“The Kingdom of Matthias,” provides a powerful insight to the turbulent effects the religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening and the Market Revolution had on the individuals that lived through these events in the United States. Although both of these events were striving for a more perfect society were everyone had an equal and prosperous chance of living, some individuals were unhappy with such outcomes and sought to keep the traditional society that served the basis for American society. As a result, the clashing difference between the rural communities and the urban life became apparent in the accounts of Elijah Pierson and Robert Mathews as both men have difficulties in adapting to the societal structures, in terms of gender,
During the 1800’s, those who saw social prejudice or corruption started many reform movements to correct the difficulties in America. The Second Great Awakening really helped shape the United States into a religious nation and paved the way through the reform movements, while stressing individual choice that caused an uprising in denominations leading to followers by the masses. Antislavery abolitionism became a movement mostly because of influence from the religious revival that was taking place, and demonstrating to all of those religious that slavery is a sin. Reformists of the antislavery movement transformed their thoughts forward of equality to all people, no matter their race.
Soon after in June 1837, Sarah found her calling in advocating for women. Her vision of human equally was different than what was present at the time. When she offered the idea that woman were like men a “free agent, gifted, with intellect and endowed with immortality.” (Nies, 1977) it was meant with ill feelings from the clergy and abstraction for the people.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was, no doubt, one of the most important activists for the women’s rights movement in the nineteenth century. Not only was she the leading advocate for women’s rights, she was also the “principal philosopher” of the movement . Some even considered her the nineteenth-century equivalent of Mary Wollstonecraft, who was the primary British feminist in the eighteenth century . Stanton won her reputation of being the chief philosopher and the “most consistent and daring liberal thinker” of the women’s right movement by expounding through pamphlets, speeches, essays, newspaper and letters her feminist theory . However, despite being an ardent abolitionist during the Civil War who fought for the emancipation of all slaves , her liberal feminist theory was tainted by a marked strain of racism and elitism that became more conspicuous as she started pressing for women’s suffrage .
The changes in gender roles weren’t making everyone happy for examples in the story of The Kingdom of Matthias, Robert Matthews started a religious cult in New York during the 1830’s he came to believe that he was indeed not Robert Matthews, but instead he was Matthias, Prophet of the God of the Jews. Matthias was not happy with any of the changes that was happening in the roles of women, and he was not going to support any of it. His wife Margaret was suffering from the person he had become, he was extremely controlling and once told her that, “She had no God, that the husband was the savior of the wife, that as man was not whole without woman” (Johnson and Wilentz 80). Matthias was bitter because the women of this time had changed into
The next chapter highlights the gendered division of labor and the difficulty to keep a family as a slave. Chapter six and seven moves on to the eighteenth century and shows how women have improved in areas such as more political participation and increasing social class of
The life of Women in the late 1800s. Life for women in the 1800s began to change as they pushed for more rights and equality. Still, men were seen as better than women, this way of thinking pushed women to break out from the limitations imposed on their sex. In the early 1800s women had virtually no rights and ultimately were not seen as people but they rather seen as items of possession, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that women started to gain more rights. The Civil War actually opened opportunities for women to gain more rights, because with many of the men gone to war women were left with the responsibilities that men usually fulfilled during that time period.
The first focuses on the history of the idea that America is a Christian nation. Then, he looks at the American Revolution and the role Christianity played in it. John Fea aims the last few chapters at the religious beliefs of presidents and other influential people during the first years of America. As one reads, the various points John Fea makes, they may alter his/her own viewpoint.
During the 1800’s and early 1900s, women were considered to be inferior to men in some aspects due to religion, laws, and society’s outlook on both genders. In fact, because of these factors, some people believed that women suffered from passionlessness during that time. Passionlessness “convey the view that women lacked sexual aggressiveness, that their sexual appetites contributed a very minor part (if any at all) to their motivations, that lustfulness was simply uncharacteristic” (Cott 220). The rise of passionlessness in the 1800s was due to the evangelical beliefs people had during the time. Since religion was a big factor in society, women were in a way forced to follow the norm in which they were forbidden to express the same
Women in the 1600s to the 1800s were very harshly treated. They were seen as objects rather than people. They were stay-at-home women because people didn’t trust them to hold jobs. They were seen as little or weak. Women living in this time period had to have their fathers choose their husbands.
The journalist argues that even though the entire society wasn’t satisfied by his religious ruling, people should still appreciate the peace and resources that he provided to the needy people. With so much knowledge about Christianity and being devoted, Jacob provides a strong perspective about Charles’ religious life because he is very religious himself as he explains praying to the Holy Rosary has made him appreciate the kind acts that Charles has shown as the Count of Flanders. Moreover, White provides a lot of evidences by using quotes in the Holy Rosary that supports why Charles refers to Holy Scriptures while ruling Flanders. Throughout this article, I found White’s analysis of Count Charles’ religious life really useful because he provides good examples of why religion has made a big impact to governing a society and how religion can change people’s perspective into believing certain
Like most things that are society based, religion has evolved alongside our own culture. America is a melting pot of different ethnic backgrounds and cultures making it a perfect place for religion to adapt and flourish. For this analysis, I am drawing from “Civil Religion in America” by Robert N. Bellah (1967) on his ideas of American civil religion. In the text Bellah (1967) argues that civil religion is an important dimension that needs to be recognized in sociology. While Bellah focuses specifically on the United States of America, he still gives a valuable perspective on civil religion and how it plays a part in religion as a whole.
Women in England during the 1800s faced restrictions to participate in movements and were limited in their political speaking and voting capabilities. Although many women accepted their fate, some fought for a different social role. (“The Women 's Rights Movement”) Women such Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, and Mary Shelley inspired a new way of radical thinking towards human rights, specifically the rights of women (Surgis). Thanks to these inspiring individuals, there was a change in women’s attitude regarding their options to become part of the work force, gain an education, and have equal rights in marriage (Surgis).
In colonial North America, the lives of women were distinct and described in the roles exhibited in their inscriptions. In this book, Good Wives the roles of woman were neither simple nor insignificant. Ulrich proves in her writing that these women did it all. They were considered housewives, deputy husbands, mistresses, consorts, mothers, friendly neighbors, and last but not least, heroines. These characteristics played an important role in defining what the reality of women’s lives consisted of.
In the last couple of decades, women have been on the largely involved in different roles in society. The American woman have come a long way in terms of her position and role in society. For a very long time women were identified by their gender and the patriarchy system that was used by different cultures across the world. Patriarchal can be defined as the aspect in society that looks into male dominance and power over all matters of society and how these privileges are simply handed down to men. It also looks to define how women struggle to gain positions of power while men are simply grabbing these chances from them.