Era Of Reform In The 1800's

In the early 1800's, the Era of reform occurred for two main reasons. Firstly, churches changed what they taught about how people's destinies were decided. Previously, churches taught that whether someone went to Heaven or not was determined at birth and unaffected by one's actions. This caused people to show indifference toward their actions and how they treated others because it did not affect where they went whatsoever. However, churches soon changed their ways of teaching saying that good works could get someone into heaven. People then began to recognize the wrongs of their actions and started watching their behavior. Another huge reason the Era of Reform occurred is because of the ideas and philosophies contributed by Ralph Waldo Emerson

In 1808, America attempted to end slavery by officially stopping the Atlantic Slave Trade. Despite this effort, the decision did nothing to help end slavery because there were still millions of slaves in America. Abolitionists were aggravated by this fruitless attempt and wanted to end slavery once and for all. Although they had the same ultimate goal, there were two different groups of abolitionists who took two very different approaches to eradicating slavery. Abolitionists who wanted to take a more peaceful approach to ending slavery were considered pacifists. On the other hand, abolitionists who encouraged slaves to revolt and take a more war-like approach to receive liberation were considered warmongers. Two of the most influential abolitionists included William Llyod Garrison and Fredrick Douglass. Even though he could not relate to slaves in the slightest, Garrison was a very religious man and spoke out about how slavery was sinful and wrong in God's eyes. He started a newspaper, called The Liberator, to spread his ideas further, hopefully changing the way others thought about slavery. Another man who reworked the way people saw slaves was Fredrick Douglass. Douglass was an escaped slave who was literate and not afraid to use his ability to write an autobiography exposing the horrid conditions in which slaves had to live. Douglass, Garrison, and many other reformers opened the

The campaign for women's rights was actually first conceived at an anti-slavery convention where the women attending were forced to stay hidden behind a curtain and forbidden from speaking. This aggravated two of the most important women in the fight for women's rights, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and convinced them to join together to create a movement for equality among men and women. Mott and Stanton even acknowledged that they couldn't fight for slaves if they did not have basic human rights of their own. Eight years after the anti-slavery convention, Mott and Stanton got together to hold a women's rights convention on July 19, 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. At this convention, known as the Seneca Falls Convention, many women's rights advocates got together to formulate the Declaration of Sentiments. The declaration essentially mocked the Declaration of Independence saying that all men and women were created equally. Even though they never experienced change in their rights, Mott and Stanton made a huge mark on history, changing women's rights forever. Of all the people who signed the Declaration of Sentiment, Charlotte Woodward was the only one who actually got to experience improved rights. Women would not have the same rights they do today if the fight for women's rights never