DBQ #6: Changing Roles of Women

Starting in 1815, American society began to change drastically. This was due to two very important events happening: the revolution of industry and the Second Great Awakening. Technology advanced greatly with the invention of the telegraph, the sewing machine, and the assembly line. Agriculture also prospered with the mechanical thresher, a tractor with a steam engine, and the reaper, used to harvest wheat. The Second Great Awakening spread religious zeal and Evangelical ideas throughout America. The Evangelicals promoted education for everyone and applying God’s plan to human institutions. The changes being caused by these two monumental events inspired a number of reform movements, including a campaign for women’s’ rights. Between 1815 and 1860, women evolved from subservient homemakers in the cult of domesticity to leaders and workers. They began to hold actual jobs in factories, had more power in their households due to education, and became more important in society when they took part in the religious revival and in protesting for other reform movements at the time.

When colonists first settled in America, the job of a woman was difficult but not considered to be very important. She was to bear children, cook, clean, and usually undertake other tasks such as sewing, spinning, or occasionally raising animals. Very little changed before the Revolution. After, however, a woman’s job shifted with the new concept of republican motherhood. She was still expected to care for the house, but was now given an actual “important” responsibility. She was in charge of the household and of raising the children to be good Americans. This job, while significant, still confined women to their homes and did not allow them to earn money, forcing them to continue to depend on their husbands for everything, making it impossible for them to be independent. After the start of the Reform Movement, however, this changed, too. Women began to find jobs in factories and mills with other women, such as the Lowell Mill, which was written about in a letter from one of its workers (doc. B). They had to work very long hours and earned little pay compared to that of male workers. Many women also found the work to be “tedious,” but others, such as the writer of the letter, saw the positive side. This work was far from perfect, but it was a step toward positive change for women.

[Note: I didn't remember if you wanted us to include the extra credit about the thresher and the reaper in the essay or just in a post at the end, so I'm doing both. The mechanical thresher was a tractor with a steam engine and the reaper was a tool used to harvest wheat.]