Middle Class White Women of the 19th

Century By: Brandon Dilgard, Colleen Fonseca, Ryan Sheets

http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/classer/images/women.jpg

American Identity• Women held very little rights in the 19th century

• They were subject to the men of the household, “husbands held authority over the person, property, and choices of their life” (Green,J , 2013)

• Women were not allowed to own property, therefore they did not have the right to vote

• As our country grew, women’s identity began to grow too, and with great resistance women started to carve a social identity in our nation

Republican Motherhood• The turn of the 19th century brought the idea of “Republican

Motherhood”, which allowed access to women so they could educate the youth, especially the boys who would grow to be the future of the country

• Lydia Maria Child, an American activist and writer, helped popularize the idea of Republican Motherhood

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/31/19631-004-98446F8C.jpg

Cult of Domesticity

http://americainclass.org/the-cult-of-domesticity/

• “The period of 1820 to 1860 saw the rise in America of an ideology of feminine behavior and an ideal of womanliness that has come to be known as the “Cult of True Womanhood” or “Cult of Domesticity”.” (MacKethan,L)

• This code provided women with a formality that fit in that society. It also limited the women’s role in society outside of the household, and assured the thought that women should be dependent of their husbands.

• Women that did not fit this idea were seen as outcasts to society.

Catherine Beecher

https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/catharine-beecher/

• “Catharine Beecher devoted most of her life to the cause of women’s education, believing that women were responsible for the education and moral development of the next generation”. (National Women’s History Museum)

• This devotion supported the idea of the “republican motherhood”, that it was the responsibility of the woman of the household to educate the children of the future.

• “With her sister Mary, she founded a girl’s school in Hartford, Connecticut, aimed at training women to become mothers and teachers”. (National Women’s History Museum) This school was greatly supported from the community and with donations expanded the school into the Hartford Female Seminary.

• Beecher’s devotion helped propel the movement of women in America, and though with great opposition she managed to make a significant stride in women’s education.

The Second Great Awakening and Women's’ Influence• “The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian Theology, by which every

person could be saved through revivals, repentance, and conversion. It enrolled millions of new members in existing evangelical denominations and led to the formation of new denominations”. (Boundless, “The Age of Reforms”, US History to 1877)

• This movement was greatly lead and supported by women, which in turn helped the women’s movement in society. These beliefs of The Second Great Awakening lead to the support of abolition groups and the temperance movement, both ideas that were great supported by women.

http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/images/CNs/379/379-048-002/001.jpg

• “The Female Missionary Society and the Maternal Association, both active in Utica, NY, were highly organized and financially sophisticated women's organizations responsible for many of the evangelical converts of the New York frontier”. (Boundless, “The Age of Reforms”, US History to 1877)

Women and Church Governance

• “Despite a lack of formal leadership roles, women became very important in conversion and religious upbringing of their children informally through family structure and through their maternal roles. During the period of the revivals, religion was often passed to children through the teaching and influence of mothers who were seen as the moral and spiritual foundation of the family”. (Boundless, “Women and Church Governance” US History to 1877)

Education of Elite Women in Philadelphia• Encouraged women to engage in more substantive education

developing into the arts and sciences to further develop their reasoning skills• The model was made to go beyond ornamental aspects of women’s

roles in society• It altered the educational disparity between reading and writing

Reform Movements• Women felt a duty to be the moral conscious of the nation

• They helped strengthen our education system and the public’s well being, in such cases like building asylums for the mentally ill

• Temperance movement, which lead to women being a more important figure against the prohibition of alcohol, making the reason to give women the right to vote valuable

• Strongly supported the abolitionist movement

1860s and the Future • “By 1860, women's rights advocates had made some headway. Although access

to divorce depended upon what state a person lived in and their legal resources in that area, in Indiana, divorces could be granted on the basis not only of adultery, but also on the basis of desertion, drunkenness, and cruelty. Also, in New York, Indiana, Maine, Missouri, and Ohio, women's property rights had been expanded to allow married women to keep their own wages. There was still much to be done, though. For instance, in some states divorce remained unattainable on almost any grounds, even in situations where violence existed. However, the real triumph was the success reformers had in placing the issue of women's oppression in the national consciousness and establishing a movement that would continue to change American attitudes for years to come”. (Boundless, “Women in the Early Republic”, US History to 1877)

National Women’s Rights Movement• In the beginning of women’s rights, Lucy Stone, Paulina Kellogg Wright

Davis, Aby Kelley Foster, and William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and six other women organized the National Women’s Rights Convention in 1850. They went on to tackle issues such as abolitionist, divorce, adultery, women’s property rights, and more.• (Boundless, “Women in the Early Republic”)

