Women's Rights During the Jackson Era
"Meekness, humility, gentleness, love, purity, self-renunciation, subjection of will.... The fairest flowers, which our fallen world can produce," woman's virtues, according to the most acceptable definition of the natural order in society (Melder 2). Men and women occupied totally different social situations. Between 1815 and 1840 the circumstances of women's lives changed in a number of ways, especially in education, under law, and in the attitudes influencing woman's social status. The most significant phase of American women's education before 1850 was the female seminary movement, which in it's serious phase began about 1815. Emma Willard, the founder of one of the earliest seminaries wrote the first "comprehensive design for a female institution of learning to be circulated in America, Plan for Improving Female Education (Melder 16). In 1821, she began The Troy Female Seminary which became one of the most advanced and famous institutions for educating women in the United States. Catherine Beecher, like Emma Willard, "sought to change the emphasis in the curriculum from fashionable subjects to more substantial courses, including, Latin, philosop
Further evidence of the changing status of American women may be found in the law. According to Blackstone's interpretation of women's legal condition, "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law, that is, the very being, or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage" offering women little freedom (Melder 120). But in 1823, Maine gave legal protection to the property rights and personal independence of married women who had been deserted by their husbands, and Massachusetts followed in 1835. Then in New York in 1836, came an early proposal to give married women the right to hold independent property. While not many other legal firsts were granted to the women's cause, during the 1830s, American women participated in a series of reform movements which included the use of strong drink, education, and the issue of slavery; each of which would benefit the well-being of the woman's cause. Women were finally involved in the formation of meetings, circulating pamphlets and newsletters, while gaining a new since of sisterhood and intellectual independence. hy, history, chemistry, and mathematics. She created The Hartford Fema
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 781
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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