Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War provides a look into the rarely discussed topic of women in the South during the time of the Civil War. While other authors consider the implications of slavery or military tactics from the viewpoint of men, Faust offers a refreshing take on these subjects along with others to construct a narrative that examines the role of women from a gender and class standpoint. Additionally, Faust suggests that women’s roles within the framework of war created new functions in their everyday lives. While the author does talk about the subject of women, many of her points are familiar as they are comparable to other books.
Faust clearly states her argument within the first few pages of her book, and later expands on the concept of women’s roles within the context of war in the South by stating, “The upheavals of war created conceptual and emotional as well as social dislocations, compelling southerners to rethink their most fundamental assumptions about their identities and the logic of their places in the world.” (Faust, 4) She however, does not stop there and throughout the book it is evident that class position and a non-feminist versus feminist perspective are integral in considering her thesis as well. As she moves from subject to subject within her book, the author clearly, and sometimes subtly, presents her argument while demonstrating that the Civil War did indeed change the role of women within
In the bibliography “Breaking Tradition”, by Kathleen Ernst, the author portrays the changing roles of women during the Civil War and World War II in a variety of methods. These include diction, imagery, and historical facts. By using these methods, Ernst is able to effectively support her claim that women’s roles in society had changed during the Civil War and during World War II.
The United States during the Civil war was a divided nation and filled with gruesome fighting. It hit all parts of the country and brought the fighting right to the back yards of families. While the men of the nation fought the combat war, woman fought different wars in the shadows. Fighting split millions of families up, and it affected woman in multiple ways. Challenges differed for woman from North and South. While some woman’s homes were turned into hospitals, other woman had to learn how to tend to their plantations while their husbands were away fighting. Many women disguised themselves as men to fight in the war because in the 1860s, a woman fighting in the war was not allowed yet. Numerous enslaved
At the beginning of the struggle in America, women’s citizenship was not given serious consideration. Women were invisible in the political sphere and were seen to have no capacity where politics were concerned. When the war occurred, the role of women vastly changed. They were leaders off the battlefield. Women began to question their role in the political arena. Could a woman have a political thought? Could women be patriots? Must a wife’s political loyalty be the same as her husband’s? Once the Revolution succeeded, these questions were pushed away. Women had played the role of “Republican Mother” and completed their duty in helping the war effort, they did not need a more significant political role. Although women realized they had the potential to have a political mind, Kerber uses the legal processes of confiscation, coverture, and divorce to explain how women’s political identities were still tied to the role of wife. The American Revolution was a fight for liberty and freedom, unless you were a woman. As long as those three processes remained intact women would not gain freedom.
While the Civil war was going on, women decided not to stand around and not do anything, they took action into their own hands. Some stood up and fought right alongside the men in the war. While the men did not know it, women secretly disguised themselves as men and altered their names to be in the army. Some women acted as spies against their side to feed their own side information about battle plans and strategies for the war. For the women that didn’t fight in the war, they took up jobs that the men regularly had to earn
J.G. Sime’s short story “Munitions” utilizes a limited omniscient narrative, metaphors, and imagery to demonstrate how World War I contributed to the liberation of North American women from patriarchal gender roles such as housewifery, and the unity among these newly emancipated women. The limited omniscient narrative allows readers to understand the limited opportunities for women before the war, while maintaining hope for a more eclectic future. The narrative also reveals the changing sexual codes for women as a result of independence, the internalized misogyny that forced patriarchal gender roles creates, and how when these roles are eradicated, women become supportive of one another. Sime employs the season of spring and Bertha’s name as metaphors of new beginnings for women. The bright imagery also reveals optimistic future opportunities for women, while contrasting, dark images expose the restricted lives of women before the war.
Although some historians may argue that Women’s Life and Work in the Southern Colonies was over-researched, her twenty-four page bibliography of primary sources implies remarkable meticulousness in her research method. Modern colonial historians have done notable work, but few can match Spruill’s grasp of primary sources.
Is the paper well-structured? Do parts fit together to back up the author 's argument?
Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust chronicles the transition of women’s roles and attitudes in the South during the Civil War. The work of Faust does not only deal with the roles of women but also the changing attitudes of men in relation to the status of women in the South. The war itself was integral in the transformation of women and would bring about these changes for the better but would be painful for many who were raised in the subservient culture of southern society. With attitudes and the environment of a world without men, women were forced to change as were the patriarchs of the society who were no longer able to cling to outdated gender roles. Faust points
The southern ladies had the war come ideal to their doorsteps. From their homes many were known to look after the injured, serve, and gave supplies to the men. They helped any place they were required. Ladies in the south endured various causalities some were torn from their homes and moved toward becoming displaced people in the south. There homes were burned to the ground and their men slaughtered before them (Women and the Civil War, n.d.). Both ladies for the north and the south had similitudes. There were contrasts among them and they were given. They had all surrendered a great deal in the Common War. At last they all needed to meet up as a country to what we know today as America. What were the roles of the blacks, the ones who were still slaves and the ones that were considered free? These are the questions that will be answered. Were there similarities? What were the differences? In September eighteen sixty two the Liberation Declaration was put into play. Both the dark slaves and the dark men who were free participated in the battle with the union
The Civil War altogether influenced the lives of American ladies. A modest bunch camouflaged themselves as men and joined the battle. Others served as spies and nurses. Numerous more tackled new parts at home after their spouses, siblings, and fathers reacted to the invitation to battle. A large number of oppressed ladies started the move to flexibility, starting new lives in the midst of the revulsions of war. By war's end, the amazing loss of life of roughly 620,000 officers had left endless ladies in grieving. Contrasted with past eras, American ladies in general had enhanced their instructive standing, secured extra lawful rights, and procured more noteworthy access to made merchandise by the mid-1800s. Ladies had taken part conspicuously
After the Civil War, the Republicans had views that the defeat of the rebels and destruction of slavery were sufficient to guarantee prosperity for everyone. The traumatic events throughout the Civil War only intensified the desire among a growing group of American women to participate fully in the nation 's political life. They were striving for a sense of agency in the United States not only as a collective whole, but also as individuals. Agency refers to the idea that each individual in a culture is free to determine his or her own actions and beliefs. For American women, this means to have the power to control their own life.
The time in American history where slavery was at its most popular often overlooks women, as many times in history tend to. In many depictions of women’s roles in slave owning households they are simply depicted as the mistress, the wife of the master. As far as female slaves are concerned, they are often simply lumped in with the tales of the men. I have always personally been interested in what women’s opinions truly were of slavery amongst a world filled with slave owning men who saw their slaves as nothing more than property. Did the women actually feel the same way as the men did? I also wondered how the experiences of female slaves differed from the lives of male slaves, as sometimes slavery is put together as one massive institution and fails to look at the individual lives and experiences that slaves had, particularly female ones. I wondered how the Civil War changed female perspectives on slavery and how the war changed women’s roles in the home during that time while their husbands were away. The readings for week eight about women in the slave regime allowed to view the civil war and the institution of slavery, for the first time, through the eyes of the women rather than the men.
The Civil War is a very important part of American history – simply put, it determined what kind of nation the United States would be. The Civil War resolved whether the United States is what determined the survival of the Union or whether the Confederacy would gain independence. It is the battle that determined whether the largest slaveholding country in the world would continue to exist as such since it thrived on the fundamental idea that “all men are created with an equal right to liberty.” Many men were drafted and put their lives on the line during the war to fight for the freedom or the right to own slaves. The men were not the only individuals affected by the war; it significantly affected the lives of many
After four years of seemingly endless battle between a divided nation, more than 600,000 people were killed. These lives, however, were not given in vain. Had it not been for the American Civil War, abolition may not have been carried out. The nation might have remained divided. Women might have remained confined to their roles as the "homemakers." Although the Civil War was fought in hopes of preserving the nation and ridding it of slavery, another war raged on within the depths of this war--the women's war. Serving as nurses both in the hospital and on the battlefields, women came to know a whole
The American Civil War was a four year long war which consisted of the Union (with states such as Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and others) and the Confederacy (which consisted of states such as Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and others). This war lasted between the twelfth of April, 1861 and the ninth of May, 1865. Estimated death count throughout the entirety of the war is estimated between sixty-five thousand and eighty-five thousand. That’s nearing on almost a million American lives, with brothers and fathers fighting one another in the brutal and heart wrenching war. Many states in the north, the Union states, had completely industrialized themselves, most with huge factories with hard workers in those factories