frontier women seminararbeit final
TRANSCRIPT
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Ruhr-Universitt BochumEnglisches Seminar
The Other Frontier: Womens Experienceson the American Frontier
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Contents
I. Introduction 3
II. The American Frontiera Males Myth 4
III. Womens Role in the West 7
IV. The Loneliness of Pioneer Women 10
V. Social Disorder and Pioneer Women
as Civilizing Agents 15
VI. Conclusion 19
Works cited 20
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I. Introduction
The American Frontier is one of the United States great myths that has
shaped the whole nations perception of their world. Even though manyscholars are puzzled by its meaning and the vague definition of the Frontier
(West 1994, 115), it still remains a concept which captured the American
publics imagination and [is] now deeply woven into the American
consciousness (Ridge 1991, 2). The Frontier immediately evokes images in
everyones head pictures of a vast and wild land that has been conquered
and subjugated by man.
Even Frederick Jackson Turner, one of the great historians of that time,
called the Frontier the meeting point between savagery and civilization
(Engler 2007, 415). This wilderness is mostly depicted by settlers moving
over the mountains in their trail wagons and also strong and fearless
cowboys facing the dangers and isolation of the Frontier. In history books,
essays and many accounts of the American Frontier we find the glorified man
(Hahn 2008, 149) who turned wilderness into the American nation. Of most of
the ideas of the Frontier one important element has been denied or is
missing the pioneer woman. The experiences of all these women who were
on the Frontier as well and were facing the wilderness are often denied or
hardly mentioned. Female scholars bemoaned this obscured reality. Inspired
by the feminist movement in the 20thcentury, women were eager to recover
their past and historians tried to place absent women in the westward
movement (Walsh 1995, 244). Therefore, this paper tries to find answers to
the questions of what this male myth of the Frontier looks like, what the
reasons for muting womens experiences in frontier history were, and what
the female role in this context was. It will also address one common element
that can be found in many of the accounts of pioneer women loneliness. It
is to examine how loneliness was expressed, how these women coped with
their loneliness and tried to overcome it. Then we will learn how women
perceived violence and how they counteracted social disorder and describe
womens tasks asmissionaries of civilization(Jeffrey 1983, 79). As the topic
of this paper indicates we will take a look at the other Frontier and try to see
it through the eyes of the pioneer women.
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I. The American Frontiera Males Myth
In the course of the westward movement in the early days of the nations
history, many settlers were excited to leave their homes in the east and face
the American Frontier. The first settlers had troubles taming the wilderness
that lay ahead but the westward expansion across the whole continent
gained momentum. Huge numbers of emigrants travelled along the trails by
wagon in their personal pursuit of happiness, freedom, and opportunities.
This journey was very dangerous and hard so that many gave up on their
way to the frontier. However the completion of the transcontinental railroad in
1869 made it much easier for settlers to move west. By that time the
population of the land that had been unsettled before was continuously
increasing. People were flocking to destinations all over the country. Many of
them suffered hardships but others in turn found their fortune in the West
(Jeffrey xi - xii). In 1890 the superintendent of the U.S. census stated that the
frontier disappeared and announced the closing of the Frontier (Burchell and
Gray 1992, 131). Frederick Jackson Turner declared that the first period ofAmerican history had ended with the closing of the frontier (Ridge 10).
The American Frontier soon became a phenomenon characterized as
an area of rapid change (Burchell and Gray 130) and has always been a
powerful picture, which mostly portrays men as conquerors of wilderness.
The mythical force (Burchell and Gray 142) of the heroic tales of the
American West, has portrayed and glorified men as the ultimate heroes.
Tales and stories of great adventures, dangers and pioneering experiences
are mostly of a male cast. (Armitage 1982, 2). The range of famous heroic
pioneers goes from Davy Crockett, Mike Fink, Buffalo Bill, and of course the
famous Daniel Boone (Burchell and Gray 145). Boone serves as the
archetype of the American frontiersman and pioneer, and became an icon of
the experiences the American pioneers made at the Frontier (West 115).
