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Prison Reform Essay

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America is a nation freeing its self from the shackles of the past . This is evident during the mid 19th century with reform movements happening in the Temperance, Education, Prison, women’s rights, and anti-slavery. Temperance, also known as Prohibition, is the fight against Alcohol. Americans were extraordinary heavy drinkers. In the 1820s it was estimated that per capita, consumption was 4 gallons of two-hundred proof per year (Larkin. Para1). Wife’s were a strong force in the temperance movement because they shouldered the effects caused by Alcoholism. Families were often the target of abusive drunk husbands and fathers. Wife’s claimed that husbands were spending all their money on alcohol and not providing the necessities. Alcohol became …show more content…

So how do you punish the criminals and treat the mentally ill? That was the question that many states were wrestling with. States answered this question by building separate prisons and Asylums. Early prisons were commonly holes in the ground like abandoned mines and populated with both criminals and mental ill people(Brinkley, A. 2013 pg 333). As the understanding of the punishment for the criminals improved, states responding by building Penitentiaries with New York being first. Separate institutions called Asylums were built to house and care for the mentally ill. This original reform idea quickly faded as both institutions became out …show more content…

Women in the 1830’s and 1840’s began to view the restrictions placed on them by men and society with resentment. Sarah and Angelina Grimke’ , South Carolina sisters began arguing that men and women are created equal. The feminist movement in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York drafted the “ Declaration of Sentiments”, the greatest demand from the declaration was the right to vote. The “ Declaration of Sentiments” was structured and based on the nations Declaration of Impedance. Unsurprising to many the majority of the women in the movement were Quakers. Quakers have for a long time allowed women to become church preachers and community

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