Preview

Women Role in Late 1700s

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1902 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Women Role in Late 1700s
Women's Rights in the United States in the 1700s
Essay by Yankeefansam, High School, 11th grade, A-, March 2005 download word file, 7 pages ( 10 KB )31 votes
Downloaded 4721 times
Keywords practically, equality, men women, housewives, strides
0Like0Tweet

In the mid to late 1700's, the women of the United States of America had practically no rights. When they were married, the men represented the family, and the woman could not do anything without consulting the men. Women were expected to be housewives, to raise their children, and thinking of a job in a factory was a dream that was never thought impossible. But, as years passed, women such as Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Blackwell began to question why they were at home all day raising the children, and why they did not have jobs like the men. This happened between the years of 1776 and 1876, when the lives and status of Northern middle-class woman was changed forever. Women began to leave the house and begin work, and also began movements for equal rights for woman. They made large strides for equality, and really came far from where they were in 1776; however, they still were not close to having equal rights as the men in 1876. Many women campaigned to improve their lives, increase the wages of working women, and expand employment opportunities for women. This widespread effort became known as the temperance movement, and made a lasting impact on society, specifically the lives of Northern middle-class women.
First, in the mid 1700's, the traditional American family was still intact. Women were still expected to stay at home and raise the children. Men had all the power in the family, and the women could not do anything without consulting the men first. Document A shows exactly this. Sir William Blackstone is a commentator, who gave a commentary on the laws of England while America was not a country yet, but colonies of the English. He says that when the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The years 1848-1920 was a pivotal time in American history where women were fighting for the same rights men were granted. Women fought for seventy two years to be able to have the same political and economic rights men were given. Women’s right movement started to gain momentum in the 1820’s and 1830’s years before the Civil War began. Women in America were starting to challenge the culture that since they were born women, they were not allotted any rights. Women began to start having a bigger role in political and societal issues more than they ever had before.…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women back then were treated like subordinates. Traditionally, their only role was to marry, bare children, stay home and take care of the family. They had no say to political views. Women raise their sons to be a future leader. However, since the Second Great Awakening and after the American Civil War, women became more outspoken, opinionated and even took some of the men’s role at their home since most men never returned home from the war. Women started to see other possibilities. They worked outside their homes; they became great workers and teachers. Most of these women created a movement for women’s rights and they spurred a great wave of social reform. The potential for religious, political and social influence in women was…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Going back to era of the 1800’s leading to the 1920’s onto now. Women were born to a life of just having a domestic role in their lives. Being a housewife was their only job. Cleaning, cooking, and taking care of their children were their normal way of living. Therefore, doing something out of the ordinary at that time was considered unacceptable and immoral. Although women wanted to enhance their role to be able to work or go to school, it was not until the 1920’s that they started to begin to change. They decided to change in many ways that women through out the years such as Alice Paul, Susan B. Anthony, and Margaret Sanger begin to emerge to empower other women to stand up to fight for their rights. Ever since, women have continued to change their place…

    • 2249 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Constitution adopted in 1787 compromised many changes adopted during the revolution and implemented very strict limits to women’s social advancement. For instance, the cult of domesticity is still widely spread and prevails within America’s society (McKethan Lucinda). This cult of domesticity or “cult of true womanhood” restrained the sphere of influence to home and family and even after the Revolution the “husband retained a proprietary claim to his wife’s domestic work” (…) even for the middle class, the cult of domesticity concealed the fact the fact that home was, in fact a place of labor” (Foner Eric p.73). In addition, civil rights improvements were almost inconsequential: women had not voting right and still had to vow obedience to their husband. The concept of obedience has been strongly challenged by “early feminist insisted, women deserved the autonomy and range of individual choices, the possibility of self-realization, that constituted the essence of freedom” (Foner Eric, p.80) After the war, women experienced fewer benefits of freedoms for instance they still had no voting right except in New-Jersey were they have been able to vote from 1776 to 1807 (pbs.org). In the 1830s, the pioneers Grimke sisters, Sarah and Angelina were among the first to establish linkage between abolitionism and women’s right. They were active member of the women’s suffrage movements and joined other organizations like the Quaker or the Philadelphia Women’s Anti-Slavery Society (nwhm.org). It’s only in the last part of the nineteen-century that some States granted to right to vote for women starting in 1869 with the territory of…

