To Be Woman in Post-Revolution America

Women’s education in the United States made huge strides during the Progressive Era. However, along with those strides came negative reactions from not only men but women as well. These second generation women started moving away from their expected nurturing professions and instead started going into male dominated professions. Some of these professions were doctors and lawyers, just to name a few. Due to these career changes, women were required to have bachelor’s degrees and training.

From the social viewpoint the war changed the lives and rights of women all across the United States. Many of the husbands left to fight in the Revolutionary war leaving countless women in charge of farms and businesses, roles which they were not accustomed to. Although the war did little to change women’s rights, in some states it did become possible for women to divorce and in new jersey women even obtained the right to vote which was way out of the ordinary in that time. Before the war both men and women viewed the wife as an obedient and serving spouse that raised the children and took care of the house. But the revolution encouraged people of both genders to reconsider the contribution of women to the family and society.

     The revolution also changes the status of women in the 15 years following the American Revolution. There was a push to allow for better women’s education. In 1789, Massachusetts passed a law insisting elementary schools be open to both girls and boys. Girls from rich families had the ability to receive a good education on subjects including math, history and geography. A large advocate of women’s education was Judith Sargent Murray, who argued men and women had equal intellectual abilities, but women’s lack of chances is what made them appear inferior. Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, also called for legal reform in order to prevent male tyranny over women. Some even went further and called for the right of women to vote. This was still denied to women, however, and it would not be over 100 years later until they were granted this right. Despite some small advances for women’s rights, there was still a notion of inferiority to men.

During the pre-revolutionary period, more and more men worked outside the home in workshops, factories or offices. Many women stayed at home and performed domestic labor. The emerging values of nineteenth-century America, which involves the eighteenth-century, increasingly placed great emphasis upon a man's ability to earn enough wages or salary to make his wife's labor unnecessary, but this devaluation of women's labor left women searching for a new understanding of themselves. Judith Sargent Murray, who was among America's earliest writers of female equality, education, and economic independence, strongly advocated equal opportunities for women. She wrote many essays in order to empower young women in the new republic to stand up against

Articles written during a specific period gives the future population an idea of the issues present during that time. Before the United States became independent, woman education was limited to the skill needed to be a good wife and proper mother. Particularly, upper-class woman were the only ones that had the resources to gain an education. Most middle and lower class focus primarily on the education of their males. European education influence Colonial America’s educational system. Since there weren’t any establish convents schools in the colonies, tutors were primarily hired and later on schools were incorporated. During the first years of schooling, new England girls went to a coed school called “dame school”. In the dame school, girls were thought to knit and sew. Many girls got the chance to go to the town school. However, some town school in new England prohibited girls from attending. In the south, girls got the

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 economic “market revolution” and the religious “Second Great Awakening” shaped American society after 1815. Both of these developments affected women significantly, and contributed to their changing status both inside and outside the home. Throughout time, women’s roles and opportunities in the family, workplace, and society have greatly evolved.

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

In her next chapter, Kerber examines the newfound need for the educating of women. Women were not allowed freedom or a political opinion, but they could not be completely pushed aside. For years women had been taught that education made them undesirable to men and educated women were scorned. Kerber argues that a new need for

Although the change for women was minimal, it was definitely present. “The revolution did generate some new ideas that began, very slowly, to open new opportunities for women to escape the constrictions of the traditional household” (Taylor 15), and they often found these openings through ‘teaching jobs’. These ‘teaching jobs’ were due to the new nation stressing the essential vast knowledge of any male leader or citizen, and being that the women are the one teaching these males (at a younger age), they have to get a good education and gain more knowledge as well in order to pass it down. This process was known as ‘Republican Motherhood’, offering “a larger place for women in society” (Taylor 16). Soon enough, women began claiming “a right and a duty to speak out on public issues that affected their children , so that they could better raise virtuous sons...

Only those single, young, divorcees, colored women or poor white women can work during that time. These women’s jobs have agriculture, factories, and servants for African-Americans. Middle class womens can work as a typist, clerks, or telephone operators. Only a few colleges are educated. So they become lawyers, doctors, journalists, and they can also be a scientist.

The American Revolution played a significant role in lives of nearly every person in America. Most men left their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters in charge of farms and businesses when they left to fight in the Patriot armies. There were many men, who had no farms or businesses, left their women with absolutely nothing to fall back on. This led to a significant increase in the population of impoverished women in several cities and towns. Due to the ongoing war, there were many price increases that these women simply could not afford. Some would riot and loot for food, while others would lead popular protests. “In New Jersey and Staten Island, women launched

America is the land of opportunity. It is a place of rebirth, hope, and freedom. However, it was not always like that for women. Many times in history women were oppressed, belittled, and deprived of the opportunity to learn and work in their desired profession. Instead, their life was confined to the home and family. While this was a noble role, many females felt that they were being restricted and therefore desired more independence. In America, women started to break the mold in 1848 and continued to push for social, political, educational, and career freedom. By the 1920s, women had experienced significant “liberation”, as they were then allowed to vote, hold public office, gain a higher education, obtain new jobs, drastically change

The eighteenth century brought great transitional change, as America dealt with government conflicts, the War of 1812, and the political elections which brought Andrew Jackson to national prominence. In the midst of these happenings, significant changes arose for the women in the eighteenth century, as they appealed to create differences in their status and lives. Equality is considered as a given right, but this was not always the case in history. The conventional organization of the family was considered as men expected to make their living in the competitive world of the marketplace, while women took care of their children in the sheltered environment of the home. Even prior to the eighteenth century, women did not obtain much freedom, as society was ruled with a patriarchal mindset. Whether it was in politics, church governance, or simply hierarchical status, men were always categorized above women. “Men viewed women with distrust, perhaps intuiting the impossible polarity this would create in their lives, and that it would ask decisions of them which they could not imagine taking.” This leads to the posed questions: Why were women initially closed off from having independent rights? How did women combat against these limited obligations and expand their status? Changes and implications were clearly made by women to declare their existence and importance in society. Breaking free from the conventional male dominated society, women assembled together to endorse changes

In the eighteenth century, education was seen as a passport to success for professional and societal life for middle-class boys. On the other hand, girls attended a local day school for two or three years, followed by a fashionable boarding school with a non-academic curriculum, providing a social rather than an academic education. These boarding schools molded girls to become suitable woman as companions to their future husbands as well as being better mothers (Brazil, 1914). Separate education echoed the different roles society assigned to each gender and the unequal status of woman (Rury, 2004).