Talking about famous pioneer heroes, one man must not be omitted
James Fenimore Cooper. In his five Leatherstocking novels The Pioneers,
The Land of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinderand The Deerslayer
he creates the stereotypical pioneer which promotes the settlement process
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across the nation on the one hand and romantical escapes into the freedom
of the wilderness on the other hand (Burchell and Gray 148). Natty Bumppo,
the protagonist of the Leatherstocking novels, therefore, personifies the
people who are engaged in the frontier idea in all its obsessiveness, naivet,
hope and contradictions (West 146). As mentioned before, most of the
national heroes are men and one can hardly find female heroes among these
male dominated ideals. There are however exceptions like Sacajawae (guide
and interpreter on the Lewis and Clark expedition), Abigail Scott Duniway
(Womens activist) and also Narcissa Whitman the missionary (Armitage
1982, 2). All these women surfaced, even though they had done great work,
as individuals and are portrayed in a male-defined area (Walsh 242).
The American westward movement and settlement process and the
building of a new nation have always been described in terms of mens
accomplishments, with little attention to the creative achievements of
nineteenth-century western women (Moynihan, Armitage and Dichamp
1996, xiii). Even Frederick Jackson Turners frontier thesis, which was much
appreciated, challenged, and questioned, put women in their place as an
invisible helpmate or a shadowy figure (Walsh 241).
When Frederick Jackson Turner envisioned the settlement process
and taming of the wilderness, the only people he had in his mind were men
(Jeffrey xii). The envisioned process of civilization consisted of farmers,
miners, fur traders and trappers. His traditional history of the American
Frontier came from Turners male perspective (xii) a perspective where
women were hardly mentioned or were described as only passive actors.
Because most of the historians emphasized the romantic aspect of the
Frontier adventures and also paid much attention to the historical process in
becoming a nation there was no space for female affairs (Walsh 244). In fact
there was less or at least very little attention to the numerous records of
pioneering women. Consequently, most historians overlooked women
altogether even though they made up half of the population who crossed the
Mississippi (Jeffrey xii).
Since they made up such a large number of the population and since
they had been crucial to the settlement process, there had to be good
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reasons for not mentioning them and omitting all those important pioneering
experiences.
There are few reasons why women werent mentioned, but the basic
idea behind it was the attention of historical research was more on public
affairs than on womens personal experiences. Historians, therefore, were
more interested in finding out about the notable men of the nation who took
part in the historical process of becoming a nation. These men were
responsible for all the public documents historians were interested in.
Womens sources were often of a different kind; they described living
conditions, personal relationships and drew a picture of communities
(Moynihan, Armitage and Dichamp xii - xiii). Another reason for not
mentioning women was that they were simply seen as passive partners
depending on male pioneers. These passive partners were depicted mostly
as sad beings who endured all the hardships on the frontier. Consequently,
most historians found women not capable of coping with all the hardships of
frontier life and therefore not worth mentioning.
Until the late 1970s this pattern of describing the history of the
American frontier was common among most of the researches in history
the majority of (male) historians did not question the masculinity of the
frontier (Walsh 242 243). With the rise of womens history this pattern has
been altered gradually and female scholars try to re-write the history of the
American frontier with the help of the numerous pioneer womens accounts.
They found their answers in the relationships between public and personal
affairs that correlate (Moynihan, Armitage and Dichamp xiii). If one hopes to
get new information from womens accounts to rewrite history, one has to
know in what ways the records of women differed from the records of men.
Female accounts were not of a public source, whereas, as stated before,
male documents were public. The female sources are from a variety of
genres: we can find diaries, letter, memoirs, autobiographies, community
documents, and reminiscences and so on. All of them serve to give a good
and useful picture of pioneer womens experiences of the American frontier
(Jeffrey xv). With great vividness these women told stories of cowboys,
natural phenomena like blizzards, the seasons, floods, and fires.
