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History: Women in Colonial Society 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women in the colonial society
Early settlement
Importance of wifely obedience
The pros and cons of femininity
← The spiritual ideal
Puritans and quakers: spiritual equality
Quaker women’s
The puritan ideal
← Patriarchy Family
Men are the head.
Women’s main role is to be obedient.
← Husband is the patriarch
Wife is always subordinate
Wife is the Jr. partner but never to over rule the husband
Husband does not own the wife but rules her
← Wife wields some authority
Children
Servants
← Children are legally the Fathers possession
←
← These are all farming communities
Parenthood is a joint occupation
← Mothers have more day to day responsibility but father has more
authority
←← An individual’s gender had a direct impact on that person’s character
and place in society
←← Gender determines character
Rationality was linked to specifically males
Women were viewed as being lustful, vain, capricious, prone to hysteria,
more prone to succumb to evil forces. (18th century)
←← Women were more modest by nature, cheerful, graceful, affectionate,
sympathetic.
←← The women were told to cultivate the positive stereotypes to attract
men and to avoid the negative
←The church was the only social institution in which women could step out of
the patriarchal society.
Women could be active members of the church community, thus women
embraced this as their opportunity to step outside of their bounds.
New outlets for women are birthed through the puritan and quaker church
and women being spiritually equal.
The new view is that women and men are equal in view of God.
Women relied on their spirituality to help them cope with their place in the
patriarchal society, especially during the immigration.
Spiritual Individualism was a huge outlet for women.
Mid 1700: quakers settled in Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Egalitarianism of all members of society.
It is the start of an alternative role for women
This proposed a threat to society’s norm of womens role
← Quakers: There were no professional minister’s
All duties were carried out by members of the church none were
hired, all were equal.
This gave women unprecedented opportunities to step out of their
bounds.
Quakers believed anyone could receive salvation, inner light, and
this was reached inwardly not through another person.
←← Public Friend: Was like an official volunteer or guide to the Quakers
belief.
Women could even be “public friends”
Public friends traveled from town to town and meeting to meeting
sharing god’s work and word to other Quakers and quakers
communities
← George Fox: Founder of the Quakers
God makes no distinction between man or woman.
← About 60 public friends traveled to share gods work: about ½ which
were women who would proselytize this new doctrine upon other settlers.
←← Many of these women took this to the extreme and even to
martyrdom.
Mary Dyer- noted public friend who made many trips to boston hall
being rejected by the puritans.
She was finally hung bc of her persistence and frequent trips.
← The puritans view this egalitarianism view held by the Quakers as
being a threat to the patriarchal society view held by the puritans.
← The quakers began having separate womens meetings.
o Women played an active role in these meetings and had their
own rules and regulations, own finances, and even found
ways to contribute to the higher level regional meetings.
← Circular letters were passed from one meeting to the next and this tool
was utilized heavily by women to gain influence in the greater parts of the
quaker movement.
Running out to find husbands and wife’s is the single greatest threat to the
quakers and women fought and preached against this practice.
Those who married outside of the quaker society, they were expelled from
the communities. Even familiy members of those who married outside were
looked down upon as this causes a sort of contamination within the
community.
Women were called upon to exert their influence to keep families and their
members from marrying outside the quaker society.
Puritans embraced spiritual equality but in a different way and in a much
more controlled way.
Class 3 9/9/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← The puritan female ideal
“equality of souls”- with limits
church membership
← gender relations
husbands and wives
parents and children
women’s work
←← Puritans viewed allowing women places of authority in church is
viewed as destructive and unimaginable.
←← Key goal was to dramatically reform social order.
They wanted to fundamentally gut the English society of corruption.
Patriarchy must be the order of the day in the puritan family.
← Submission of women was just as vital in the home as it was in the
public eye.
←They view women as being spiritually equal however with limitations.
Puritans referred to themselves as saints, others mockingly gave them the
name “puritan”.
Puritans believed that church membership should not be given out to
everyone but only those who proved their piety.
Pre-destination
God is just yet God is merciful
Women were praised bc of their piety and their meekness, by playing the
role or rather hand that they were given.
Even with women’s public piety, they had limits
←← Puritans insisted on a high rate of literacy
Literacy was divided into two different things
Literacy was only reading, not writing.
Almost no girls were taught to write and even some boys were not
taught pending on their trade.
← Puritans believed that women’s brain’s were even weaker than men
thus they limited the education of women
←← Women’s education was strictly for their own use.
