11. Document Project 11: Religious Faith and Women’s Activism

Interpret the Evidence and Put It in Context

Document Links:

Document 11.5 Charles G. Finney, An Influential Woman Converts, 1830

Document 11.6 Elizabeth Emery and Mary P. Abbott, Founding a Female Anti-Slavery Society, 1836

Document 11.7 Maria Stewart, On Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, 1831

Document 11.8 Congregational Pastoral Letter, 1837

Document 11.9 Sarah Grimké, Response to the Pastoral Letter, 1837

Interpret the Evidence

What does Charles Finney’s account of Mrs. Mathews’s conversion indicate about the subordination and influence of evangelical women (Document 11.5)?
Why do Elizabeth Emery and Mary Abbott describe enslaved women as their sisters (Document 11.6)? Would Maria Stewart agree with their view (Document 11.7)?
Why does Stewart highlight the actions and character of free black women (Document 11.7)?
How do the criticisms of female activism in the Pastoral Letter (Document 11.8) compare with Finney’s understanding of female influence (Document 11.5)?
How do white and black women activists justify women’s roles in the abolitionist movement (Documents 11.6, 11.7, and 11.9)?

Put It in Context

How do the arguments of Emery, Abbott, Stewart, and Grimké challenge mid-nineteenth-century beliefs about men’s and women’s proper spheres? Why did evangelical ministers denounce the Grimkés’ speeches before mixed-sex audiences but not Stewart’s?

What roles did religion and antislavery activism play in expanding or limiting women’s spheres?

Exploring American HistoriesPrinted Page 380

Chapter Timeline