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Since the nations founding, American society has made very obvious changes in its definition of a womans accepted place. However, one of the first setbacks to this progression is often overlooked. The failure of women to gain political rights during the immediate post-Revolutionary era was not inevitable. Women played a visible role ruing the pre-Revolutionary period as well as throughout the Revolutionary War; however, their status in the new republic did not reflect such demonstrations of capability. Instead, the idea that the political community was to be a community of men permeated the mindset of the nations founding fathers.
The Constitution of 1787, which virtually ignored the question of womens status, and the constitutions of individual state governments that directly established a distinct male suffrage, reinforced the recognition of a domestic patriarchy where a womans voice was subordinate (Mercado 1). A woman's role in society was not as noticeable to achieve merit. Their primary role was to stay at home and take care of the children. Also, they would help their husband in many of his daily activities.
Women were being excluded from education, society, and power. The turning point for women though, was the Revolutionary War. Many women were left at home to take care of all of the responsibilities around the house or farm. With this new set of responsibilities, women began to think a little bit. They began to wonder why they had not been able to obtain any sort of social power. The fact remains that women had no power at this time because of historical reasons.
Historically men had been the heads of the household. And with the strong religious beliefs of the time women couldn't change that. The Bible was a clear-cut answer to who should run the home. A woman's function from the perspective of the Bible was to be a mother and to be obedient to their husbands.
Women didn't need education in order to be mothers and or to be obedient. Before the Revolutionary War, women had been dependent upon men. Men had been supporting the family for centuries; women had no power whatsoever. They had no voice in society, except for the raising of the children and the instrument of morality over their children. Now that the men were gone fighting, the women had no choice but to take over the responsibilities of supporting the family. This caused women to start thinking about their situation.
They started to wonder why it was that they could do everything a man could do now, but they weren't being treated as though they were equal. They had no education, no power, no voice, and were now supporting the family. After the War was over, some very interesting social groups popped up. One of these groups was called the Loyal Citizens. The Loyal Citizens group was a woman's group that was formed in order to uphold the "Republican Motherhood." The basic idea here was that women should shape their sons in the image of the Republic. Also, the mothers should shape their daughters to become good Republican Mothers.
This and other groups would be a powerful influence on the unification of women. For one of the first times, women started joining together in a common voice. Women were starting to understand that they are not going to get anywhere unless they were unified. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on One Of The First Revolutionary War
