American Women in the Early 19th Century

In the early 1800s, women were second-class citizens. Women were expected to restrict their area of interest to the home and the family. Women were not encouraged to have a real education or pursue a professional career. Also, women were considered unequal to their husbands and all males legally and socially. The day-to day lives of men and women were quite clearly divided during the late 1800s. Woman in the late 1800s were treated inhumane because of society, class, and their rights.

The new republic of the 1830s-1850s was a society that devalued the role of women. By comparing men and women against each other, giving men a superior status, making their differences more evident, and allowing men to demand more rights, to think and do freely, this society has been created to view women as less than. Women are viewed as the weaker vessel and property to their father, or husband that need to be protected and should be wifely, child bearing, motherly and dedicated to their homes instead of viewing women as their own beings.

(Ulrich p. 5) Her research clearly establishes that despite the hierarchal and patriarchal nature of their society, women during this time contributed in essential and complex ways not only to their households and their communities, but the story of women is a central and crucial part of our American history. Ulrich supports her thesis by showing women adeptly performed any job necessary that benefited the family including that of deputy husband; “women played a central part in the communications network” which connected neighborhoods; women controlled sexual behavior; women engaged in and controlled significant trade; women exercised “considerable influence in the churches” and “enlarged the meaning of their own lives” as Christians; and women demonstrated heroic qualities “in the face of hardships of

After 1815, the female was viewed in a more respectful persona in society. Women’s rights were beginning to grow. They were helping more in religious growth, and helping in the abolition of slavery. “On every principle of natural justice, as well as by the nature of our institutions, she is as fully entitled as man to vote and to be eligible to office.” (Document F). Many females were involved in the growth of religion, including the Second Great Awakening. With the females being the ones who take the children to church, they were prone to having a deeper belief for their religion. And with that, they would try to inspire religious growth. The Second Great Awakening spurred reform, prison, church, temperance, abolition, women’s rights, and Christianizing Indians. With women fighting for what they believe in, the women were finding themselves to have a new found respect; from both themselves and men. Document E illustrates this by females walking down a street with a sense of confidence.

The article, The Cult of Womanhood: 1820 - 1860 written by Barbara Welter discusses the philosophy towards women in America during the mid 19th century. A set of demands and expectations based upon four principles: piety, purity, submission and domesticity were placed on women as well as certain behavioral expectations left 19th century women feeling guilty. It also left women feeling this way during the industrialization period as well as having a huge presence of incompatibility with society. Welter shares her viewpoint that the Cult of Womanhood was an attempt to preserve pre modern values in the industrial age. Men held a dominant place in society and continued to prevent new opportunities for women to explore. Narrow minded

The next requirement for being a “true woman” was submissiveness. According to society men were superior to women by “God’s appointment.” If they acted otherwise they “tampered with the order of the Universe” (Welter 105). A “true woman” would not question this idea because she already understands her place. Grace Greenwood explained to the women of the Nineteenth Century, “True feminine genius is ever timid, doubtful, and clingingly dependant; a perpetual childhood.” Even in the case of an abusive husband, women were sometimes told to stay quiet

While penalties for adultery appear very serious and severe, divorce seems to be a common occurrence in Babylon and punishments for incorrect divorce procedures mostly result in a fine. In addition to a man’s control over a woman’s sexuality, men held the power to divorce their wives for almost any reason in particular while the law required women to provide a sufficient reason to initiate divorce. For example, a man could divorce his wife simply for her inability to produce children. “If a seignior wishes to divorce his wife who did not bear him children, he shall give her money to the full amount of her marriage-price... and then he may divorce her” (Hammurabi). Women on the other hand, encountered many obstacles when attempting to divorce their spouses. “if a seignior’s wife, who was living in the house of the seignior, has made up her mind to leave in order that she may engage in business, thus neglecting her house…they shall prove it against her” (Hammurabi). For women, marriage consisted of a binding contract that included expectations of fertility, responsibility for the household, and compliance. These expectations of women dominated

During the middle of the nineteenth century, a so-called "cult of domesticity" arose in the United States and Great Britain predicated upon a number of assumptions regarding the proper role of women in society, and it served to protect male hegemony during a period of historical upheaval. According to Godey's Lady's Book, one of the most successful magazines of the period, "the perfection of womanhood... is the wife and mother, the center of the family, that magnet that draws man to the domestic altar, that makes him a civilized being... the wife is truly the light of the home." A woman's appropriate role was that of a wife and mother, and they were expected to follow certain cardinal virtues that contributed to the perpetuation of this role, which formed the basis of the cult's ideological work. The cult of domesticity was an ideological construct which served to support the dominant authorities of the time, and only by examining the cult of domesticity (and the "angel of the house" which served as its focus) as points of intersection between religious, political, and economic power can one begin to understand how the role of women in the nineteenth century was regulated in response to historical developments that threatened male hegemony, namely, nationalist anxiety following the American Revolution and the ascendance of capitalism as the overarching political and economic structure.

The nineteenth century was an age of male dominance as well as slavery; even white women were viewed more as property or a burden to men instead of an equal. In concur with male supremacy the cult of true womanhood was practiced, an ideology which was brought forth in the eighteen century stating four virtues which women should abide by, piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity, in turn they would be grant happiness and power; hardly being the case of either, women were subjected to the control and dependency of their male counterparts. These virtues were taken mostly in attention of the elite white woman, not considering poor white women as well as slaves, who were thought to be less than women; African American women were excluded

Women’s issues during slavery and even into the Reconstruction Era were not held as top priorities within the social structure of life during those times. The main political and social issues were within the male spectrum, and therefore left women’s rights and values in second place, behind men. Within the nineteenth century, there were four specific characteristics that society deemed should be associated with a woman; piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. However, this was not the case when it came to black women. They were not able to exemplify the expected worldview of womanhood due to their circumstances.

The history in the 1800s was really rough then now days because they had the Nez Perce war going on and at the same time, we had problems with woman not being able to vote, and the Immigrants were all looking for jobs. As I said earlier about women not being able to vote was a big step back for woman, not so much for men as they didn’t want women to vote. As the author said in the 1840s, emerging from the broader movement for women's rights”(w.i.t.p.n.). Woman were treated imperfect towards men all because they were a different gender, which is unacceptable back in the 1840s and would be now if it happened because we should all be treated the the same and have the same rights. As it says in the text “In order to earn revenue from their land

During the early 1800's women were stuck in the Cult of Domesticity. Women had been issued roles as the moral keepers for societies as well as the nonworking house-wives for families. Also, women were considered unequal to their male companions legally and socially. However, women’s efforts during the 1800’s were effective in challenging traditional intellectual, social, economical, and political attitudes about a women’s place in society.

Thesis: A “true women” in the 19th Century was one who was domestic, religious, and chaste. These were virtues established by men but enforced and taught by other women. Women were also told that they were inferior to men and they should accept it and be grateful that someone just loved them.

American Quarterly 18.2 (1966): 151. Web. Description: In her article, Barbara Welter explores the nineteenth century ideal of the cult of true womanhood and its insidious link to domesticity, explaining the role of piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity.

Defining what a female was supposed to be and do was an act of Renaissance culture. For most of Renaissance society, women represented the following virtues which, importantly, having their meaning in relation to the male; obedience, silence, sexual chastity, piety, humility, constancy, and patience. The most important being sexual chastity and piety.