Criminals
The treatment of criminals during the antebellum period changed drastically. Crude jails and lock-ups were transformed into more effective and beneficial places for criminals to think about what they did wrong, and improve themselves. Criminals in the antebellum period were treated differently in order to make them learn from their mistakes and perfect themselves. The prison reforms created nationalism in the nation. Altogether, the country was working to improve one of it's flaws (the poor treatment of criminals) in order to benefit it's future.
Prison Reforms:
Prison Reforms:
- Penitentiaries: Pennsylvania experiments that placed prisoners in solitary confinement and forced them to reflect on their sins. This experiment created many suicides among prisoners, making Pennsylvania drop it.
- The idea that structure and discipline would bring moral reform was a doctrine of the prison reforms.
- Auburn system in New York: This experiment enforced rigid rules of discipline and moral instructions.