Contributions of 19th Century Women in the Areas of American Identity, Politics & the Economy.

1. 19th Century Middle-Class
White Women
Contributions to American Identity,
Politics and the Economy
.

2. American Identity
In the 1800’s, the middle-class white American Identity
was of an insular and regional nature. For example, if
asked to identify themselves, a person would answer, “I
am a Virginian, or I am a Bostonian.” They would identify
themselves with allegiances based on the region where
they lived. Then, during the Civil War, the identity was
divided even further with the labels “yankee” and “rebel,”
and “Union” and “Confederate.” When the war was over, a
civic pride, national cohesiveness, and identity began to
develop, and middle-class white women were one of the
many driving forces that helped this occur.

3. American Identity
19th Century Middle Class White Women’s Identities:
Cult of Domesticity
Homemakers
Women’s Suffrage
2nd Great Awakening Converts
Schoolteachers
Feminism
Republican Motherhood

4. American Identity
Cult of Domesticity:
attitude about the role of women and the social
relationship of the sexes
natural sphere of women and women's activities was the
home and family
less suited to the rough-and-tumble of public life
natural role as child bearers care givers

5. American Identity
Homemakers:
“The economy and the society dictated that women should
work in the home, taking care of home and hearth. They
could be educated and could study, as long as it did not
interfere with their housework” (Women in the 19th
Century)

6. American Identity
With the industrial movement happening in America in
early to mid-19th century, the opportunity for men to get
enough work to support the family was a way of life.
Women were no longer needed to help in the family
business. Their essential purpose was to take care of the
husband and educate the children.
“The middle class were devoted to the ideal of family and home”
“Alfred Lord Tennyson's immortal words convey the wife's task
to keep the household functioning smoothly and harmoniously:
"Man for the field, woman for the hearth, man for the sword and
for the needle she; man with the head and woman with the
heart, man to command and woman to obey; all else confusion."

7. American Identity
“The demand for the enfranchisement of American women was
first seriously formulated at the Seneca Falls Convention
(1848).”
“Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, formed the
National Woman Suffrage Association to work for suffrage on
the federal level and to press for more extensive institutional
changes, such as the granting of property rights to married
women.”

8. American Identity
Social Reforms and Women’s Rights:
“A growing number of women became convinced that they had a
special mission and a responsibility to purify and reform American
society. Women were at the forefront of efforts to establish public
schools, abolish slavery, and curb drinking.” (digitalhistory.uh.edu)
With the acceptance of women leaving the household to practice
and teach religion. The gathering of prayer meetings were the
beginnings of women’s social organizations, which gave these
home-bound women an identity outside the home.
With these social gatherings becoming more wide spread and
frequent, the women began to organize protests in favor of
Women’s Rights.

9. American
Identity
The Second Great
Awakening-
A Religious revival movement
during the early 19th century,
most converts were middle
class white women. “A way to
shape identities and form
community in a time of
economic and personal
insecurity;” (Boundless)
-“Women became very
important informally in
conversion and religious
upbringing of their children
through family structure and
through their maternal roles.”
(Boundless)

10. American Identity
Furthermore, teaching brought high moral status and an
acknowledged public role in improving American society.”
(ushistory.org)
“It was in the 1820’s and 1830’s that women began to
displace men as the overwhelming majority of
schoolteachers.
This development brought clear advantages to women who
increasingly received advanced education to become
teachers.

11. American Identity
Republican Motherhood:
After the American Revolution, as women took a
more prominent role in teaching, they needed to be
educated themselves,so they could teach the
children.
“The first American female academies were founded
in the 1790s. This idea of an educated woman
became known as "republican motherhood."
(ushistory.org)

12. Politics
Turn of the Century- Women have virtually no role in
politics.
The 1800’s dawned with most women stoically trudging
forward in their subservient roles as voiceless caretakers
of home, husband and children.
The role of American women in politics had
yet to be cast. The new President, Thomas
Jefferson thought “women were to stay out
of politics.” (thehumanist.com)
His friend and Secretary of
State, James Madison’s wife,
Dolly, was a visible and active
force in entertaining at the
brand new White House and came in contact with many
officials and dignitaries. (i.ytimg.com).
Thomas Jefferson
Dolly Madison

13. Politics
Seneca Falls New York 1848:
The FIRST woman’s right convention ever. It was hosted by, Lucretia
Mott, Mary-Ann McClintock, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Main topic covered was “Women’s Suffrage”
Declaration of Sentiments- Was a document that specifically stated
the agenda for the Woman’s right convention. This piece of legislation
gave the Women’s Rights cause direction and motivation. It paved a
path for others to follow and join.

