Summary+Social+Changes

After the War for Independence, the Americans created the constitution, which banned the importation of slaves in 1808. When the constitution presented the idea that ‘all men were created equal’ slaves related that idea of equality to them by trying to obtain their own freedom. Overtime the antislavery movement called **abolitionism,** that was sparked by the war died down, and the topic of slavery was removed from national debate. Before the war slaves and freed blacks were thought to be permanently in a lower caste and were not considered citizens. After the war these ideas drastically changed in the north but were still held in the south. The invention of the **cotton gin**, increased the production of cotton and entrenched slavery in the south because the slaves were needed to grow and pick an increasing amount of cotton. In the north many abolitionists including Quakers and free blacks argued that citizenship should not be based on color and that freed slaves had the right to become citizens. The American Colonization Society was formed in 1816 to grant gradual abolition of slavery and to establish Liberia, a colony in Africa where freed slaves would be moved to. Free blacks and slaves who were the third or fourth generation born in America were against being taken back to an unfamiliar land wanted to become citizens of America. **Freedom in Jacksonian America** for abolitionists during Andrew Jackson’s presidency was defined as the freedom to own one’s self and being able to benefit from personal labor. Many abolitionists saw **Wage Slavery** as another definition of freedom, which was working for money.

The market revolution not only had a large impact on the economy of America but it also contributed to an increase of immigrants coming to America. The market revolution increased the demand for labor in factories in urban areas. European immigrants, mostly from Ireland and Germany came to America in hopes to attain land and earn money. Most immigrants settled in groups in the north around urban areas were they could get factory jobs. Originally mainly Protestant Irish immigrated to America, but after an Irish influx increased in the 1840’s the image of Irish immigrants negatively changed to mostly poor Irish Catholics coming to America. The majority of Americans who were protestant were worried about the arrival of Catholic immigrants. Americans were concerned that the immigrants would take most of the new jobs and they would not be able to uphold to the new American ideals built in the constitution. Most Americans took pride in their native ties to America and did not accept the immigrants; which is called **nativism**. Some Americans went as far as having political anti-immigrant groups like ‘the American Party’.

The market revolution in the 19th century changed the woman's role in and outside of the home. With the demand for factory labor in urban areas a middle class emerged in America. In Massachusetts the Lowell Mill hired young, unmarried women to work in the factory and reside away from home in dorms nearby the factory. This was the first time that a significant amount of women left their homes to work in a public environment. The Lowell Mill provided the women with a sense of independence and self-achievement in their labor. Many of the women worked at Lowell to financially support a brother through school or to help get their family out of debt. The role of those women had changed from relying on a male family member for financial support to helping to provide for their family. However the Lowell Mill is a specific case where women began to gain a sense of independence from the home. In most cities the males went to work at the factories. The market revolution created the view that in a middle class family men alone should provide for their family, while the women should stay at home where they would be sheltered from capitalism and politics. This is known as the **Cult of Domesticity**. The cult of domesticity has four main ideas, piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Piety was the ideal that women should be very religious and enforce religion in their homes to their children. Purity was the ideal that all women should be abstinent until marriage; and that they should not give in to sexual temptations. Submissiveness, said that women were to be passive and feel dependent on their husbands. While the males were given an active role in society by working and were never expected to be submissive. The fourth ideal of domesticity said that a woman's place was in the home, where she should implement the values of religion and education onto her children and maintain and a happy household for the husband come to from work. This ideal also decreased the number of children a woman was expected to have. With a smaller number of children women could spend more time educating each child.

TR