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Brave women wrote about encounters with Indians, about thefts, their
hopes, fears, and dreams. They gave many details about every-day-life, their
families and homes, the hardships on the trail, their loneliness and isolation
and so on. In short they provided the whole picture of frontier life and history
in contrast to male (public) documents. (Stratton 1981, 12). As we find
women mentioned in a few sentences in male documents we can also find
men only mentioned on the periphery of the action in many of womens
narratives. This has two reasons: the exclusion of public affairs and secondly
women simply found their achievements and actions primary (Moynihan
,Armitage and Dichamp xviii). But there is one remarkable fact: These
women did not write about their experiences to get praise for their
achievements, nor did they want to play down their experiences and
hardships (Stratton 12). What these women wanted to demonstrate was that
they have the resilience and strength to resist the disintegrating forces of
frontier life, extend their own social role and create the Frontier to their
fondness (Jeffrey 24). The female role on the Frontier will be examined in the
next chapter.
II. Womens Role in the West
In order to understand womens experiences in the West we have to
understand the role of a woman in these days. This image was different at
the end of the settlement from the one in the beginning. Due to hardships,
social and physical conditions women had to adapt to the wilderness and
therefore a new image emerged the Frontier created a new woman
(Walsh 246).
In the beginning the idea of a womans place was basically shaped by
a Victorian understanding of a womans place, which was brought by pioneer
women from the East.
This Victorian understanding was based on a cult of domesticity
(Walsh 246), which meant that the right place for a woman was her home. In
this home she was responsible for creating an atmosphere of peace and
[uphold] the moral virtues of society (Schrems 1987, 56). Therefore womens
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West was especially hard for this genteel woman. Even though she tried to
change her ways she could not adjust to frontier life in the end. All attempts
to adjust to the rough life failed and ended up in unhappiness (Stoeltje 29).
Because the life in the West was so rough and hard more strength and
initiative were required (30). All this can be found in the second type the
helpmate. This type is characterized as strong and uncomplaining
(Armitage 1982, 3) and had no problems adapting to the conditions she was
exposed to on the frontier. This woman was both physically and emotionally
strong. She was able to be a partner to her husband, carry out her domestic
duties, handle difficult and dangerous situations, and all this without any
signs of complaint. (Stoeltje 32). The last type, the bad woman, is the one
who combined the glamour of the refined lady and the power of the helpmate
but did come to an end very fast. (Armitage 1982, 4).
Even though these are stereotypical depictions of women in the West at
least one of them contains enough truth to describe the modified image of the
frontier woman. The type which represents the frontier woman best is the
helpmate. Notwithstanding the fact that the definition of the helpmate did not
wholly match reality, it still gives us an idea of the image and role of a woman
in the West. This frontier woman became a woman, not just as a comrade for
her husband to assure his success, but also working in her own right. With
the help of the most important characteristics of the helpmate, the physical
and emotional strength to bear up under difficulties (Stoeltje 33) she
managed to fulfill all her domestic duties, be a partner to her husband and
also become independent. Even though many men didnt like the fact that
their wives worked in their own right, many women became entrepreneurs
and earned their living by running restaurants, laundries, school,
newspapers, boarding houses and so on. In this respect women found a
great advancement in their social role away from the Victorian image of a
womens place at home. Glenda Riley concludes the change from the
eastern Victorian woman to the woman of the frontier as follows: []
western women grew strong, assertive and confident. They realized that with
their talents and skills they might play some role in shaping their lives,
protecting themselves and their children, and determining their ultimatesurvival in the West (29).
