Research Paper on:
Influence of Women in American History

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
they, likewise, did not enter the official workforce in any great numbers until the twentieth century. Nevertheless, throughout each era in the nations history, the influence and power of women  to affect the nations culture on a multiplicity of levels has been notable. Working behind the scenes as wives and mothers, educators and writers, American women have consistently pushed against  the boundaries of their socially determined roles and this fact can be easily seen in even a brief overview of American literary and historical sources. For example, Anne Hutchinson  overstepped the boundaries of womens role in the Puritan society of colonial Boston. Arriving in the colony with her husband in 1634, Hutchinson began to challenge Puritan doctrine and the  idea that women should be subordinate at all times to men (DuBois and Dumenil, 2005). She also felt that people were "saved by a direct and sudden infusion of Gods  spirit," and not simply by adhering to Puritan dogma and authority (DuBois and Dumenil, 2005, p. 28). As a midwife, she was able to preach to women within circumstances that  forbade mens intrusion. However, she soon began having informal meetings for both sexes in her home and this particularly challenged the male powerbase in the colony. John Cotton preached against  her from his pulpit, accusing her of being more "Husband than a Wife and a preacher (rather) than a Hearer; and a Magistrate (rather) than a Subject" (DuBois and Dumenil,  2005, p. 28). As this suggests, the charges against her had more to do with power than theology as she violated the gendered boundaries of decorum to which she was  suppose to adhere as a female. In the era of the Revolutionary War, John Adams was a member of the Continental Congress. His wife, Abigail, urged him and his