1820 - 1869 Expansions and Inequalities Politics and Society

Key Ideas

  1. The middle of the 1800s was a critical period in the evolution of women’s roles in U.S. society and politics.
  2. The women’s rights movement emerged from a growing understanding that women could not effect real social change until they had true economic and political independence from men.
  3. Women’s experiences of the mid-1800s varied widely based on their race and social class. Increased awareness of these differences was one of the motivators for activists in the women’s rights movement.

Introduction

Adah Isaacs Menken portrait, American Jewish Historical Society

Politics and Society

One of the great debates of the early 1800s was what role women should play in U.S. society, and this conflict only heated up in the middle of the century.

Despite messaging in popular culture that men and women’s worlds would remain separate and complimentary in middle class marriages, beginning in the 1830s there was a growing consciousness that not all Americans were upholding these principles. More and more women challenged this assumption. Activists like Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Caroline Ga-ha-no Parker, and Dorothea Dix all pushed the boundaries of appropriate female behavior while simultaneously demonstrating that women could make real contributions to the many challenges facing the nation. Some women had significant social impacts that drew aggressive condemnation from male figures of authority. Some built careers out of shocking and titillating performances, while others asserted the place of women in the upper echelons of the scientific academy. The rapid territorial expansion of the U.S. had the unintended consequence of exposing American women to the way women were treated in other societies, inspiring a new movement to advocate for married women’s economic independence from men. Even a close analysis of popular fashions reveals that women’s roles in U.S. society were evolving, whether people liked it or not. 

The result of all this social and political turmoil was the formation of a new movement specifically focused on obtaining equality for women. The women’s rights movement emerged from a growing understanding that women could not effect real social change until they had true economic and political independence from men. But from its earliest days, the women’s rights movement struggled with the question of race. As support for the national women’s right movement grew, Black women were sidelined completely by white movement leaders. And, yet, Black women persevered, sometimes scoring significant victories in their fight for racial and gender equality.

Section Essential Questions

  1. What were society’s expectations for women in the mid-1800s? What were the realities?
  2. How did women seek to change U.S. government and society despite not having political power?
  3. Why did the women’s rights movement form in the mid-1800s? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the movement in its early years?

Resources

Excerpts from a petition written by Catherine Beecher asking the U.S. government to stop Indian Removal.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
U.S. government, Indian Removal Act, women’s rights, Andrew Jackson, activism
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A newspaper article about a woman who was married to a trans man.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Society, LGBTQ+ history, trans history, marriage and family, New York
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A collection of images that show how fashions for white women evolved to meet the distinct needs of different social classes.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Society, fashion history, daily life, work, mill girls, activism, Amelia Bloomer, culture, labor, upper class, working class, popular culture, cult of domesticity, separate spheres
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Excerpt from a speech that highlights the mistreatment of free Black women in antebellum America.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Black history, Black activism, women’s rights, intersectional identity, free Black Americans
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Text of the document signed at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, accompanied by reactions to the document in the press.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Activism, Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, women’s suffrage, women’s rights, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, New York
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A map that shows plots of land were owned by Penobscot women in Maine.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Indigenous history, women’s rights, Penobscot, Maine
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A Godey’s Lady’s Book article that lays out the social ideal of separate spheres for men and women.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Social values, women’s labor, gender roles, popular culture, separate spheres
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Two documents that illustrate how Black women were prevented from representing their intersectional interests in the women’s rights and abolition movements.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Black history, activism, Black women, abolition, women’s rights, intersectionality
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Two sources about the scandalous career of actor Adah Isaacs Menken.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Social history, theater history, the arts, women’s roles, women’s work, Jewish Americans, Mark Twain
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Two documents that illustrate the opposing sides of the abortion debate that developed in the mid-1800s.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Women’s health, family planning, reproductive rights, abortion, women’s rights, Madame Restell, anti-abortion movement
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Testimony of a Mexican American woman trying to prove her claim to lands that were ceded to the U.S. after the Mexican-American War.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Women’s rights, Mexican-American War, citizenship, Mexican American women, land ownership, California
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Text of the nation’s first law granting married women the right to own property separate from their husbands.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Women’s rights, property ownership, Indigenous history, legal history, coverture, Chickasaw, Mississippi
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Images of the first professional woman astronomer and her students.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
STEM, women’s rights, education, astronomy, Massachusetts, higher education
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Life Stories

The story of the first Black female newspaper editor in North America.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Black history, free Black people, activism, Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, debate over Black emigration, Civil War, Reconstruction, education, women’s work
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The story of the first advocate for mental health care in the U.S.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Disability history, activism, mental health, separate spheres, Civil War
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The story of a Seneca woman who campaigned for the survival of her people.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Indigenous history, Seneca, Haudenosaunee, Indian Removal, education, women’s work, art and art making
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The story of a 13-year-old student who integrated Iowa public schools.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Black history, education, civil rights, separate but equal, Reconstruction, legal history, Iowa
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The story of the most famous abortionist in New York history.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Women’s health, family planning, reproductive rights, abortion, women’s rights, Madame Restell, anti-abortion movement, Anthony Comstock, Comstock Law
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