Women in the 19C United States of America: A Horse & Carriage & a Woman or Two

Thursday, July 16, 2020

A Horse & Carriage & a Woman or Two

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) A Chat After Meeting

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) Along the Delaware and Hudson Canal (not sure about any women here)

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) An Informal Call

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) At the Watering Trough

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) Coming Home

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) Couple on a Horse and Buggy

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) Leaving Home

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) Mrs Lydig and Her Daughter Greeting Their Guest

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) One Sunday Afternoon

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) Stopping For a Chat

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) The Conversation

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) The Country Store

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) The Latest Village Scandal

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) Waiting for the Ferry

Edward Lamson Henry (American Painter, 1841-1919) Meeting a Crisis - A Moment of Peril 1890

Edward Lamson Henry (American Painter, 1841-1919) Mrs Lydig and her Daughter Greeting Guests 1891

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”