The Impact of the Civil War on Womens Rights Essay -- Womens Rights

I do not wish them women to have power over men yet over themselves. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of WomanAfter four years of seemingly endless battle between a divided nation, to a greater extent than 600,000 people were killed. These lives, however, were not given in vain. Had it not been for the American urbane War, abolition may not have been carried out. The nation world power 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 womens war. Serving as nurses both in the hospital and on the battlefields, women came to know a whole different world a world outside of the home. When the last gun shot was fired, women were expected to cave in to their roles as the housewives. Some, however, had tasted the sweetness of being able to hold positions equal to that of their mal e counterparts and had become addicted. In this way, the American Civil War served as a remarkable turning point for the transformation of societal views concerning working women-particularly those in the field of nursing.Prior to the Civil War, it was believed that a womans place was in the home. Societal views held that women were to be the homemakers, plot of land the occupations in the outside world were to be left to the men. It was an age when women were preferred as angels rather than amazons, homemakers rather than careerists (Donald & Randall 19). A womans legal status was dependent on that of her father or husband, depending on whether she was married or not. As a result, a woman could not make any legal appearances in judicatory or sign any legal papers... ...ar and Reconstruction. D.C. Health and Company Boston,1965.McPherson, James M. Ordeal By Fire The Civil War and Reconstruction, Second Edition. Princeton University McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992.Moore, Frank. Women of the War Their valiancy and Self-Sacrifice. Hartford, Connecticut S.S. Scranton & Co., 1866.Negro Emancipation, Harpers Weekly Journal of Civilization, January 10, 1863, p. 18.The Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Harpers Weekly Journal of Civilization, April 27, 1861, p. 1.Thompson, William F. Image of War The Pictorial Reporting of the American Civil War. lanthanum State University Press Baton Rouge and London, 1960.Volo, Dorothy Denneen and Volo, James M. Daily Life in Civil War America. Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut and London,1998.Wright, Mike. What They Didnt Teach You About the Civil War. Presido Press, 1996.