Childrearing methods in America have been influenced by diverse intellectual and social changes extending as far back as the Enlightenment, when philosophers hoped for progress through reason rather than repression. The lesson of the American Revolution was that a self-governing child served the best interests of the Nation. Also, the decline of strict Calvinist doctrine diminished belief in original sin and allowed a more tolerant view of children. Mothers (wealthy or middle class), who benefited from hired help or servants, could give more attention to the needs and instruction of each child. They exercised more power in deciding how many children to have and thus had fewer children to raise. The private reform of domestic discipline contributed to public prohibitions against corporal punishment in the early 19th century. A statistical analysis of childhood recollections from writings of 1650-1900 indicates that whipping gave way to spanking in the first half of the 19th century. Corporal punishment had not disappeared, but it became milder. The 20th century has seen increasingly milder forms of parental discipline.