In a time period where change was inevitable and rapid, the revolutionizing image of females as a gender sky rocketed from the events during 1815-1860.
The Second Great Awakening embarked on a rebellion against issues that had been overlooked by some, and disregarded by others for years. Issues included prison reform, the temper cause, the crusade to abolish slavery and most significantly, the women’s movement. The thing that sparked women’s movement through the Second Great Awakening was the fact that middle class women, the wives and daughters of businessmen, were huge enthusiasts of religious revivalism.Making up the majority of new church members, it became the feminization of religion.
Charles Grandison Finney, an evangelist who was said to have converted over half a million people and be the greatest of all revival preachers, had his own comments on the situation in his memoir. He reminisces about a convert he had done in New York in 1831, and the impact his prayer and faith had on women of that time period. Mrs. M.
(a content woman, fond of society) was convinced by another Christian woman to see him. At first the girl was doubtful of his interference and also feared of a revival, but after prayer she settled into a joyous faith.He claims that “from that moment, she was out-spoken in her religious convictions and zealous for the conversion of her friends” (Document A) This just shows female eagerness over man to adapt to being faithful. Off of that enthusiasm they branched into saving the rest of society, doing things such as forming charitable organizations. But this was only the beginning of feminization in America… After the excitement of the revival, art colleges and state supported universities were formed.
On the other hand, women’s education was looked down upon in early 1800’s.In the 1820’s though, women schools at the secondary level became respected and finally in 1837 Ohio opened it doors to both genders at Oberlin College. Ridiculous theories still were considered and implied though, saying that too much learning would injure the female brain and it made women unfit to be a bride. That was an aspect that quickly changed once the Industrial Revolution emerged and factories boomed. The fertility rate dropped dramatically (average of 6 children), and women slowly began to be toiled in factories under poor conditions.Women with granted opportunities mainly worked in nursing, domestic service, and teaching.
In Lowell, Massachusetts a model textile mill employed young, single women under a watchful eye. In a letter from a Lowell mill girl in 1844, she describes her work schedule, which occasionally ranged to 13 hours in the factory per day. Although provided breaks, she states the girls’ annoyed beliefs saying that “laboring girls can say, who think nothing is more tedious than a factory life. ” (Document B) An opportunity for women in the workplace was still extremely rare, but becoming more known.Still under the impression of becoming a ideal bride, women worked before marriage and then became housewives/mothers.
In the family, women were also becoming in charge of a new trend, a child centered environment. This differed from in the past where childhood was short and tough. During the Age of Reform, middle class women played a big part in the reform crusades, finding it as a way to get out of the house and enter public affairs. Not only was the reform about evangelists and the market revolution, but criminal codes and laws were lightened, mocking the European practices.A problem that was brought to Dorothea Dix (the superintendent of women nurses, and an opinionated reformer) that those diagnosed of mental illnesses was being treated with superior cruelty.
Carrying this awareness with her and trying to put a stop to it, she traveled some sixty thousand miles in eight years. After observing asylums cruelty first hand she said in her petition of 1843 to the Massachusetts legislature that “[the patients were] Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience! ” (Document D) Despite becoming a small part of the workplace, women were still considered “the submerged sex”.They (along with African slaves) could not vote, could be legally beaten with a “reasonable instrument”, and could not own property after marriage. At this time in history ten percent of adult women were single, although gender segregation was increased during the burgeoning economy because it was putting sexual categories into separate economic roles. In an editorial from Godey’s Lady’s Book, she says that human nature was doing wrong by putting the “mother whom God constituted the first teacher of every human being has been degraded by men from her high office”.She makes a valid point by talking about the fact that if they (society) had taken the time to improve the minds of females our nation would be a different place.
(Document C) Some women were now beginning to feel caged in as homemakers, and as the halfway point of the century approached female reformers got more powerful. Opinionated women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton advocated suffrage for women. The women’s rights movement skyrocketed when The Seneca Falls Convention took place in New York (1848), where the “Declaration of Sentiments” was read declaring that “all men and women are created equal”.This included requests for the ballot for females. In a petition to the Massachusetts legislature in 1853 it protests that not only should women be entitled to vote but to be eligible for office. It states its demands by quoting the Declaration that “while property and labor of women are subject to taxation, she is entitled to a voice in fixing the amount”.
(Document F) The picture of women taking a leap into the role of America was mentally and physically pictured across the nation. A portrait in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in 1851 was drawn up.It illustrated women walking into a room wearing dresses and feminine hats but also having male features, smoking cigars and wearing pants underneath there dresses. This shows the intimidation man and society felt by the strong women rights movements and the brave women leaders that were surfacing.
(Document E) American women in general have evolved a tremendous amount throughout history; and we are still improving. However, if it wasn’t for the females that lived in 1815-1860 we wouldn’t be half as far as we are today in the conquest of making all mankind equal.
