The Age of Reform

The Age of Reform was a period of tremendous economic and political change. Many Americans became worried that their values were being swept away by industrialism and a growing market economy. They supported social reforms in an effort to create a new moral order. Some reformers promoted the divinity of the individual and sought to perfect human society by perfecting people. A number of communal utopias were formed to further this effort and create a perfect society. Other reformers were driven by more traditional religious impulses. The Shaker, Amana, and Mormon communities were among those that blended religion and secular institutions to further human perfectibility. Many middle-class women took the opportunity to broaden their experiences beyond the domestic sphere by participating in various reform movements. A defining characteristic of this era was that women played public, leading roles in many of the crusades to reform American society.

Women played an increasing role in public education during the reform era. Churches had maternal association where mothers gathered to discuss ways to raise their children as true Christians. Many churches, like the Puritans, believed children were sinful and their wills needed to be broken before they could become godly. However these maternal associations began reflecting a new and more positive definition of childhood. Women believed that children were born innocent and needed gentle nurturing and encouragement, instead of a teaching system that was harsh and physical, if they were to flourish. A reformer, Catharine Beecher, encouraged women to enter the teaching profession because their natural role suited them to the care and nurturing of children. Thus, Beecher combined the "cult of domesticity" with educational reform. By 1850, most elementary school teachers were women, although some were hired because they could be paid considerably less than men.

The temperance movement, the greatest of the evangelically inspired reforms, also attracted those who believed in human perfectibility. During the early 1800s Americans consumed four times the amount of alcohol per person than today. Alcohol abuse became a widespread problem among men and women from every walk of life. Drunkenness, the reformers claimed, lay at the root of nearly every social problem. The campaign against alcohol during the reform era was imbued with an unprecedented moralistic fervor. This was, in most part, because women dominated the rank-and-file membership roles of many local temperance societies. Heavy-drinking hurt families economically as men spent all of their wages drinking. It also led to violence and crime within the family, and in the lager society as well. The temperance movement attracted the largest numbers of female reformers, and it would