Furniture In The 1800's

In the 1840’s there was no electricity or machines. Everything had to be done by hand, and it was not easy. Chopping firewood, plowing and planting, harvesting fields, milking cows and sewing are not even close to the amount of jobs to do. A standard house would be made out of wood logs, which were often poorly joined and had many small openings exposing the inside to the wind. The wealthy homes had more luxuries, such as stoves. Furniture, however, was purely for durability and not designed to show status or wealth. Inside and outside the house, there was much work to be done.

During the day, the men planed, plowed, and harvested the fields and worked with wood, using it to build furniture to putting it in the fireplace. The women

prepared the meals, washed clothes, and general household jobs. Although it might seem like the men do all the work, without the women, there would be no food or clean clothes, and the house would be a mess. Without the men, there would be no one to work the fields and construct wood, thus, everyone was interdependent and they worked together to get the job done. Later on, when markets start to form, the work that women did became unnecessary. Different viewpoints on male and female jobs arose. Some argued that women should continue with the non-labor jobs, such as cooking and childcare, while other argued that men and women are equals and should be treated with equal respect and have equal rights. Also, there were less and less jobs to do as the markets grew bigger than ever.

Compared to today, the 1840’s seems pretty traditional, but it was standard living in that time. Instead of lights, candles were used to light up books, as opposed to watching television. There were no supermarkets or large-scale factories. Instead, there were small local markets and small farms, owned by single families. On a less dramatic spectrum, we still have gender roles today, as there were in the 1840’s. The men usually work at the office everyday, and the women prepare the meals and tend to the children. Although, there are exceptions, one of them being that men usually grill food for dinner, and sometimes the husbands and wives both hold jobs to make more income for the family. Overall, the modern day has greatly advanced from the 19th century, but we can still see similarities that show that history’s traits still bleed through time.