The Impact That 19th Century Had On America

The Impact That 19th Century Had On America (Education and Women’s Rights Reforms)

The 19th century is a remarkable watershed for the American history where several improvements were made to improve the lives of the Americans and accommodate every citizen of the country. The country had gained independence in the previous century, and therefore it was in the process of restructuring its operations and guideline to be relevant to the American populace. Two of the most notable reforms were women's rights and education. In the American history, the increase in the level of formal education served as a prequel to the observance of the women's rights in the country. That owes to the increased levels of civilization that the Americans were gaining and therefore they learned the importance of treating both male and female genders equally (Lambert, 2017). Schools began all over the country to educate the population and enable them to gain the technical skills such as carpentry and engineering which would lead to job specialization and the subsequent industrial growth in America. The 19th century was, therefore, a crucial turning point in the American view of education and women's rights, and their applicability to their societal settings.

The 19th century led to the rise of Calvinist changes in education in America. Calvinism originated from the works of Jean Calvin, a French theologian, reformer, and pastor. Calvinism broke off from the mainstream Roman Catholic Church back in the 16th century in Geneva, Switzerland. Calvinist ideas were spread to the United States of America. The ideas promoted education among the American populace and led to a reform that training should be given to all children irrespective of their gender age and social status. Calvinist improvements led to the observance of the change by teaching people that all the children in America were equal and a gift from God. Calvinism also led to the establishment of free public education in America to promote the Calvinist reforms on the American population. Thus, the 19th century was characterized by n increasing influence in the Calvinist beliefs in America, which indeed revolutionized the educational reform that the country had in the positive spends (Murray, 2016). Secondly, the Calvinist movement in America led to the reforms on education that made it targeted at spiritualism and theology. Calvin's chief aim was to know God, and therefore he dissipated the same knowledge to his followers back in Geneva. Later on, his principles came with the Europeans who came to settle and introduce Christianity in historical America. That is how the Calvinist ideas spread from Europe to North America. Calvin also believed that human beings should have first sought to know God before knowing themselves. As a result, he wanted children to be introduced to Christian faith early in their lives. The only way to do that was to make the effects of their education targeted at being spiritual or theological. Just like Calvin, the Christian faith in America thought it was necessary for the children to gain spirituality before they would be exposed to the world that would change their thinking and indulge in sinful desires. That positively affected the educational reforms in the United States of America back in the 19th century (Murray, 2016).

In addition to the Calvinist reforms, the United States of America developed improvements in the 19th century to pass the Act that introduced changes leading to the creation of the land-grant colleges across the nation. Back in 1862, the United States of America's Congress passed the Morrill Act. The Act was named after a senator who hailed from the state of Vermont, the United States of America and fathered the idea of land-grant colleges. The reforms pointed mostly at providing tracts of the unused federal land to provide space for building public universities and colleges. The move was useful to the American education as various universities sprawled in the different states across the United States of America. That led to the growth of higher education in the 19th century in America. The public universities also urged the students in the then period to further their education and specialize in different technical skills that would advance the industrial growth in the United States of America. That was a positive impact on educational reforms (Quinn, 2012). The Morrill Act also led to the reforms in the American education that reorganized the role of higher education in the country. One of the most remarkable functions of the land grant colleges was to provide training to the uncivilized population in America. In the 19th century, a significant number of people migrated from the eastern United States towards the west in the gold rush. The easterners moved explicitly to the state of Colorado. Unprepared for the hard living conditions in the state, the easterners started facing severe challenges in their lives as they could hardly survive in the Coloradoan conditions. A Coloradoan land grant college closed down in winter and went on an expedition in del Norte, Colorado to reach to the easterners and teach them the various survival skills they required to survive in the state. That was a move to reform the education by reaching out to the mostly uncivilized population moving across America, which led to a positive impact (Blake & Frank, 2010).

The common education system in the United States of America's public schools was dominant in a significant portion of the nineteenth century. Under the system, the children in the schools were taught together irrespective of their ages. The introduction of the common schooling system in the United States of America was attributed to the work of Horace Mann. Horace Mann was the secretary of education in the state of Massachusetts, the United States of America. Horace Mann worked towards establishing a standard education system, which would be used all over the United States of America. That was the birth of the common school system in the United States of America in the 19th century. The common schools' policy was a reform that was disadvantageous to the education system and improvements in the United States of America since it was not progressive. The children under the system would not realize that they were changing and therefore their mindsets were tuned to a stagnating level of education regarding academic progress. Thus, the common schooling education reform had a negative impact on the educational changes in America (Urban & Wagoner Jr, 2009). The common school system in the United States of America in the 19th century led to the widespread belief that the public schools in the country were for the poor people and particular races, such as the black people. The notion led to the negative attitudes towards public education in the country and therefore some parents in the nation preferred to school their children at home or provide them with on education at all. That was a deterrence to the development of education reforms in the United States of America. The spread of the common schools' education system was hampered massively in the far western and southern states due to the presence of the American civil war. That made the progress of the education system slow, and therefore the American populace lost their trust and preferences on the system. That made it have slow growth. Thus, the common system of education had a negative implication on the reforms that focused on education in the 19th century in the United States of America (StateUniversity.com, 2018).

The declaration of sentiments was among the pioneer movements in the United States of America to attain the civil, political, social, and religious rights of women in the United States of America. The declaration if sentiments were held in Seneca Falls, the state of New York, the united states of America in 1848. Later on, it came to be famously known as the Seneca convention. A total of 68 women and 32 men out of the 300 attendees signed the declaration in the conference favoring the rights of the women. Traditionally, women were subordinate to men in some ways. To begin with, they would not be allowed to make independent decisions. Secondly, they would not take part in political and most of the social matters (Blakemore, 2016). The declaration of sentiments in 1848 was focused on equalizing the two genders, male and female, on various social, political, and religious aspects. The statement talked of the grievances of the women on the social, economic, and political elements against men. The declaration also explained that the women had been denied the rights to own property in America. They also earned fewer wages than men in the same job settings and their pleas on change would not be heard. Lastly, the women were denied educational rights equal to those of men. In a nutshell, the Seneca convention blamed the American women conditions in the 19th century on the men and their chauvinistic ideas in the society. Therefore, the declaration of sentiments led to the birth of the various reforms in the country channeled to revolutionize the women's rights in the 19th century and later on in the American history (National Park Service, 2015).

In the traditional American setting, the women were not allowed to take part in the matters of decision-making or even to vote for the passage or failure of particular bills in the societal laws. All the same, the women in the western parts of the United States of America seemed to be freer than their eastern United States counterparts were. Therefore, several movements were formed in the nineteenth century to represent the suffrage rights for the women equally in the United States of America. Some of the movements were National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Influential women in support of the female suffrage in the United States of America created both NWSA and AWSA. The women believed that the universal suffrage for females was more of a pressing issue than the suffrage rights for the black men living in America (Lewis, 2013). The associations also promoted the education opportunities for the American women. They linked education and civilization to the ability of the women to know their rights regarding suffrage and their noble role in societal affairs. Schools opened in Boston, Massachusetts for the young women and girls to facilitate the rise of education and civilization among the American women. The efforts of the influential women were notable in the United States of America as the eastern women were soon on the same platform of female suffrage with the western United States of America's women. By the time the NWSA and the AWSA ended, the women were already aware of their rights in decision making in the society and were well educated to manage their lives (Lewis, 2013).

The 19th century was a critical turning point for both the education and the women's rights reforms in the United States of America. Various factors led to the education reforms in the country. Notably, the religious changes such as the Calvinist ideas modeled educational improvements in the country. The presence of land led to the establishment of colleges and public universities across America. On the women's rights, various movements such as the declaration of sentiments pioneered the fight for the rights of the American women. Remarkably, the women movements such as NWSA and the AWSA led to the struggle for the suffrage rights of the American women.

References

Blake, J., & Frank, T. (2010, February 10). The vital role of land-grant universities. The Denver Post . Retrieved from https://www.denverpost.com/2010/02/10/the-vital-role-of-land-grant-universities/

Blakemore, E. (2016, June 8). Five Things to Know About the Declaration of Sentiments. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-about-declaration-sentiments-180959352/

Lambert, T. (2017). Women in the 19th Century. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from http://www.localhistories.org/vicwomen.html

Lewis, J.J. (2013, July 13). National Woman Suffrage Association: Working for Suffrage 1869-1890. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://www.thoughtco.com/national-woman-suffrage-association-3530492  

Murray, D. (2016, February 16). The Impact of Calvinism on Education - The Aquila Report. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://www.theaquilareport.com/the-impact-of-calvinism-on-education/

National Park Service. (2015, February 26). Declaration of Sentiments - Women's Rights National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service). Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/declaration-of-sentiments.htm  

Quinn, K. M. (2012, June 28). The Morrill Act: A 19th Century Initiative With 21st Century Implications. HuffPost . Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-m-quinn/morrill-act_b_1635939.html  

StateUniversity.com. (2018). Common School Movement - Colonial and Republican Schooling, Changes in the Antebellum Era, The Rise of the Common School. Retrieved from http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1871/Common-School-Movement.html

Urban, W. J., & Wagoner Jr, J. L. (2009). American education: A history . Routledge.