1. Women and Reform
Chapter 8 Section 3
Page 254

2. Women’s Role in the Mid-1800s
Women faced limited options
Restrict activities after marriage to the home & family.
Housework & child care were only proper activities for married women.
This tradition became known as the cult of domesticity
couldn’t vote
Women’s property became her husband’s
Lacked the right to guardianship of children

3. Women Abolitionists
Middle class women inspired by Second Great Awakening
Sarah & Angelina Grimke spoke for abolition
Angelina published An Appeal to Christian Women of the South
Raised money, distributed literature, & collect signatures for Congress.
Some men supported women.
William Lloyd Garrison joined women to fight for rights.
Other men denounced female abolitionists
Opposition only served to make women reformers more determined.

4. Working for Temperance
Temperance Movement – the effort to prohibit the drinking of alcohol.
Offshoot of the Second Great Awakening
Alcohol flowed freely
Doctors used alcohol for patients
Women recognized drunkenness as a serious problem.
1826 the American Temperance Society was founded.
Held rallies & produced pamphlets which brought about a decline in the consumption until the 1860s.

5. Education for Women American girls had few educational opportunities.
Emma Willard opened one for the first academically rigorous schools for girls.
Troy Female Seminary
Became a model for other schools
Oberlin College - became the first coeducational college
African American women faced greater challenges to education.
Not until after the Civil War did education for African American women increase.

6. Women & Health Reform
Educated women also began to work for health reform.
For more information read pg

7. Seneca Falls Convention
Seneca Falls Convention – women’s rights convention
Composed an agenda w/ grievances
300 women & men
Approved all parts of the declaration unanimously except one – right to vote
Thought suffrage was an extreme solution to a nonexistent problem.

8. Sojourner Truth Conditions for slaves worsened
Isabella Baumfree, a slave for 30 yrs took the name Sojourner Truth
She decided to travel the country preaching against slavery.

9. Answer the following questions
What is the cult of domesticity?
What spurred the growth of the temperance movement?
What strides did women make in the areas of education and health care?
What significant events took place at the Seneca Falls Convention?
What contributions did Sojourner Truth make to the women’s rights movement?
What were the main problems faced by women in the mid 1800s?
In what ways were women excluded from the abolitionist movement?
What gains did women make in education in 1820s and 1830s? Did these gains extend to African American women?