7. +Moral+Reforms

Background · Moral Reform was an era in which people believed that those who were troubled were able to change and seek help · It was caused by lawlessness, violence, and poverty in the early 19th century · New York needed the most reform, Slave states were known for duels and lynching, Mississippi known for gambling and prostitution

Prostitution Reform · Began due to growing cities & led by upper and middle class women · Reformers wanted to abolish prostitution o They took a spiritual approach: prayed for them, publicized patronizing men, visited women in jail o Magdalene societies- sought to rehabilitate prostitutes & end male solicitation o NY moral reforn society: took spiritual, generous approach and lobbied for male solicitation of prostitutes a crime

Alcohol Reform · Also known as temperance movement · People were always drinking: Politics contained liquor, Whiskey was very affordable · Reformers thought it was the cause of social, family, and personal problems · 1826- first formal national temperance org. o The American Society for the Promotion of Temperance § Called for self-restraint from distilled liquor · 1835- 2 mill people abstained from hard liquor o temperance reform got support southerners and westerners o forced distilleries to close · immigrants form heavy drinking cultures were coming into the country o Ireland, Germany…made it hard to continue with reforms · Washington movement o Reformed alcoholics sought to reform other drinkers · Maine Laws: Restricted manufacturing and sale of alcohol

Criminal Reform · Reformers removed the underlying causes of crime to sympathize criminals · No more public punishment · Prisons were made so that criminals could be imprisoned and rehabilitated · Outlawed capital punishment: Michigan was 1st to abolish death penalty · Debtor prisons were considered irrational and were banished

Assisting the Disabled · Dorothea Dix: reported that jails for the mentally ill were unacceptable · Reformers wanted to improve institutional care for the insane · They were known as crazy animals & put in prisons · women were chained in stalls and cages—Dix fixed this · established asylums