Premium Essay

Women's Roles In The 1790s

Submitted By
Words 1215
Pages 5
A majority of men regarded women as unintelligent and unable to make a difference. Men believed that women should be homemakers serving their husbands and rearing their children. Women had no say so, in political matters, they were only required to be homemakers. Many women felt like this was not all they wanted to accomplish in life. In the 1790s mothers were influenced by new ideas of self-achievement and individualism (A.237). Women wanted to join the workforce, vote and be able to insert their opinions. Several things led to women’s issues becoming more prominent in American culture. One must acknowledge Religion, the 2nd Great Awakening, and education as the fundamental reasons why women’s issues became so prominent. Religion was …show more content…
Why did these changes occur? Before the 18th century, small business created their products by hand. They expanded the sale of their products by trade. Slaves were consistently used for all types of labor. One of the biggest areas of production where the utilization of slave occurred was the production of cotton. Plantation crops and the slavery system went through some drastic changes. To understand these changes, one must understand Slavery, inflation of crops and the industrial revolution.
Slavery was very harsh the 18th century. Many families dealt with separation during this time, but luckily many remained married. Slaves lived in small shacks and provided food that was relatively cheap to the plantation owner. Slaves were forced to work, and when they didn’t work, they were beaten, starved or hung. In Virginia, 440,000 African Americans were taken from their homes (A 355). Millions of African Americans from all over the world were forced into …show more content…
Companies would build many factories for the sole purpose of mass production. Different forms of transportation were also created to expand the area in which goods and services sold. “Turnpikes, canals, and railroads were constructed to allow products to be sold worldwide” (A.263). One invention occurred during this time due to the boom and export of cotton. “Several machines were built in the north as the demand for cotton grew, water powered jennies, weaving mules and cotton gins were used to boost production” (A.207). “Eli Whitney built cotton gins that would extract the seeds from the cotton strands. The inventions increased the production of cotton, which resulted in planters wanting to grow more cotton, so they imported 115,000 slaves between 1776 and 1808” (A. 207). Plantation crops and slavery only increased the production of cotton becoming a nationwide export and the major staple of income for the South which occurred between the 1800s and the

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

“What Was the Role of Female Writers in Abolishing Slavery?”

...“What was the role of female writers in abolishing slavery?” Women were not able to vote and little influence on the political scene; regardless of this, they played an important role in the abolition of the Slave Trade and slavery in the British colonies. In the early years, women were not direct activists and were not expected to take part in politics. Lady Margaret Middleton helped persuade William Wilberforce to take up the cause but could not become actively engaged herself. However women found their own ways to campaign. They wrote imaginative literature on slavery, such as Hannah More's publications. In 1792 Mary Birkett Card wrote 'A Poem on the African Slave Trade' and, as the campaign became more popular, many women, from all walks of life, (including Georgina, the Duchess of Devonshire and Bristol milk-woman Ann Yearsley) published anti-slavery poems and stories. These were aimed at a wide readership. Former slaves such as Phyllis Wheatley wrote their own poems and accounts that were extremely influential. (quoted in “The Abolition Project”) However as the main food purchasers, women played an important role in organizing the sugar boycotts of the 1790s, after the bill for the abolition of the Slave Trade was defeated in Parliament in 1791. Over 300,000 people joined a boycott of sugar which had been grown on plantations that used the labor of enslaved people. The Abolition Act, passed in 1807, abolished the Slave Trade but not chattel slavery. A child born to an...

Words: 863 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Post Era Women

...male counterparts. To many men, women having a say in the government was seen as ridiculous. Men believed that women should not be involved while women were still protesting their roles in government. America was founded on a patriarchal society that believed that women should not have a voice in the government due to their “frail minds”. Male judgement against women were motivated either by ignorance or blatant sexism. From the words of John Adams, “their delicacy renders them...

