How Did Historians Present The Notion Of Republican Motherhood

Throughout the colonial period, women of all statuses and races had very little access to any sort of education. However, from 1790 to 1810, specifically in the northeast, women saw an increase in educational opportunities. My research focuses on this period and these increased educational opportunities for women. Though a majority of these opportunities were only available to wealthy white women, there was a shift in beliefs about the education of women overall. Thinkers and writers who encouraged women’s education began to emerge with essays, pamphlets, and speeches about their beliefs. I am examining how the advocates of women’s education presented their ideas and why they presented the notion of republican motherhood. This research will
help others understand how this specific movement changed women’s education and shaped America. I hypothesize that advocates for women’s education had the compelling foresight to present their ideas shrouded in concepts about republican motherhood, because they knew that those ideas combined with their beliefs about women’s equality would be accepted more easily and create a bigger impact within the new republic. Benjamin Rush was an influential advocate of women’s education and a key individual in helping establish the Young Ladies Academy of Philadelphia, one of the first all-girls school. In his speech, Thoughts Upon Female Education, he expressed many ideas about increasing access to education for women. He stated, “Our ladies should be qualified to a certain degree, by a peculiar and suitable education, to concur in instructing their sons in the principles of liberty and government.” Rush promoted the popularized idea of this period, which emphasized that women should be educated so that they could raise virtuous children that would eventually contribute to the positive growth of the new republic. This concept was later coined as “republican motherhood” and is highlighted throughout the works of many advocates for women’s education.
Historians understand this time period to be one characterized and molded by the ideas of republican motherhood that were presented by influential thinkers and writers from all over the world. This period saw a movement away from separate domestic and political spheres and towards women’s involvement within the public sphere. Americans were reading works from many different European writers which greatly affected their own beliefs and came to greatly influence many American female rights activists. As Habermas describes in The Public Sphere, people would gather and discuss such writings in order to form their own political opinion within the public sphere without the coercion of established institutions. Throughout this period there was a constant struggle of whether women should be participating within the public sphere and if they can do so without education. Habermas makes it clear that he believes a public sphere should be accessible to all, which includes women. Mary Wollstonecraft, an English writer, became one of the most significant advocates for women’s educational rights in America. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft argued that women were equal to men and, because of this, women deserved the right to an education. She also added that women were integral in the creation of a stable republic because they raise and educate the children, and if women were educated they could serve this role better. One of the first proponents of education for women in America, Judith Sargent Murray, also expressed similar ideas in her essay On the Equality of the Sexes. She expressed that there are no intellectual differences between men and women, the only difference is the education that they receive. She believed that boys and girls should be educated together and, if this were to occur, women would be more positive and have the ability to engage in better relationships with their children and husbands. Benjamin Rush, as explained earlier, presented his ideas in a fashion that promoted women’s education primarily to create a better, long-lasting republic.
Essays and speeches advanced by these individuals have caused historians to determine that women were receiving increased educational opportunities only because it benefited men and the republic.
Most historians have come to the conclusion that the notion of republican motherhood was the principle factor that fueled this movement. In their secondary sources, historians have depicted this period as one that cared solely about the growth of the new nation and less about women’s equality. Carolyn Eastman, in The Female Cicero: Young Women’s Oratory and Gendered Public Participation in the Early American Republic, states that far too many historians only attribute the concept of republican motherhood to the increased amount of women’s educational opportunities and challenges this theory. She argues that education, especially the study of elocution, was seen as necessary for all children in order to become a civilized being and gain respect from adults. She also attributes the rise of women’s education to the progressive idea that if a society were to be civilized, all citizens must be educated. Her arguments allow us to examine the purpose of women’s education within this period differently. Similarly, secondary sources discussing American history outside of this period address major themes of women engaging inside and outside of the domestic sphere. In Amy Kaplan’s Manifest Domesticity, she focuses on the female influence within the home and the abilities of women to create
great change within their home. While Kaplan is discussing a women’s influence in the home during the age of imperialism, the same concepts and broad sense of republican motherhood still apply. Historians studying the nation’s early development typically attach women’s influence to be one that is most beneficial within the domestic sphere and less within the public sphere.
Whether or not republican motherhood was the primary motivation towards women’s education, it forces the question as to why advocates would frame and present their argument for women’s education shrouded in ideas of republican motherhood.
I postulate that advocates for women’s education during the new republic period believed that if their ideas were wrapped in concepts about how women’s education would benefit men and society, these ideas would be better received and create a greater impact within the new impressionable nation. Republican motherhood offered a platform for activists that would be accepted by society and allowed women to become more educated and involved in the public sphere. Many writers, especially Wollstonecraft and Murray posed very progressive concepts of full equality that may not have been accepted within society. Wollstonecraft stated, “Let woman share the rights and she will emulate the virtues of a man.” However, the powerful statement for women’s equality is followed by, “Meek wives are, in general, foolish mothers.” The proclamation that women should only be educated in order to be good wives greatly undermines the idea of full equality for women. Benjamin Rush’s speech expressed beliefs that advocated for women’s education solely for the purpose of preserving the newly developing republic. He does not advocate for boys and girls to acquire the same education but instead for education that would allow women to deeply understand morality and
virtues. Rush clearly believed in women’s education and for more reasons than only republican motherhood, he helped found a whole school for girls. There seems to be an inconsistency in what these advocates believed was the purpose of women’s education and how they presented these ideas. With further research, I believe that it would be recognized that many of the supporters for women’s education cloaked their own progressive ideas of women’s equality with ideas of republican motherhood in order to make their beliefs less radical and thus more accepted by society. The most effective research would be to examine pamphlets, essays, and articles that circulated throughout the northeastern region from other popular promoters of women’s educational. When reading works from prominent women’s educational activists of the period, it is crucial to assess how they framed their arguments and determine if it is presented in a manner similar to Wollstonecraft, Murray, and Rush. I would expect to discover that a great deal of women’s educational advocates presented their ideas with the structure of advanced opinions being enveloped in philosophies about republican motherhood. There is a great significance of women’s educational advocates establishing their ideas of women’s equality with the concept of republican motherhood. The notion of women’s equality disguised within the concept of republican motherhood allowed for genuine change to occur within the period and ultimately construct a lasting effect on women’s educational opportunities in America. This significance is highlighted with the changes that did occur throughout the new republic period. There was a sizeable increase in schools that girls could attend and study at. The Young Ladies Academy of Philadelphia, which was one the earliest schools for girls, was created by influential women’s advocates like Benjamin Rush. Another influential school that was established within this period was the Litchfield Female Academy, founded by female rights activist, Sarah Pierce. Both of these schools were successful and led to the eventual founding of women’s colleges such as the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. The formation of girl’s schools was possible during this time as a result of the circulation of new perceptions about educating women. If advocates for women’s rights had not combined their arguments about increasing women’s education with the idea that the new republic would be better because of it, many opportunities that women see today may not have developed. The educational possibilities that women have access to in America now would not be possible without the original women’s educational rights advocates of the new republic.