←← The term meddling was used to describe any and all unwanted
behavior from women
←Anne Hutchinson
arrived in boston in 1635
very intelligent
her intellect lead to her being very assertive and manipulative
had 15 children but 12 survived
full member of puritan church
her husband is a merchant and a public offical
their family has status in boston
she convinced her husband to move to boston to follow puritan
minister John Cotton
She was also a very skilled midwife
Summer of 1635 she began having meetings in which she invited
women to her home to recap the previous Sunday’s sermon
Rapidly grew in size and the women’s husbands began attending
Initially her efforts were applauded
She begins critiquing the sermons and interpreting the sermons
herself to the point of deeming some of the ministers heretics
She preached against the “ministry of works”
She preached the covenant of grace
At this point puritan leadership begins to frighten the leaders of the
church
Men that had beef with the ministers began to attend her meetings
out of anger for the leaders of the church
This religious debate turns to a power struggle with anne h. stuck in
the middle
A very large portion of boston protected her from the leaders of the
church
The Governor, John Winthrop, would not tolerate any sort of
disagreement.
Even Anne’s supporters could not save her from her persecution
She was arrested and convicted for heresy and sedition, and
ultimately was banned for the mass bay colony
←← The puritans knew that certain things must be changed once they
moved but one thing they never wanted to change was their Patriarchy
←← in 1670, a man was called by the magistrate and was ordered to
provide for his wife and lodge with her once a week.
←← Physical abuse to wives was outlawed
In England this was not so
←← Most laws that were enstated in the puritan colonies were to ensure a
societal harmony
←← Puritans allowed for divorce whereas this was not so anywhere else
The reason for them allowing for divorce is once again for a
harmonious society and social order.
Certain grounds must be met in order to be granted a divorce
← Divorce most frequently granted for desertion, bigamy, impotence
(only for males, females that were impotent would not be allowed for
divorce),
←
lecture 3 9.14.09t 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women’s Place in colonial society
Gender relations
Parents and children
← Womens work
Domestic responsibility
Deputy husbands
Women and paid labor
←← Colonial families have more kids than the brits and also marry several
years younger.
←← Children were beat regularly. “better to be ripped than damned.”
←← Women died freq during child birth 1 in 20 women.
←← Men are barred from having any part in child birth.
However men have a role in the socialization of their daughters
← Almost all education took part at home.
Only exception was wealthy families
Education was character training coupled with vocational training.
← The patriarchal set up did not interfere with the level of intimacy, for
the most part.
←
Lecture9/16/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women and witchcraft
Accusations and social conflict
Accusers and accused
← Witches in Salem
Community conflict
Outlet for personal grievances
Female aggression
Good wife
Consort- sexual partner
housewife
Mistress-
Lecture 9/30/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← I. Women in West Africa
Gender roles
Enslavement
← II African women in the colonies
Servants and slaves
Wives and mothers
Traders and market women
9/28/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← eptember 28, 2009
Women in the southern colonies – had the same
societal expectations, but the ways that women
would put it into practice was radically different
o Cash crops and indentured servitude –
southern colonies gained profit through
tobacco, rice and indigo, these are cash crops,
concernes with tobacco plants: the plants
exhaust the soil which meant that you needed
a lot of land to get large crops of it, this
creates disperse community, no sense of
community but is more about individualism
and profit, tobacco also requires a lot of labor
because there are so many different steps (18
months to bring it into marketplace), this is a
real problem initially, no labor for hire in the
colonies because all people have just been
given land for settling there, solution was
found in enland since they had labor in
abundance, “sturdy beggars”, developed
indentured servitude (aka contracted labor),
these are the lowest ladder of English society,
the english fear that they are going to harm
English society, indentured servitude drains
them out of england and colonies have
workers, colonist pays for your transportation
and you pay back cost of passage by working
for 5 yrs, at the end of 5 yrs they can have
their own headright, this is a very powerful
draw because the English nobility have all the
land, this means land=status, environment in
south is very unhealthy (mosquitoes and
diseases etc), indentured servants knew they
could die, indentured servitude worked and
created large profits for farmholders, contracts
could also be sold and bought, this becomes a
source of currency, average servant=25yrs
and male, men outnumber women 6 to 1, very
odd demographic, indentured servitude had a
side benefit for instructing social discipline
because the master is required to regulate
behavior of servants, had the responsibility to
beat them due to poor performance, could
increase contract if they ran away, servants
couldn’t marry until after contract is up, they
have to have a long period of celibacy, female
servants often punished harshly for pregnancy
(this was a concern because the master would
lose her work for a period of months, not due