14. Politics
National Woman’s Rights Convention of 1850:
This public display of unity between many woman, whom over the
previous years had been fighting the “Women’s Rights” fight
alone, was the first of its kind.
The was a social platform that facilitated and echoed the voices of
middle class women, and all women of that time.
These public appearances brought the likes of, “Lucy Stone,
Paulina Kellogg Write Davis, Kelly Forster, William Lloyd Garrison,
Wendell Phillips and 6 other women” to organize this convention.
This convention displayed a strong goal- equal rights politically,
legally, and socially.
- -

15. Politics
Excerpt from the Women’s Rights Petition of 1854
“That women are human beings whose rights correspond
with their duties; that they are endowed with conscience,
reason, affection, and energy, for the use of which they
are individually responsible; that like men they are bound
to advance the cause of truth, justice, and universal good
in the society and nation of which they are members; that
in these United States women constitute one-half the
people; men constitute the other half; that women are no
more free in honor than men are to withhold their
influence and example from patriotic and philanthropic
movements, and that men who deny women to be their
peers, and who shut them out from exercising a fair share
of power in the body politic, are arrogant usurpers, whose
only apology is to be found in prejudices transmitted from
half-civilized and half-Christianized ages.”

16. Politics
An Excerpt from the Legislature’s response
“Your Committee will not attempt to prescribe, or, rather, they will not
attempt to define the province and peculiar sphere which a power that we
can not overrule has prescribed for the different sexes.”
This is the Legislature essentially telling the middle class white women
that they will change the way things are. That they do not have the right
to make matters equal.- Obviously…they were wrong!

17. Politics
Temperance:
“Habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural
appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence;
specifically, moderation, and sometimes abstinence, in respect to
using intoxicating liquors.”
-This was a practice of early women’s rights activists, although they
work working on other issues. This was a effect of Antebellum reform.

18. Politics
Notable Woman of Early Politics:
Maria Stewart, one of the first and foremost African
American voices to be heard when it comes to the
topics of “Anti-slavery”, “promoting education”, and
“economic self-sufficiency. Many women in the
future would look up to her and use her ideals as a
pathway to a better life for African Americans nation
wide. These woman included, Francis Ellen Watkins
Harper, and Harriet Tubman. She also paved the
way for the Grimke sisters. These sisters, on the
coat tails of Maria Stewart, Called women to
participate “in the freeing and educating of slaves.”

19. Politics
Risks of Speaking your Voice!
Women at these conventions were all too often met
with scrutiny.
Opponents used tactics such as:
-Hurtful insults
-Throwing of stones

20. Politics
Florence Kelly & Jane Adams
-Two middle class women whom fought for race
equality and education. “They were strong
supporters of African American Suffrage.
-Both of these women also advocated for African
Americans right to vote while they were in the
“National association for the Advancement of
Colored People.”(Miriam Cohen)

21. Politics
-In 1869 the National Women’s Suffrage
Association was founded. This association’s
main focus was to get the government to
allow women to vote.
This association was founded by Elizabeth
Cady Stanton,…among other supporters for
women’s rights.

22. Economy
Events and Contributors to Women’s
Emerging Economic Role in 19th Century
America
End of Jeffersonian Era
Rise of Educated Women Due to Rise of Women in the Teaching Profession
Era of Good Feelings/Market Revolution
American System
Growth of Factories/Industrialization
1839- Women Gain Right to Own and Control Property
Irish Potato Famine/Rapid Growth of Female Immigrant Workforce
Homestead Act
Series of Progressive Gains In Emancipation & Suffrage Movements

23. Economy
End of the Jeffersonian Era
Thomas Jefferson believed that women should be home
tending to the home, the hearth, and the husband. Women
stayed home and did chores and cooked, cleaned, and made
soap and shoes and many household items. Politics and
Industry/Trade were left to the men. With the departure of
Jefferson, women’s role started to shift into a more
independent nature…(varsitytutors.com)

24. Economy
Emergence of Educated Women
As it is true today, it was true then, that higher
education is a means to economic opportunity.
Higher education helped women to “realize
potentials lying beyond their traditional roles in
society.”(policy.hu)

25. Economy
Market Revolution
The Market Revolution in the mid- 1800’s gave
women reasons to get out of the house and work for
the first time, the economy was in the process of
shifting from an agrarian to an industrialized one.

26. Economy
The American System
The American System was a system of pro-
business tariffs, commerce and internal
infrastructure improvement, in which America
saw an explosion in the construction of roads
and canals, all of which helped to stimulate the
economy, and helped goods get to market.
Women started to get some “skin in the game”
on the work-front.

27. Economy
Industrialization
The American System and Infrastructure opened up the
Industrialization of the North, and factories began to spring up in
large numbers. Factories needed workers, women were still
marginalized, therefore more inexpensive to owners, and instantly
factories across the North were bustling with female wage workers.
Textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts were a good example of this
new phenomena.

