Nineteenth Century Reform Essay by CalDR

This paper discusses how since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the existence of slavery and the subverting of women's rights, both symbolic of fundamental inequality among all citizens within society, have urged American reformers to constantly call for social changes. It examines how these changes were heavily influenced by education reform, immense immigration, industrialization, urbanization and further development of national identity throughout the century. It analyzes how with the abolition of slavery in 1860s, the nature of the need for social changes, however, transformed itself from a want of natural right to that of political equality as new identities as free men and women emerged during the second half of the nineteenth century.