to moral views), this was quite common, it
became possible that masters might be
responsible, worry that masters get them
pregnant so that they can add to their
contracts, passed a law that pregnant
servants are turned over to another master for
the rest of the term, child is taken away and
bound out to service themselves, women
servants complained that they had to work
harder than their counterparts in England,
English society had a strict limit on jobs that
women could do but the colonies didn’t and
women required to do male tasks like working
in the fields, because of gender demographics
the women servants could marry who they
pleased (more or less) and alter their status,
choice is solely up to the woman (no family
obligations etc), could be independent and
have a choice, but they could also be taken
advantage of and manipulated, when a
woman married she would now be responsible
of her own servants, this change of status
would have been unheard of in England,
o Wives and mothers – 1 in 10 died in childbirth,
these immigrants married relatively late into a
high mortality rate, produce few children, no
concern about suppressing fertility but
maximizing it, did this by using wet nurses,
the well ordered family as a commonwealth
was very slow to develop in the southern
colonies, in fact there is a sense of
impermanence in family life, more step
families and strong patriarchal authority was
limited, kids have high chance of their
parent’s dying, also had fragmentary
extended family groups, “modern” family
structure because they are very nuclear, knew
that few fathers would see their sons reach
adulthood, southerners had to come up with
another solution, wives were required to carry
out plans for the future of their children,
women often exeters of the estate, men also
gave property to their wives since there was
so much uncertainty about who would survive
and land was abundant, so that she could be
self-sufficient, 10% of planter class were
therefore women, deputy husband is taken to
the extreme, this isn’t to empower women but
to adjust to the unique circumstances in the
south, couples given freedom of choice to
marry,
Women’s place in southern society
o Domesticity and subordination – native born
daughters of servants married young (19) due
to shortage of women and life expectancies,
none of the southern colonies allowed divorce,
, marriage as the only path for women,
o Gender and race – slavery creates
complications for women in southern colonies
both black and white.
10/5/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women and the law
Womens legal status
Women as dependents
Widow’s rights
← Limitations on legal right
Liabilities of married women
Restrictions on single women
←←← its not about empowering women but keeping the best interest of the
community
←← women autonomy was not the interest of the laws
←← when women married, status changes to FEME COVERT
no ability to decide anything, husbands right
←← women are not fighting for autonomy either
←← household production became a marker of status and increased
women’s visibility
←← widow’s have a dramatic expansion of legal rights
but their economic position is much harder
← widows are no longer feme covert, they are FEME SOLE
dower right- gives women 1/3 of husbands property, and 1/3 of real
estate
← widow’s can reject husbands will and accept dower right if the
husbands will is less.
←← Cant sell real estate after husbands death
←
10/7/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women and the American Revolution
Patriotism and domestic virtue
Public participation
← The effects of Independence
No change in legal status
Domestic politics and the rise of companionate marriage
Republican motherhood
←← Debrah Sampson- war heroine
Served in war, wasn’t found out until very sick.
Dishonorable discharge
Husband applied for widows pension, was granted.
←← Tea was the only item that was still taxable by the britian.
←← Women are trying to make tea substitutes in order to boycott tea.
←← Coffee becomes the favored beverage of American.
10/12/2009 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Republican Motherhood
Changing attitudes about women
Changing expectations of women
← The cult of domesticity
Women’s separate sphere
Social significance of domesticity
Female moral superiority
←← Most education even still was reserved for male, not female.
←← Critics argued that too much education would make them unsuitable
for marriage.
Women overly educated were seen as more masculine mentally and
with their mannerisms
←← There is an enhanced view of domesticity in this period was due to the
fact that women were wanting to emerge from traditional roles. The reason
for this is also because society wanted to glamorize being domestic so that
there would be no disputes.
←← Women now begin to be responsible for morality in the home and
spirituality as well
Big change from previous roles
←← Domestic sphere of women- expected to devote themselves to their
house work and their world outside of their husbands
←← The Cult of Domesticity
The paradigm change of womens role in the home
o Devoting themselves entirely to domesticity
o Instill values in to their home
o True fulfillment would be gained only thru their contributions
domestically
← This cult of domesticity opens up a cultural divide between
men and women in the 19th century
Women now view their job as shaping the future society
In 1800, birth rate in America was highest in the world. 7 or 8
10 years after, a steady decline
1850, avg women had 5 or 6
maternal affection was directly linked to morality in children growing up
women maintain their relationship with each other through extended visits
and correspondence ect.