28. Economy
Women Can Own & Control Property For the
First time
Mississippi Married Women's Property Law (1839), Miss. Laws, 1839, ch. 46,
p. 72.
"An Act for the protection and preservation of the rights of Married Women.
It was this law which marked the beginning of the realization that women, too, were entitled to their own
rights, land, property and protection thereof. It makes one wonder whether the law was initially intended
to protect one’s husband, should there be question of ownership upon the dissolution of marriage, or
whether it was really intended to protect the (married) woman. Nevertheless we have evolved; our modern
day laws are evidence of such, as they protect all women, regardless of marital status, but rather as
individuals.

29. Economy
Irish Potato Famine /Growth of Female
Immigrant Workforce
The Irish Potato Famine brought thousands of female workers to our shores…”Single Irish
women found work as cooks and maids in houses
belonging to wealthy families on Beacon Hill in Boston
and along Fifth Avenue in New York, and in most
other big cities. Many lived inside the homes in the
servants' quarters and enjoyed a standard of living
luxurious by comparison to the life they had known in
Ireland or in the tenements.” (historyplace.com)
https://youtu.be/0nOAQAZqvsw?t=9

30. Economy
Homestead Act of 1862
The Homestead Act was a great boon to women. Citizens were given stake to a claim of
160 acres, so long as they had never borne
arms against the U.S., lived on the land for
five years and implemented some type of
improvement to the land, after that period
title would revert to them. Congress
intentionally left the language ambiguous as
to who could obtain ownership, and women
jumped through the open loophole
unchallenged and started settling the West
alongside the men. (archives.gov)

31. Economy
Across the Board Gains in
Emancipation/Suffrage
The previously discussed Women’s Right Movement was
instrumental in helping Women to gain a voice and presence in
the American Economy.

32. Economy
Notably Successful Women in
19th Century America
1766- Mary Katherine Goddard
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Lucretia Mott
Lydia Pinkham
(www.entrepreneur.com)

33. Works Cited
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/politics-reform/essays/women-and-progressive-movement
http://study.com/academy/lesson/feminism-in-the-19th-century-womens-rights-roles-and-limits.html
http://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/19thcentury/womenandequality/
Study.Com; American Political, Religious & Personal Identity in the Early 19th Century, Chapter 1, Lesson 1;
(http://study.com/academy/lesson/american-political-religious-personal-identity-in-the-early-19th-century.html)
Quizlet Inc.; Woman Suffrage; 2016 (https://quizlet.com/3835647/womens-suffrage-flash-cards/)
IVCC Illinois University; Women in Literature (http://www2.ivcc.edu/gen2002/Women_in_the_Nineteenth_Century.htm)
Picture Source: (http://rplatero.wikispaces.com/file/view/048b.jpg/108557141/274x222/048b.jpg
Clark.edu; WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE CLASS IN THE 19TH CENTURY
(http://web.clark.edu/afisher/HIST253/lecture_text/WomenMiddleClass_19c_Europe.pdf
http://thehumanist.com/magazine/march-april-2012/features/jeffersons-women
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/91eJReL13Hc/maxresdefault.jpg
Scholastic Inc. Grolier online, 2016; History of Women's Suffrage(http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/suffrage/history.htm)
Picture Source: Library of Congress via Scholastic.com
Boundless. “Women and Church Governance.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Retrieved 02 Aug. 2016 from
https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-9e5d3c56-f48a-487c-835b-
cea71fc7aa09/gender-religion-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-1800s-556/women-in-the-early-republic-70/women-and-church-
governance-373-1723/
Digitalhistory.uh.edu; Overview of the Progressive Era; Digital History ID 2918 (http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=11)
UShistory.org; Social Change and National President, 22e. New Roles for White Women; (http://www.ushistory.org/us/22e.asp)

34. Works Cited (cont’d.)
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/homestead-act
https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/jefferson-primer/jeffersons-views-women
http://www.policy.hu/slantcheva/WomenEducation.html
https://socialchangecourse.wordpress.com/page/16/
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/america.htm
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217929

35. Group Participation
Document
The group made successful initial contact last weekend, in a group email. We then
coordinated through texting, emails, and a series of telephone discussions, and we
decided on a format for our project.
We then discussed various themes and then we assigned specific topics to each member,
after discussing each member’s likes/dislikes and strengths/weaknesses. The next step
was general debate on titles, fonts and how we should set the slides up.
We then proceeded to get to work on our individual topics, and had nightly video
conferences, emails and phone calls as necessary to answer each other’s questions and
also to peer review each other’s work.
All group members were equally engaged in the planning and execution of this project,
and Friday evening we had our final meeting to discuss our results and to make any last
minute changes, and at this time it is our unanimous group decision that our final product
is acceptable for submission.
Chris Gillis
Joe Mancinelli
Joe Burchill

36. Thank You For Watching…
Joe B., Chris G., and Joe M.