Paper Topic:

19th century women`s right`s movement

Divided They Fall : Women Rights Movements

in the 19th Century

Name

Subject

Divided They Fall : Women Rights Movements in the 19th Century

During the 19th century America , women have started to reflect about what their real status in society . In the early part of the 19th century , men still dominated the more elevated status in society Virtually , women surrendered to the colonial practice of male domination and female subordination as traditional setup during those times . It was embedded in the century old Colonial British laws and customs . Of course

, husbands governed their wives just as parents ruled their children , masters managed servants and slaves , teachers exercised authority over students , gentlemen demanded deference from commoners local elites controlled communities , and kings exacted obedience from subjects . Patriarchy - men 's domination of women in family life religion , culture , economics , society , and politics--was generally taken for granted (Kann , 1999 ,

. 4

The patriarchal view of women under British common law affected women in the newly-established states . Norton (1996 ) writes that American legislators and judges , like their English counterparts , assumed an `identitie of person ' between spouses after marriage . As a result , a woman 's moveable property ' owned before marriage , became her husband 's to sell , keep , or bequeath if he dies ' Without a husband married women could not do much at home , and even less abroad ' it was often said (p . 72

Fortunately , every state in America was free of how they interpret the British common law . While some states relied heavily upon British common law in drafting their own codes and laws , others did not . Thus , the effect for women was a crossroad of inequity and uncertainty throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries . For example , married women could not vote , become attorneys , or buy land in their own names in most states . These things were understood for all of the reasons set forth above . But there were also questions about smaller things ' such as whether a woman could own personal property (like clothes and jewelry after marriage . British common law seemed to imply that this too became the property of husbands , given its mobility ' But some early states declined to adopt such an oppressive measure (Rowland 2004 ,

. 17

As the United States gushed through an age where an evolving industrialization is taking place , this advancement sparked a possibility of jobs for women in mills and factories . As an opportunity for jobs opened for women , education was inevitable . This is why the Oberlin College in 1833 became the first college in the nation to admit women . Four years later , Mount Holyoke Seminary was founded as the first college for women in the United States (Kerber 1988 ,

. 35

What women gained from education was the consciousness of their rights and the abolition movement enlightened them to create an abolition movement . In the 1830s , the abolitionists made suppression of the slavery issue impossible . Like the temperance movement , abolitionism grew out of the religious revivalism called the Second Great Awakening But abolitionists were far more radical...

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