Question

Explain the role each of the following individuals played in the reform movement.

Answer 1

Answer:

A. Lyman Beecher-  A Presbyterian minister, leading revivalist and social reformer, Lyman Beecher helped build the organizations that became known as the "benevolent empire" and gave religion in America its distinctive voluntary stamp. He also worked with other reformers to promote temperance, which is refraining from drinking alcohol. The reformers used lectures, pamphlets, and revival-style rallies to warn people of dangers of liquor. This did lead to some victories, when Maine and other states passed laws banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol. But, most of these laws were later repealed.

B. Horace Mann- Horace Mann is often called the Father of the Common School, and he began his career as a lawyer and legislator. When he was elected to act as Secretary of the newly-created Massachusetts Board of Education in 1837, he used his position to enact major educational reform. Horace Mann championed for education reform, which helped to bring about state-sponsored public education, including a statewide curriculum and a local property tax to finance public education.

C. Dorothea Dix- Dorothea Dix was an early 19th century activist who drastically changed the medical field during her lifetime. She championed causes for both the mentally ill and indigenous populations. By doing this work, she openly challenged 19th century notions of reform and illness. Her efforts on behalf of the mentally ill and prisoners helped create dozens of new institutions across the United States and in Europe and changed people's perceptions of these populations.

D. William Lloyd Garrison- American journalistic crusader who published a newspaper, The Liberator (1831–65), and helped lead the successful abolitionist campaign against slavery in the United States.

E. Susan B. Anthony- Susan B. Anthony was a pioneer crusader for women's suffrage in the United States. She was president (1892–1900) of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Her work helped pave the way for the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. Champion of temperance, abolition, the rights of labor, and equal pay for equal work, Susan B. Anthony became one of the most visible leaders of the women's suffrage movement.