1. Unit 3: Reforming American Society
American History 9 Mr. Feeney
Lucretia Mott
Elizabeth Cady Stanton

2. Women’s Roles in 1800’s Cult of Domesticity
Women were expected to marry and have children. Their primary duties after marriage were household chores and raising a family it became the Cult of Domesticity.
1850- One in five white women worked for wages (N/M)
1850- One in ten white women worked for wages (M)
Women’s Rights: 1800’s
Women could not vote, sit on a jury, they had to pay taxes. Her property and money becomes her husband’s upon marriage. She can even lose guardianship over her children to her husband, if something would happen to her marriage.

3. Women Reform Movements
Temperance Movement
The effort to prohibit the drinking of alcohol, which also supported increasing rights for the church and women.
Education: There were few schools open for women in the 1820’s, but more continued to open through the 1830’s.
Colleges were rare, but could be found in New England.
Health Care: Women faced serious health issues related to their corsets, so women created “bloomers.” (Pants)
Sarah and Angelina Grimke
Southern Abolitionist sisters that fought to free slaves and eventually turned their attention to the rights of women. They opened schools for girls in the south.

4. Women’s Rights Movements
Seneca Falls 1848
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott held a women’s rights conference in New York. They proposed a “Declaration of Sentiments” similar to the Declaration of Independence. Near 300 men and women were encouraged to participate in public affairs. Passed a bill,
“to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” Suffrage, right to vote(The Americans, 1997.)
Sojourner Truth, a freed slave traveled around the country to preach about abolition and women’s rights. She published her memoirs titled, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave.

5. The Changing Workplace
Early 19th Century
Mid 19th Century
Women worked in the home
Women worked in the mills
Sewed using natural fibers
Used the textile machinery
Hand-spun natural textiles
Split with their families and created new communities
Raised their children
Established professional relationships between employer and employee
Supported their husbands
Household chores/labor
Pioneered textile industry

6. Manufacturing Timeline
1820’s- Cottage Industry booms and several small textile firms open in New England and make money.
1830’s- Francis Cabot Lowell and entrepreneurs open several large-scale textile factories in Waltham (Lowell), MA, using the IR’s new Power Loom to produce mass quantities of textiles in New England.
They hired 6,ooo employees and made $6 million.
The use of mass production, interchangeable parts, and low wages/long hours aided the remarkable textile industry boom in New England.

7. Lowell, Massachusetts Conditions in the Factories
Long Days/ Long Weeks- 12 hours a day and six days a week
Hot, dark, humid, very poor ventilation
Required to increase pace, without hiring more workers
They could be fined if they came or returned to work late
In 1834, mill owners passed a 15% wage cut to all employees
STRIKE!!! “UNION IS POWER” 1834
Women wanted to maintain wages and went on strike, they were convinced to return to work for lower wages by the clergy.
1836- Strike II: They went on strike over a 12.5% wage cut, and recruited many strikers, but in the end the strike ended badly.

8. Labor Issues European Immigration
Several million German and Irish immigrants come to America between , and worked long hours for low wages.
The Great Potato Famine- Led to a mass increase of Irish immigrants to US cities, the Irish would work for low wages in poor conditions, and they were often called, strikebreakers.
National Trades’ Union- 1834: Workers from six industries formed to enforce proper working conditions or they threatened to strike, union disbanded in (strikes illegal)
Commonwealth v. Hunt- 1842: MA Supreme Court ruled that workers could serve their own interests and protect labor rights. 5,000 people were union members in the US (1842).

9. Conclusion
“The religious and social reform movements in the nation in the mid-19th century went hand in hand with economic changes that set in place the foundation for the modern American economy. While some Americans poured their efforts into reforming society, others sought new opportunities for economic growth and expansion. As the nation adjusted to the newly emerging market economy, migration west became a popular option.”
-(The Americans, 1997)

10. Formative Assessment
1. How did the Temperance Movement help to advance the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the US?
2. Compare and contrast the changing workplace in the US between 1800 and Supply examples and evidence from each of the two time periods.
3. Think critically about the working conditions of the factory workers and the trade unions. How have they improved or changed in the last 150 years?