American Reforms in The Antebellum Years

During the antebellum years in American society there was a great call for reforming the country. Calls for Religious, Educational and Rights reforms were common among the people of America. People wanted to become more religious in order to improve their society under the divine power of God. They called for educational reform to give everyone a better chance at becoming successful, therefore lessening the social and economic gap between the rich, and the poor. On the subjects of rights, women called for their rights as human beings, claiming to have been oppressed for generations In a patriarchal society, and many people called for increasing rights for free blacks and abolition of slavery. The people of the Americas wanted to expand their opportunities in their country, they wanted to be more like what was stipulated in the constitution that “all men are created equal”, in their education, religion, and universal rights.

            Religiously, people wanted to influence themselves, others and even the government with the good will and intentions of God. Religion was believed to be able to uplift the people and government if people would simply strive to be more God-like in their actions. People saw the usefulness of religion from the beginning, when they were first settling, through their fight for liberty, and saw it as an important factor for the future of the country. They saw it as a way to keep peace in their new country, to keep the different types of people that would occasionally butt heads over issues of policy, economics and many other things, in line. Religion was called for as a reform because it was believed that it would help the country prosper, keeping people in line, and improving the government and country as a whole as people tried to live out Christian values.

            Education was also called on by the people to be reformed. People were unhappy with the social and economic gaps between the different social classes. The elites were extremely rich and the commoners were very poor. The people that were successful in business and other enterprises often had quite a good education, something which was not very available to the poorer members of society. This created large gaps which were quite difficult to surmount between the different classes. It was believed that if more people were educated, the more people would have opportunity for social and economic betterment and success. The balance could be tipped out of the hands of only the elites in society to all members of society because all members of society would be educated enough to make intelligent, well thought out decisions. The people would become even more equal in even more aspects of life, therefore living out what was stipulated in the constitution, that “all men are created equal”.