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

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.”

Searching for WHY human society changes & what those living before us declare in their own words and in their design & images of themselves & of the world around them. Posting on the worldwide internet makes history less intimidating, easily accessible, & freely available for everyone.

Like most historians, my blogs & research are dominated by primary sources, 1st-hand written evidence of history often made at the time of the event by someone who was present. Physical objects, such as art, also can be primary sources.

Historians must rely on archaeologists, using a variety of scientific tools, to find & help explain earlier evidence beyond that obvious on the surface. Science is not truth. Just like history, science is a process in the pursuit of truth.

Focusing mostly on the history & art of gardens & women, I put together several blogs, different in the particulars but similar in the essentials. They are listed in the blogroll below.

Honored to have you here -Welcome!

Barbara Wells Sarudy

Women in the 19C United States of America

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

American Folk Art - Boy with Dog