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III. The Loneliness of Pioneer Women
To their ultimate survival in the West (29) belongs a common theme thatcan be found in many of the narratives of the women on the Frontier
loneliness. There was not just the uncertainty of an adventure to come that
burdened women, but there was also the anticipation of leaving their families
and homes and heading into the unknown. Most of these women did not
return and therefore suffered from the separation of their loved ones and the
isolation of the new world. All this began with the decision to leave their
home. One might think that these women did not take any part in the
decisions of their husbands and were simply dragged to go west but in fact
they played a major role in that. When their husbands left, it meant months or
even years of separation, which some women could not or were not willing to
bear. Therefore they felt the right to affect the decision-making (Jeffrey 29-
30; Moynihan, Armitage and Dichamp 5). One example was the pioneer
woman Mary Jane Hayden to take some interest in affairs when she heard
of her husbands plans to go to California without her. In her memoirs she
writes:
[] when I thought it was time for me to take some interest in affairs,and so put the question, what do you propose to do with me? Sendyou to your mother until I return, was his answer, which did not meetwith my approval, but I made no answer that time. I was very fond ofmy husband and was nearly broken-hearted at the thought ofseparation. [] I said We were married to live together, (he sayingYes), and I am willing to go with you to any part of Gods Foot Stoolwhere you think you can do the best, and under these circumstancesyou have no right to go where I cannot, and if you do, you need neverreturn for I shall look upon you as dead. (Hayden 1915)
It is obvious that this woman knew what she wanted and she didnt want to
stay at home alone without her beloved husband. She felt and acted
according to the proverb Homeis where the heart is and did not show any
hesitation in the decision to leave her home because she believed in their
family.
When the decision to leave was made and the day of leaving their
home came these women described the saying-goodbye-scenes very
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emotionally. Even the month before they left, preparing their departure, were
not preparing them for the actual day of leaving their homes. These moments
were very traumatic experiences not just for the ones leaving but also for
family and friends staying behind. Farewell-scenes were very sad and
gloomy because everybody involved experienced a sense of loss (Jeffrey
36). One woman writes about the evening before they left:
On the evening before, the whole family, including my mother, weregathered together in the parlor looking as if we were all going to ourgraves the next morning, there we sat in such gloom, that I could notendure it any longer, and I arose and announced that we would retirefor the night, and that we would not start tomorrow morning, not until
everybody could feel more cheerful. (qtd. in Jeffrey 36)
Even so these situations were difficult for everybody and parting did leave a
great ache in the hearts of our frontier women, there was no turning back.
Some of these women even compared it to death so that their emotional
emptiness therefore became symbolic as can be read in one of Lodisa
Frizzells reminiscences: [] it may be the last we hear from some or all of
them, and to those who start there can be no more solemn scene of
parting only at death (qtd. in Jeffrey 37). In Lodisas statement we find an
element, an anticipation, of something that enhanced the loneliness these
women suffered from on the Frontier. Many of them tried to keep close
contact (as close as possible in those times) to their family and friends back
home. In most cases this was futile. While they heard from their loved ones
several times in the beginning, the contact became less and less frequent
which intensified their emotional suffering and loneliness. Due to the lack of
contact many women became terribly homesick which becomes evident
through the vivid letters Jerusha Merill wrote to her brother. In her letters one
can easily recognize how much she relied on the contact to her family and to
hear all the particulars from home (Merill 1849) and how much her well-
being depended on the correspondence. She emphasized this several times
in her letters she wrote to her brother
I sometimes almost immagin myself with my friends again enjoying themany privileges you are blessed with but on reflection find it but avexation and vanity for boundless waters and high mountains widely
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separate us from each other I would be much delighted to hear allparticulars from my friends [sic.] (Merill 1849).
We can see how Jerusha fondly looks back on her past, remembering her
loved ones and wishing for her old home. She does this again in a letter twoyears later when she writes: I often think of the good apples and things t hat
make the longer winter evenings pass away so pleasantly and would like an
old fashion sleigh ride again (Merill 1851). This woman, even though she
was amazed by all the changes, suffered great homesickness, which was
intensified by the fact that the contact to her family became less and less
frequent. In one of her letters she writes I begin to think out of sight out of
mind for no one has taken the trouble to write (Merill 1849).Homesickness was a great topic in most of the pioneer womens lives;
therefore we can find many expressions of homesickness in many of the
pioneer womens accounts. Another example of that is Annie Green, when
she explicitly wrote in her book that to say that I was homesick, discouraged
and lonely, is but a faint description of my feelings (Green, 1887 8).