Men were very distant in the writing of women. Women expressed their
affection for one another, not necessarily for men.
Women view each other as kindred souls, not as competition.
Character traits were view as being gender specific
Men- assertive, materialistic, competitive,
Women- dependent, affectionate, benevolent, self-sacrificing, pious,
ect.
← These traits are innate
←With the emergence of middle class, women are looked upon as moral
superiors to males.
18th century women were view as lustful, now they are view as pure in the
19th century.
Women are viewed as lacking all sexual desire.
10/14/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women’s status in the south
Impact of slavery
United opportunities for women
Purity and piety
← Women and slavery
White women’s attitudes towards slavery and slaves
White images of black women
←← white women were always subordinate to men
←← a women’s appearance is every bit as important as her character
appearance was equivalent to piety
fine line as well bc women did not want to appear too fashionable
dress must line up with type of work
corset was most important, worn at all times
o corset was a sign of piety
←← 20 in waist was ideal.
←← Women wrote about sorrows
← Men tended to write more verbose and haughty
←← white women did not want slaves to go to heaven
←
10/19/2009 9/2/09 3:35 PM
Black women and slavery
women and work
motherhood and family
marriage and gender roles
← Black Women’s Bodies
Morality and the slave community
Jezebel and mammy
←← Black women are denied the cult of domesticity
←← Cotton as a cash crop demands a large work force.
←← Free black people were thought to incite rebellion
←← adult women are ¾ hands
← children are ½ hands
← adult men are full hands
←← post menopausal women work harder t
←← creating a family gave black slaves a personal meaning
←←←
10/26/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
10/28/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Westward migration
The overland journey a man’s world
o Maintaining distinct gender roles
← Women in the west
Creating families and communities
Expanded opportunities for women
← Something resembling equality occurs but not fully
←← wagon trails were the way to travel in groups
←← women would pack iron stoves, rocking chairs, and other sorts
←← women’s mode of dress is influence bc of their “moral superiority” and
not one woman wore trousers
←← women given the opportunity to become nurses, ministers,
missionaries, teachers
←← much more control over their marriages
←← yankee husbands are suppose to be the best bc they understand the
cult of domesticity
←← women begin taking deliberate steps towards equality and feel a sense
of responsibility to do so
←← mormon’s are looked down upon and are seen as brothels
←
11/2/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Mexican women on the frontier
Social and legal independence
White migration and cultural conflict
Racial segregation
← Chinese women: a minority within a minority
Limitations on female migration
Chinese women in the American west
Mexican women kept maiden name and could own their own land
Mexy women outnumbered men
Mexican women were viewed as women of little virtue
Mexican women danced with partners in public, anglos looked down on that
Betraying own morality was betraying family morality
Anglo American men referred to their Mexican wives as being Spanish to
alieviate the negative stigma
They want to remain culturally different
1100 chinese immigrants and only 7 were women
11/4/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women and the reform impulse
Perdectionism and reform
Utopan communitie
←← Reform and womens bodies
Voluntary motherhood
Free love
Dress reform and other cures
←←← Perfectionism helps the women have a greater sense of cures
←← Improving marriage is the building block of the new “reform”
←← How does one improve their marriage?
←← The shakers embraced celibacy in order to free women of the
oppression
←← Onida was planning an alternative goal FOR WOMEN.
←← MONOGAMY WAS FORBADE
←← gov made info on birth control illegal
←← in the 1800 ave women 78 children
← 1900 lowered to 3-4 children
Forced love is when one spouse is not accepting the sexual offereing
Victoria woodhull
smart, articularte, and draws a cause
← Stanton said that women have the right to be soverign in their
decisions regarding marriage
←
← Dress reform is one of the most important reforms of the age.
←
11/9/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Female associations
Addressing social problems
Women as abolitionists
Concern with the plight of female slaves
← Abolition and the woman
←← the institution of slavery was not looked highly upon as people thought
that they would be judged harshly due to slavery.
It was a selfish motive that caused abolition of slavery bc they did not want
to be judged harshly not out of concern of the slaves.
