Cult of Domesticity

(noun)

A prevailing value system among the upper and middle classes regarding the roles of women during the nineteenth century in the United States and Great Britain.

Related Terms

Examples of Cult of Domesticity in the following topics:

  • Women and Democracy

    • During the early nineteenth century, women were mainly relegated to the private sphere through the "cult of domesticity."
    • The "cult of domesticity" was an ideal of womanhood that was prominent during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
    • Women of this era were generally pushed to the sidelines as dependents of men, without the power to bring suit, make contracts, own property, or vote.
    • During the era of the "cult of domesticity," women tended to be seen merely as a way of enhancing the social status of their husbands.
    • Portrait of Angelina Emily Grimké, one of the Grimké sisters who called for women to engage in antislavery reform.

  • Domesticity and "Domestics"

    • The cult of domesticity or cult of true womanhood was a prevailing value system among the upper and middle classes during the nineteenth century in the United States and Great Britain.
    • Part of the separate spheres ideology, the cult of domesticity identified the home as women's "proper sphere. " Prescriptive literature advised women on how to transform their homes into domestic sanctuaries for their husbands and children.
    • Magazines which promoted the values of the cult of domesticity faired better financially than competing magazines which offered a more progressive view in terms of women's roles.
    • The cult of domesticity affected married women's labor market participation in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century.
    • Early feminist opposition to the values promoted by the cult of domesticity culminated in the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and later influenced the second wave of feminism.

  • The Family Economy: Women and Children

    • The "Cult of Domesticity" was a prevailing value system among the upper and middle classes during the nineteenth century in the United States and Great Britain.
    • The cult of domesticity revolved around the women being the center of the family; they were considered "The light of the home."
    • Magazines which promoted the values of the cult of domesticity faired better financially than competing magazines which offered a more progressive view in terms of women's roles.
    • With a circulation of 150,000 by 1860, Godey's reflected and supported the ideals of the cult of true womanhood.
    • Godey's Lady's Book was a highly influential women's magazine which reinforced the values of the Cult of Domesticity

  • Women in the Republic

    • During the time of the new US Constitution and the development of the new Republic, women were widely considered inferior to men.
    • The New Jersey constitution of 1776 enfranchised all adult inhabitants who owned a specified amount of property.
    • One aspect the democratic ideals of the Revolution drastically changed was the roles of women.
    • The "cult of domesticity," a new ideal of womanhood that emerged around this time, rose from the reality that a 19th-century middle-class family did not have to make what it needed in order to survive, as did previous families.
    • As Eliza Wilkinson of South Carolina explained in 1783, "I won't have it thought that because we are the weaker sex as to bodily strength we are capable of nothing more than domestic concerns.

  • Foreign and Domestic Crises

    • Along with other foreign and domestic uprisings, the French Revolution helped harden the political divide in the United States in the early 1790s.
    • The events of 1793 and 1794, however, challenged the simple interpretation of the French Revolution as a chapter of unfolding triumph of republican government over monarchy.
    • Revolutionaries advocated direct representative democracy, dismantled Catholicism, replaced that religion with a new philosophy known as "The Cult of the Supreme Being," renamed the months of the year, and relentlessly employed the guillotine against their enemies.
    • Apprehensive of foreign entanglements and war, President Washington's official policy was one of neutrality.
    • Jay's Treaty also angered France, which saw it as a violation of the Franco-American mutual defense treaty of 1778.

  • The Status of Women

    • The American Revolution left the status of most American women largely unaltered.
    • They continued to be relegated to the home and domestic spheres and were unwelcome in political and economic contexts.
    • The postwar years saw the rise of various women's service and reform societies geared toward improving the republic through domestic virtues.
    • The independence of men was based on land ownership.
    • Instead, they were supposed to support the new nation through work in the domestic realm.

  • Domestic Turmoil During the Adams Presidency

    • The Adams presidency was marked by several domestic conflicts that deepened the split between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.
    • In July of 1798, Adams signed into law the Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen, which authorized the establishment of a government-operated marine hospital service.
    • Upon assuming office, Adams made the decision to retain all of the members of Washington's cabinet.
    • Adams' presidency saw several conflicts that fueled domestic tensions.
    • At the time, most immigrants (namely Irish and French) supported Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans in the domestic outcry over the Alien and Sedition Acts.

  • Literature and the Depression

    • His style was simple and evocative, winning him the favor of the readers but not of the critics.
    • Other popular novels include Tortilla Flat , Of Mice and Men , Cannery Row , and East of Eden .
    • The second, The Day of the Locust , introduces a cast of Hollywood stereotypes and explores the ironies of the movies.
    • In 1933, Gertrude Stein published the memoirs of her Paris years, entitled The Autobiography of Alice B.
    • The advent of this book elevated Stein from the relative obscurity of a cult literary figure into the light of mainstream attention.

  • Diplomacy

    • The Articles allowed the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War and conduct domestic and international diplomacy.
    • The formal ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all 13 states was completed in early 1781.
    • Even when not yet ratified, the Articles provided domestic and international legitimacy for the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe, and deal with territorial issues and Indian relations.
    • Unfortunately, after the war ended in 1783, the weakness of the Confederation government frustrated the ability of the government to conduct foreign policy.
    • This incomplete British implementation of the Treaty of Paris (1783) was superseded by the implementation of Jay's Treaty in 1795 under the new U.S.

  • The Growth of the Cotton Industry

    • Cotton soon became the primary export in the United States, and by 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, the southern states were providing two-thirds of the world's supply of cotton.
    • Though cotton was primarily grown for export to Europe, this textile boom in New England created an important domestic market for southern cotton producers.
    • Due to its profound effect on American slavery, the growth of the cotton industry is frequently cited as one of the causes of the American Civil War.
    • A congressional ban on the importation of slaves from Africa in 1808 only increased the demand for domestic slaves on cotton plantations, hindering the work of abolitionists who sought to end slavery.
    • The domestic slave trade exploded, providing economic opportunities for whites involved in many aspects of the trade and increasing the possibility of slaves’ dislocation and separation from kin and friends.