Reforming America in the 19th Century Flashcards
America in 1848
After Mexican-American War, the country doubled in side. Ongoing issues: Slavery, temperance, women’s rights, education, and prison/asylum reform
Women’s voices in the 19th century
Women started voicing their concerns and desires to change/reform the many issues plaguing 19th century America; wanted to prove that they should have the same voting right as men and that they could also be “political”
First Wave of Immigration (1830-1860)
- The demand for unskilled labor grew as the industry grew through the North.
- Those who argued for better working conditions were replaced by German, Irish, and Chinese immigrants.
Problems of Immigration
Social: Nativism = growing feeling among Americans of their anger toward immigrants Economic: whenever social class gap widens --> economic downturn = ressesion or depression
Development of Cities
- Immigration turns cities into “Melting Pots” as customs and cultural beliefs spread.
- Housing communites in the cities became poor, run-down, and unsanitary.
Economic Downfall Transform Cities
Panic of 1837 creates economic hardships but also:
1) Middle class starts to dwindle because factories only required low-skilled/low paying jobs
2) Factory owners pay immigrants less, resulting in naturally born citizens to lose their jobs
3) 70% of cities were consumed with low-wage factory working immigrant families
Cities Begin to Decay
Poor living conditions:
1) Cities become filthy with dirty water bc of lack of sewers and garbage removal
2) Cholera, yellow fever, and typhus became epidemic in cities
3) City services were left in the hands of private companies who accommodated the middle and upper classes
Basic Elements to Reform
1) Quaker/Evangelical Religion: religiously motivated to reform the problems of America
2) Belief in the basic goodness of man: believed that people were inherently good and would be receptive to reform
3) Moralistic Dogmatism: People were sinful, lazy, and intemperate, reformers must show them correct way to live
Causes of Temperance Movement
- Factory workers worked long days and after a long day would go to bars or tavern to drink their daily wages away.
- Led to public drunkness, economic despair, and domestic violence.
- In 1830 people drank 7 drinks a day (on avg).
Temperance Movement
- Drinking must be outlaws to truly reform the problems in America
- Factory workers drink their day’s wages away after work
- American Society for the Promotion of Temperance
- Over 200,000 memebers by 1830s
- Supported by many Whig Party members but opposed by Democrats
Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound
marketed to women to help with menstrual side effects; 20% alcohol; medicines were not yet regulated
Beginning of Public Education
- Massachusetts was the 1st to start Public Education
- Citizens paid taxes to support their local schools
- Teaching became the first universal profession for women
- Catherine Beecher began the 1st training school for women to become teachers in the U.S.
Prison & Asylum Reform
- Were attempts to ‘help’ or ‘reform’ those who were mentally disabled.
- The mentally ill/disabled were put in jails along with actual criminals.
- Prisons and asylums were unclean and became brutal in nature.
- Dorothea Dix petitioned to end these cruel conditions.
Dorthea Dix
- Activist for Women’s Suffrage Movement, the Abolitionist Movement, and the reformation of state asylums
- Traveled throughout the country visiting various “institutions” and finding horrible conditions
- First mental health hospital was created thanks to her.
- 125 nationwide facilities were created because of her.
American Colonization Society
1816 by Robert Finley; believed that whites and African Americans couldn’t live harmoniously in the US and the only way African Americans could experince equality was by relocating to Africa; wanted to limit the number of freedmen