Words: 469 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Age Of Enlightenment Research Paper

...associated with the Enlightenment played important roles in the American Revolution. Revolutionaries were drawn from all religious camps and most of them shared a common commitment to the freedom of religion. Most revolutionaries, however, fought not for the absolute religious freedom, but rather for their particular sects or denominations. Nonetheless, the impact of the Revolution and the subsequent adoption of the Constitution on American Christianity cannot be overstated. This period laid the foundation for a bold experiment in religious freedom unlike any understandings of state-religion relations at the time. The Enlightenment influenced the American Revolution in other different ways, with core Enlightenment ideals including liberty, equality and justice leading the creation of conditions for the American Revolution and the Constitution that followed. Many ideas and concepts, including natural rights, freedom from oppression, and innovative ways of thinking regarding government structure came directly from Enlightenment philosophers, and helped to form firm foundations for colonialism and modern day America. The American Enlightenment, a time of intellectual change in the 13 colonies between 1714 and 1818, paved the way for many defining moments and events in the country's history, including American Independence and the creation of the American Republic under the United States Constitution of 1787, and the Bill of Rights in 1790. Albeit heavily influencing the American war of...

Words: 1002 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

1800s Gender Roles

...the household. Modern society has drastically reshaped how gender roles are applied to men and women. Today’s society has acknowledged that gender does not define a person in any way other then their sex. Society has evolved to create a neutral standard between gender roles including personal interest and education/employment along with participation in government affairs. Stereotypes continue to exist thus differentiating men and women into separate social “norms”. According to the rules of society only men enjoy cars, sports, and wrestling, meanwhile only women can find interest in shopping, sewing, and cooking. In the past women were viewed to be delicate so while the men did the dirty work outdoors the women stayed inside completing household chores such as cooking, cleaning, sewing garments, etc....

Words: 563 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Second Great Awakening Movement

...The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant renewal reaction around the directly nineteenth century. The movement started everywhere 1790 and gained proposition by 1800; trailing 1820, membership rose in a polished york minute among Baptist and Methodist congregations, whose preachers influenced the movement. The Second Great Awakening fly near react by 1870. It enrolled millions of dressy members and verify to the production of nifty denominations. It has been doomed as a reaction opposite skepticism, deism, and efficient Christianity, during why those forces became pressing stuffing at the has a head start to doer revivals is not by a wide margin understood. The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian spiritual mindedness, by which separately person conceivable saved over revivals, penance, and conversion. Revivals were horde religious meetings featuring blazing preaching by evangelists one as the crazy Lorenzo Dow. Many converts believed that the Awakening heralded a polished millennial age. The Second Great Awakening delighted the stratification of many restore movements designed to work the bugs out of the evils of nation earlier the advent of Jesus Christ. The Second Great Awakening had a profound handwritinged on the wall on American religious history. The numerical full head of steam of the Baptists and Methodists rose accessory...

Words: 498 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Prostitution in the 18th Century

...Why 18th Century Women Sought out Freedom through Prostitution Michelle E. Raines Lindenwood University Abstract This paper reconnoiters the reasoning behind prostitution, focusing mainly on the motives of an 18th century woman. The goal of this research is to provide readers with an explanation of why women resorted to prostitution for freedom. The paper will arrange for you primary sources supporting that prostitution plateaued because of lack of expression, racism, and feminism during the 18th century. The business of prostitution was so important to our society because it allowed women to join the workforce. Unfair treatment spawned one of the greatest highlights of women in this era that this paper will display for you. Why 18th Century Women Sought out Freedom through Prostitution Prostitution is recorded as beginning in 1721 when the French government sent women to the colony so the settled men would refrain from having sex with the Native Americans. These women had found that sex trade created them more freedom/independence instead of marriage. Soon after, the red-light district was formed to segregate the prostitutes. The act of selling sex was not illegal in the US and the law had not known the term “prostitution”. The law had no understanding of what to do, women were still social outcasts and officials looked for petty crimes to target these certain women. So we ask why these women turned to prostitution; freedom was sought through sexual acts due to the...

