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The US Family In The 19th Century

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Throughout the course of history, the U.S society has changed dramatically due to numerous historical and cultural events, which have significantly impacted as well as shaped our present. As a basic unit in society, family plays a crucial role in one’s life. It is therefore important to understand the structure of a family and how it has changed over time. In the book of The American Family, Peterson del Mar (2011) discusses the U.S family history by elaborating numerous historical events, with a focus on addressing the movement of “obligation to freedom”. While family structures in the U.S. have changed over time, the history of U.S. family can also be understood from various perspectives since the U.S. society has become more and more diverse. More specifically, the change of gender norms plays a critical role in the change of family structure. Aligned with major historical events that happened in the U.S, the history of U.S family could also be understood from the movement of “domination to equality”.
Before European migrants coming to North America, native Americans had lived in this continent for centuries, and people heavily relied on hunting, gathering and agriculture, which were essential for people to survive during that period of time. Because of the nature of the society, men were expected to be good at hunting and women were …show more content…

These events would be the Industrial Revolution and Civil War, and both play crucial roles in changing gender roles as well as in increasing the status of women. With the innovation of technology, Industrial revolution was a milestone of the change of gender norms as well as women’s status since the occurrence of the industrial revolution had created and brought tremendous job opportunities to the U.S. societies. Being financially independent has become a key factor of gender

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Andrea’s Coming of Age For the thousands of years that humans have been living on earth, a vast majority of that time, we have been hunter-gathers. In the traditional Native American culture, the men went out and hunted for food while the women stayed home and cooked, took care of the family, and made clothes. It was the woman’s role in society to take care of the family and make sure the house was running smoothly. In contrast, it was the male’s sole job to protect and feed their family.

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The nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution in Europe marked a major turning point in European industry and production. Factories became the main source of production of goods, as a focus on agriculture decreased. Women began to work outside the home, performing the tasks they had done at home in the past now in factories, often under poor conditions for little pay. Women’s experiences in the factories of the Industrial Revolution served as a definite indication of a shift in European gender roles, through women’s transition from agriculture-related employment to working in factories, and the little pay they received, although men still expected women to care for the children and the home, as per the stereotypical gender standards of the time.

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However, with the coming and the completion of the American Revolution, women’s status did change slightly. In fact, women’s position improved the greatest of the aforementioned groups. Nevertheless, women were treated inferior before the Revolution was common. Part of this could be that women lacked an education similar to men’s.

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Surprisingly, Native American women had more freedom than the white women in the Chesapeake, Middle Colonies, or New England region. Some Native American women were given rights such as controlling land, political power, marriage and divorce in choice. There were matrilineal kinship system, in fact, marriage was not the most top rite of passage for them. The author covers around the 1600s- 1800s century time period while focusing on mainly white women but also women of color.

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While family structure has changed dramatically since the 1950’s, what current changes are we seeing; and how is it affecting the roles to which we play in a compromising world. In the 1950’s families consisted of a head of household (the Father), the house wife (or mother); and their offspring (the children). The father’s duty was to bring home the bacon, while making end meets for his family, while the wife stayed home and cared for the children, the elderly; and took on the household duties. These families usually lived in the suburbs, where they raised their children; while teaching them the proper ways of life. During this time in history, young women were expected to find a mate through persuasion, then get hitched; and eventually produce an offspring.

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In American culture control over key resources seems to be the most important to the gender stratification. Throughout time, women in America were not equal to men. The men in most cases earned money for the household, held political position, could vote, and own property. Women were there to take care of the children and the household. Over time women began to take on roles outside of the household.

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Some women who tried to go against the set norms in most cases were ridiculed and scorned. Such actions made the American women also believed that being at home, caring, and supporting their family was their only duty (Wishart

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American Women in the Late 1800’s Were married American women in the late 1800’s expected to restrict their sphere of interest to the home and the family? In the late 1800’s women were second-class citizens. Women were expected to limit their interest to the home and family. Women were not encouraged to obtain a real education or pursue a professional career. After marriage, women did not have the right to own their own property, keep their own wages, or sign a contract.

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Typical Native American and African society was often matrilineal. This meant that familial relationships were divided through the maternal line, rather than the paternal one like in Europe. This provided women in these societies a great more power and authority than it did in Europe. Women often were involved in making and influencing decision making in the tribe or group. To Europeans, this type of gender egalitarianism was not just foreign but also considered savage.

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Economic dependency was upon the men. They were bringing in all of the money for the household. When the Industrial Revolution began to take place, women were dragged into factories and forced to do jobs that were outside of their comfort zone. A gender hierarchy existed within most households. Women were below men at the time.

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Family America through it first 170 years of existence was a volatile place to live. It was a grand experiment which the people as the subjects and the experimenters(Alexander Hamilton). Very few things experienced more change than family structure. When the country was first formed society was dominated by men, with females as second class citizens. Children were largely left to their own devices until they started an apprenticeship of some sort ().

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Throughout the last century there have been major changes in families. There has been a major transformation of family life and there is no longer a “typical” family that people aim to achieve. All families are different and there is no longer the superficial sameness of families. Some major changes that have risen in the last century that have come to people’s attention is, marriage, cohabitation, divorce, and diverse family structures. Each person has their own concept of their typical family and I will describe my position on how these changes have affected people.

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When growing up in urban neighborhoods it has been demonstrated that families do not always live perfect lives. Due to different circumstances in life as society changes, a family can transform into a different kind of family, opposed to the happy one they were when things were at a fresh start. In the journal, Communication Studies, authors Douglas L Kelley and Debra L Sequeira said: “The last two decades have witnessed the rise of an American society sensitized to family issues,” (1). Once the family structure changed inside of America’s homes America found a way to shape the nation around the dysfunctional family, eventually creating an expectation for a family to be dysfunctional instead of America’s original perception of how a family should be. Even though the journal pinpoints a time period of two decades ago, the idea of a dysfunctional family has been present for much longer.

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“The Changing American Family” by Natalie Angier states, “Fictive families are springing up among young people, old people, disabled people, homeless people, and may well define one of the ultimate evolutions of the family concept, maximizing, as they do, the opportunities for fulfillment of specific social and economic needs outside the constraints of biological relatedness.” The ever changing social dynamics and circumstances of this life have opened the definition of family to encompass individuals who can fill those deep-seated needs

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