nd laid upon him until he cried for quarters; I beat him long enough until he knew I was his master, and now he is too much afraid of a thrashing to attack me; but you had better stand off, Maam, for he wont fear you. (Wilson, 1).At first, the Massachusetts Legislature ignored her requests for better conditions and funding (www.everything60s.com, 1). Some of the assemblymen thought that it was too expensive (Mappen, 2). One of the assemblymen said that the proposed asylum was, too extravagant an Egyptian Coliseum, (Mappen, 3). Despite financially-based arguments with the Legislature, she was at a loss because of the fact that she was a woman (Thinkquest, 9). People were also at the belief that the mentally insane were being punished by God, and that they deserved the treatment they were receiving (Thinkquest, 11). Finally, a member of the Legislation went to personally examine the conditions at a selected hospital, and reported the conditions as even worse than what Dorothea Dix described them (www.angelfire.com). As a result, the Legislature passed a bill, separating the mentally ill from the criminals, and giving them better conditions (www.angelfire.com, 2). $200,000 was also authorized for the erection of a new facility in East Cambridge (www.Angelfire.com, 3).After conquering Massachusetts, she traveled over 3,000 miles in three years of non-stop traveling, visiting and documenting various conditions and pleading with the state governments to better the establishments (www.mfh.com, 1). While on tour of jails, poorhouses, and work houses, she saw arms and legs pinioned, bodies cut by whip-lashes, and necks bowed by fedders (www.angelfire.com, 1). Throughout the years of 1845-1852, her work inspired the creation of a school for the blind (The Readers Companion to American History, 3) and the persuasion of nine southern states to set up public hospitals for the insane (www.everything60s.com, 2). Dix told the state Legislatu...