Words: 2061 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

The Role of Women in the French Revolution

...The Role of Women in the French Revolution Sarah A.Butt Western Civilization 3rd March 2010 The French revolution, which began in 1789, was a period of hatred and blood. It was a period of political upheaval of the country, and of world importance in France. Issues of rights and equality has always been a heated debate in the world, however, during the French Revolution, equality was the main exhilarating and impassioned concept that was put into matter and effect. The French Revolution, was the period of revolutionaries revolting for liberty and equality, failed to provide equals rights as French men for the French women. Even though, women played a significant role during the French Revolution, they however did not get the respect in their society, neither were they treated equally as men. In spite of their vibrant contribution throughout the Revolution, their involvements always proved contentious. The eighteen century was a period of revolutionaries, and feministic activities. One of the main causes of the further turmoil in France was the Austrian wife of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette. In the beginning, Marie Antoinette was loved by the commoners, as she would always help them when they would get accidentally shot by Louis XVI during his hunting. However, after when Antoinette’s frivolous spending habits started to arose, people were extremely infuriated. She would squander their taxes and hard work on gambling, and wearing the most fashionable clothes, subsequently...

Words: 1798 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

His 204 Final Paper

...2011). Even though women did have a say in some areas of her life and household, she did not have any authority in society. A woman’s body was not even considered her own when she was married, but her husband’s. Back then, women lived in a male dominated world. First her father and then her husband had sole authority and domination over her (Smith, 2002). Even any assets that a woman would bring into the house did not belong to her, but to her husband. These would include any income or inheritance she would receive. All of which would become the property of her husband. Over the course of the history of woman’s suffrage, in general women had less career opportunities than the men. Parenthood and being the good wife were considered as women’s most important jobs. Although birth rates fell in the nineteenth century, motherhood became a full time occupation for women, rather than one task amongst many for both parents. Women remained largely outside political life, but enjoyed access to education. Plus they developed their own institutions for a distinctive female discourse. Over the course of the...

Words: 1765 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

How Did The 19th Amendment Change American Culture

...allowed the right for women to vote in America. This occurred due to an extensive period on the war for women’s rights. Women’s rights to vote completely changed the culture of America because it linked the population of women together and took the U.S. by storm, although some may say it didn’t affect culture because not many people were injured in the war for women’s rights, it is still one of the most culturally changing event in history. The women that started the fight for the right to vote in the United States of America were Anne Hutchington and Abigail Adams. Anne settled in Massachusetts with her family in 1634 and started to raise the issue of women’s rights in her colony. After gaining many followers she was banished from...

Words: 1653 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

First Wave Feminist Movemnt

...are oppressed. It is a vision of a society where women are liberated and sex role stereotypes are no more. It is also a conviction that oppression of women is a contradiction in society. Women feminists fought for their right to not be property, rights to their inheritance, rights to an education and to a religion that was not patriarchal. Even though feminism had been seen for quite some time, the actual term "feminist" was not first used until 1912. "The modern feminist movement began a as result of sweeping social, political and industrial changes in Europe and the United States" (Conger). Many suffragists did not refer to themselves as feminists. They advocated only for voting rights, not complete equality. Oppression as an Obstacle for Women Women advocated against a mindset, an entire system of socialization. "Women were socialized, both in their minds and in the minds of men, that their sole role in society was reproduction" (Fisher). "The average married female gave birth to seven children" (Conger). If a woman was engaging in public activities then "she was ignoring her biological weaknesses - a smaller brain and a more fragile physique - which she was supposed to protect in order to ensure her reproductive abilities" (Krolokke, 5). Women had little control over their life. Women were considered to be property of either their fathers or husbands. Women's value and role in society was framed as the "question of women". The question addressed education...

Words: 2207 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Should Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More Be Defined as Feminists?

...Should Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More be defined as feminists? Like any ideology, there is not a defining answer as to what feminism means. The Oxford English Dictionary defines feminism as the “advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex”. The term ‘feminist’ itself has been used in the United Kingdom since the 1880s but it’s philosophy had been dated back centuries before. Since then it’s meaning has evolved into different branches from radical feminism to liberal feminism for example, and is used on a political platform. It is fact that both Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More are examples of women who philosophised about women’s rights and their place in society. They both produced published works discussing women in society focused upon educational reform, and many have debated the extent to which they should be considered feminists. However, although their views contradicted each other, based on the modern day definition of feminism, both Wollstonecraft and More should be considered feminists for numerous reasons. Firstly, it is indisputable that Mary Wollstonecraft was a feminist and even as far to be considered as the “founder of western feminism”. In Wollstonecraft’s writings, a new female value is consciously introduced and effectively infused into a movement across the late eighteenth century. There are many books that focus on Wollstonecraft’s thought alone as they all depict the influences...

