State Historical Society of Iowa
The French commentator on American society in the 1830s, Alexis de Toqueville, observed that Americans are very quick to join together to promote whatever causes they favor. There was certainly evidence around him. Reforms on many issues — temperance, abolition, prison reform, women's rights, missionary work in the West — fomented groups dedicated to social improvements.
Often these efforts had their roots in Protestant churches. In addition to their efforts to convert new members based on their religious beliefs, several denominations were willing to turn to the government to make the entire population comply with their version of morality. Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Baptists were among the most prominent in the reform movements. Often advocates called for conventions to draft resolutions to present to government officials and followed up with letter writing campaigns. They formed local societies that wrote letters to newspapers and sponsored speakers to try to broaden support for the cause. While it was usually not women's place to speak in public at the time, reform movements frequently called on women who could set aside social customs when it was in a good cause.
The abolition of slavery was one of the most powerful reform movements. Quakers and many churches in New England saw slavery as an evil that must be abolished from society. They targeted slave owners who profited off of enslaved people's labor. Harriot Tubman, who helped people escape, and Frederick Douglass, a self-educated and forceful orator and writer, proved be powerful speakers. Abolitionists came to the defense of African Americans accused of running from their masters when law officials threatened to return them. Abolitionism was anathema to Southerners and not popular in many areas of the North, but they moved slavery to a central focus in American political life.
The temperance crusade also had its roots in American Protestant churches, often in tandem with abolition. In slavery, the slave owners oppressed their human property. In the temperance perspective, saloon owners took advantage of human weakness (primarily men's weakness) to profit off customers' inability to avoid strong drink. Alcohol ruined families and bred crime, especially in the growing urban centers of the East. Drinking was sinful, and it was the government's responsibility to remove this temptation, in the view of the temperance advocates. They ran candidates on the Prohibition Party in elections, who were rarely successful, and pressured elected officials to make the manufacture and sale of alcohol illegal. In Iowa, temperance was one of the major issues dividing the two parties from the Civil War through the early 20th century. The state almost passed an amendment enshrining temperance into the constitution. The 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution imposed temperance standards across the nation, but slightly more than a decade later, the 21st amendment repealed it. Enforcement had become too great a burden on law enforcement, and too many people objected to this restriction.
Other reforms attracted similar attention, though never to the degree of prohibition and abolition. Some groups advocated for better treatment of the insane and more humane prisons. Advocates for women's rights used tactics similar to the prohibition and abolition movements to demand the right to vote. In fact, many of the same people participated in several reform causes.
Reform movements bring issues into public discussion. One set of reformers will usually generate opposing groups who often use the same techniques to persuade public opinion and elected officials. Debates over abortion and same-sex marriage are modern equivalents of some 19th century reform movements and often employ the same tactics. Demands for reform inject energy and new ideas into political debate and can keep the landscape shifting.
The Erie County Common School Education Society met in Buffalo, New York, and heard this address in 1840 from George Washington Hosmer, an educator at Antioch College and noted preacher in the Unitarian church. The address highlights the benefits of the c...
Dorothea Dix was an activist in the antebellum period (after the War of 1812 and before the Civil War began in 1861) of the United States. She was a crusader for the reform of prisons and asylums throughout the country. She toured facilities and made repo...
During the antebellum period (after the War of 1812 and before the Civil War), temperance societies sprang up throughout the United States. Their goal was a prohibition on alcohol which they believed negatively impacted everyone. Temperance societies used...
This newspaper article from 1840 was a report on the Iowa Territorial Temperance Society. The Society included high-profile members like Territorial Governor Robert Lucas. The minutes of this meeting show a highly-organized civic group that was connected ...
In 1856, the Iowa legislature determined that the school system in the state needed reform. To study Iowa's system and work toward improvement, they hired the most famous school reformer of the period, Horace Mann, and Amos Dean as commissioners to re...
This newspaper article recounted the utopian society knowns as the Shakers. The Shakers were one of a number of utopian communities that formed throughout the country. They practiced communal living, where all property was shared. Shakers were pacifists w...
Saint Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., was built specifically for the mentally ill. Efforts by reformer Dorthea Dix led to the appropriation of funds by Congress to build the hospital in 1853. Dix was part of the committee that designed the h...
The Iowa legislature passed the School Law of 1858 after studying the recommendations of a commission made up of education reformer Horace Mann and Amos Dean. The law incorporates a number of the commission's recommendations and is recorded in the Iow...
The Tipton Advertiser printed this article in an issue of its 1869 paper. It gives a brief history of the Amana Colony in Iowa and explains how the colony operated. The Amana Colony was a successful communal society longer than others that were formed in ...
This newspaper article gives a report about the state of the Shakers, a utopian society that spawned communities across the country. This article discusses the failing of the utopia and the author hypothesizes why most of the attempts at utopian communiti...
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1919, banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. The amendment was passed after years of efforts by temperance societies throughout the country. Various counties and sta...
The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1933. It repealed the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the United States allowing Americans, to once again, purchase and consume alcohol legally.
