Efforts To Reform Dbq

The greatest efforts to reform American society were taken during the antebellum years. The antebellum years took place in the four decades before the Civil War. During these years, Americans tried to resolve their social problems. They established public schools, promoted women’s rights, battled poverty, and worked to improve many other issues in the country, Abolitionism, the attempt to end slavery, became one of the biggest reform movements because Americans wanted to right wrongs and get rid of evils. Americans had sources of motivation that inspired them to push for these reforms. The effort to reform society was motivated by religion, the fight for equality, and the desire to perfect the American people.
Religion influenced people to reform, expand, and succeed. They believed that God would want them to change their society. Andrew Jackson used religion to express his beliefs and urge the people to reform. He believed that the voice of the people was the voice of God and that religion was needed in order to improve society (Document 1). Francis Grund …show more content…
Andrew Jackson said that people needed to become more God-like and that they needed to form a perfect democracy. He also stressed the importance of perfecting American institutions. (Document 1). During this time period, perfection was important because they felt that the United States needed to be an example to the rest of the world. Horace Mann, an important educational reformer thought that children needed to be educated to become good citizens early on in their lives (Document 4). Americans wanted their future generations to be educated and successful. This belief was similar to the idea of being a good example to the world because being knowledgeable showed how successful the American communities and society were. The desire for perfection motivated the reforms to society by making Americans work towards being a better