CHAPTER 14 • SECTION 2
Social Reform
KEY QUESTION What aspects of society did
reformers try to change?
By the 1830s, the religious revival had sparked
the rise of a reform movement. Social reformers
campaigned to improve education, establish
mental hospitals, and improve prisons.
Teach
Social Reform
Improving Education In the 1830s, Americans began to demand better schools. Massachusetts set up the first state board of education
Mann called public
in 1837. Its leader, Horace Mann,
education “the great equalizer” and argued for
improving public educational opportunities. By
1850, most Northern states had opened public
elementary schools.
Boston opened the first public high school in
1821. A few other Northern cities soon did the
same. In addition, churches and other groups
founded hundreds of private colleges in the
following decades. Many were located in states
carved from the Northwest Territory. These
included Antioch and Oberlin Colleges in Ohio,
Notre Dame in Indiana, and Northwestern University in Illinois.
Talk About It
• What significant educational reforms occurred
in the mid-1800s? (Massachusetts, first state
board of education, 1837. First public high
school, 1821. By 1850 most Northern states had
public elementary schools. Church-based private
colleges founded. Colleges began accepting
female students. Limited opportunities for
African Americans.)
• What other reform issues received attention?
(Dix lectured on the need for better mental
health care. Gallaudet founded a school for
the deaf. Howe founded a school for the blind.
Others tried to improve prisons.)
• Problems and Solutions How did Oberlin
College address the problem of limited
educational opportunities for women and
African Americans? (Oberlin admitted students
regardless of sex or race. It was the first college
to accept women and the first to graduate an
African-American woman.)
RESEARCH &
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WRITING CENTER
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History Makers
Horace Mann
Find links to biographies of Horace Mann at
the Research and Writing Center @
ClassZone.com. Horace Mann once said
to students, “Be ashamed to die until you
have won some victory for humanity.” As
a child, Mann knew poverty and hardship.
He educated himself and later fought for
the rights of others to an education. Toward
the end of his life, Mann became president
of Antioch College. It committed itself to
education for both men and women and
equal rights for African Americans.
COMPARING Leaders
Compare and Contrast Students may
compare Horace Mann with Dorothea Dix,
Thomas Gallaudet, Samuel Howe, Frederick
Douglass, Sojourner Truth, or Elizabeth
Cady Stanton.
Unit 5 Resource Book
• Connect to Today, p. 163
• Active Citizenship, pp. 189–190
460 • Chapter 14
History Makers
Horace Mann
1796–1859
Mann is remembered as “the father of the
American common [public] school.” He believed
that education was “the balance wheel of the social
machinery.” As secretary of the Massachusetts board
of education, Mann advanced his cause by reporting
to the state legislature, lecturing widely, and
writing for various publications. His efforts raised
awareness of the value of public education. They
also led to dramatic changes in Massachusetts and
across the country, with increased public spending
on education, higher teacher salaries, better books
for students, advanced teacher training, and—
ultimately—a more educated population.
COMPARING
Expanding Opportunities Women could not
Leaders
Compare and Contrast As you read through
the chapter, look for other reform leaders. Compare
Mann’s efforts to promote his cause with those of
other leaders in this chapter.
ONLINE
BIOGRAPHY
For more on Horace Mann, go to the
Research & Writing Center
@ ClassZone.com
attend most colleges. An exception was Oberlin—
the first college to accept women. From its founding in 1833, Oberlin admitted students regardless
of race or sex. Until the late 1800s, however, it was
rare for a woman to attend college.
African Americans also faced obstacles to
getting an education. This was especially true
in the South. Teaching an enslaved person to
read was illegal in most of the Southern states.
Enslaved African Americans who tried to learn to
read were brutally punished. Even in the North,
African-American children were barred from
most public schools.
Few colleges accepted African Americans. The
first African-American man to receive a college
degree was Alexander Twilight in 1823. He later
became a Vermont state legislator. Mary Jane
Patterson was the first African-American woman
to earn a college degree. She graduated from
Oberlin in 1862 and became a teacher.
460 Chapter 14
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION: TIERED ACTIVITIES
OBJECTIVE Create a dictionary of reformers involved in reform movements of the 1800s.
Basic
On Level
Challenge
Give students a list of
reformers mentioned in the
section. Have them choose
one reformer from the list for
whom to create a dictionary
entry. Students should
research birth and death
dates and list the movement
the reformer was involved in
and any of his or her major
achievements.
Have students make a list of
reformers and reform groups
in the section. Divide the list
among students. Students
should research birth and
death dates (for people) and
major achievements to create
dictionary entries.
Have students research
other reformers or reform
groups from this time period.