    • 1667 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Women were taught to be subordinates to their husbands and be silent when other were around. Throughout the colonies, a women duties were to be helpmeets to their husbands. They would perform farm work. Farmwives tended gardens and spun thread and yarn. “They knitted sweaters and stockings, made candles and soap, churned milk into butter and pressed curds into cheese, fermented malt for beer, preserved meats, and mastered dozens of other household tasks. “Notable women”— those who excelled at domestic arts — won praise and high status,” (Henretta 97).…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Klarissa Rossi Rossi 1 Campbell AP US History 14 January 2016 Before civil war, the roles of women were rooted among the people. Women accepted their role in society was to be an obedient and loving wife, lowering herself to the men around her. Their job was staying in the house and carrying out the domestic duties, while also being the caregiver to their children. They did not have many rights, but since this was the traditional and natural order in their society, it remained for many years.…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    By this time the movement changed its approach from men and women were created equal to women were different from men. They argued that they could make their home life into a political virtue, using the authority to create a purer, more moral “maternal commonwealth.” This caught the attention of the Temperance advocates and middle-class white people. The Temperance advocates believed women having the right to vote would mobilize a large voting bloc on their behalf. The middle-class white people believed that white women would guarantee immediate and long-lasting white supremacy, honestly achieved.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women Reform Dbq

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During the time period from the end of the American Revolution to the Civil War, American womanhood changed greatly. Due to differing beliefs during the time the American women’s ideals became to change. At the time, main beliefs were the “republican motherhood”, or the thought that women had power in the country’s politics in the sense that they raised the next generation, and the “cult of domesticity”, or the thought that women should be submissive, moral, and take care of their husbands and family. These beliefs greatly limited the power of the women in the 18th century. Due to these ideas, such as the “republican motherhood” and “cult of domesticity” during the time period from the American Revolution to the Civil War, women started to leave their old set place at the home and family to work in factories and fight for equality.…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the past centuries between 1800 all the way through 2017, the gender roles between men and women have drastically changed. In the 1800’s it was very common for men to go to school, acquire an education, and use their education to earn a job that lead to a future success. The men provided a house, the food, and often, the materials needed for day to day life. As the man worked, the roles of the woman were to care and nurture the man, keep the home clean and tidy, and if any, watch after the children as they grow older. Interestingly enough, as time progressed this very different and separated list of common roles for each gender has changed. In the novel A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle, women’s gender roles are tested by the men in the surrounding society whereas the only woman of value is Miss Irene Adler.…

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While women’s place in society became more widely debated during the Enlightenment, their social roles went largely unchanged. While such things as salons did relieve some of the oppression, this did not apply to all women, especially the lower classes. In addition, even in the salons women were expected to voice the opinions of their husbands and not to speak unless spoken to, severely limiting their ability to voice their own opinions. Furthermore, women were not supposed to frequent coffeehouses, meaning that their voices were even more restricted. Though there were those, such as d’Alembert, who had a favorable view of women and argued for their rights, but ultimately there were more of those who supported the opinion that women were subordinate…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once many colonists became established and figured out the ways to live and survive in this New World also came forth many formed opinions on what the purpose of women would be in the colonies. John Winthrop insisted that a woman’s role was solely to adhere to her husband, obey his authority and find contentment within this. One Minister even stressed, “the woman is a weak creature not endowed with like strength and constancy of mind.” (Tindall and Shi 2010, 113) Due to social custom and legal codes women had little to no rights. The few exceptions for women to have any type of right or gain respect were if and only, it seemed, family circumstances required a woman to continue on the family reputation, business, or social standing. An example would be Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney (Tindall and Shi 2010, 114) who was highly educated and left to take care of her family while her father was absent. This led her to be known as Americas most enterprising horticulturist.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The role of women has changed dramatically throughout the centuries. The early years for women were always harsh and demanding, but as time went on and feminism spread, the role of women and family became more dominant.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth, women became very active in political and social movements. Women played roles that shaped the future of the laws that prohibited women in many ways. Women’s suffrage and women’s role in prohibition are two ways in which women have shaped political and social moments in United States history. Women have never given up on fighting for rights, many times with monetary and social consequences for trying to gain rights they felt belonged to them. Along with gaining those rights women have fought for destigmatizing women and consider them equals to men. This view has been questioned since colonial times; however, no action was taken until almost a century later. One account states that the…

    • 1458 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Colonial Era Women

    • 1812 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Colonial Era was an interesting time for women. They were starting to believe they deserve more rights than they were given. Some might say it was a golden age for them, and then others would disagree. In the 5 articles; “Women in Work and Poverty: The Difficulties of Earning a Living” by Lyle Koehler, “The Planters Wife: The Experiment of White Women in Seventeenth-Century Maryland” by Lois Green Carr and Lorena S. Walsh, “Women Before the Bar” by Cornelia Hughes Dayton, “Gender, Work and Wages in Colonia New England” by Gloria L. Main, and “The Myth of the Golden Age” by Mary Beth Norton, they talk about whether women became more liberated during this time, or if it was a fabrication.…

    • 1812 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    American Revolution Women

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Leading up to the American Revolution women were socially and economically beneath men. They were expected to be diligent wives and mothers without legal rights, such as the ability to vote or own property. Women’s social and political roles began to change during the civil war bringing about greater rights for women. As women began to advocate for their own rights the women’s movement gained momentum to achieve equal rights. In 1848 Elizabeth Cady spearheaded the first Women’s Rights convention advocating that “it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” In 1869 the women’s only National Woman Suffrage Association fought for…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays