Explain how voluntary and popular movements, reform efforts, and activist groups sought to change American Society and institutions in the...

There were many attempts to reform society in the period from 1800–1850. One area of reform was in the area of education. Horace Mann worked hard to make changes in the field of education, especially in Massachusetts. He began the normal school movement that was designed to train teachers to teach. He expanded the school year to six months and worked to improve the curriculum. He also believed in free public schools.

Another area of...

There were many attempts to reform society in the period from 1800–1850. One area of reform was in the area of education. Horace Mann worked hard to make changes in the field of education, especially in Massachusetts. He began the normal school movement that was designed to train teachers to teach. He expanded the school year to six months and worked to improve the curriculum. He also believed in free public schools.

Another area of reform was the abolitionist movement. People like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass wrote newspapers encouraging the end of slavery. Garrison started the American Anti-Slavery Society and the New England Anti-Slavery Society. These people worked to bring an end to slavery.

Dorothea Dix wanted to help the mentally ill and those people who were in prison. She believed it was wrong to put people in jail because they were mentally ill. She also felt prisoners were living in horrible conditions and that was not acceptable.

There were people who wanted to reduce or end drinking. This movement, called the temperance movement, had some successes at the state level.

The women’s rights movement focused on getting women equal rights. At the Seneca Falls Convention, women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott called for women to have the same rights as men.