I. 1790s: Debates on the woman question
- Early in the American Revolution, little discussion of women
- Late 1780-90s witnesses the emergence of a new conversation on “woman’s rights”
- Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- First published in Britain in 1792; in the US in 1794
- French Revolution
- Widespread support in the US at first; by 1793, increasingly seemed like a cautionary tale
- Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- How, to what extent, and why, do these new ideas about women’s roles get shut down?
II. Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- Circulation and initial reception in US
- As early as 1792, excerpts appeared in literary periodicals, a new kind of publication
- By 1795, there were already 3 editions of the book in circulation
- Initial reviews were laudatory
- “While thousands are shedding their blood in asserting the Rights of Man, a female has lately wielded her Pen, and we think with great success, in vindicating the Rights of Woman.” – The New-York Magazine
III. Wollstonecraft’s ideas/arguments
- Did not explicitly advocate equal political rights
- Disdain for elites; addressed mainly the middle-class
- Emphasis on need better education for girls
- Argued that women should be respected for their intellect rather than their “feminine graces” Challenged fears of women becoming masculinized
- Americans were already familiar with many of her ideas
- Judith Sargent Murray
- Benjamin Rush, founding father, physicianThoughts upon Female Education, Accommodated to the Present State of Society, Manners, and Government, in the United States of America . . . (1787)
IV. Rush’s “Thoughts on Female Education…”
- First delivered in a speech at the Young Ladies’ Academy in Philadelphia in 1787.
- Promoted the idea of “republican motherhood”—the notion that American women’s main duty was to raise sons to be virtuous citizens.
- “The first impressions upon the minds of children are generally derived from women.”
- Should be taught to value liberty and republican government.
- Wanted women to read history, not novels; also astronomy and philosophy, but not classical languages
- Rush also thought that women’s education would lead men to so value their company that it would restrain them from vice, due to the “terror of being banished from their company.”
- Still far from an egalitarian.
V. Wollstonecraft’s life
- Daughter of a heavy drinker who abused her mother
- Early on saw the ugly side of domestic life; poverty
- At 15, said she would never marry
- After publication of Vindication, she moved to Paris to write about the French revolution
- Began affair with American diplomat Gilbert Imlay; gave birth to an illegitimate daughter
- Attempts suicide twice after Imlay had other affairs
- Back in London, begins relationship with journalist William Godwin
- Dies after giving birth a second time, to Mary Shelley
VI. Discrediting of Wollstonecraft
- Godwin publishes Memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft (1798)
- Revealed her radical ideas on marriage and relations between men and women
- Revealed her relationship with Gilbert Imlay, suicide attempts, births out of wedlock
- Public outcry against radical politics and “excessive learning” in women
- British and American readers horrified by her life trajectory
- Dampens the enthusiasm of even her supporters
VII. Olympe de Gouges
- French playwright, feminist, abolitionist
- Self-made woman; originally from a working-class family in south of France
- Wrote in support of divorce and against religious marriage
- Attacked slavery in the colonies, the sexual double standard and the notion of “illegitimacy”
- Moved to Paris and began to participate in artistic and philosophical salons; lived with men who supported her financially
- “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen” (1791)
- “This revolution will only take effect when all women become fully aware of their deplorable condition, and of the rights they have lost in society.”
- “Women have the right to mount the scaffold, they must also have the right to mount the speaker’s rostrum”
- Executed as a royalist counter-revolutionary
VIII. “Revolutionary Backlash”
- Rosemarie Zagarri:
- Argues that the Revolution created new, short- lived opportunities
- “Female politicians”—women who were genuinely interested in political affairs; sometimes wives of revolutionaries
- At first, not necessarily derogative
- “Female politicians”—women who were genuinely interested in political affairs; sometimes wives of revolutionaries
- Rise of party politics/partisanship negatively impacts women
- Cast in the role of tempering men’s passionate political beliefs
- With democratization, politics comes to be seen as too rough– an inappropriate place for women
- Creation of a language of domesticity to justify women’s exclusion to the private realm
- Argues that the Revolution created new, short- lived opportunities
IX. Martin v. Massachusetts (1805)
- Case analyzed extensively by historian Linda Kerber
- In 1801, the British citizen James Martin sued for return of MA properties confiscated from his mother, Anna Martin
- Anna, daughter of a Boston merchant, had fled with her Loyalist husband, a British officer, in 1783
- Atypically, her husband had had only a “life interest” in the property; he never owned it outright. His will stipulated control would revert to her upon his death.
- Anna, daughter of a Boston merchant, had fled with her Loyalist husband, a British officer, in 1783
- Came down to how to interpret the scope of the MA Confiscation Act (1779)
- The act stipulated that wives and widows who had stayed would be entitled to the traditional “widow’s third”
- And it applied to “every inhabitant and member of the state”
- Were women “members” of the state?
- Key arguments
- Martin’s lawyer (George Blake) argued that she had not willingly abandoned the property
- State should not punish her for a decision she did not make
- Martin’s lawyer (George Blake) argued that she had not willingly abandoned the property
- State lawyers argued that she should be held responsible for her decision
- Case articulated most powerfully by James Sullivan, Irish immigrant, committed revolutionary
- Argued that married women should be held responsible for their decision to stay or leave
- Decision and significance: All four judges decided in favor of Martin
- MA ends up returning land to the son of an avowed loyalist!
- Made clear that the Revolution had not overturned coverture in MA
- Married women were not to be considered independent political actors
- Would remain in place until 1922
- Married women were not to be considered independent political actors
- Reveals that there was a radical alternative that the courts suppressed
- Some people did argue that women should have their own, independent political identities
X. Case study: Girls’ oratory in the new republic
- Historian Carolyn Eastman
- 1790s-ca. 1810 Girls from Maine to Maryland spoke regularly at exhibition day ceremonies
- Not just at elite female academies
- Positive emphasis on the ideal of the intelligent, well-spoken woman
- Beginning in the 1810s, this practice diminishes markedly; virtually forgotten
XI. Revolution that wasn’t
- 1800-1830s Women’s modest gains pushed back
- “Female politician” a stigmatized figure
- Rise of white male democracy negatively affected women, at least in the short run
- Politics comes to be all about the ballot
- There is a shift away from the outdoor political culture rituals in which women participated
- Sets the stage for the rise of Victorian domesticity, idea of “separate spheres”