Dbq Womens Rights

DBQ The United States has gained a reputation of equality and social democracy. Religious tolerance and freedom of speech were rights that were said to be revolutionary. However, an entire section of the population was excluded from these promises of social and economic improvement—women. After the American Revolution, “republican motherhood,” the idea that women were responsible for guarding the nation’s values and passing them on to the countries youth, had taken hold in American society.

The “cult of domesticity” was developed to only allow woman to influence their children at home.While “republican motherhood” and the “cult of domesticity” were embraced by most people as the ideal of American womanhood, these goals were not achievable by all women. Through the years from 1776 and the outbreak of the Civil War, women’s roles changed immensely. In this DBQ it shows three years where the roles of the women changed most drastically. From 1776 to 1837, 1838 to 1853, and 1854 until 1863. The first Great Awakening and other religious movements often gave women a greater sense of equality within the church.

However, because women were some of the most faithful members of the religious movements, they were often regarded morally superior to men. This moral supremacy led to society’s view that women were responsible for safeguarding the country’s values. However, at the same time Old World beliefs that man were more intelligent than woman, restrained women from government and economic employment. The “cult of domesticity” believed that woman should stay at home at educate the children. As a result, teaching was a profession dominated by females.This caused the ideas of the “republican motherhood” and the “cult of domesticity” to be further engrained into society.

We see this in documents A, B and C. In document A it is talking about a poor woman from Philadelphia, who gives up everything for her family. She hasn’t but any non essentials and is now beginning to knit to cut down spending on coats and hats. In document B it says that women need to teach children. In homes, at school and at church.

Woman need to teach their children principles of liberty and government. Lastly, in document C it shows us a chart of what jobs women had in 1837.The women were very limited in their job opportunities and therefore had very traditional jobs like making hats, textiles and teaching. While middle-class women were tied by the established ideas of women, lower-class and black women were not even able to accomplish the objectives that society placed on them.

Many young women, especially in industrialized areas, were forced to work in factories in order to support their family. The Lowell Mill girls worked in semi-acceptable conditions and were supervised. They were obligated to attend church.However, these girls did not have any hope of economic advancement because the higher levels of business were allotted to men. Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton worked to make nursing a respectable occupation, but women still had very few career options aside from teaching, nursing or working in factories.

Just as we see in document F, Sarah Bagley writes a letter to her friend telling her that working in the factory is a great job. It says that Sarah thought it would be horrible to work in the factory, but she was forced to so that she could support her family.But in the end she loved it. Secondly, in document G it says that women did not want to try and put down men by getting educated.

All they wanted to do was raise themselves in the chain of command. They believe they should have more say not that men should have less. White women were generally bound by “the cult of domesticity” but black women, free and slave, were unable to practice the ideals of “republican motherhood. ” Black women were often torn apart from their families through slavery. Some black women were promised freedom if they had a certain amount of children.The black family was often destroyed by the legal rights of their masters.

No white man could be punished for forcing himself on a slave. Also, black slaves were forbidden to marry. The black women were taught to admire and copy “republican motherhood” and the “cult of domesticity,” but most often were denied the opportunity to do so. Just as we see in documents H, I, and J. In document H it is written that slaves were not people.

They were property; the slaves hated their masters but could do nothing about it. In document I it says that John hired a man to work in the fields.But, after the corn harvesting began the man fled. So the wife shouldered all of the work and realized that women can do just as much as men.

Although the United States society praised “republican motherhood” and the “cult of domesticity, social and economic factors forced many young women to abandon the home in order to work. Reformers and feminists who wanted to achieve political equality with men were tethered to the house. The entire populations of enslaved black women were completely denied the opportunity to practice these ideals. Eventually, women gained suffrage by the passage of the 19th Amendment.