Life In 19th Century America

Comparing life in America between the 19th century and the 1920s entails not only the observation of changes in lifestyle, social concepts and structures, but also in the way that mundane life is affected and changed. This means that the domestic and social life of both men and women, old and young, have shown relative changes that comes from the way that social and industrial changes have happened in the American society. From this perspective, the way that the way people lived, the way they used new inventions for the convenience of their lifestyles, and the different forms of jobs that they have taken under the two different eras can provide deeper insight and broader information about the way that time and the different generations differ,

Transportation is mainly devised through the use of horse-drawn carriages as well as the main form of land transport – which is the train and the railroad. Ports are also comprised of steamboats. This makes transportation in the 19th century to comprise more manual labor for the people, since the trains are powered by steam rather than engine, and boats are powered also by steam. Coal then is a major necessity during this time, in order to make the train and the boats move. Railroads are also an important element in the form of transportation since this is the one, which connects cities to cities, the urban and the rural areas. Roads are either dirt road towards the rural areas, or cobbled within the urban areas. Aside from this, domestic life in the 19th century is comprised of several artifacts that are used every usually the wood or coal powered stove. Cooking, rearing the children, and every household chore is basically given as the role or tasks of the women and therefore they are educated into fulfilling such roles. Men, on the other hand, are given the role of providing for their families, either through manual labor or through professional jobs, such as surgeons, lawyers, businessmen, and the likes. This shows that the social structure between men and women are already divided in the Victorian era; and this has become a major influence on the way

Because of the formal, often somber and conservative social values of the 19th century, people are less vocal in their opinions, especially women. Their main form of entertainment is also defined through various sports, and thus the concentration of values and moral principles is based on the community. However, the 1920s enabled more people to become vocal about their opinions, especially about politics. Women have become a part of the working force, making them have the ability to do acts that are only attributed to men. Smoking in public, wearing a shorter skirt and wearing shorter hair, for instance, has become popular among women. Entertainment is also directed to radio and motion pictures, making the American society more liberated in terms of its choice of values to follow and moral principle to believe in. Sports have become a form of recreation rather than the major form of entertainment, and thus have made it a symbol of affluence. The industry between the two generations is also an important factor that provide significant explanation on how societies lived; the 19th century is more focused on the rural areas as agriculture is a very important job that sustains the whole community. On the other hand, the 1920s made city life more significant because of the way that clerical and desk jobs has become more important than farming. This shows that industrialization is the main