When Thomas Jefferson moved his victorious Republican administration into the new capital city in 1801; one of his first acts was to abolish any formal receptions; except on New Year's Day and the Fourth of July. His successful campaign for the presidency had been partially founded on the idea that his Federalist enemies had assumed dangerously aristocratic trappings―a sword for George Washington and a raised dais for Martha when she received people at social occasions―in the first capital cities of New York and Philadelphia. When the ladies of Washington City; determined to have their own salon; arrived en masse at the president's house; Jefferson met them in riding clothes; expressing surprise at their presence. His deep suspicion of any occasion that resembled a European court caused a major problem; however: without the face-to-face relationships and networks of interest created in society; the American experiment in government could not function.Into this conundrum; writes Catherine Allgor; stepped women like Dolley Madison and Louisa Catherine Adams; women of political families who used the unofficial; social sphere to cement the relationships that politics needed to work. Not only did they create a space in which politics was effectively conducted; their efforts legitimated the new republic and the new capital in the eyes of European nations; whose representatives scoffed at the city's few amenities and desolate setting. Covered by the prescriptions of their gender; Washington women engaged in the dirty business of politics; which allowed their husbands to retain their republican purity.Constrained by the cultural taboos on "petticoat politicking;" women rarely wrote forthrightly about their ambitions and plans; preferring to cast their political work as an extension of virtuous family roles. But by analyzing their correspondence; gossip events; "etiquette wars;" and the material culture that surrounded them; Allgor finds that these women acted with conscious political intent. In the days before organized political parties; the social machine built by these early federal women helped to ease the transition from a failed republican experiment to a burgeoning democracy.
#1112150 in Books Rutgers University Press 2008-06-11Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .48 x 5.98l; .69 #File Name: 0813544181224 pages
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. a must-readBy AlienA solidly researched; comprehensive and unbiased book that is completely accessible to anyone interested in learning just how extensive and sophisticated this criminal industry is. This book should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand what needs to be done in order to combat human trafficking.9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. sober appraisal of U.S. policyBy Brooklyn BoyAt last; a look at U.S. policy on human trafficking that goes beyond the political hysteria that surrounds the issue. This book brings out into the open the reality that we don't really known the dimensions of the trafficking problem; either in the U.S. or the world. This is because alot of the debate has been based on the same recycled; half-baked and dated information. The writer shows how simplistic thinking about trafficking drove U.S. policy and laws and how the issue has become a means for anti-prostitution forces to use the law to go after the oldest profession. The unfortunate aspect of that is it appears to ignore the problems women and men face because of lack of jobs and opportunities in their societies. Gives a good look at some of the worst labor and sex trafficking cases. It also has a comprehensive discussion of the diplomacy and political machinations which led to the U.S. trafficking law and the United Nations Protocol.2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Needed book on an understudied topicBy SchriftstellernameHuman trafficking is (unfortunately) a big problem in our world; yet there doesn't seem to be much public awareness of the topic or efforts being made to solve it. This book; essentially the only of its kind; presents the both the troubles and policy efforts to eradicate human trafficking in a U.S. context; and is accessible to lay readers while still containing valuable research for specialists.
