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Women's Roles In The 1790s

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A majority of men regarded women as unintelligent and unable to make a difference. Men believed that women should be homemakers serving their husbands and rearing their children. Women had no say so, in political matters, they were only required to be homemakers. Many women felt like this was not all they wanted to accomplish in life. In the 1790s mothers were influenced by new ideas of self-achievement and individualism (A.237). Women wanted to join the workforce, vote and be able to insert their opinions. Several things led to women’s issues becoming more prominent in American culture. One must acknowledge Religion, the 2nd Great Awakening, and education as the fundamental reasons why women’s issues became so prominent. Religion was …show more content…
Why did these changes occur? Before the 18th century, small business created their products by hand. They expanded the sale of their products by trade. Slaves were consistently used for all types of labor. One of the biggest areas of production where the utilization of slave occurred was the production of cotton. Plantation crops and the slavery system went through some drastic changes. To understand these changes, one must understand Slavery, inflation of crops and the industrial revolution.
Slavery was very harsh the 18th century. Many families dealt with separation during this time, but luckily many remained married. Slaves lived in small shacks and provided food that was relatively cheap to the plantation owner. Slaves were forced to work, and when they didn’t work, they were beaten, starved or hung. In Virginia, 440,000 African Americans were taken from their homes (A 355). Millions of African Americans from all over the world were forced into …show more content…
Companies would build many factories for the sole purpose of mass production. Different forms of transportation were also created to expand the area in which goods and services sold. “Turnpikes, canals, and railroads were constructed to allow products to be sold worldwide” (A.263). One invention occurred during this time due to the boom and export of cotton. “Several machines were built in the north as the demand for cotton grew, water powered jennies, weaving mules and cotton gins were used to boost production” (A.207). “Eli Whitney built cotton gins that would extract the seeds from the cotton strands. The inventions increased the production of cotton, which resulted in planters wanting to grow more cotton, so they imported 115,000 slaves between 1776 and 1808” (A. 207). Plantation crops and slavery only increased the production of cotton becoming a nationwide export and the major staple of income for the South which occurred between the 1800s and the

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