What Was The Most Important Reform Movement Of The 1800s

Education

Throughout the 1800s, reform movements such as temperance, prison reform, mental health care, and education were put into motion. The most important reform movement being education. Education was what led to women suffrage, education is what led abolitionists to fight against slavery, and education was low quality. It is important for everyone because education helps people grow and develop intellectually as well as become successful. Education reform was the most important reform movement of the 1800s because education affects everyone. When the education reform movement took place, it called for free schools. Preceding educational reform, children would learn in one room school houses crowded with people. Teachers were poorly trained and had access to few books and other materials. Many poor families often wouldn’t send their kids to school because they needed more help at work. Horace Mann believed that education was the key to wealth and economic opportunity for all. How might someone of little wealth have any opportunity for success if they can’t even be educated?

Education brought the means of comprehension and communication for all people, not exclusively the rich white children that could afford going to a high quality school house. Simply being able to understand the documents in which the United States was built upon is vital for any citizen. In the Declaration of Independence it states “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” If African-Americans had access to education, they would be able to fight for the fact that they should be equal to whites. Instead, it was made illegal for slaves to learn to read and write for fear that the slaves might become smart enough to know their rights and fight for