148:. The belief that women should be educated to further their abilities to educate their own children and become "better wives" became more popular. Despite the growth in women's education, there were still many drawbacks; some girls had to be sent away from home in order to receive their education at a boarding school, some schools would only allow girls to attend when boys were working in the summer and women of color were excluded from education altogether. For those who could not afford an education, schools such as Aimwell School for the Free Instruction of Females was opened which furthered educational opportunities for more women. While most schools were only taught by men, these schools were staffed by women who had graduated and were now able to become teachers themselves. The number of girls' academic schools in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic increased rapidly beginning in the mid-19th century. By the late 19th century, such schools were extending and reinforcing the tradition of women as educators and supervisors of American moral and ethical values.
135:, who developed the role of republican motherhood as a principle by equating a successful republic with virtuous families. The idea that women were best suited in these roles was based on the essentialist assumptions that they are biologically predetermined to be intimate and concerned observers of young children. By the 1830s, these New England writers became respected models and were advocates for improving education for females. Greater educational access included making once male-only subjects of classical education, such as mathematics and philosophy, integral to curricula at public and private schools for girls.
31:
246:
have access to education. This was a rare privilege in
Classical civilizations, as women were barred from obtaining education in most cultures around the globe at this time. The example in Rome has been used in more recent times all across the world in the fight for women's suffrage, and was a main argument that mothers and women made in the United States during the years leading up to 1920, when the 19th Amendment finally awarded women the right to vote.
81:'s article "The Republican Mother: Women and the Enlightenment - An American Perspective", she compared republican motherhood to the Spartan model of childhood, where children are raised to value patriotism and the sacrificing of their own needs for the greater good of the country. By doing so, the mothers would encourage their sons to pursue liberty and roles in the government, while their daughters would perpetuate the
61:, in order to pass on republican values to the next generation. In this way, the "Republican Mother" was considered a custodian of civic virtue responsible for upholding the morality of her husband and children. Although it is an anachronism, the period of Republican Motherhood is hard to categorize in the history of
193:
and others, Locke believed that men and women had more equal roles in a marriage. Women were expected to focus on domestic issues, but Locke's treatises helped appreciation of the value of the domestic sphere. Although Locke argued less in support of women after he had dissected
Filmore's writings,
245:
details the "model marriage" through the eyes of
Classical Romans as "one in which husbands and wives were loyal to one another and shared interests, activities, and property.". Due to the vital role that women and mothers had in their children's education, they were granted the right to receive and
109:
and her contemporaries. Traditionally, women had been viewed as morally inferior to men, especially in the areas of sexuality and religion. However, as the nineteenth century drew closer, many
Protestant ministers and moralists argued that modesty and purity were inherent in women's natures, giving
214:
movement, which blossomed in the 1830s and 1840s. Women could only be involved in politics to a certain extent before they were considered "unwomanly" by men and even other women. Working on civil rights for enslaved people caused women to realize they themselves were enslaved by the patriarchy and
122:
it was a common belief that women were inferior to men so instead of being educated, they were expected to be caretakers of their husbands, homes and children. During the war women were forced to take on many roles of men while still upholding their own responsibilities, proving that women were not
210:. The ideal produced women with initiative and independence; as Kerber says, it was "one side of an inherently paradoxical ideology of republican motherhood that legitimized political sophistication and activity." Educated Northern women became some of the strongest voices and organizers of the
188:
defined their roles more clearly. As Kerber quotes in her 1997 essay, Locke wrote: "he first society was between man and wife, which gave beginning to that between parents and children... conjugal society is made by a voluntary compact between man and woman." In other words, contrary to the
110:
them a unique ability to promote
Christian values with their children. Protestantism had a major influence in minimizing the gender gap between men and women in religion, and although they still did not allow women to become ministers, they were allowed to read scriptures and sing Psalms.
65:. On the one hand, it reinforced the idea of a domestic women's sphere separate from the public world of men. On the other hand, it encouraged the education of women and invested their "traditional" sphere with a dignity and importance that had been missing from previous conceptions of
232:
The first presence of republican motherhood was seen in
Classical Rome during the years 600 BC to 500 CE. In Classical Rome, women played a much larger role in society than women in other societies around the world did during that period in time. In the eyes of Classical Romans,
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movement in the United States. They worked for suffrage, property rights, legal status and child custody in family disputes. The movement likely owes a debt to the emphasis on republican motherhood of fifty years before.
139:
was also well known for his speech in which he outlined the reasons he believed women should be able to have equal access to an education and the importance of subjects outside the realm of just becoming a wife.
143:
By the late 18th century and early 19th century, towns and cities were making new opportunities available for girls and women. In 1787, the first school that opened for the purpose of educating women was
123:
intellectually inferior to men. With this knowledge women began seeking their own independence and needed proper education in order to help them do so. Especially influential were the writings of
202:
Although the notion of republican motherhood initially encouraged women in their private roles, it eventually resulted in increased educational opportunities for
American women, as typified by
596:
102:
736:
77:
With the growing emphasis being placed on republicanism, women were expected to help promote these values; they had a special role in raising the next generation. In
156:
The term "republican motherhood" was not used in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. It was first used in 1976 to describe the
American ideal by the historian
105:, actively promoted the ideals of republican motherhood. They believed this was the appropriate path for women, as opposed to the more public roles promoted by
741:
165:
237:, or family, was the core of their civilization, and this yielded relatively healthy marriages between Roman men and women. In her book
373:
168:
subsequently expanded the concept in her article "The
Republican Wife: Virtue and Seduction in the Early Republic," published in the
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with the next generation. In addition, women were permitted to receive more of an education than they previously had been allowed.
