Professor Nancy F. Cott says yes. She states that “merchant capitalism reached its mature phase in 1830.” She also states that the “roles of the middle class family became more clearly defined” and that new economic opportunities opened within a limited sphere outside their home. Women also entered a variety of reform movement, to pursue objects in their own self interest as well as to improve society. Professor Garda says no. She states that a democracy provided political and economic opportunities for men and women that “were equally disenfranchised and isolated form vital centers of economic opportunity.’’ She also included “women did not play a determining role in the ranking pattern; they took their position in society through the men of their own family of the men they married.” Prof