The idea of republican motherhood and the cult of domesticity are two contrasting ideas of how women should be living their life around the times of the 1800s. The republican motherhood was a movement that women should be educated and are able to live individual lives without men providing for them. The cult of domesticity was a view that women should be stay-at-home wives, take care of the children, and provide comfort to the husband when he is home. The biggest difference of these two movements was the decision to educate women. Republican motherhood was all for the educating of women but the cult of domesticity wanted the opposite: no education for women.
Document 7, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, reflects both the cult of
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Nashua writes that factory has many young ladies working in it. Having a factory with many young ladies shows the wanting of women to be individuals, which is a direct translation to the republican motherhood. She also writes that Sabrina’s mother would not allow her family reputation to be lower because her daughter works in a factory. This is a direct showing of the cult of domesticity because Sabrina’s mother wants her to be the standard 1800’s house wife rather than try to support herself and live her own life.
Document 6, “Woman, and the ‘Woman’s Movement.’” was a monthly magazine in 1853. This magazine published an article in March of 1853 that backed the cult of domesticity. The magazine wrote ideas such as, “Woman is by nature inferior to man”, and “... his inferior in intellect, and his inferior in physical strength.” Because the magazine believes women aren’t the equal with men, this reflects the cult of domesticity. The cult of domesticity was the thought that woman did not need to support themselves or be educated and that their only job was to take care of the kids and do housewife