“Don’t Forget the Women”
Republican Principles Not Meant for Women
 Property
 Voting
Mercy Otis Warren
 Like Abigail Adams,
Mercy Warren
questioned…
Mercy
Otis
Warren
If peace and unanimity are cherished,
and the equalization of liberty, and the
equity and energy of law, maintained
by harmony and justice, the present
representative government may stand
for ages a luminous monument of
republican wisdom, virtue and
integrity. The principles of the
revolution ought ever to be the polestar of the statesmen, respected by the
rising generation; …The people may
again be reminded that the elective
franchise is in their own hands; that it
ought not to be abused either for
personal gratifications… This
advantage should be improved, not
only for the benefit of existing society,
but with an eye to that fidelity which is
due posterity.
Men were concerned women would alter politics
 Public interest
 “politics are too dirty”
 Informed enough to vote?
Economic Shifts lead to Cultural Shifts
Pop increases
Changing
settlement
patterns
Family affected
• Decline in property
• Less land to hand down
• Less influence over
marriage
Cultural Change Influences Marriage
 Romanticism in England - Sentimentalism
 Marriage for love
 Companionate Marriage
Choice
 Choice important as family declines in financial sustenance
 Still might be male dominance in the house
 Expanded acceptance of divorce (relatively)

18th Century Family
Note:
Mothers
& number
of
children
Change in Family Structure
 Fewer children
Because…fathers’ inability to provide adeq. Inheritance
 Less necessary to have children to farm
 Standard of living and health increases

 Class dictates structure

Nannies, house maids, cooks
Religion reinforces Women’s role and value


Protestant ministers blame men for sexual misconduct
Women to teach children moral values
Raising Children
 Republican



Northeast
Value and teach independence
Distinct from European traditions
 Rationalist




Episcopal and Presbyterian
Use advice and praise
Invoked Enlightenment ideals
Assume children are rational beings
 Authoritarian


Yeoman farmers (Baptist/Methodist)
Strict rules, harsh discipline
Variations in Education Just as in Parenting
 Unifying theme: Education increasingly important
 Men who did not want women in politics disagreed
w/education for both genders
 Women and some men saw economic and social
benefits of education
 Women more likely to teach for sake of knowledge

Women hired as teachers because they could be paid less
Education for Republican & Economic Reasons
 Republican: All citizens educated
 Economic: Reading, writing and math
 Economic: Discipline and respect for outside
authority
Regional Variations
 New England: Independence values intellectual
development



Locally funded elementary schools (reading & writing)
Few women went on to high school
1% of men to college
o Rural Families (+artisans and laborers)
o
o
Demanded reading, writing & math
Believed college education to be elitist
o By 1820s merchants demanded more uniform education
standards & state legislatures acted
UNC Est. 1789
Middlebury College
Est. 1800
Andover Est. 1778
Abbot Academy est. 1828
Evidence of Utilitarian Education
 Fact: Not until the 1830s and 1840s do American
authors achieve professional identity and
international prestige
 Female authors become more numerous after 1840
though intellectual women often outcast