How did the civil status of American women and men differ in the early Republic?

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Portrait of Emma Willard
Emma Willard, founder of the famed and rigorous Troy Female Seminary, was an exemplary role model to her students. Elizabeth Cady, a student in the 1830s and later an important figure in the woman’s rights movement, recalled that Willard had a “profound self respect (a rare quality in a woman) which gave her a dignity truly regal.” Her confidence shines through in this portrait. Emma Willard School.

DOLLEY MADISON’S PIONEERING role as “presidentress” showed that elite women could assume an active presence in civic affairs. But, as with the 1790s cultural compromise that endorsed female education to make women better wives and mothers (see "The Republican Wife and Mother" in chapter 9), Mrs. Madison and her female circle practiced politics to further their husbands’ careers. There was little talk of the “rights of woman.” Indeed, from 1800 to 1825, key institutions central to the shaping of women’s lives — the legal system, marriage, and religion — proved fairly resistant to change. Nonetheless, the trend toward increased commitment to female education that began in the 1780s and 1790s continued in the first decades of the nineteenth century.

CHRONOLOGY

1790–1820

  • – In an era of religious ferment, a small number of women openly engage in preaching.

1821

  • – Emma Willard founds Troy Female Seminary in New York.

1822

  • – Catharine Beecher founds Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.