How to Behave, 1830s-Style

What do you think of when you hear the word “manners”? You probably think It was also very important for people in the 1830s to have good posture. They
of things like saying “please” and “thank you.” To have good manners, you hold were supposed to sit with a straight back and two feet on the floor. Women’s
the door for others and cover your mouth when you sneeze. But manners, or tight clothing made it difficult for them to lounge around on a couch or slouch
etiquette as it is sometimes called, have changed a lot over the years. Here’s in a chair. However, advice books said that men could not sit for ten minutes
a little bit about manners in the 1830s. without lying down on the sofa or putting their feet up on a chair. It was bad
manners to lean backwards in your chair on the back two legs. Does this
Advice books for teenagers were very popular in the 1830s. They included sound familiar to you?
information about clothing, dances, and hygiene. They tried to help young
adults make smart decisions about their pastimes. For example, the author of When we think of manners
The Young Man’s Guide, had very strong opinions about going to the theater. today, we often think
The author believed that “one in 150 of those who frequently attend theaters of table manners while
become diseased and die” from breathing in bad air in the theater! He also eating. In America’s early
wrote that some young men wanted to go to the theater so badly that they days, people ate much
stole money in order to buy tickets. Instead, kids should spend their time differently. The whole
doing things like playing ball and ice skating. family might drink apple
cider from just one mug
and eat off of a shared
plate! By the 1830s, most
people ate from their own
plates. Rather than using
forks, they ate off of knives.
European visitors who saw
Americans shovel food
into their mouths on a
knife thought that this was
bad etiquette. Fashionable
people started to use
three- or four-pronged
forks to eat, like we do today. People also tucked a serviette (a napkin) in at
their neck to protect their clothing. It probably won’t surprise you that it was
bad manners to burp, cough, sneeze, or pick at your teeth with a fork at the
Many people thought clothing and hygiene were an important part of
dinner table!
etiquette. Nice clothing meant good manners, too. Here are some of the
rules about clothing from an advice book from the 1830s.
There were also manners for saying hello. Inside, men gave each other a
handshake. If they passed another man on the road, they nodded their head
• Women should never wear dirty socks with socks with holes in them.
or touched the brim of their hats. It was not good manners for women to shake
• Do not lace your corset too tightly. hands with men or with other women. They made a small bow as a way of
• “Neatness is better than richness, and plainness better than display!” saying hello. Kids bowed or curtsied to their teacher at school when they
What do you think this means? entered the building or started a lesson. How do you greet your teachers?
• Men should never wear a shirt during the day that they wore to bed Some manners have changed a lot since the 1830s, and some haven’t
the night before. changed at all! Which of the manners mentioned in this article do you still
• Avoid shirts that are too fancy. practice to be polite?
• Make sure you have a nice hat and always wear gloves outside.
Do we have rules about clothing today?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.
RI.3.2-3, 7; 4.2-3; 5.2, 8; 6.1, 7
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