In Separated by Their Sex; Mary Beth Norton offers a bold genealogy that shows how gender came to determine the right of access to the Anglo-American public sphere by the middle of the eighteenth century. Earlier; high-status men and women alike had been recognized as appropriate political actors; as exemplified during and after Bacon's Rebellion by the actions of―and reactions to―Lady Frances Berkeley; wife of Virginia's governor. By contrast; when the first ordinary English women to claim a political voice directed group petitions to Parliament during the Civil War of the 1640s; men relentlessly criticized and parodied their efforts. Even so; as late as 1690 Anglo-American women's political interests and opinions were publicly acknowledged.Norton traces the profound shift in attitudes toward women’s participation in public affairs to the age’s cultural arbiters; including John Dunton; editor of the Athenian Mercury; a popular 1690s periodical that promoted women’s links to husband; family; and household. Fittingly; Dunton was the first author known to apply the word "private" to women and their domestic lives. Subsequently; the immensely influential authors Richard Steele and Joseph Addison (in the Tatler and the Spectator) advanced the notion that women’s participation in politics―even in political dialogues―was absurd. They and many imitators on both sides of the Atlantic argued that women should confine themselves to home and family; a position that American women themselves had adopted by the 1760s. Colonial women incorporated the novel ideas into their self-conceptions; during such "private" activities as sitting around a table drinking tea; they worked to define their own lives. On the cusp of the American Revolution; Norton concludes; a newly gendered public-private division was firmly in place.
#4164207 in Books Cornell Univ Pr 1984-06Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.50 x 6.50 x 1.25l; #File Name: 0801415896352 pages
Review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Straight Forward History; Without any FrilsBy Fred M. BlumThis is straight forward history of the conflicts between the northern and southern churches leading up to the Civil War. What is most interesting is that it destroys the popular myth that the churches were in the vanguard of the abolition movement. While there were some churches that were; they were the off shuts of the more established churches. It appears that the established churches were more interested in staying neutral and not creating conflict with their sourthern breathern then in fighting the evil of slavery.The book has written in a scholarly manner and is very dry reading. But; for anyone who wishes to understand the role that the churches played; or didn't play; in the abolition movement the book is a good read.0 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Importance of Evangelicalism in Anti-slavery conflictBy Raymond BannerIn the October 28; 1985 entry of my personal journal there is a reference to my having read this book. That was over sixteen years ago; I do not own a copy of the book; and I do not have present access to it. The major impression that remains on my memory was the additional confirmation this scholarly book provided as to the importance of Evangelicalism and segments of Evangelical churches in the battle against slavery.
