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Essay On Colonial Women

1301 Words6 Pages

The life women in the American colonies was treacherous, yet rewarding. There was so much death and sickness around at the beginning of the new world it is a wonder anyone survived. Had it not been for the nurturing and healing offered by women, this country may have never gotten itself off the ground. Women took care of the home, and the family and this remained the main focal point of the American colonial women. Although women’s lives changed exponentially over the century and a half, especially during the market revolution and the second great awakening, the true belief of what a woman was remained unchanged. Women were the nurturers of their family. Beginning in 1605 when women began arriving in the colonies, they cooked, cleaned and raised their children to the best of their abilities. Women had little to no education and most could not …show more content…

One famous instance is Mary Wollstonecraft, who had a child out of wedlock and did not marry the father. Mary was self-educated and supported herself by writing fiction, non-fiction and translating literary works. But what truly makes her stand out was her 18th century book on the rights of women which she stated rights and liberties pertained to everyone, men and women. Another woman who vocal about women’s rights was Abigail Adams who did not hold back any when it came to expressing herself to her husband John Adams. Abigail implored to her husband as he was drafting the Declaration of Independence to not forget women who were a part of the new world and deserved a voice. Abigail just like Mary was mostly self-educated and valued education. Although these are only a few women of the 18th century that were staunch supporters of women gaining a voice in politics and life in general, it was not until the Second Great Awakening and the Civil War that women were more vocal and on the front lines of political

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Adams wrote to John Adams weeks before the Declaration of Independence that they should not ignore women and they could hold a rebellion in the case that they are given no rights and representation - similar to that of why the American Revolution was fought against Britain. Adams detested the idea that married women had to give away their rights to their husbands - single women could own property but she could not. She secretly set aside some of her husband’s property as her own - and slowly saved her “pocket money” to be $5,000 ($100,000 today). Wrote a will in 1816 when she realized she was dying (even though she legally could not own property) - apart from her two sons, everyone who she gave her money to were women.

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Gloria L. Main in her article ,“Gender, Work, and Wages in Colonial New England”, describes to us the economic issues women would partake in at the colonies and how they differ from those given to men. At the beginning of the colony, there were few women and little economic gain from textile industries so there was little business done in the making of fabrics, a role seen to be only for women. Near the start there was also little mention of brewery, baking, butter making, etc. because they lacked the tools for it, these were also traditionally a women’s task in household at the time. During this time, women helped men in the fields, doing the gardening, planting, weeding, and many other activities.

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Education was a big factor that Abigail urged women to have more of a passion for. An educated woman is a strong woman. She promotes that women are just as capable as men, and intellectual thinkers who want their voices to be heard. Since women had little rights for themselves, some women were against slavery, especially Abigail Adam’s, they saw how little to no rights slaves were given and saw a comparison of the situations and wanted to be that voice for them and those that joined her. John Adams had complete trust in her to be able to handle all that was going on in the household while he was gone.

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425 Words | 2 Pages

• 1. HOW DID PATTERNS OF FAMILY LIFE AND ATTITUDES’ TOWARD WOMEN DIFFER IN THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN COLONIES? In the southern colonies, women were greatly degraded; men were superior. Women were not able to work in the fields, etc., all of what they could do was to be a wife and maintain the home.

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In the book Revolutionary Mothers, author Carol Berkin discusses women’s roles in the American Revolution. She separates out the chapters so that she can discuss the different experiences and roles of women during the period. She utilizes primary and secondary sources to talk about how women stepped into their husband’s shoes and maintained their livelihoods and how they furthered the war effort on both sides, as well as how classes and race effected each woman’s experience. Berkin’s main goal was for the reader to understand that although women’s roles aren’t traditionally discussed when talking about the American Revolution, nevertheless, they played a major part in it.

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Women are founding structures of history, but when and where do they fall into play? Today we'll be talking about women and their impact in colonial society. Though women had an extremely strict role in these times, some defied this and influenced and expanded colonization. Statuses of colonial women were based off of their wealth, social status, and religion. Their lives and roles were decided by the following labels: Puritan women, wealthy European Colonial woman, unmarried woman or widowed women, Colonial Indentured woman, colonial slave women and Native American women who were lesser known.

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Around the late 18th to early 19th century, colonial American New England life was centered on living independently and being finally free from the British Empire after the Revolutionary War. Establishing control of a newly founded government with set functions and a first president, there were progressive changes that America had to act upon post-war. However, behind the political aspects that are greatly highlighted in American history, the roles of women in society, particularly midwives shouldn’t be cast aside. Although women were largely marginalized in early New England life because of their gender, nevertheless Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s A Midwife’s Tale is instructive because it demonstrates the privilege of men’s authority in society

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Life for women in the colonial society was determined by their wealth, religion, and statues. Most of the things were similar for the women, they would have to run the house and or farm, raise the children, and maintain. Woman were married in their early twenties and would have large numbers of children. Around eight children were normal but due to sickness and other things, up to five or so of the children would have been dead before reaching their teens. Men held their normal ego and expectations of themselves but woman were looked at differently, unlike Europe where they were the weaker of the two sex.

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During the colonial era, women played a large role in the household as well as society. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich provides a monograph Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650-1750, analyzing the role of women. Within her story, the true underlying message is that women were not just the average housewives that cooked and cleaned. Ulrich proves that women have done more during this time period than live a domestic lifestyle. It is evident that Ulrich divides the book into three different themes.

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418 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout America’s history, the role of women has changed significantly. Women in Colonial Times had an influential role on the economy just as women today in America do but in a different way. Many women shaped America’s health. Women’s culture has undeniably changed from the 1700s to modern day times.

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1366 Words | 6 Pages

She often used her role as the first lady to support her outlook for equal rights for women. As Adams believed that women had the same role as men in society she goes on to prove this in her own house. Abigail Adams was not just the first lady to John Adams but rather his “confidante, his editor, trusted advisor and intellectual equal” (“Dear John”). Abigail often showed that she, as a woman, can do just as much as a man. Though Adams was a first lady she had no intention of letting politics slow her down.

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1246 Words | 5 Pages

The colonial period in Georgia relied on the extraneous efforts of colonization. Many of its grand stories rest upon the men of the era whom sacrifice and prevail through these experiences. Although these stories embark on reminisce of accomplishments that embellish within our history books, yet the question is left unanswered on the women. While researching information on colonial period within the plantation in Georgia, I found the topic of colonial women interesting. I wanted my topic to be on a particular individual that covers the whole dynamics of women in the colonial era as well as a story of such sacrifice.

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676 Words | 3 Pages

All women in colonial America had certain limits to what they could do. Woman could not own property such as a house. If the husband dies or divorces his wife, the property goes to the eldest son or the eldest male relative. They are also not allowed to divorce their husband. Usually, woman worked at home cleaning, washing, sewing, cooking and making the necessary items of the house hold.

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615 Words | 3 Pages

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235 Words | 1 Pages

Women also participated in political decisions unleashed by independence. Abigail Adams promoted revolutionary cause in poems and drams and later published a history of struggle for independence(Foner 232). The winning of independence didn't change the family law inherited from Britain. Although the republican motherhood’s intentions were to make women and men equal they still had their limits. Women still felt the need to apologize for their forthrightness, because the men considered women to be submissive and irrational and therefor unfit for citizenship.

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