The American Woman of the Early
Nineteenth Century
Name: ________________________
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From the "Frugal Housewife" (article)
"Man is daring and confident, woman is diffident and unassuming; man is
great in action, woman in suffering; man shines abroad, woman at home;
man talks to convince, woman to persuade and please; man has a rugged
heart, woman a soft and tender one; man prevents misery, woman relieves
it; man has science, woman taste; mans has judgement, woman
sensibility; man is a being of justice, woman of mercy."
Galena (Ill.)Advertiser 7 March 1835, quoted in Riegel, Young
America, 218.
With the end of hostilities with Britain and the abandonment of things
"European," Americans began to experience the realization of democracy
and independence in their relationships amongst themselves. Families
were no longer strictly patriarchal and hierarchical in nature; because of
the democratic revolution, all members of the American family were
important and more equal than in previous decades. Children were no
longer considered "little adults," but human beings who needed affection,
guidance, and cultivation in order to become mature people. Likewise, the
status of American women began to undergo a significant change. While
the early 1800s can not be characterized as a period of radical feminism
comparable to the 1960s and 70s, it could be defined as an age in which
the traditional role of women in American society was questioned and often
challenged.
Perceptions of Women in the 19th Century
during the early 1800s,
Americans generally believed that there was a definite difference in
character between the sexes -- man was active, dominant, assertive, and
materialistic, while woman was religious, modest, passive, submissive, and
domestic. As a result, there developed an ideal of American womanhood,
or a "cult of true womanhood" as denoted by historian Barbara Welter. This
cult, evident in women's magazines and religious literature of the day,
espoused four basic attributes of female character; piety, purity,
submissiveness, and domesticity.
1) Religion/Piety was the "core of woman's virtue, the source of her
strength" (Welter, 21). Religion was a gift of God, given so that the
"Universe might be Enlightened, Improved, and Harmonized by
WOMAN!! (Philadelphia, 1840, quoted in Welter, 22). Women were
expected to be the "handmaids of the Gospel," serving as a purifying
force in the lives of erring men. Women naturally possessed virtues
of faith, simplicity, goodness, self-sacrifice, tenderness, affection,
sentimentality, and modesty.
2) Purity was an essential characteristic to maintain one's virtue
against the continuous "assault" of the more aggressive male. To
protect one's self, Mrs. Eliza Farrar recommended in The Young
Lady's Friend (1837): Sit not with another in a place that is too
narrow; read not out of the same book; let not your eagerness to see
anything induce you to place your head close to another person's."
Eliza Farnham stressed the importance of preserving one's
innocence and demonstrating female moral superiority, concluding
that "the purity of women is the everlasting barrier against which the
tides of man's sensual nature surge" (Welter, 24-25).
3) Submissiveness required women to accept their positions in life
willingly and obediently, thereby affirming God had appointed them
to that special position. Godey's Lady's Book of 1831 emphasized
this attribute: The lesson of submission is forced upon woman...To
suffer and to be silent under suffering seems the great command
she has to obey. (Welter, 30)
Likewise, Samuel Jennings advocated complete submission in
The Married Lady's Companion (New York, 1808): [Marriage rests
on a] condition of a loving and cheerful submission on the part of the
wife. Here again you object and say, "Why not the husband, first
show a little condescension as well as the wife?" I answer for these
plain reasons. It is not his disposition; it is not the custom but with
the henpecked; it is not his duty; it is not implied in the marriage
contract; it is not required by law or gospel;...when you became a
wife, he became your head, and your supposed superiority was
buried in that voluntary act.
Much of this reasoning was founded upon Ephesians 5:22-23,
which commanded "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husband, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the
family, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the
saviour of the body."
4) Domesticity, or the cheerful performance of social, household,
and family duties, was highly prized by women's magazines of the
day.
Women were expected to comfort and cheer, to nurse and support,
to manage and oversee. Housework was to be viewed as a morally
uplifting mental and physical exercise. Marriage was the proper sphere for
women where, according to Rev. Samuel Miller (1808), she could fulfill her
divinely ordained mission: How interesting and important are the duties
devolved on females as WIVES..the counsellor and friend of the husband;
who makes it her daily study to lighten his cares, to soothe his sorrows,
and augment his joys; who, like a guardian angel, watches over his
interests, warns him against dangers, comforts him under trials; and by her
pious, assiduous, and attractive deportment, constantly endeavors to
render him more virtuous, more useful, more honorable, and more
happy.(Welter, 37-38)
Thus, popular women's literature perpetuated an image of the
"perfect woman" -- the loving wife, the caring mother, the responsible
housekeeper. While social reform movements, industrialization, migration,
and other social forces instilled changes which eventually affected the
status of women in American society, the "true" woman was that female at
home, "the Valiant Woman of the Bible, in whom the heart of her husband
rejoiced and whose price was above rubies" (Welter, 41).
http://www.connerprairie.org/historyonline/womrole.html
Reading Questions:
1. According to the opening quote from the Frugal Housewife, what is the
difference between men and women? (check the last sentence)
2. What is the Cult of Womanhood?
3. In what ways did women purify men due to their religion?
4. What were a couple of tips that Eliza gave women to remain pure and
innocent?
5. According to rules of submission, women were supposed to handle suffering in
what way?
6. What does domesticity mean?
7. What three qualities did the “perfect woman” have?