Lowell Mills and the Cult
of True Womanhood
Advanced Placement
U.S. History
THE PROBLEM
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During the period 18201860 the U.S. was
undergoing rapid and
dramatic change. This
caused a great deal of
fear among many
Americans that felt
society itself was at risk.
Changes taking place…
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New alignment of political parties
The westward frontier was expanding
Educational standards were rising
Questions about society were being raised by reformers,
especially over the issues of abolition and temperance.
Economic modernization was bringing about:
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Expanded transportation networks
Growth of capital formation
Urbanization
The factory system was changing the nature of work
Results of changes
The disintegration of
the family
The changes in women’s roles
The endangerment of
society itself
REPULICAN MOTHERHOOD
Women would take on the important
task of raising children to be responsible
citizens who possessed civic virtue and
other virtues necessary for success in the
newly independent nation.
The result of this was to
reduce the variety of roles
open to women and to limit
the proper place of women
to the home
CULT OF TRUE WOMANHOOD
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A “true woman” was:
Pious-more naturally religious than men; real men
might occasionally swear, but “real women” never
did; should not seek education lest it cause her to
stray from the teachings of the Bible; responsibility
of being the spiritual up-lifters of men.
 Pure-this was absolute: whereas a man might “sow a
few wild oats” and be saved by the love of a “true
woman,” a “fallen woman” could never be
redeemed.
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True Womanhood cont…
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Submissive: a “true woman” should be like a
“perpetual child,” who is always “timid, doubtful
and clingingly dependent.
Domestic: create a pleasant, cheerful home
where men could escape from their worldly
struggles and be fed, clothed and comforted; use
her natural talents of sewing, cooking, cleaning
and flower arranging to create a pleasant refuge.
Women’s place
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As a new economy
created demand for
more workers and
many of these
workers were women,
what would happen
to the place of
women in society?
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If a young, unmarried
woman went to work in a
factory far away from her
parents’ farm, would she
still be respectable?
Where would she live?
Who would protect her?
Prescriptive Literature
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Written work that is intended to tell (women)
how to think and feel and behave and how not
to behave. (Included: magazines, ettiquette
books, sermons, religious writing, short stories
and novels)
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While reading the documents, ASK:
What message is being conveyed?
 Who is sending the message?
 Why is it being sent?
 For whom is it intended?
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Re-read “Between the lines”
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What was it really like for these girls working at
Lowell?
To what degree and in what ways might these
girls have deviated from the expected image of
the “True Woman?”
Could these girls have achieved the goal of “true
womanhood” while working at Lowell?
Did these girls really care whether or not they
were perceived as “true women?”