Also, what compounded the loneliness for these women was not only
were they separated from their families in the East, but there was isolation in
the West. Because of the long distances between the neighbors it was
difficult to keep in touch with others on the Frontier, which added isolation
and loneliness. In the memoirs about her familys life on the Frontier Mrs.
Van Court writes about the isolation and describes the location of their house
This house was on a state road, the nearest neighbor a half a mile away, not
a house in sight (Van Court 1914 5). Another women, Anne Bingham,
corroborates the isolated situation of prairie life: There was not a tree nearer
than the little creek, and our nearest neighbor lived in a ravine out of sight
about a half mile away. We were as much isolated as if we were miles from a
neighbor, and not a dwelling in sight (qtd. in Stratton 86).
For some women this isolation was especially hard to bear and their
emotional well-being suffered. Their despair was expressed in many different
ways: The pioneer woman Allena A. Clark had an interesting way of coping
with lonely days. When she felt especially lonely she used to make friends
with the familys sheep. In those days she went to the sheep and just lay
down in the midst of them to feel their company. Another woman appears in
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the autobiography of Mary Furguson Darrah. When she was told that her
husband had to go for wood she had the chance to go with him. When they
arrived in the wood she hysterically hugged a tree because she was so
happy to see it (Stratton 88).
Mrs. Clark tried to ease her emotional suffering with the help of the
sheeps company, while other women found abatement in real company i.e.
the company of other pioneering women. Women built a network of friends
on the Frontier in order to sustain their hardships. These networks were
essential for most of the women, not just because they were not alone
anymore but they could also share experiences and emotions. Therefore did
women who were new to frontier life try to establish new ties with other
women as soon as possible. These new ties were characterized by frequent
visits of other pioneering women who made a special point in visiting one
another. This new network become something like a cure and remedy from
all the hardships of frontier life. Many women took not only the opportunity to
share experiences, but also developed long lasting friendships, which made
many of them feel so much better (Jeffrey 75). It was not just the emotional
burden that was eased by the friendships, but also did the female
companionships help to relieve the great burden of the work many women
had to do. They helped out cooking, sewing, helped with the child care and
therefore somehow shared their creative skills as well (Jeffrey 86). The
network of friends and visitors opened up a new aspect for frontier women,
which helped them to cope with the loneliness. This was the aspect of
hospitality, which a great number of women developed throughout the time.
Visitors were so rare so they did everything to keep them there and to make
them feel comfortable so that they would come back. Most women were so
happy when they had company that they gave everything they had in order to
make their guest feel at home. These elaborate codes of hospitality helped
to balance the isolation on the frontier (Moynihan, Armitage and Dichamp
218).
The people on the frontier also used every opportunity to gather and
make friends in order to socialize and therefore fight loneliness. They valued
the time when they sat together and told each other stories, sang and atetogether. Many of the occasions were picnics, dances, holidays like the
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Fourth of July celebration. Also weddings gave them the perfect opportunities
to establish new social ties and to just let them forget about their lonely days
(Stratton 129 135). Women also found companionship in many of the
womens groups that evolved in the course of time and the development of
communities. Because these were groups of various kinds, many women
found not just great emotional support but also help in many aspects within
the network of these groups (Armitage 1982, 8).
Another strategy of coping with the loneliness of frontier life was to
maintain old, and especially domestic structures, as much as possible. They
literally tried to [reproduce] aspects of the world they left behind. Therefore
did many women dress the way the used to dress like they did in the East
and also tried to make their homes look like the ones they left behind.
Because of this reproduction, even though it was impossible to keep their old
world, it gave women the courage to endure all those hardships and
overcome the isolation (Jeffrey 41- 42). Speaking of strategies for coping with
loneliness, one outstanding woman should be mentioned the missionary
Narcissa Whitman. She went to the West with her husband Marcus Whitman.
