The Failures of the 1800’s Reform Movements
America was a country created for democracy, equality, and freedom. However, in the 1800’s these ideals were still far from reality. Because of this, many reform movements arose to change the United States to include really represent these ideals. Andrew Jackson, a man of the people, got more people to vote. Women like Lucretia Mott or Elizabeth Cady Stanton argued for women’s voting rights. Finally, the abolition of slavery was advocated for by people like William Lloyd Garrison. These movements did not manage to completely make these ideals an actual reality. Jacksonian democracy was the change in the government to give more people the right to vote. This would make the democracy better, and
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There were plenty of obstacles for this movement to overcome, including apathy in the Northern states, the entirety of the south, and racism. People like Frederick Douglass or William Lloyd Garrison managed to convince the north to support their cause, and to that end the movement was largely successful in overcoming these obstacles. Garrison’s newspaper “The Liberator” and his role in the American Antislavery Society helped to spread the idea of emancipation. Frederick Douglass’ various writings about his time as a slave also contributed to convincing otherwise apathetic people to join the cause. However, the success of the movement led to many difficulties. The most immediate of which was war. Approximately 1,264,000 people died in the Civil War leading to slavery being abolished in 1865. This fight over slavery could not have been avoided due to the nature of the abolitionist movement, having supported immediate emancipation. After the war, there was another issue, the southern economy. Having been supported almost entirely by slavery, the economy in southern states was terrible after losing the war. America is a country built on a democracy; the people should be united. Despite this ideal being the main reason for the county’s founding, at the time of and leading up to the Civil War, the country was largely