Words: 2199 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

The Evolving Woman

...The Evolving Women The role women play in our society is and has been an ever-changing one, from mother to doctor to soldier and everything in between. With increasing standards and demands on them to be the one who keep’s the family grounded and together in a chaotic society that thinks none to highly of them or their rights as citizens. I chose to focus on women’s changing roles during the time period from 1865 through 1920 and then through 1920 to this present day. The reason I chose to focus on the women of our history is because this was a very unstable time in history, due to the changing status of minorities in the culture at this time due to the end of the Civil War and the impending revolution for women’s rights with the passage of the 19th amendment. Dating as far back as the early 1800's women’s roles were consistently being challenged and questioned, it was not so much the women’s rights marches of the 60's but it was the beginning of that revolution. During the early part of the 19th century women’s character was separated with four basic attributes: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Even the foreign visitors to America during this period found fault in American male’s attitude towards women, they thought males treated women as inferiors and subjected women to double standards. "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is, the very being and legal existence of the woman is suspended during marriage." This is according...

Words: 2425 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Women in U.S. History

...women, including the freedom to choose an occupation and receive pay equal to a man. 2. Gender equality at home, men in the home sharing the responsibilities of family life. 3. Reproductive freedom, the ability to choose when, if and how many children they would have. 4. Financial support for homemaking and child raising (Ellen Carol DuBois; Lynn Dumenil, 2012). Since 1920 women have won many rights and opportunities in areas like education, professional sports and in some states same sex marriages. However, if we look at the “priorities” that Eastman identified how far have we actually come when the U.S. Constitution does not even guarantee women the same rights as men? With ground already broken in the workplace due to women’s participation in various professions, trades and unions, women believed that equality in the workplace would be the easiest part to achieve. One of the foremost obstacles was inequality in pay, a problem that has shown to be amazingly enduring. The Equal Pay Act is the landmark law that was passed 50 years ago which require employers to pay men and women equally for substantially equal work. Yet here we are 50 years later, with equal pay still being unfinished business. When the Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963,...

Words: 2183 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

A Midflow's Tale Analysis

...During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were many important things that occurred in the history of America contributed by women. During this time period, there was much differentiation in gender roles between men and women. One person that sees the differentiation among gender was a woman named Martha Ballard. Laurel Ulrich was a woman that analyzed Martha’s diary through her book called, “A MidWife’s Tale.” According to Laurel, Martha was born in Oxford, Connecticut of 1735. Martha’s maiden name was Moore. She later married Ephraim Ballard in 1754 and had nine children, three of which that died in 1769. Martha’s diary gives much insight on gender roles and perceptions of men as well as women during this time period. But most of all, there were three areas that...

Words: 1938 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Camera Cafe

...French Revolution From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see French Revolution (disambiguation). Page semi-protected French Revolution Anonymous - Prise de la Bastille.jpg Storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789. Date 1789–1799 Location France Participants French society Outcome Abolition of the French monarchy Establishment of a secular and democratic republic that became increasingly authoritarian and militaristic Radical social change based on liberalism and other Enlightenment principles Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte Armed conflicts with other European countries Part of a series on the History of France National EmblemNational EmblemNational Emblem Prehistory[show] Ancient[show] Early Middle Ages[show] Middle Ages[show] Early modern[show] 19th century[show] 20th century[show] Portal icon France portal v t e The French Revolution (French: Révolution française) was an influential period of social and political upheaval in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the Revolution profoundly altered the course of modern history, triggering the global decline of theocracies and absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics and democracies. Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history.[1] The causes of the French Revolution...

Words: 17428 - Pages: 70