160:, in her article "The Republican Mother: Women and the Enlightenment – An American Perspective" and then again in 1980 in her book
145:
616:""The Future Good and Great of our Land": Republican Mothers, Female Authors, and Domesticated Literacy in Antebellum New England"
385:""The Future Good and Great of our Land": Republican Mothers, Female Authors, and Domesticated Literacy in Antebellum New England"
286:
Hall, Mark David (2002). "Beyond Self-interest: the
Political Theory and Practice of Evangelical Women in Antebellum America".
17:
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58:
522:
211:
570:
Nash, Margaret A. “Rethinking Republican Motherhood: Benjamin Rush and the Young Ladies' Academy of Philadelphia.”
177:
307:
Kerber, Linda K. (1976). "The Republican Mother: Women and the Enlightenment-An American Perspective".
119:
653:
Kerber, Linda (1976). "The Republican Mother: Women and the Enlightenment – An American Perspective".
466:
Linda K. Kerber, "The Republican Mother: Women and the Enlightenment – An American Perspective," in
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57:. It centered on the belief that the patriots' daughters should be raised to uphold the ideals of
49:" is a 20th-century term for an 18th-century attitude toward women's roles present in the emerging
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advocated women's education, as demonstrated in many of her letters to her husband, the president
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574:, vol. 17, no. 2, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, 1997, pp. 171–91,
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Home and Work: Housework, Wages, and the Ideology of Labor in the Early Republic
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Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800
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his treatises were influential in highlighting the role of women in society.
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661:(2): Vol. 28, No. 2, Special Issue: An American Enlightenment pp. 187–205.
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34:
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Zagari, Rosemarie (1992). "Morals, Manners, and the Republican Mother".
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Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America
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What Happened?: An Encyclopedia of Events That Changed America Forever
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Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America
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Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America
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and the founding in 1837 of "Mount Holyoke Female Seminary", later
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Toward an Intellectual History of Women: Essays by Linda K. Kerber
172:(1987). The early seeds of the concept are found in the works of
509:, University of California Press, pp. 217–226, 2019-12-31,
176:, the notable seventeenth-century philosopher, particularly his
470:(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), p. 43.
279:
The Origins of Women's Activism: New York and Boston, 1797-1840
700:(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), 145.
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traditional sexual hierarchy promoted by his contemporary
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Gender and Morality in Anglo-American Culture, 1650–1800
338:
Intellectual History of Women: Essays by Linda K. Kerber
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708:
706:
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349:. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
340:. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
281:. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
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215:wanted rights for themselves, giving rise to the
184:, he included women in social theory, and in his
728:
703:
101:Many Christian ministers, such as the Reverend
737:History of women's rights in the United States
358:. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
712:
490:Mary Lyon and the Mount Holyoke Missionaries
375:Mary Lyon and the Mount Holyoke Missionaries
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687:Kerber (1997), "Republican Mother," p. 44.
353:
601:The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
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29:
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367:. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
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718:Gender in History: Global Perspectives
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418:Gender in History: Global Perspectives
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239:Gender in History: Global Perspectives
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356:Women in the United States, 1830-1945
146:Young Ladies' Academy of Philadelphia
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557:“Republican Motherhood, 1780-1820.”
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272:. New York: Oxford University Press.
228:The origins of republican motherhood
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152:History of republican motherhood
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73:Republicanism and women's roles
720:. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 32.
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53:before, during, and after the
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572:Journal of the Early Republic
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561:, vol. 2, 2011, pp. 187–199.
479:Porterfield, Mary Lyon, 1997
372:Porterfield, Amanda (1997).
7:
288:Journal of Church and State
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178:Two Treatises of Government
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416:Wiesner, Merry E. (2011).
363:Norton, Mary Beth (1980).
170:William and Mary Quarterly
39:The Artist and His Family,
515:10.1525/9780520936478-012
354:Kleinberg, S. J. (1999).
345:Kerber, Linda K. (1980).
336:Kerber, Linda K. (1997).
268:Boydston, Jeanne (1994).
277:Boylan, Anne M. (2002).
129:Catharine Maria Sedgwick
614:Robbins, Sarah (2002).
383:Robbins, Sarah (2002).
217:Seneca Falls Convention
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620:New England Quarterly
389:New England Quarterly
208:Mount Holyoke College
47:Republican Motherhood
33:
18:Republican Motherhood
714:Wiesner-Hanks, Merry
488:Amanda Porterfield,
300:10.1093/jcs/44.3.477
597:"Women's Education"
243:Merry Wiesner-Hanks
198:Long-term influence
107:Mary Wollstonecraft
55:American Revolution
655:American Quarterly
427:American Quarterly
309:American Quarterly
114:Education of Women
43:
696:Linda K. Kerber,
219:of 1848, and the
164:. The historian
125:Lydia Maria Child
120:Revolutionary War
27:18th-century term
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294:(3): 477–499.
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67:women's work
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235:the familia
35:James Peale
731:Categories
538:2021-10-16
455:References
180:. In his
174:John Locke
91:John Adams
533:243392338
204:Mary Lyon
166:Jan Lewis
716:(2011).
250:See also
97:Religion
63:feminism
675:2712349
640:1559860
503:"Index"
447:2713040
409:1559860
329:2712349
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638:
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492:(1997)
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131:, and
41:(1795)
671:JSTOR
636:JSTOR
529:S2CID
443:JSTOR
405:JSTOR
325:JSTOR
519:ISBN
663:doi
628:doi
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317:doi
296:doi
93:.
733::
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527:,
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