Mrs. Estrada
H English 1
10/16/15
Life in the 1840s
The 1840s marked a new age in America. It was a time before the gruesome Civil War, before several states seceded from the United States to form their own country. It was a time in which slavery still existed, and where electricity had not been applied to personal use and the use of steam-powered machines were used in all sorts of manners. However, there was absolutely no time for recreation. Let’s find out why. In the 1840s, most people did work all day and left no time for recreation, believing that recreation was a waste of time. People also didn’t welcome many forms of performing arts, such as theater and music. In fact, when President John Quincy Adams was seen to have a pool table in the White House, Adam’s political adversaries took this opportunity to demean his political standings, and managed to use that to thwart Adam’s chance of reelection, giving the seat of presidency to Adam’s opponent, Andrew Jackson. However, not all people deemed sports and recreation in a negative light. For example, wealthy people accepted sports into their lives, investing in billiards, hunting, and other sports. Over the …show more content…
One similarity between the two is that the art of theater still shines as a good source of entertainment. Another similarity is that agriculture is just as important as it was back then. Despite the similarities between our time and the 1840s, there are also a number of differences. One difference is that we know how to harness electricity and use it in our daily lives, whereas in the 1840s, most machines were run by steam or were hand powered. Another difference is that the environment in the 1840s is much more cleaner than it is in modern times.As you can see, life in the 1840s is different than our lifestyle in many ways, yet there are also many things that both our lifestyles will share undoubtedly for a long