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Fighting slavery
Quakers were the first to stop owing slaves in 1776. Every state as far as Virgina had anti-slavery socities by 1792. Slave trade ended in 1808 so Northern shipping commuinties had no more interest in slaves. Slavery ended in the North by the early 1800s, but many Northerners still excepted Southern slavery because Northern factory owners liked the cheap cotton that the South provided. -
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Second Great awakening
This movement gave hope to many people because preachers told people they could be forgiven of their sins if they did good works. Before the Second Great Awakening, preachers told people God had already decided who was going to heaven. The Second Great Awakening influenced many people to improve the United States. -
Ohio's Oberlin College
Education for girls and women started making progress. In 1837, Ohio's Oberlin college became the first college to admit women. In the 1860s, when states started the first public universities, most of them excepted women. -
Reforming the treatment of prisoners and the menatally ill
Dorthea Dix went to go teach Sunday school in a prison one day in 1841. She saw that the prisoners were locked in cages and bound in chains. Many children were locked up in cages for minor thefts. Adults who owed a little less than $20 were locked up and they couldn't earn any money so they stayed in prison for life. Dorthea Dix was horrified by the living conditions and dedicated her life to make better living conditions for prisoners. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Over 300 people gathered for the Seneca Falls Convention on July 19, 1848. Of those people, there were 40 men there. At this convention, they proposed a document for women's rights. It was called the Declaration of Sentiments and it was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. The new declaration listed the acts of tyranny by men over women like how the Declaration of Independence stated King George's acts of tyranny over the colonists. -
Improving Education
Many states in the North and West decided to listen to Horace Mann's ideas of free eduction and set up public schools. Many white boys attended public schools. Although they had free education, public school was not offered to everyone. African Americans and girls did not recieve public education in the South. If African Americans attended school, they would have to go to a seperate school that recieved little money. -
Dorthea Dix dies
By the time that Dorthea Dix died, many changes were made to the prisons. They created justice systems for troubled children and they no longer put debtors in prison. Most state governments outlawed cruel and unusal punishments.
