The concept of reform originally came from efforts of Americans trying to "reform" the country, as in The Second Great Awakening and Civil Disobedience.

A group of Americans in the mid 1800s were extremely against slavery. Leaders of this particular movement included Frederick Douglass and and Sojourner Truth, who were both runaway slaves.

It all started when Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton were not allowed to speak at the World Antislavery Convention. This influenced the two to hold a women's rights convention in New York.

Many people like Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone supported this movement; even abolitionists supported this cause.

This reform movements goal was finally achieved in 1920 when women officially gained suffrage.

Dorothea Dix once went to teach Sunday school at a jail. Her kindness eventually led up to a movement that improved treatment of the mentally disabled and the conditions of prisons. Dix's shicking report of what she experienced in the prison was given to the government and lawmakers created mental hospitals and the outlawing of cruel punishment, which is one of the amendments in the Bill Of Rights.

The spirit of reform around the country eventually finessed its way into the education system. Horace Mann would be the leader for this movement; after all, he was the head of the state board in Massachusetts. Through this movement, higher teacher salaries, better schools, and open teacher training were all birthed through this.

Alcohol abuse and its effects eventually led into the temperance movement, which was against the sale and drinking of alcohol. Although Maine did ban the sale of alcohol in 1850, it was later repealed.

Insane work conditions led up to this blessing of a movement. This improved child labor, a decrease of work hours, and led to Labor Unions.