Sarah Valenti-Outline for Midterms
8. Discuss changing ideals of American womanhood in antebellum America. What
factors fostered the emergence of republican motherhood and the cult of domesticity.
Points of Interest:
- Republican Motherhood=(1780-1830’s). It said that women needed to be educated in
principles of liberty, independence, and democracy as they were the ones who would be
raising the next generation by these republican values. This trust in women shows that
they were becoming more respected and intellectually capable.
-Cult of Domesticity=Vocabulary Word 310, Chapter 16. An concept of reform that
prevailed among upper and middle class women. It said that women were responsible to
upkeep the home and to civilize her husband into a gentleman.
-Antebellum= The time period before the Civil War; Pre-war.
Outline: (Things to include in the essay)
~Changing Ideals of American Womanhood:
-More freedom in education:
 Women’s schools at secondary level, 1820’s
 Emma Willard-Troy Female Seminary, NY (1821)
 Oberlin College, Ohio, (in 1837) allowed in women
 Mary Lyon-Mount Holyoke Seminary, MA, a women’s school
-Women involved in reform:
 Dorothea Dix-reform of mental institutions
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony-Seneca Falls, Women’s Rights
Convention
 Other feminists: Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, a woman doctor, and Lucretia Mott, a
Quaker who fought for women’s rights
 Women were involved in Anti-slavery and Temperance movements also
-Women became more revered in up keeping the home and motherhood:
 Republican Motherhood-women looked to with trust of raising the next generation by
republican principles
 Cult of Domesticity- women were thought to withhold the responsibility of up
keeping the home and making her husband a gentlemen
 Women looked upon with more responsibilities and shown respect as the person who
was to raise and keep the family in line
~Factors that fostered the emergence of Republican Motherhood and Cult of
Domesticity:
 The Second Great Awakening- women were “touched by the evangelical spirit that
offered the promise of earthly reward for human endeavor”, pg.339, and reform in
religion inspired them to create movements to reform society
 Industrial Revolution- by separating work and home with new factory jobs and
businesses, woman would be presented with control over the house and looked upon
with the job of up keeping the family (cult of domesticity)
 ‘Separate spheres’ came about in the 18th century which is that idea that women
were too delicate to be involved in business or politics, so while the men dealt with
work, the women would be at home and have responsibility of raising the family
(republican motherhood).