The Four Cardinal Virtues

Background for understanding:  (The idea of “The cult of True Womanhood,” or “the cult of domesticity,” sought to assert 
that womanly virtue resided in piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity- The attributes of True Womanhood, by which 
a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors, and her society could be divided into four 
cardinal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity... Without them.... all was ashes. With them she was 
promised happiness and power.). 

True Women were to hold the four cardinal virtues:
1. Piety - believed to be more religious and spiritual than men
2. Purity - pure in heart, mind, and body
3. Submission - held in "perpetual childhood" where men dictated all actions and decisions
4. Domesticity - a division between work and home, encouraged by the Industrial Revolution; men went out in the world to 
earn a living, home became the woman's domain where a wife created a "haven in a heartless world" for her husband and 
children.