In the beginning she was all exited about the trip and the new experiences
but as the years went by she was also exposed to loneliness. The birth of her
only child Alice was a remedy for that as Narcissa herself stated oh how
many melancholy hours she has saved me, while living here alone so long,
especially when her father is gone for so many days together (Thompson
1963, 18 - 20). The fact that her only child died very soon and her husband
had to leave her alone many times brought back and enhanced the feeling of
loneliness. Hence she took the opportunity to cure her pain and became a
mother to eleven children who came from mountain men or settlers who died
on the trip west. The adoption of the children filled the gap that her little
daughter Alice left and did help her forget the loneliness of empty arms
(20). Supposedly it was not just her religious belief and her great heart but
also her lonely circumstances that led her in the decision of adopting these
children. That was why, after a while, her letters showed a renewed hope
and pleasure in life (22).
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IV. Social Disorder and Pioneer Women as Civilizing
Agents
During the time of the settlement process on the American Frontier was
much room for violence and social disorder. Because there were no
institutions or legal mechanisms counteracting all the disorders in many
frontier settlements, social disorder became a huge problem which increased
more and more in the course of cities arising and growing bigger. (Jeffrey
112). Even in the early days of the Frontier the foundation of social life was
far from being civilized in any regards. It was normal for frontier towns tohave gunmen shooting, gamblers wasting all their money, and the local
saloons providing men with liquor so that drunken cowboys were not a rare
picture (Stratton 199). Women very often experienced violent scenes from
close proximity. Nat Collins remembers:
I remember distinctly an incident, which will serve to illustrate theprevailing state of affairs at this time. Walking along the main street ofthe town, I was about to pass one of the large tents in which gamblingwas being carried on when suddenly a quarrel rose within. In far lesstime than I employ in writing this brief sketch of the event, the sharpreports of the revolvers of the gamblers were ringing through the streetin rapid succession. The fight was at its height in almost an instant, and,greatly startled, I turned to retrace my steps. As I did so a stray bulletpierced my dress and clothing and striking my right limb just above theknee [] The wound, as a matter of course, was but a slight one, andsoon healed, but the sensation I felt the leaden missile burns its waythrough my flesh was not of a very pleasant nature. Had I been six
inches farther ahead I would have been badly wounded (Collins 1911,20 - 21).
Furthermore, she remembers that murderers, desperadoes and gamblers
were almost daily being shot (Collins 21). This short extract of her letters
reveals how violence was a steady companion to frontier life and that
women very often were caught in the crossfire. The reminiscence of another
pioneer woman, Elizabeth Ann Coonc, corroborates the state of affairs The
place was full of the toughest men I ever saw; every Sunday they would getdrunk, quarrel and shoot up the town (Coonc 1917, 19). Not just violence
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itself was a problem but also the huge consumption of alcohol in the saloons
magnified the violence problem. During the time of the gold rush many
people overran the country, and drinking was an apparent problem. In most
mining camps were the saloons the center of gravity where men
transformed into wild animals. Mrs. Whipple- Haslam describes it in the
following terms:
Selling vile whiskey to vile men can have only one result. The men hadalready been inoculated with the virus of the evil. They would drink andonly taper off when tankage facilities failed. Whiskey createdantagonisms, and their faces would remind one of a personified day ofjudgment, untempered by mercy. Then they were ready of anything
robbery or murder, but above all they loved to fight (Whipple- Haslam1925,15).
She assesses the state of affairs at that time as follows Human life was not
valued; it must demand a life for a life (Whipple- Haslam 14). Drinking
presented a great threat to social values and order. Not only the drinking was
a thorn in the flesh for frontier women but also the apparent disorder which
pioneer women eagerly tried to turn into a civilized society. It was a common
notion among 19th
century people that men were simply not capable ofturning the wilderness into a real civilization (Jeffrey 118). And because men
and women had a different idea of what a community meant, this task had to
be theirs. Women were believed to be more moral than man and therefore
the only chance in becoming a civilized society. They were commonly seen
as shapers and civilizers of society and as an efficient remedy for [the]
great evils which were experienced in the state of social disorder. Women
were mostly attributed with only positive characteristics and therefore being [missionaries] of virtue, morality, happiness, and peace to a circle of
careworn, troubled, and [] demoralized men (Jeffrey 109). As a
consequence women were labeled as civilizing agents (Jabour 264).
