The Shakers, also known as The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, was one of the protestant religious groups that emerged during the eighteenth-century. They contributed much to our modern culture and, in their time, organized one of the most successful communal societies in nineteenth-century America. Founded by James and Jane Wardley (also known as Mother Jane), the movement spread from England to Kentucky and across the United States by an illiterate textile worker named Ann Lee after 1774, a time during which she was mistreated by many people for her religious belief. The characteristics and values of Mother Anne Lee, a spiritual mother, shaped the Shaker’s life in one way or another. The Shakers were remarkable …show more content…
People those who already had children allowed everyone in the community to help raising their kids. For other “families” who wanted to have babies, they could “either took in orphaned or unwanted children” (Joanne 1). The Shakers were celibate and did not get married or have children. They would adopt children who needed homes and accepted babies from people who didn’t want them. At the age of twenty-one, adopted children chose whether or not they wanted to join the Shakers permanently or live their own lives in the outside world. Relationships among Young Believers inside a “family unit” went pretty well “even across the gender lines,” even though many of the commentators showed disrespect towards the Shakers’ way of living. An observer once noticed that the bonds between the two sexes were "much less restricted than is generally supposed,” and applauded "those affectionate friendships and pure platonic enjoyments that spring up under what the world perhaps falsely calls an overwhelming obstacle to earthly …show more content…
While living together, the Shakers looked up on one another as Brothers, or what they called Brethren, and Sisters. Despite the mocking manner of commentators in the 19th century towards their practices, their relationships were strong in a friendly way and brought upon a spirit and the warmth of family. Also, the Shakers advanced in their approach to the concepts of equality, figuring out the best way to keep everything in peace between two genders. Christian Becksvroort, a professional woodworker whose interest was studying Shaker furniture, stated in The Shaker Legacy Perspectives on an Enduring Furniture Style that the Shakers viewed God as both a mother and a father, and that the “theological basis for the Shaker belief in the basic equality of the sexes and has important implications for Shaker organizational structure, which required male and female representatives in key roles” (Becksvroort). A photographer and a famous author named Raymond Bial further described the Shaker society: “The community itself was organized into families of fifty to one hundred brothers and sisters who shared a building with separate doors and stairways for men and women… Others were simpler, but in every case, men and women used separate sets of stairs. Each dwelling had its own sleeping quarters and dining room, where women and men sat apart, as well as its
James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950. Volume III: P-Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print.
This event changed the role of American religion during the early nineteenth century. Non-traditional religions such as Mormonism resulted from this religious revival movement as well. The religious revivals that emphasized individual choice of humans over predestination of God continuously shook New England Calvinism. The “cult of Matthias” was unlike any other religious groups during the time period.
Family was a place of gathering where people met to eat, drink and socialize. The people in the story were also religious as shown by Mrs. Knox as she prayed for her family. The narrator described th...
Beginning in the 1830s, white and black women in the North became active in trying to end slavery. These Women were inspired in many cases by the religious revivals sweeping the nation. While women in the movement at first focused their efforts upon emancipation, the intense criticsm that greeted their activities gradually pushed some of them toward an advocacy of women's rights as well. They discovered that they first had to defend their right to speak at all in a society in which women were expected to restrict their activities to a purely domestic sphere. Angelina and Sarah Grimke , left South Carolina because they were swept up in the religious current called the "Second Great Awakening" and felt that Philadelphia Quakers offered a surer form of saving their souls than the Protestant ministers of Charleston. During their influential speaking tour in 1837, about the anti-slavery movement, everyone wanted to hear them, so they broke the prohibitions against women speaking in public and, when clergymen opposed such public speaking by women, they launched the women's rights movement.
Examine the condition of African-Americans in the late nineteenth century and explain why the Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which were enacted to aid the new freedmen, actually did little.
The life of an immigrant in the United States during the Gilded Age was a rough life. During this time period the U.S. went through a dramatic change in dealing with changing infrastructure and masses of people coming over from different countries for a chance at a better life. This time period was characterized by small wage jobs, poor working conditions and the struggle to survive. The Jungle embodies the themes of the Gilded Age with first hand experiences of an immigrant's hardships of life.
