Question: How did Key people bring about reform in education and society?

A. The Reforming Spirit The expansion of democracy in the 1830s encouraged social reform In the Second Great Awakening, Charles Finney taught that people’s actions determined their salvation Some reformers established Utopian communities

B. Social Reformers at Work Alcoholism was a major problem in the U.S., which led to temperance movements and in some cases, calls for prohibition Prisons were harsh and housed debtors, children, and the mentally ill with violent criminals Dorothea Dix fought to improve prison conditions, and for the creation of asylums for those with mental illnesses

C. Education Reform By the early 1800s, Massachusetts was the only state to require public schools Reformers, such as Horace Mann, argued that public education was necessary to sustain a working democracy Public schools were slow to develop in the South and the West African American students were segregated and did not receive the same opportunities as whites