Women in the 19C United States of America: Anerican Folk Art

Sunday, February 7, 2021

Anerican Folk Art - Children with Books

Attributed to George Hartwell (Americian artist, 1815-1901) Little Girl in Pink with Book and Rose, ca. 1840.

Attributed to Jacob Eicholtz (American artist, 1776-1842), Two Girls, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Girl Seated on Bench 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) or Sturtevant J. Hamblin (American artist, 1817-1884) Mary Cary and Susan Elizabeth Johnson, 1848 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Laura Ann Wood, age 9; Mary Ellen Wood, age 7

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873)Three Sisters of the Copeland Family 1854 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873)Young Girl in Blue Dress 1852 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Erastus Salisbury Field (American artist, 1805–1900) Ellen Tuttle Bangs

Erastus Salisbury Field (American artist, 1805–1900) Margaret Gilmore

George Linen (Amreican artist, 1802 - 1888 ) Portrait of the Balentine Children of New Jersey c 1873 detail

John Brewster Jr. (American Painter, 1766-1854) Boy With a Book 1810

John Brewster Jr. (American Painter, 1766-1854) Mary Warren Bryant c 1815

John Brewster Jr. (American painter, 1766-1854) Boy with Book 1800

John Brewster, Jr (American painter, 1766-1854) Boy with Red Book

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Blue-Eyed Boy in Brown

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Boy and Girl with Book

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Daniel Plumb, Jr

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Henry Ward

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) John and Louisa Stock, 1845

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) James Eugene Judd

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Mary Abba Woodworth 1837

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Master Henry Field 1844

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) The Blaksley Boys

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) William Howard Smith 1838

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) Adelina Morton

Lewis Thomas Ives (American artist, 1833-1894) The Storybook

Mary B. Tucker (American artist, 1784-1853) Learning the ABCs c 1840

Samuel Miller (American painter, 1807-1853) Emily Moulton

Unknown American artist, Girl with a Book and a Cat 1840s

Unknown American artist, James M Mitchell Amesbury, Massachusetts 1835

Unknown American artist, Little Boy With Book, Basket, And Hammer

Unknown American artist, Mary Briggs 1840

Unknown American artist, Philip

Unknown American artist, Rachel

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.”