A situation can drastically affect a person’s behavior, motivation and overall attitude. There have been many psychological studies that demonstrate the strong influence a situation has on a person’s behavior. Economy, living conditions, education and treatment can have an enormous impact on an individual’s conduct and demeanor. The ever-changing situations of the 19th century in America posed a challenge for various groups of people. People were often put in demanding situations and most reacted according to their current environment.
The years after the civil war left one half of America, the north, satisfied and the other half, the south, mostly dissatisfied. Therefore the last third of the nineteenth century, 1865-1900, was a time period in which America was mending, repairing, improving, reshaping, and reconstructing its society, economy, culture, and policies. Basically it was changing everything it stood for. This continual change can be seen in the following events that took place during this time. These events are both causes and effects of why America is what it is today. These are some examples: the reconstruction of the south, the great movement towards the west, the agricultural revolution, the rise of industrialism, the completion of the transcontinental railroad, and America's growth to gaining world power. All of these are reasons and events that characterize America as being an ever-changing nation.
Noah Webster’s Calvinist family was typical of the colonial times; born in “modest circumstances, Noah longed for elite social status” (Bush 1508). His father farmed and worked as a weaver; his mother worked at home. Noah and his two brothers, Charles and Abraham, helped their father with the farm work while their sisters, Mercy and Jer...
Evans, Sara M. "Sons, Daughters, and Patriarchy: Gender And The 1968 Generation." American Historical Review 114.2 (2009): 331-347. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19
During the second Great Awakening women helped the churches thrive because they were the ones that kept the pews filled during sermons. Jarnea Lee was a woman who went back into the church and became a part of the congregation which sparked an interest in her wanting to be a pastor. Lee felt it was her calling to be a pastor. Even though she wanted to be a pastor she was denied the opportunity because during the early 19th century women weren’t allowed to be pastors. She didn’t let that stop her. She still preached to different people as a circuit rider. She had a wide range of audience that listen to her. With her powerful messages she became a major figure in the Holiness
Many people see history as a set of facts, or as a collection of stories. The reality, however, is that history is a fluid timeline. Each act of an individual or a group has an effect on others. Each moment in history is a building block that, good or bad, contributes to the stability of the next. This can be seen clearly in American history, as there have been several developments since the 1800’s that have played major roles on the growth of the nation.
Family life in the 1700's was highly valued and prioritized. Back in those times families were extremely large in size. There was much inter-marriages from generation to generation, Therefore, everyone in a community was most likely related to each other. Because of these extreme connections between communities, visiting fellow family members was very popular. Many of these visits were informal and prolonged. Out of everyone in a family, the women usually corresponded the most with other relatives. The lack of decently designed roads and great distances made the matter of traveling very important in social activities. In addition, the family was looked upon as a unit of production and enterprise. Most families in the 1700's contained usually twenty to thirty people. These large numbers were due to the fact that the families were extended. Every relative lived together, even if they were distant relatives. Families with ten or twelve children were common and those with twenty or twenty-five children were not regarded as abnormal. But, usually not all the children survived. Typically, four in ten children dies before they reached the age of sixteen.
Walker, A.H. 1985. "Racial differences in patterns of marriage and family maintenance, 1890-1980." Pp. 87-112 in Feminism, Children, and the New Families, ed. S.M. Dornbusch and M.H. Strober. New York: Guilford Press.
A very common fate of orphans was adoption. They were often taken in by relatives or neighbors, and even, on occasion, strangers wishing to raise them as their own children. In England, there were no laws concerning adoption until the 1920s, so most adoption was informal. Children who were adopted by their own social class were usually treated fairly and equally… however, if they were adopted by a family whose status was above and beyond their original class, they were frequently mistreated and neglected. Children of different social classes were not encouraged to fraternize, so if an orphan was taken into a household where higher class children lived, they could be forbidden to even speak to them (Czarnik).