DBQ Reforms in the Second Great AwakeningAmericans wanted to improve the character of common citizens and make them more righteous, God-fearing, and literate. As the young Republic grew, increasing numbers of Americans poured their energies into religious revivals and reform movements. Some Americans have become disillusioned with the reality of Democratic politics. Reformers promoted better public schools and rights for women. Societies against slavery and alcohol were formed. Religion became more liberal, as religious reforms transformed religion's place in American life and sent believers out to perfect the world. The Second Great Awakening sparked innovative reform movements that expanded democratic ideals socially and politically. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Education reform, led by Horace Mann, was an attempt to make public education available to all children so that they would have the same chance for knowledge and success. Horace Mann (1796-1859) was the leading proponent of the common (public) school movement in favor of tax-subsidized schooling. Horace in 1846 worked to ensure that all children could be educated without cost. And it was "the duty of every government that the means of education were provided to all" (doc 3). This is because in the 19th century, most children who were able to attend school were white, middle-class children. Girls were often perceived as not intelligent enough to need school, and child slaves were needed on the plantation. Some poor children attended the school. They often had to leave class and run home to help their parents, or sometimes go with their fathers to work and not even attend school. Thanks to the efforts of Horace and other reformers, free public schools were established for children of all classes, paid for by state taxes. Similar to education reform, rehabilitation reform, a movement led by Dorothea Dix, advocated for improved treatment and care for the mentally handicapped in asylums and for better rehabilitation programs for those who spent of time in federal penitentiaries. This is because people admitted to psychiatric hospitals tended to be restrained in "straitjackets... secured with chains to the tops of the bed... and feet secured with locks and iron chains" (doc 5). The deplorable conditions in which the mentally ill have been forced to live are very inhumane and unconstitutional. Dix's followers fought for more humane action in the care of the mentally disabled, and thanks to their movements, new and improved asylums were built throughout the country that allowed for better treatment of patients. Prisons and rehabilitation programs were also ways to help prisoners reintegrate into society through the rehabilitation movement. The suffrage movement was aided by the abolition movement because slavery gave women a reason to unite for a separate cause. However, they began to suffer oppression from male abolitionists, even though they were both fighting for the same cause. This pushed women to fight for their democratic ideals leading to the rise of many prominent suffragettes such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The second blow to the suffrage movement came in 1840 with the World Anti-Slavery Convention in which women abolitionists were banned from attending. This paved the way for the Seneca Falls Convention, a convention onwomen's rights held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848 to raise awareness of women's rights. It was at this convention that Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, which called for the establishment of democratic rights for women as the Declaration of Independence did for Americans. In this statement he addressed the United States government "we hold the truth to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal" (doc 6). This is because it was the government's responsibility to protect the rights of the people instead of seeing women deny their natural rights. Women during this time period were denied many natural rights because during this time society had the perception that “women could not work as hard as a man” (doc 7). Therefore, female girls during the 19th century were treated differently than men as men were expected to live a public life, whether it was working in a factory or socializing with like-minded men in public places, such as clubs, meetings or bars. While women were usually expected to live their lives largely homebound, taking care of cooking, cleaning and child-rearing. Free time for women was not to be spent socializing but doing other things related to supporting the family, from sewing socks to doing laundry. Largely because of these traditional expectations for women before the 19th century, very few women had the same opportunities. for education as men. Indeed, women's education was often seen as a subversive action, a possible perversion of the correct social order. Women were also completely excluded from political activity as they could not vote. The women's rights movement was overall very successful, although it was not achieved until 1920, when the 19th Amendment was passed. The 19th Amendment prohibits any citizen of the United States from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were not alive to see the amendment they had initially drafted ratified, but that did not change the fact that the decades of dedication they had put into the movement had paid off. The effect of the Women's Rights Movement was that women were no longer seen as an "inferior race" but instead as equal to males politically and socially. The women's rights movement was closely intertwined with the temperance movement in the 19th century because as women began to gain more rights they fought closely with organizations like the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance to help abolish the alcoholism. As they believed that alcohol caused poverty, crime and death, among other things (doc 4). Eventually this group and others approached the government asking it to ban the sale of alcohol. Alcoholism was also believed to be linked to the destruction of the family structure as drunkenness led to an increasing amount of domestic abuse. These people therefore wanted to pass a radical law prohibiting alcohol in all parts of society, even though many did not want it. Mainly because of the Second Great Awakening, many people led a powerful anti-slavery movement called the abolitionist movement. This movement, one of the most widely supported of the time, had many influential leaders such as William Garrison, publisher of the abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator" and Fredrick Douglass. These men, among others, wage a passionate struggle for the immediate and unconditional emancipation of all slaves in the United States and for the outlawing of 1850.