Womens Rights
Colonial America Era (1600-1750)
1. Legal Status:
a. Women had limited legal rights. They couldn’t vote, be jurors, or hold political offices.
b. If single or widowed, women could not own property. As soon as they were married any property they would have received would become their husbands.
c. If a woman was an indentured servant, they could not be married until their time of service had passed.
2. The Chesapeake Area:
a. Women in the Chesapeake Bay were treated kinder then in other regions. They were respected more and were placed at a higher level than other colonial women.
3. Anne Hutchinson:
a. Challenged the Puritan authorities in the Massachusetts Bay area over the roles of Women in society. She claimed to be a messenger from God saying that women should be treated as equal as men.
Early Republic Era (1750-1815)
1. Republican Motherhood:
a. The Cult of Domesticity was the idealization of the roles of women as wives and mothers.
b. Women were in charge and expected to raise their children to love and respect the new government. Religious and family values were emphasized most by the mothers to ensure a positive political citizen.
c. Home was considered a refuge in this era instead of a work place for women.
2. Abigail Adams
a. President John Adams wife. Very pro women.
b. Wrote a famous letter to her husband explaining how women should not be left out. That women are just as important as men, and if there were no women than chaos would be havoc. Tried to show and convince her husband that women should be considered equal.
Antebellum America Era (1815-1860)
1. The Lowell Mills:
a. The Lowell Mills were factories that produced textiles from women workers. Even hired children to work in the harder to reach areas of the factories.
b. Women that were hired into these mills were women that were unmarried and trying to make money on their own.
2. Women’s movements in the era:
a. Women’s rights movement was lead by mostly
1. Legal Status:
a. Women had limited legal rights. They couldn’t vote, be jurors, or hold political offices.
b. If single or widowed, women could not own property. As soon as they were married any property they would have received would become their husbands.
c. If a woman was an indentured servant, they could not be married until their time of service had passed.
2. The Chesapeake Area:
a. Women in the Chesapeake Bay were treated kinder then in other regions. They were respected more and were placed at a higher level than other colonial women.
3. Anne Hutchinson:
a. Challenged the Puritan authorities in the Massachusetts Bay area over the roles of Women in society. She claimed to be a messenger from God saying that women should be treated as equal as men.
Early Republic Era (1750-1815)
1. Republican Motherhood:
a. The Cult of Domesticity was the idealization of the roles of women as wives and mothers.
b. Women were in charge and expected to raise their children to love and respect the new government. Religious and family values were emphasized most by the mothers to ensure a positive political citizen.
c. Home was considered a refuge in this era instead of a work place for women.
2. Abigail Adams
a. President John Adams wife. Very pro women.
b. Wrote a famous letter to her husband explaining how women should not be left out. That women are just as important as men, and if there were no women than chaos would be havoc. Tried to show and convince her husband that women should be considered equal.
Antebellum America Era (1815-1860)
1. The Lowell Mills:
a. The Lowell Mills were factories that produced textiles from women workers. Even hired children to work in the harder to reach areas of the factories.
b. Women that were hired into these mills were women that were unmarried and trying to make money on their own.
2. Women’s movements in the era:
a. Women’s rights movement was lead by mostly