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The Changing Face of theAmerican Family: Early History

unskilled laborer earned only $1.00 per

week.Blacksmiths and machinists were

the only laborers able to earn Greeley’s

minimum (Mintz,2007a).

New Worries.Whenhusbandsdiedor

abandonedtheirfamilies,womenhadno

choicebuttoworkoutsidethehome.Ifa

womanhadsomecapital,shemightopena

littleshop.However,ifshedidnothave

money,sheoftenhadnochoicebuttowork

inafactory.Factoriescametobeknownas

sweatshopsbecauseofthelonghoursand

intolerableconditions.Womenearnedless

thanmendoingthesamejob.Somewomen

turnedtoprostitution,whichofferedmore

moneyandflourishedintownsbothbigand

small.

Itwasverydifficultforasinglemother

orfathertoworkandraisechildren.Asa

result,childrenof singleparentswereoften

leftatorphanagesorsimplyabandonedto

thestreets.ThisallpredatedSocialSecurity,

workers’compensation,

unemploymentinsurance,

retirementfunds,health

insurance,andotherprivate

andpublicprogramstoaid

familiesintimesof crisis.

New worries about the

family emerged.The divorce

rate steadily rose,and many

states adopted permissive

divorce statutes.Divorce had

become the safety valve for a

loveless,abusive marriage,at a

time when marriage was

based on mutual affection.In 1867,10,000

divorces nationwide were recorded.In

1870,the rate rose to 3.1 per 100

marriages,to 4.5 per 100 in 1880,and to

5.9 per 100 in 1890 (National Center for

Health Statistics,1973).

In addition to divorce,other social ills

began to plague the new nation.As the

family became more privatized with less

communal oversight,which included

evaluating behavior based on religious

principles,child and spousal abuse

became more prevalent.The new market

economy and the many changes taking

place in the family now meant the family

could become a place of violence rather

than a place of retreat.

The late 1800s also saw an increase in

the push for suffrage (the right to vote) for

women.Early in the century,a few

courageous women began what was to be

a 72 year struggle for equal voting rights.

The late 1800s also saw an increase in the push for suffrage

(the right to vote) for women.

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