Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Woloch, Nancy

Titel

The Eighteenth Century: The Eve of Modernity

Ist Teil von

• Women and the American Experience, 2024, Vol.1, p.36-68

Auflage

3

Ort / Verlag

United Kingdom: Routledge

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• During the eighteenth century, modernity encroached unevenly in towns and cities, spurred by the rise of a mercantile, propertied elite on the eastern seaboard. Traditional values persisted in rural backwaters and on the shifting frontier. Chapter 2 tracks the inroads made by modern trends on women's lives. It examines changing notions of female character, the significance of female friendship, women's roles in housewifery and trade, the lives of women in non-white communities (black, Hispanic, and Native American) and women's rights under law. The laws enacted by colonial legislatures often protected women's interests but rarely promoted autonomy or independence. The American Revolution, which enabled some enslaved women to escape slavery, had little effect on women's legal or political status. But the era of the Revolution generated several class-linked ideals: companionate marriage, "Republican Motherhood," respect for female education, and a new rhetoric of self-esteem.