Women in the 19C United States of America: February 2023

Monday, February 6, 2023

Lydia Berstler (Mrs Abel Griffith) 1800-1868 Iowa County, Iowa but photo taken in Philadelphia, PA

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.”

Women in the 19C United States of America

Monday, February 27, 2023

19C American Woman

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

19C American Woman

19C American Woman

Thursday, February 16, 2023

19C American Woman

Saturday, February 11, 2023

19C American Woman

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

American Folk Art - William M. S. Doyle (1769 - 1828)

Monday, February 6, 2023

19C American Woman

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

19C American Woman