Women's Rights Dbq Analysis

From the 1776 to 1876, nearly a century, women’s rights were slowly becoming key highlights in society. Prior to this, women were uneducated and remained in the home only being required to cook and care for the children while their husbands worked. However, once industrialization began, cities formed, and population skyrocketed, housing became more expensive, so the women had to work and help support the family financially. Then came the Second Great Awakening; women became inspired and realized that they were just as good as men and had the same abilities as them. With that, they went forth and sought out societal reforms.
In document B, Abigail Adams writes her husband John Adams a letter asking him to “be more generous and favourable to them [women] than your ancestors”. She carries on by …show more content…
Abigail obviously wrote this letter to warn her husband of the dangers of letting power fall into only the hands of men; women would not tolerate it. At this time women were beginning to rebel and set a new position for women all over America. However, in lieu of supporting his wife’s beliefs, John Adams went on to mock her seriousness on the matter by saying “I cannot but laugh”, taken aback by her statement (Doc C). Out of her anger, she then addresses a letter to a close friend of hers named Mercy Otis Warren. In this letter, she asks Warren to “join me in a petition to Congress” (Doc D). This extensive time of sending letters back and forth, will be the beginning of something new for future women all across the nation. Industrialization also made a difference in women’s lives in America. Before this, women were required to stay in the home and work while men left the home, but gradually through time these women began working in these booming factories. The everyday lives of women is depicted in the illustration in Document F where the woman spins and the