The frontier women took their mission as civilizing agents very
seriously and immediately began civilizing the Frontier in many areas of
social life i.e. schoolwork, community work, church, culture etc.
As the understanding for the need of a better education not just for
themselves, but also for the development of the community grew, settlers
tried to establish schools. Because the resources were limited there were few
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schools. It was mostly women, who initiated the educational process and
opened schools (Stratton 157). These schools were usually very simple and
small and were often situated in the homes of the women. Even though the
teaching task can be seen as a broadening of the female role it gave women
the opportunity to practice their moral influence and helped to promote
cultural standards (Jeffrey 88 89). School teaching was an important pillar
for the civilizing mission pioneer women were assigned with. Here again it
was the conviction of a womans moral superiority, which was deeply woven
into the teaching task. Hence, schools produced moral and virtuous citizens
of an Eastern ideal and therefore civilize[d] people living in frontier
communities (Schrems 63).
It was women who started the process in forming a church in a time
when it was hard to bring all the members of a community together because
they were scattered. And again, women were not just morally superior but
they also remembered their religious duties better than men. As
missionaries they helped spreading the faith and a regular worship.
Furthermore they helped to establish churches, search for ministers and
organize church events (Jeffrey 95 97). They organized the church
community, taught in Sunday schools and also organized fundraisers to
provide the churches with liturgical material. The common faith and also the
church, therefore, were a useful device in womens civilizing mission and
worked as a social incitement.
Another example of their mission was the contribution in womens
groups and associations. Due to the social disorder, these groups were
essential in bringing advancement to society and progress in community
building. Countless groups for womens suffrage, schools, religion and
culture were formed by and for women and covered a wide range of
activities. In this regard one group stands out. The Womens Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU) served as the perfect representations of the
mission frontier women were on to civilize the Frontier. The WCTU formed on
order to prohibit the use of liquor or at least get it under control. As pointed
out before, drinking was a very big problem and a hurdle for the civilizing
process. This problem grew even bigger as distilling techniques improvedand therefore the consumption of hard liquor increased, and taxes were
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eliminated. This became a serious social problem which required immediate
action and the boosting of public drinking by saloons and free lunches made
this task even harder. Women tried to prevent people from drinking with the
help of moral values and tried to persuade drinkers and pledge abstinence.
They led prohibition campaigns and struggled with their male opposition but
they also had great success. Newspaper articles, prayer meetings, petitions,
and also saloon hauntings were tactics of these activist women. (Jeffrey 184
187). The WCTU was not only engaged in preventive work but also in
public education, relieving prostitutes and they also went into politics in the
endeavor of getting a vote for women (Armitage 1982, 8).
This outline describing the efforts women made on the frontier gives a
good insight of their task as civilizing agents. What made these women so
special was that they had the resilience and strength and they gave their
youth, health, courage and the very best of their lives to the civilization of
these great western plains, at a cost no one ever will be able to reckon. (qtd.
in Stratton 267).
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V. Conclusion
In the context of this work we learned about how a male myth of theAmerican Frontier was built throughout time and that women were only
appearing on the periphery instead of being active actors. It also became
clear that the Frontier changed women and that their role was different from
the role women had in the East. We heard the voices of women talking about
intimate topics and about their loneliness and learned how they suffered
under the migration to the West. Therefore we got an insight in the minds and
souls of these women. Another great topic was the social disorder of the
Frontier and an outline of the different missions in the course of the higher
mission of civilization.
This is an outline of what women did on the Frontier and there is likely
much more that can be explored like, for example, whether the frontier
woman was a role model for the modern woman or how sex roles developed
through the frontier experience.
By and large it can be said that these outstanding women even though
they had ambivalent feelings about what they could expect, they never gave
up or complained. They never rejected their civilizing mission or their tasks;
instead they always gave their best and developed numerous strategies to
make the Frontier theirs.
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