Married Women’s Property Act of 1848• The Married Women’s Property Act of 1848 led by Paulina Wright

Davis, Ernestine Rose, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an extensive act following the 1839 Property Act in Mississippi and allowed women property rights and the ability to own and control their own property. (Boundless, “Women and the Law”

The Famous Matilda Joslyn Gage• Strong leader of the Women’s Rights

Movement growing up in an underground railroad household• Spoke on issues such as the temperance

(anti-alcohol) and set a path for more women to follow her taking up issues involving women (Boundless, “Women in the Early Republic”

The Lowell Mill Girls• During the industrial revolution, Women played

a key part in fighting for workers rights. The Lowell Mill Girls fought in the early labor reform of the 1830s and 1840s by distributing legislative petitions, the formed labor organizations, contributed essays and articles to pro-labor newspapers and protested at turn-outs and strikes (Bounless, “Factories, Working Women, and Wage Labor”)

The Declaration of Sentiments• The Declaration of Sentiments was

signed by 68 women to include 32 men at the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls NY in July of 1848 organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. • It set the bar for the women’s rights

movement• included a set of 12 resolutions

highlighting equal treatment of women and men under the law as well as voting rights.

Dorothea Dix and the Social Justice Reform• Dorothea Dix was a social justice reformer

that in 1840-1841 performed studies in the state of mass on how people with mental disorders were handled and lobbied for a bill to expand the states mental hospital in Worcester which passed and spread to other states. (Boundless, “Prisons and Asylums”)

Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane• Dorothea Dix also culminated the Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent

Insane, which set aside 12,225,000 acres of Federal Land (10,000,000 acres for the benefit of the insane and the remainder the the “blind, deaf, and dumb”), with proceeds from sale distributed back to the states to build and maintain asylumbs. • Her efforts were vetoed in 1854 by President Pierce who vetoed it.

(Boundless, “Prisons and Asylums”

The Cult of Domesticity• Women formed the Cult of Domesticity with an ideal of womanhood

and that the new 19th century middle class families no longer had to produce what was needed to survive the same as previous families allowing women to stay home with their kids while men worked outside the home to produce goods and services (Boundless, “Women and Minorities and Democracy”)

Is slavery ethical?• 1831, Maria Steward protested abolitionist by writing essays and

speeches against slavery and promoted education as well as economic self sufficiency for African Americans. She set the stage for many African American women to follow her. (Boundless, “Women and Minorities and Democracy”)

North Abolitionist society• Women formed an anti-slavery society prior to the civil war in 1832 in

Salem, Mass in an early fight in the North to end slavery. (Boundless, “Women and Minorities and Democracy”)

Women’s Roles in the Economy• The ability for women to achieve a higher education was key factor in

allowing women to have a greater impact on the economy

• Another leading factor was the transition to an industrialized economy from an agricultural economy

Industrial Revolution • Women working in the mills were

known as the “Lowell Girls” or “Mill Girls” in one of the most popular mill locations in Lowell, MA

• Female workers were actually preferred in the mills in the Boston area

• They were cheaper labor than their male counterparts

• They gained independence, outside of their traditional male run family farms

http://www.ushistory.org/us/22a.asp

http://www.teenagefilm.com/archives/dear-diary/lucy-larcom-memoirs-of-a-mill-girl-in-lowell/

“Union is Power”• The Mill work hit a lull; in turn the owners cut wages• The girls organized protests, but the leaders were fired• The women retaliated by protesting and striking• Because of the lull the strike had little effect on the mill production• Although, it didn’t end up in the mill girls favor – they did manage to set a

precedence for the future • This was a great step forward for women’s rights even without a W on their

sidehttp://www.massaflcio.org/1834-lowell-mill-girls-%2526quot%3Bturnout%2526quot%3B-protest-wage-cuts

Higher Education"The proper education of a man decides the welfare of an individual; but educate

a woman, and the interests of a whole family are secured."Catherine Beecher, Treatise on Domestic Economy

http://www.connerprairie.org/Education-Research/Indiana-History-1860-1900/Lives-of-Women

Educational Facts• 1st 4 women to receive bachelors degrees earned them at Oberlin• Mid – late 19th century women’s only colleges started to appear• Predominately single women attended college• These women were changing America as they knew it• Marrying later in life & having less children• Had a subversive effect on the traditional roles of the women• Home Economics was one of the first subjects taught to women, as it

would compliment their current roles in the family(Boundless, Women & Education), http://www.connerprairie.org/Education-Research/Indiana-History-1860-1900/Lives-of-Women

