Question

In what ways do temperance, health reforms, and phrenology offer reflections on the changes in the United States before the Civil War? What needs did these reforms fill in the lives of antebellum Americans?

Answer 1

answer.

The Temperance feminist movement was often met with violent opposition. There were no significant health reforms during that period. Women took part in all the antebellum reforms, from transcendentalism to temperance to abolition. traditional views of women as nurturers encouraged their participation. Women who joined the cause of temperance, for example, amplified their accepted role as moral guardians of the home. Some northern female reformers saw new and vital opportunity for women’s equality in the realm of education. Women were seen to restore the moral center of society by taking up the role of educators and instilling in children a sense of right and wrong. Thus, the home which represented the middle-class female sensibility became the site of northern female authority as well.

More importantly, their work in antislavery efforts served as a springboard for women activists to take action against gender inequality. Many northern women were drawn to their similarity with the slaves, as both were seen to be held in shackles in a male dominated society. Participation in the abolitionist movement led some women to embrace feminism.

Thus, The spirit of religious awakening and reform in the antebellum era impacted women lives and it lead to the long process of overcoming gender inequalities in the republic.