Republican Motherhood Research Paper

Sentimentalism in marriage changed the idea of the marriage between man and woman from one that was traditional and gave men the ownership of a woman to a more loving, compassionate marriage. Around this time, Republican Motherhood, the idea that women were responsible for bettering the future of society through raising children, became popular. During the Second Great Awakening in 1820, women began to hold more authoritative roles. Through religious roles in the Second Great Awakening, women found opportunities in church-sponsored academies. The right of education became more and more popular as women stepped into society and out of the home. Women activism proved successful after the Civil War. In 1920, the 18th amendment, suffrage for women, was brought into society. With suffrage, women would continue to lead themselves into an empowerment many had never seen before. From the 1700s to modern day society, women have held more of an equal role in society with the rights of suffrage, education, and reproductive rights given to them through Roe V. Wade in 1973, which aided women in their transition into the professional world. Although women hold a more equal stance than in 1700, there is still a subtle, more “invisible” subordination present, negatively effecting women in America.

The American Revolution, which happened during the last half of the eighteenth century, reshaped many aspects of life in America. The desire of the Founding Fathers to make America a republic played a very significant part in changing the role of women after the Revolution. The role of women as wives became more important as an emphasis on virtue was established; women were encouraged to find virtuous husbands and utilize their seductive nature to keep men virtuous. The roles of women as mothers also became more important in the republic, as patriarchy loosened and mothers were depended on to educate their children in the republican way. And finally, the role of women in politics was theoretically reduced due to the increasing demands of

The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival movement during the 19th century that challenged women’s traditional roles in religion. The Second Great Awakening gave women a more effective role in society. For Elijah Pierson and his wife

True womanhood is a term that suggests that due to women’s nature, the tasks that best suited them were in relation to the home and raising children. These women who were considered to belong in the cult of true womanhood. Their main and only concerns had to deal with being domestic goddesses if you will. The concept of "Republican Motherhood" impacted society by paving the way for a greater role for women in public life. The role of Republican Motherhood paved the way for the emergence of the public woman. Their influence on their children through the teachings of civic duties and virtue changed the element of American politics. Republican Motherhood was a very important step for women towards the public sphere. However, one of the biggest

After eight harsh year of war, reconstructing a normal life was found difficult. Poets, political leaders, and even educators began writing about the question of the role of the women known as the woman question. Before the war, women were seen as “both morally and mentally inferior to men”(151). This statement began to get rejected postwar. In 1787, the first academy for women was opened and allowed women to get an education called Philadelphia Young Ladies Academy. Before the revolution, women were not allowed an education, however, “ This revolution in education was so successful that, by the end of the eighteenth century, elite society frowned upon a poorly educated young woman”(153). Women were now able to take similar courses to what

The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. It enrolled millions of new members in existing evangelical denominations and led to the formation of new denominations. Many converts believed that the Awakening heralded a new millennial age. The Second Great Awakening stimulated the establishment of many reform movements by a sort of domino effect of inspiration as one movement started, it encouraged the initiation of another. A lot of these movements were composed and sought out during camp meetings on religious revival during the 1800’s to get a gathering of passionate on-goers to share and discuss their beliefs to restore their interest and devotion to their faith,

Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most

Education was another factor which highlighted the gap between equality for men and women. Wood believes that the new popular leaders used the rhetoric of equality and liberty just to gain political power rather than to actually follow through with providing these rights for the people of America.9 This statement may be considered correct as even though opportunities for education increased, the education was more suitable for males. Kerber believes that education opportunities for females were significantly limited compared to those of males.10 Males were taught about the making of war, polemics and oratory. It was believed that women were more useful serving their families rather than learning the same skills as men. In 1778, Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband stating that when female education was not being neglected, it was being made

The term Republican Motherhood is not misleading. This is because the philosophy is still evident today. By then, the prevailing concept behind this was of women having a moral and supportive core of the American family. Women were viewed as key pillar that would keep church attendance coherent, their homes livable, a feed family and supported men.

Ideals of American womanhood between the time of the American Revolution and the start of the Civil War were constantly shifting. The country was founded with the everlasting ideals of economic opportunity, equality, and liberty for all, and compared to Great Britain after independence, America had greater religious freedom and social mobility. In spite of this, numerous groups were excluded from the full extent of these rights and privileges- especially women. After the American Revolution a belief regarding the roles of women emerged and came to be known as republican motherhood, which centered around the belief that women had the primary responsibility of raising their children to uphold the values of republicanism so they could be valuable members of the newly formed American republic. A complementing set of beliefs were instilled into American society between the period of 1820 to 1860, the cult of domesticity, which asserted that women were solely to serve as wives, mothers, and housekeepers who were concerned with only domestic affairs. While the principles brought forth by the cult of domesticity and the ideas of republican motherhood were accepted by many, much of what they embodied was unachievable for women of lower economic standing due to social oppression that handicapped their opportunities, especially blacks who were often separated from their families due to the institution

Republican Motherhood was a movement toward equality of the sexes in the time of Revolutionary America. This movement was sparked by a famous quote made by Thomas Jefferson, “All men are created equal.” Although sparking a movement for equality the statement was intended to only mean the male gender. This truth of the statement becomes clear when we analyze the results of this movement.

Post revolution ideals of the world were drastically altered by the emergence of the first republican government and the virtues it espoused; this cultivated Republican Motherhood, the idea that in this new society, men had to grow to be citizens with republican morals and it was the woman’s responsibility to become an educated, rational and virtual being to enforce these ideals upon children in order to foster a republican society. This eventually led to the Cult of Domesticity that abandoned the principles of republicanism and gave further a purpose for women to remain in the household and manage domestic activities. This northern middle class movement was in part gratifying to women as they were viewed through a lense of extended parity and purpose, though it also hindered the displayal of independent intelligence. Although this antebellum movement was partially degrading, it did bring about discussion of women’s suffrage and their hand in abolitionist and temperance movements for the first time. Responses to this varied, from radical ideas of feminism to submissive acceptance of their new separate sphere resulting in a wide shift in middle class conflicts of a woman’s place in a family as well as a family’s place in society. These radical ideals though, did not transfer to the south, lower classes or slaves; these working classes found their place in factory work and slaves, especially slave women, held next to no rights at all.

The cult of true womanhood or cult of domesticity was a way of life and thinking about women and womanhood that hit its peak around 1820 to 1860. This ideology was perpetuated by both men and women of the time period. It was a harsh separation of men and women’s roles and their spheres of influence, women’s domain was the home, and men’s was the outside world. Women in the cult of domesticity were focused primarily on four ideals, purity, piety, domesticity, and submissiveness. The first ideal, purity came from the idea that women were passionless creatures.

Change developments including religion, moderation, cancelation, and ladies' rights tried to grow vote based beliefs during the era of 1825 to 1850. In any case, certain developments, for example, nativism and utopias, neglected to demonstrate the American accentuation on a popularity based society. The change developments were prodded by time of the Great Awakening the second time around, which started in England during the 1790's, and would in the end spread all through the nation. The Second Great Awakening contrasted that individuals were currently accepted to have the capacity to pick if to have faith in God, rather than past beliefs considering Calvinism

The late 18th century can be known as the historical period of the Enlightenment. During this time, society was undergoing drastic changes that would impact people even today. These changes were known as “reforms,” and played a big role in politics and ruling during this time period. One of the bigger reforms of this time was that which would grant women a higher education and place them in a position closer to their male counterparts. The enlightenment authors, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Mary Wollstonecraft, took part in a debate in which they argued about the purpose and education of women. In an article recently written in The New York Times by Nicholas