Women in the 19C United States of America: Girls of Summer by James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903)

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Girls of Summer by James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903)

James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903). Symphonie in White No 2 1864

James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903). Tanagra 1867-70
James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903). Symphony in White no 1 1862

James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903). Harmony in Pink and Grey Valerie, Lady Meux 1881
James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903). Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland 1871-73

James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903). Harmony in Grey and Green Miss Cicely Alexander 1873
James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903). Symphony in White No 3 1866

James Mc Neill Whistler (1834-1903). Resting In Bed 1884
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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.”