Changing Roles of American Women - 1600 - 1780

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the difficult lives of women in the American colonies, lives which revolved around the basic family unit and entailed laborous tasks to ensure the survival and continuity of the home. The paper shows that as time progressed and the colonies became more civilized, the roles of women changed. Instead of merely surviving, women began to have leisure time on their hands. Women also had time to educate themselves beyond their regular housewifery skills. Socially, women had time to entertain and lead more leisurely lives. The paper follows the changing role of these women through the Revolutionary War when they assumed a number of unfamiliar roles. It also shows how the development of the countryside and infrastructure changed the social life of women. Finally, the paper shows that women of this time had their lives shaped by extraordinary events such as political and economic upheavals, religious conflict, and intellectual transformation. It was during this time that women first started to establish themselves and their rights.

From the Paper:

"The practical and functional roles of women changed during the Revolutionary War. Women had to take up positions that they normally would not have had to before. They had to manage the house while their patriotic husbands were gone. This also opened other doors to women. For Deborah Sampson it meant cross-dressing as a soldier and taking up arms. She was placed into indenture at the age of ten and upon completion entered the army. (Ferguson 183) She was noted to be a woman who wanted to see the world. If not for the war, where would she have ended up, and what path would this creative, energetic and brave woman have taken? Her husband subsequently received a veterans pension for her efforts.(Evans 54)"

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