Students should find birth
and death dates (for people)
and list the movement the
reformer or group was
involved in and any major
achievements.
Compile the entire class’s
entries to make a book.
CHAPTER 14 • SECTION 2
Care for the Needy Some reformers sought to
improve care for society’s most vulnerable members.
Dix, a reformer from Boston, was
In 1841 Dorothea Dix
teaching at a women’s jail when she discovered that
some women were locked up simply because they
were mentally ill. Dix learned that the mentally ill
often received no treatment, and that some were
chained and beaten. Dix lectured widely in the United
States and Europe to promote better care. Her efforts
led to publicly funded mental hospitals in a number
of states.
Some reformers worked to improve life for people
with other disabilities. In 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut, educator Thomas H. Gallaudet started the
first free school for deaf children in the United States.
Reformer Samuel G. Howe directed the New England
Asylum for the Blind (now the Perkins School for the
Blind), which opened in Boston in 1832.
Reformers also tried to improve prisons. In the
early 1800s, debtors, lifelong criminals, and children
were put in the same cells. Reformers demanded
that children go to special jails. They also called for adult prisoners
to be rehabilitated, or prepared to live useful lives after their release.
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS List the problems in society that
reformers worked to change.
CONNECT
How did immigration and social
reform change the nation in the
mid-1800s?
Ask students what they have learned so far
that can help them answer this question.
Students might mention:
• Revivalists inspired optimism. Temperance
reformers tried to ban alcohol. Utopian
communities were formed.
(left) Reading Braille
(above) A student
reads at the Perkins
School for the Blind.
• Factory workers organized labor unions
to improve their working conditions.
• States created public school systems.
Some colleges admitted women and
African Americans.
Answer: Reformers
worked to improve
educational
opportunities, facilities
for the mentally ill, and
the prison system.
4
ONLINE QUIZ
2
Section Assessment
TERMS & NAMES
1. Explain the importance of
• Second Great Awakening
• temperance movement
• Shakers
USING YOUR READING NOTES
2. Problems and Solutions Complete the chart
you started at the beginning of the section. Show
the problems reformers identified in society and the
solutions they proposed.
Problem
Solution
heavy drinking
temperance
movement
Assess & Reteach
Assess Have students complete the Section
Assessment.
For test practice, go to
Interactive Review @ ClassZone.com
• Horace Mann
• Dorothea Dix
to the Essential Question
KEY IDEAS
3. How did the Second Great Awakening influence the
reform movement?
4. How did women contribute to social reform?
Unit 5 Resource Book
• Section Quiz, p. 172
Interactive Review
@ ClassZone.com
CRITICAL THINKING
5. Main Ideas and Details How did government
work for better schools?
6. Summarize What obstacles faced women and
African Americans who wanted an education?
7. Causes and Effects What factors might have
caused utopian communities to fail?
8. Art Imagine you are a reformer in the mid1800s. Choose one of the problems that you read
about in this section and make a poster that
encourages citizens to become involved and make
positive changes.
Power Presentations
Test Generator
Reteach Assign a reform movement to
student groups. Have each group prepare
a short report for the class, summarizing
significant people and events associated with
the movement.
Unit 5 Resource Book
• Reteaching Activity, p. 175
A New Spirit of Change 461
SECTION 2 ASSESSMENT ANSWERS
Terms & Names
1. Second Great Awakening, p. 457; temperance
movement, p. 458; Shakers, p. 458; Horace
Mann, p. 460; Dorothea Dix, p. 461
Using Your Reading Notes
2. Problems/Solutions: heavy drinking/
temperance movement; societal problems/
utopian communities; poor working
conditions/labor unions; limited educational
opportunities/public schools and reformminded colleges; people with disabilities/
institutional aid
Key Ideas
3. It inspired optimism in the country, making
people believe in the value of helping others.
4. Some worked in the temperance movement.
Others campaigned to improve educational
opportunities for women. Still others offered
aid to people with disabilities.
Critical Thinking
5. states opened public elementary school and
some public high schools
6. Until the early 1800s, no colleges admitted
female students. Few colleges admitted African
Americans, and in some areas they were not
allowed to learn to read.
7. The Shaker ban on marriage and having children
caused its decline. Conflicts and financial
difficulties affected utopian communities.
8. Students’ posters should accurately depict the
problem and a specific way in which citizens
can help to remedy the problem.
Art Rubric
Content
Accuracy
4
excellent; richly detailed;
neat and attractive
no errors
3
good; detailed; neat and
attractive
few/minor
2
fair; somewhat detailed; messy several
1
poor; few details; sloppy
many
Teacher’s Edition • 461