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Reform means beneficial change, or sometimes, more specifically, reversion to a pure original state.

Reform is generally distinguished from revolution
Revolution

A revolution is a fundamental social change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time....
. The latter means basic or radical change; whereas reform may be no more than fine tuning, or at most redressing serious wrongs without altering the fundamentals of the system. Reform seeks to improve the system as it stands, never to overthrow it wholesale.

During the Philadelphia Convention
Philadelphia Convention

The Philadelphia Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Kingdom of Great Britain....
 of 1787, for example, the New Jersey Plan
New Jersey Plan

The New Jersey Plan was a proposal for the structure of the Federal Government of the United States proposed by William Paterson at the Philadelphia Convention on June 15, 1787....
 would have reformed the existing constitution, the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the constitution of the revolutionary wartime alliance of the thirteen United States. The Articles' ratification was completed in 1781, and legally federated several sovereign and independent states, allied under the Articles of Association into a new federation styled the "United States...
.






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Reform means beneficial change, or sometimes, more specifically, reversion to a pure original state.

Reform is generally distinguished from revolution
Revolution

A revolution is a fundamental social change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time....
. The latter means basic or radical change; whereas reform may be no more than fine tuning, or at most redressing serious wrongs without altering the fundamentals of the system. Reform seeks to improve the system as it stands, never to overthrow it wholesale.

During the Philadelphia Convention
Philadelphia Convention

The Philadelphia Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Kingdom of Great Britain....
 of 1787, for example, the New Jersey Plan
New Jersey Plan

The New Jersey Plan was a proposal for the structure of the Federal Government of the United States proposed by William Paterson at the Philadelphia Convention on June 15, 1787....
 would have reformed the existing constitution, the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the constitution of the revolutionary wartime alliance of the thirteen United States. The Articles' ratification was completed in 1781, and legally federated several sovereign and independent states, allied under the Articles of Association into a new federation styled the "United States...
. By contrast, the Virginia Plan
Virginia Plan

The Virginia Plan was a proposal by Virginia delegates, drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787....
 proposed to completely rewrite the nation's fundamental charter, and create a new constitution. Virginia's more revolutionary approach prevailed and resulted in the U.S. Constitution.

Likewise today, many reforms are proposed in the United States Congress
United States Congress

The United States Congress is the Bicameralism legislature of the Federal government of the United States of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives....
 which aim to improve the system. For example, campaign finance reform
Campaign finance reform

Campaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns....
 would modify the way elections in the United States are financed, but would not change the basic nature of the offices at stake. Rotation in office
Rotation in office

Rotation in office, or term limits, dates back to the American Revolution, and prior to that to the democracies and republics of antiquity. The council of 500 in ancient Athens rotated its entire membership annually, as did the ephorate in ancient Sparta....
 or term limits would, by contrast, be more revolutionary, in altering basic political connections between incumbents and constituents.

The UK government frequently uses the term "reform" to describe changes to public services, such as the National Health Service
National Health Service

The National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the four publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom, collectively or individually, although only the health service in England uses the name 'National Health Service' without further qualification....
. However, these changes are not universally accepted as beneficial .

Re-form

A note about grammar
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
: when used to describe something which is physically formed again, such as re-casting
Casting

In metalworking, casting involves pouring a liquid metal into a Mold_, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then is allowed to solidify....
 it in a mold/mould
Molding (process)

Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping pliable raw material using a rigid frame or model called a pattern....
, or a band
Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform songs. The following articles concern types of musical bands:...
 that gets back together, the proper term is re-form (with a hyphen
Hyphen

A hyphen is a punctuation mark. It is used both to join words and also to separate syllables of a single word. It is often confused with the dash , which are longer and have different uses, and with the minus sign which is also longer....
), not "reform".

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