The Ante-bellum Period and The Reforms
             The overwhelming number of reforms in the ante-bellum period was a result the rapid change that was occurring around the country. These changes were seen in economics, politics and society. Americans reacted in a nationwide panic which created doubts of the goodness of the changes America was going through. The institution and then rise of the market economy and the Second Great Awakening had the greatest effect on America. The effect of these two things brought on many reforms by many different people in various aspects of America.
             Market economy had a significant change in all politics, economics, and society. The market economy is "where men and women grew crops and produced goods for sale at home or abroad... The money that individuals received from market transactions.....purchased items from produced by other people."1 This system was a devised so each person following could produce goods for a profit. America's economy was probably the most effected out of the three country functions. Market economy started many improvements in America through industrialization. New interventions in transportation and technology had a major effect on the pace in which America functioned. Transportation flourished with the building of railroads, canals, and a National road. Technology also significantly throve with inventions as the steamboat and the telegraph. There was a definite rise in cities as population rapidly increased. These cities were mostly industrial cities and contained a large immigrant population. Immigrants created a lot of competition in the economic world because as population grew, it became more and more difficult to get a job, and the immigrants were willing to work for low wages unlike many Americans. Market economy encouraged wage labor which was a form of specialization. Many people were incorporated in this system being paid so much for parts. This resulted in factories...