Jane Adams: motivations

I think that it is obvious that in forming Hull House in Chicago, religion was, for Jane Adams, at the very least and element in her "master plan", but I don't' think that it was everything. Her motivations for helping the Urban poor can be traced back to her earlier years. Jane Adams grew up in a family of Quakers and that, I think, inherently planted some sort of a seed in her. The morals she learned as a child growing up no doubt helped influence her later accomplishments. Her father was also a great influence on her, which she makes very apparent in her writing. I think this influence in particular was very important. Because she looked up to her father so much Jane became the fan of equality that she was. She looked up to Lincoln, who was also a great influence, because of her father.

Jane's education played a key role as well. Because the college she attended was just that, a college (no longer a seminary), she learned different values that she otherwise may not have learned. With her college education she had a more diversified knowledge of the world. Not only was her school one of the liberal arts persuasion, but it offered a more secular view of the world that built upon the Quaker ideals that had already been instilled in her. It was all of these influences combined, I believe, that drove Jane Adams to view the world the way she did, and to do the monumental things that she did.