Reform Project

Many areas of what we today call social welfare trace their American beginnings to the time when people became more aware of their responsibilities regarding the poor , the insane , the physically handicapped , criminals and other less fortunate than themselves . This period has been called the Great Awakening

The idea that state and local governments should take action against the social evils of the time began to put down roots . Reformers like Dorothea Dix worked with legislatures of several states to effect a more humane treatment of the insane , institutions for the blind

and deaf were established . In 1846 Maine passed the first prohibition law in the United Sates , and other sates passed laws limiting the sale of liquor while temperance societies campaigned against excessive use of alcoholic beverages . This was facilitated by the religious revival of that time when itinerant preachers rode horseback from community to community trying to reach as many people as possible . Emotional camp meetings were popular in western towns . As part of the religious fervor of the period people were very much concerned of their moral obligation to the less fortunate members of society thus the concern for the alleviation of their conditions . At the same time women began to feel their importance and role in society and hence worked for the right to vote . In the 1830 's women began to speak out for their rights . In certain areas they made progress . Some schools made a change in policy and became co-educational . In 1820 Frances Wright shocked many people by giving lectures on some of the needed reforms of the day . Public attention was focused upon women 's rights by a convention held in Seneca Falls , New York in 1848 . Out of this first Women 's Rights Convention came a Declaration of Independence ' stating that all men and women should have the right to vote . This was the first organized demand for women suffrage in the United Sates . The period of Great Awakening was indeed an important part of the American culture

Reference

Divine , R , Breen , T . H , Fredrickson , G , Williams , R , Gross , A Brands , H (2004 . America

Past and Present 7th ed . Pearson Longman...