Tuesday, February 6

Introduction

Thursday, February 8

Situating the Questions: Origins and Paths, Historical and Historiographical

Reading Assignment:

Nancy Cott, Bonds of Womanhood, Preface to Second Edition, pp. xi-xxviii, AND Introduction, pp. 1-18. Note: you can read these two sections in whatever order seems to you to make the most sense.

Blackboard Assignment:

Looking specifically at the Preface to the Second Edition, identify 2-3 terms/concepts from the reading on which you seek clarification; locate them in the sentence (or intelligently excerpt from the sentence) in which they occur, and give the page number.

Class questions:

Looking at the Preface to the Second Edition, think about how Cott defines the term “discourse.” Looking both at the Preface and at the Introduction, consider whether we can construct a usable definition of “feminism” or “woman’s rights” for this class. Similarly, can we come to an understanding of “middle class” that helps us in our inquiries?

Tuesday, February 14

Defining the Parameters of “Woman’s Sphere”

Reading Assignment:

Cott, Bonds of Womanhood, pp. 19-206

Assignment for Class:

Students will be broken into groups to report on particular one of the five chapters that they will be assigned in advance. Each group should think about the way in which the topic of their chapter is assigned, the main points of the chapter (don’t get distracted by details), the kinds of evidence Cott uses.

Together we will talk about the overall structure of the book, and explore the understanding of “separate spheres” that Cott constructed.

Thursday, February 16

“Reproduction”: Sexuality, the Demographic Transition, and New England Women’s Lives

Reading Assignment:

Nancy F. Cott, “Passionlessness: An Interpretation of Victorian Sexual Ideology, 1790-1850,” Signs 4(Winter, 1978): 219-236

Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0097-9740%28197824%294%3A2%3C219%3APAIOVS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2

Blackboard Assignment:

Is “passion,” the human sexual instinct, really “socially constructed”?

Class questions:

How do we understand the social construction of sexuality in the early nineteenth-century northeast? To what extent did the factors shaping New England women have any meaning for women in other parts of the emerging republic?

Tuesday, February 21

Political Women or Female Politics? Women in Early “Washington City”

Reading Assignment:

Catherine Allgor, Parlor Politics, pp. 1-3 AND 48-149 (pages 4-47 are recommended, but not required).

Blackboard Assignment:

Define “politics.” What does it mean to be “political”?

Assignments for Class:

Students will be broken into groups to report on each of the three chapters read for class. As with the Cott assignment, you will want to think about the main points made in your chapter, and the relationship of your chapter to the overall focus of the book.

Class Question:

Does Allgor convince you that some Washington women played critical political roles? Did women gain political power?

Thursday, February 23

The Peggy Eaton Affair: Female Empowerment or Male Manipulations of Female Symbols?

Reading Assignment:

Catherine Allgor, Parlor Politics, pp. 190-238

Class Question:

To what extent do some/any women have “agency” in Allgor’s account of the Peggy Eaton affair? How do women deploy their agency if they have it? Is there a relationship between women’s agency and the symbolic manipulation of women? Was the Peggy Eaton affair properly a “political” matter?

And why does Allgor think that the particular period of women’s political power in Washington ended with the Peggy Eaton affair?

Class discussion of writing assignment due Monday

Tuesday, February 28

First Writing Assignment Due:

In a short (4 page) paper, consider the following:

Both Allgor and Cott write about women in the Early Republic, yet at times it is hard to recognize them as living in the same universe. Allgor’s subjects are often powerful women intervening in national politics; Cott instead explores the experiences of hardworking wives and mothers within New England households. Yet both Cott and Allgor seem to recognize that the early nineteenth century was a period in which opportunities for women became increasingly constricted within a separate domestic sphere.

Starting with this understanding of the differences, as well as connections, between the two works, consider one of the following topics (or one of your own devising that you have shared in advance with me):

A. In her conclusion (pp. 197-198), Cott writes of three different interpretations historians have made of this development. Do you think Allgor’s work falls into any of these categories?

B. Allgor postulates that the desire for “vernacular gentility” played a role in fueling the detachment of male and female spheres in Washington, D.C. Do you find evidence for any development of this kind in the women about whom Cott wrote? And what difference would this make?

C. Should we simply understand Allgor’s exploration of women in Washington politics as a particular case of the role of wives in “family business” where the business just happened to be politics?

