The Rise Of Birth Control Movement In The United States

The late19th century and the early20th century is one of the most important periods of social transformation in the United States. The development of the second industrial revolution had prompted the transition from agricultural society to industrial society of the United States ultimately. At the same time, the product mode and the way of life were undergoing great change, and this change was also occurring in American ideology. Under this background, American concept of family and fertility were also quietly changing----from the preference for more children to meet production needs in agricultural society, to the preference for birth controlling to reduce the cost of family life in industrial society. This transformation prompted the demand of birth control----from dispersed, individual demand to common, popular demand. In this case, Birth Control movement was growing up gradually in the late19th century. Our Study is based on the background of1850s to the early20th century, trying to explore the power of the movement, and analyze how the movement moving forward by overcoming the resistance of traditional society.This paper includes six parts:prologue, four chapters, and epilogue. The prologue introduces the conception and the time range of my research subject, And gives a sketch of the related academic literature on the movement of American birth control. Chapter1analyzes the basic motivations for the growing up of American birth control movement during the19th century to the early20th century----changes in the mode of production, the way of life, and the ideology of Americans arise from the transition of society, and the development of American feminist. Chapter2introduces the growing up of Voluntary Motherhood and its influence to the whole birth control movement of America. Chapter3introduces the debate of racial suicide in the early20th century America, illustrates the respective views of both sides, and analyzes how this debate prompting the development of American birth control movement and the reconstruction of birth control camp. Chapter4introduces the growing up of Sexual Revolution in the early20th century and its influence, on this basis, Chapter4analyzes the reasons for the popularity of birth control movement of America in the early20th century. At last, the epilogue summarizes the full text,and also overviews the whole American birth control movement after its growing up, pointing out that the achievements of the American birth control movement in the middle-late20th century could not be gotten without the long-term preparation, struggle and growth in the first half of this century.