The early 1800s essays

The early 1800's essays By the early 1800s, the dawn of a new era had begun. Family and home life was changing as well as the communities around them. There was a fast growing need to produce products like clothing, quickly and efficiently. This new era brought about the mechanical industry that created factories, which could meet this need. But who would work in these factories if the men were moving west? By the 1840s the necessity to find workers for these factories had produced major social changes-changes which carry on until today. Before this time, most all clothing was spun and woven in the home by women. But by the 1840s, most was produced in factories set up in what were referred to as mill towns. Lowell Massachusetts was one such town. This change created a whole new idea of what womens duties were, domestic or money earning laborers? Women had previously only been seen as domestic and having one goal, that of being a housewife. Their move into town to provide a workforce for the clothing factories sparked controversy in many eyes. Some people branded them mill girls who were doomed and unmarriable. Others thought of them as adventurers, with the fancy of bringing new fashions, books and ideas home with them. But the statistics show the average working life at a Lowell factory was only three years. Many of the women who returned home were sick and never married, because they were characterized by she has worked in a factory. In the factories, women were looked down uponseen only as people who flowed in to the factory day in and day out earning their keep, spinning and weaving for the rest of their lives. They were not worthy of earning an education, and were considered socially and intellectually inept. As time went by, the bigotry began to wear away. The factories flourished with women who had wisdom and potential. One man who visited one of the mills was noted to have bowe...