Westward Expansion and Reform Movements

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the political reform movements that tried to shape the evolving American nation into a more compassionate society. The paper discusses the rise of evangelicalism, or popular religious Protestantism, that addressed concerns about slavery, the welfare of the most helpless members of society, such as the mentally ill and the imprisoned and the political influence of immigrants, women, African-Americans.

From the Paper:

"From 1820-1850, America grew--geographically, it sprawled out into the Western territories, and economically, industrialism and immigration in the North created a more prosperous, but also a more diverse and divided society. In the wake of these changes, political reform movements tried to shape the evolving nation into a more compassionate society. Concerns about increasing the number of representative slave states in the legislature, questions about who would be politically influential in the America of the future (immigrants, women, or African-Americans), and concerns about the most helpless members of society, such as the mentally ill and the imprisoned, became thrust to the forefront of the American political consciousness. America began to define its value system, and this self-definition did not come easily, as the Southern half of the nation had a very different vision than the Northern part of the nation as to what constituted American morality and justice."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "The Pre-Civil War Era 1820-1850." Sparknotes. Retrieved 22 May 2007 athttp://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/precivilwar/section9.rhtml

More papers on Westward Expansion and Reform Movements:

• Essay # 66424 : "Westward Expansion"
• Term Paper # 101093 : "Westward Expansion"
• Essay # 24575 : "The Institution Of Slavery"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: