A boom in public schools triumphed between 1825 and 1850. Even though public education was a great idea, the new school system had a few defects. The teachers were not payed well and were not trained. Math, writing, and reading were the only things taught in these newly developed schools. Reform was urgently needed. Horace Mann, a graduate of Brown University, campaigned effectively for more and better schoolhouses, longer school terms, higher pay for teachers, and an expanded curriculum.
There were also reforms in needed institutions. There was a reform for the mentally ill, the asylums were ordered to have a more humane treatment for the mentally incompetent. Prisons were being built. The purpose of the new penitentiaries was not to just punish, but to also rehabilitate. The prison was built in Auburn, NY, in 1821.
Another reform needed was the large gap between the rights of women from the rights of men. Sexual differences were strongly empathized in 19th Century America. Women were thought to be physically and emotionally weak. The women of this time yearned to tear down the bars that separated the woman's world form the man's. Women did not only fight for their own rights, but also for the rights of slaves. Women were beginning to speak up all over America. Women were actually beginning to be accepted to colleges. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, was one of the first women to graduate from medical school. A group of women fighting for their rights even had a meeting in Seneca Falls . They called the meeting the women's right's convention. This was a huge difference from how women used to be treated. The women of that time changed life of all future American women.
The antebellum period was a time where artistic movements arouse. This time is sometimes also referred to as a second great awakening. Art and literature were flourishing. Many writers emphasized the independence of the individual. Such as Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", which expressed the importance of individualism.