Reform, Religion, and Economics: Changes to Family Roles in America 1650-1877
This 4-page undergraduate paper considers the changes to family roles as a result of economic change, reform activities, and western expansion. This essay traces changes in family life, and especially changes in the life of wives through this period in history. This essay concludes that while seventeenth century American families were depicted by contemporary writers as coherent and sanctified units, nineteenth century writers tended to depict families as contracted groups of loving individuals.