Lydia Maria Child: An Activist & Writer

• Became one of the most influential female writers in the 19th century

• Earned an education• Married later in life to David Child • Pulled in a salary of $300 a year as an editor of a

children’s magazine• Netted $2000 for her novel “Frugal Housewife”

in it’s first two years• Earned a salary of $1000 a year to edit “National

Anti-Slavery Standard”• She turned the tables and was the breadwinner

for her family, as her husband’s debt kept amassing

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/lydia-maria-child

Single Women & The Economy

• Single women were dubbed the spinsters in the 19th century• Legislation was passed in the late 19th century that allowed them to

earn an education in other fields, such as:

• Medicine• Law

• Civil Services

Women as Consumers• “The nineteenth century was marked by a move from a society of

producers to a society of consumers.”• Transportation & mass production became a catalyst for catalogs and

home delivery• Household items and clothing became available to city & country folk• “The consumer culture of the late nineteenth century was one

important part of an emerging mass culture in which women were major players.”

• http://www.connerprairie.org/Education-Research/Indiana-History-1860-1900/Lives-of-Women

The Impact of Women on the 19th Century • “The end of the nineteenth century was a time of tumult and change,

and tensions showed in the lives of women. Attaining the proscribed female role of wife, mother and moral safeguard of home and family was more than many women could bear, and their physical and mental health suffered. New opportunities in education, employment and social protest caused many women to question the role society cast for them. Involvement in any of these activities often led to unanticipated results and actions that defined new roles for women in the decades that followed.”

http://www.connerprairie.org/Education-Research/Indiana-History-1860-1900/Lives-of-Women

Work Cited• Source: Boundless. “Women in the Early Republic.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 26 Nov. 2015 from

https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/democracy-in-america-1815-1840-12/women-in-the-early-republic-101/women-in-the-early-republic-541-7921/• Source: Boundless. “Women and Church Governance.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 25 Nov. 2015 from

https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-fb4da977-c737-49f0-a6b4-6898e1c23111/gender-religion-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-1800s-556/women-in-the-early-republic-70/women-and-church-governance-373-1723/

• Source: Boundless. “The Age of Reforms.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 25 Nov. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-fb4da977-c737-49f0-a6b4-6898e1c23111/gender-religion-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-1800s-556/the-age-of-cultural-reforms-82/the-age-of-reforms-434-1942/

• Cokely, C. L. (n.d.). Declaration of Sentiments | 1848. Retrieved November 25, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/topic/Declaration-of-Sentiments• Green, J. (2013, May 23). Women in the 19th Century: Crash Course US History #16. Retrieved November 25, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM1czS_VYDI• MacKethan, L. (n.d.). The Cult of Domesticity – America in Class – resources for history & literature teachers. Retrieved November 25, 2015, from http://americainclass.org/the-cult-of-domesticity/• National Women's History Museum. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2015, from https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/catharine-beecher/• Source: Boundless. “Women and the Law.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 27 Nov. 2015 from

https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-fb4da977-c737-49f0-a6b4-6898e1c23111/gender-religion-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-1800s-556/women-in-the-early-republic-70/women-and-the-law-372-1771/

• Source: Boundless. “Factories, Working Women, and Wage Labor.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 27 Nov. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-fb4da977-c737-49f0-a6b4-6898e1c23111/gender-religion-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-1800s-556/labor-factory-women-and-wage-earners-561/factories-working-women-and-wage-labor-351-9452/fforts led to the Constitution of the Factory Girls Association in Lowell (1836)/

• Source: Boundless. “Women's Rights.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 27 Nov. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-fb4da977-c737-49f0-a6b4-6898e1c23111/gender-religion-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-1800s-556/the-age-of-cultural-reforms-82/women-s-rights-436-8558/

• Source: Boundless. “Women and Minorities and Democracy.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 27 Nov. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-fb4da977-c737-49f0-a6b4-6898e1c23111/gender-religion-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-1800s-556/women-minorities-and-democracy-562/women-and-minorities-and-democracy-389-8574/

• ushistory.org. “Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution.” U.S. History Online Textbookhttp://www.ushistory.org/us/22a.asp. November 26, 2015. 2015• “1834 Lowell Mill Girls "Turnout" to Protest Wage Cuts.”http://www.massaflcio.org/1834-lowell-mill-girls-%2526quot%3Bturnout%2526quot%3B-protest-wage-cuts. November 26, 2015. 2015• ushistory.org. “Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution.” U.S. History Online Textbookhttp://www.ushistory.org/us/22a.asp. November 26, 2015. 2015• “1834 Lowell Mill Girls "Turnout" to Protest Wage Cuts.”http://www.massaflcio.org/1834-lowell-mill-girls-%2526quot%3Bturnout%2526quot%3B-protest-wage-cuts. November 26, 2015. 2015• Poetry Foundation. “Lydia Maria Child 1802-1880.”http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/lydia-maria-child. November 27, 2015.