1837 anti slavery conventions
women start becoming more of an active voice
pronounced radical movement
← women feel elevated by commitment though they went through
hardships due to their freverence
←← Crandel admitted a black girl to her academy
All of the white students were withdrawn
Crandel then opened doors to all black girls
Repeatedly arrested and convicted
←← women are now prepared to move beyond traditional activism as they
form and official group of : AMERICAN ANTISLAVERY SOCIETY
founded in 1831
o moved beyond
← 1836 many women speakers begin holding rallies
maria stewart (first black spokesperson)
man was known as the public reformers and women were the private
reformers but the AAS started changing those views as their organization
became more public.
11/11/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women and moral reform
Religious motivation
Prisons and asylums
Temperance: the danger of drink
Anti prostitiution
← Women’s rights
Activism sparks calls for change
Legal reform
Women begin to be applauded for their reform efforts
←← Starts to become criticized when they begin to take action further with
petitions and actual movement beyond their traditional roles.
←← Most middle class white women were drawn to the cause but they were
drawn to the private cause.
←← Women begin establishing maternal societies
Purpose to share methods of raising optimal offspring
←← Women in urban areas begin moving out more quickly and more
activist driven
←← what drives women to reform are issues that deal with other women
←← women began starting Sunday schools in order to help instill values
and religion to the poor
←← no outcry against this bc this Is considered a logical step in their roles
← Sunday schools branch off into orphanages and other shelters
←← Providence employment society
Created in 1830 to help employ poor women.
Was a garment business and also was underwritten by other middle
class women
← When questioned about this organization, the women responded this
was just a logical extension in their role as managers of the home and also
this was a way to reach out to other hurting women.
←← Organizations had a structure
← The reason that the women had the aptitude to create this corporate
structure is from their husbands, brothers, fathers who were directly involved
in commerce
←← they see their activism as a way to influence the society as a whole, to
give them a sense of comrodery outside the home.
←← The women view this as filling a mission not as trying to over throw the
norm
←← Class is more important to them then their gender
Participating in these activism activities was a way to show their
status
Also participation in activism deepens the divide between poor
women and middle class, separating them even further rather then
bringing them together
← Dorthia Dicks
Leader in asylum activism
Began teaching Sunday school to women in MA that were in prisons
and began noticed there were many mentally retarded women as
well.
The condition women were kept in was startling
Her outrage turned into activism
She brought this into the attention to the state and took the cause
nationwide.
Requested that the insane and mentally retarded would be
housed separate from criminals
Women began viewing drinking as a classless act
Middle class women were never to drink in public
Men who were heavy drinkers hurt their families financially, and drunk
husbands were abusive, etc.
Prostitution starts to become more visible in society
Men are not happy about this
Women began standing outside brothel and protesting the prostitutes
Women began trying to advocate for more legal rights
In 1839 Mississippi passed legal provisions that previously did not
exist
← By 1860, states considered giving women the right to control their own
earnings, NY.
←
10/16/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
10/18/09 9/2/09 3:35 PM
← Women and the Civil War
The war effort: women’s rights activities haulted
Women as volunteers at home and at war
← Effects of the war on women’s lives
New attitudes
New opportunites
1861 a womens org wrote another org saying that pushing for women’s
rights is going to be counteractive
women are beginning to use their domestic skills for the war and also to
raise money to supply military hospitals and other things
Sanitary commissions key responsibilities were to supply the hosipital and to
staff the hospitals
Women from north and south are positioning themselves for activism
Pulling resources and doing whatever they can, ex knitting socks,
and baking, ect.
Refreshment saloons made to help boost morale
Women representatives are sent to the front line to distribute the supplies
Women found nothing but complete chaos
←← Annie wittenmyer
←← clara barton- found the sanitary and practices of the military hospital
becomes an agent to the sanitary org
←← Women justify their new responsibilities as being an extension of their
duties and they were just looking towards the better of the community
←← women have not been given the opportunity to be professional nurses
only exception were catholic nuns
the civil war brought on this opportunity to be professional nurses
←
← Nurses are treated with disrespect by army dr
Army dr said that women are unfit as nurses bc they are annoying,
incapable of dealing with bodies of strange men, that they were too
weak, not prudent enough,
← Women begin to dominate the nursing field
←← Mary Walker Edwards
Given Congressional Award of Honor but it is stripped from her due
to the fact she dressed more manly
In 1919 award is re-enstated posthumously
← White women took all responsibility in taking on all of the slaves.
←← The myth of female dependence is cast aside due to the war effort
←←← Women begin to increase in numbers that graduate from hs and
college and a whole other host of opportunites expand due to the war
←← and the