Class: Reading Portraits

We will meet in our regular classroom before viewing paintings at the Allen Art Museum

Thursday, March 2

How Public? How Political? Antebellum Women, Charity, Benevolence and Moral Reform in the North

Reading Assignments:

Lori D. Ginzberg,: “Charity and Class Relations,” Chapter 2 of Women in Antebellum Reform, pp. 15-32

AND

Daniel Wright and Kathryn Kish Sklar. “What Was the Appeal of Moral Reform to Antebellum Northern Women, 1835-1841?” Introduction online at http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/fmrs/intro.htm

In this document project, please also read

Document 6: "Just Treatment of Licentious Men. Addressed to Christian Mothers, Wives, Sisters and Daughters," January 1838 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/fmrs/doc6.htm

Document 7: Untitled editorial, 1 July 1838 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/fmrs/doc7.htm

Document 8: "Thoughts on Miss S. M. Grimke's 'Duties of Woman,'" 16 July 1838 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/fmrs/doc8.htm

(3^rd hour reduction)

Class Question:

Did women’s charitable or benevolent activities take them into “the public” or the world of politics? Did their moral reform activities do so? In what ways were charity and moral reform “gendered”? in antebellum society? In what ways were they the results of changing economic conditions and class relations? What was the relationship between religion and politics in the antebellum era?

This evening, Professor William Freehling, University of Virginia, will be speaking on the Secession Crisis and the Coming of the Civil War. Students may attend his lecture for extra credit.

Tuesday, March 7

Cherokee Women

Reading Assignment:

Theda Perdue, “Cherokee Women and the Trail of Tears,” in Ellen DuBois and Vicki Ruiz, Unequal Sisters (3^rd ed), pp. 933-104;

AND

Kathryn Sklar et al., “How Did the Removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia Shape Women's Activism in the North, 1817-1838?” Introduction online at http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP52/intro.htm

In this document project, please also read:

Document 11: Cherokee Women's Petition, 30 June 1818 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP52/doc11.htm

Document 35: Catharine Beecher, "Circular Addressed to Benevolent Ladies of the U. States," 1 December 1829 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP52/doc35.htm

Document 36: Petition, Steubenville, Oh., 15 February 1830 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP52/doc36.htm

Document 37: Petition, Hadley, Mass., 15 February 1831 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP52/doc36.htm

Document 38A: Petition, Abington, Mass., 21 May 1838 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP52/doc38a.htm

Document 38C: Petition, Norfolk, Conn., 21 May 1838 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP52/doc38c.htm

(3^rd hour reduction)

Blackboard Assignment:

Were northern women who opposed policies of Cherokee removal in fact only engaged in another type of “missionizing” enterprise, attempting to impose their values on another culture?

Thursday, March 9

Working Women in Antebellum New England: from Private Struggles to Public Protest

Reading Assignment:

Thomas Dublin, Farm to Factory: Women’s Letters, 1830-1860, Introduction, pp. 1-36 AND Chapter 2: Letters to Sabrina Bennett, pp. 59-96.

AND

Teresa Murphy and Thomas Dublin, “How Did Sarah Bagley Contribute to the Ten-Hour Movement in Lowell and How did Her Labor Activism Flow into Other Reform Movements, 1836-1879,” Introduction online at http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP60/intro.htm

In this document project, please also read:

Document 1: Sarah G. Bagley, "Pleasures of Factory Life," 1840 http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP60/doc1.htm

Document 5: "Preamble [and Constitution] of the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association," 27 February 1846

http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP60/doc5.htm

Document 17: Factory Life As It Is, 1845

http://www.alexanderstreet6.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/DP60/doc17.htm

(Note: Document 17 has several parts; concentrate on only one part)

(3^rd hour reduction)

Class Questions:

Did the women who entered the early New England textile factories see such work as continuations or disruptions of their lives and culture? Looking from the vantage point of today, do you agree or disagree with their assessment? How “private” or “public” were their work lives? Was their protest “political”?

Class discussion of writing assignment due Monday

Tuesday, March 14

Second Writing Assignment Due

Over the past month, our class has included close readings and studies of several primary documents as a part of our explorations. For this paper, you are asked to choose one of the documents we have explored, or, with advance permission, another document of your own choosing. Using this document, please write a short (4 page) paper that identifies some of the key advantages of using such a document for the study of history in general, but our class topic—the relationship of antebellum women to “private,” “public,” and “political” arenas-- in particular.

This is a tricky writing assignment in that it asks you (1) to define what makes a significant document; (2) to identify the limits of what even a significant document can provide; (3) to identify an issue related to locating women in “public,” “private,” or “political context; and (3) to connect the document to that issue.

Women and Antislavery in the North

Reading Assignment:

Angelina E. Grimké, Appeal to the Christian Women of the South. (Excerpts) New York: New York Anti-Slavery Society, 1836. (on Blackboard, not ERes).

Thursday, March 16

Free Women of Color in the North: Racism and Respectability

Reading Assignment:

James Oliver Horton, “Freedom's Yoke: Gender Conventions among Antebellum Free Blacks,” Feminist Studies, 12 (Spring, 1986): 51-76.

Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0046-3663%28198621%2912%3A1%3C51%3AFYGCAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M

AND

Maria Miller Stewart, Introduction and Two Speeches, from Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, ed. , pp. 25-33

AND

Carol Lasser, “Enacting Emancipation: African American Women Abolitionists from Oberlin College and the Quest for Empowerment, Equality, and Respectability,” to Appear in Women’s Rights and Transatlantic Antislavery in the Era of Emancipation, Kathryn Kish Sklar and James Brewer Stewart, eds., Yale University Press, forthcoming

(on Blackboard, not ERes).

Tuesday, March 21

Women in the Antebellum South

Reading Assignment:

Sally McMillen, Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South, 2^nd. Edition pp. 1-153.

Blackboard Assignment:

What, if anything, did you find new in this book? What challenged the knowledge you brought to class? Was there anything you especially liked about the book? Was there anything you especially disliked?

Class Questions:

In a long footnote (Bonds, p. 11 n. 7), Cott speculated on how her findings on New England women might contrast with those for Southern white women, noting “The Southern image, as I understand it, belonged more directly to the historical tradition immortalizing the aristocratic lady.” Would McMillen agree? Would McMillen see any elements of ideology of “separate spheres” as especially important in Antebellum South? How does she evaluate the lives of enslaved women?

Thursday, March 23

Women and the Coming of the Civil War

Class Question:

Just show up.

BREAK WEEK!

Please read ALL of Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin during break. You will be glad you did.

Tuesday, April 4

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Discussion One

Blackboard Assignment: (extra credit)

Tell us about a character you want to discuss in class, and why you think he/she is interesting.

Class Questions:

How does Stowe portray various women in her book? To what extent are women seen as “domestic”? To what extent are women seen as influencing “politics”? Think about specific characters, including Mrs. Bird, Mrs. Shelby, Eliza Harris, Miss Ophelia, Mrs. St. Clair, Topsy, Cassy, Chloe, Mrs. Halliday

How does Stowe portray religion in her book?

Thursday, April 6

Project Discussion and Preliminary Choices

This class will be an opportunity to talk about the final project. Please come to class having thought about the focus of your project, including topics, possible sources, and questions.

Friday, April 7: One Paragraph Due for Project Portfolio

Identify briefly topics and sources under consideration; questions you have/

Tuesday, April 11

Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Discussion Two

Blackboard Assignment: (extra credit)

Tell us about what you find to be the most disturbing or puzzling aspect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Class Questions What are the various ways to understand what Stowe is trying to accomplish in Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Is the book a “call to action”? If so, what would Stowe have her readers do? What in particular should her female readers do?

Why was Uncle Tom’s Cabin so influential when it was published? Why was Lincoln believed to have said to Stowe on meeting her “Here’s the little lady who started the big war?

:

Thursday, April 13

Project Discussion and Finalizing Choices

This class will build on the preceding week’s discussion of preliminary choices. By the end of class today, students should have identified an area of interest and a research strategy.

Friday, April 14: Paragraphs Due for Project Portfolio

Identify your area of interest and describe briefly your research strategy

Tuesday, April 18

Further Thoughts on the Relationship of the Public and the Private in the Lives of Antebellum Women

Reading Assignment:

Paula Baker, “The Domestication of Politics: Women and American Political Society, 1780-1920,” The American Historical Review, 89 (June 1984): 620-647. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762%28198406%2989%3A3%3C620%3ATDOPWA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23

Thursday, April 20

Further Thoughts on Women in Politics in the Antebellum Era

Reading Assignment: Elizabeth Varon, “Tippecanoe and the Ladies, Too: White Women and Party Politics in Antebellum Virginia,” Journal of American History, 82 (September 1995): 494-521. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8723%28199509%2982%3A2%3C494%3ATATLTW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A

Tuesday, April 25

Research Workshop

After an initial full-class meeting at a room TBA in the library, students will have individual research appointments to help them complete their preliminary selection of documents for their final projects.

Thursday, April 27

Research Workshop

After an initial full-class meeting at a room TBA in the library, students will have individual research appointment to help them complete their final selection of documents for their project.

Friday, April 28: Paragraphs Due for Project Portfolio

Identify the documents you will explore for your final project. Give their full title, author, publication information, as well as their physical location. Feel free to add comments if you wish.

Tuesday, May 2

Annotation Workshop

This class will focus on the process of annotation: what to annotate, how to annotate (formats to use for particular types of information, effective use of document layout), and how to find information for annotations. Students are encouraged to bring particular issues and questions.

Thursday, May 4

Introduction Workshop

This class will focus on how to craft an introduction that effectively frames the issues that are illustrated and explored in the documents. Students are encouraged to bring particular issues and questions.

Tuesday, May 9

Class Presentations

Students with last names ending in letters A-K will make brief presentations on their projects to the class.

Thursday, May 11

Class Presentations

Students with last names ending in letters L-Z will make brief presentations to class.