Reform Movements

"American reform movements between 1820 and 1860 reflected both optimistic and pessimistic views of human nature and society." Assess the validity of this statement in reference to reform movements in one of the following areas:
Education
Temperance
Women's rights
Utopian experiments
Penal institutions

Pick one of the reform movements and answer the question on your blog. Only 3 students can pick each movement. You can call dibs on the movement you want in the comment section of this blog. You must also comment on three students blogs (two that have different movements than you and one that has the same movement as you).