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Chapter 2 Female Politicians In 1821 former president John Adams wrote a letter to his grandson admonishing him for his enthusiasm over expanding the franchise. Always the social conservative, Adams feared that abolishing property qualifications among white men might open the door to new challenges, particularly from women. ‘‘You make very light of the argument for the ladies,’’ he told his grandson, ‘‘& evade it by a twin of wit and gallantry.’’ This, he insisted, ‘‘is not argument. Upon what principle of liberty, justice , equality and fraternity would you exclude [women]?’’ Women, he pointed out, were already growing restive with the restrictions placed on them. In the 1790s in Virginia, he recalled, Nelly Parke Custis, the stepgranddaughter of George Washington, had once mounted her steed and ‘‘galloped to the hustings & demanded her right to vote as a freeholder .’’ Even Adams had to admit that she had valid grounds for doing so. As an unmarried property owner, she was ‘‘a freeholder . . . to a large amount.’’ The lesson was clear. ‘‘Once [you] let [women] know they have rights,’’ he warned, ‘‘you will find them as fond of displaying them . . . in public as the men and as ardently aspiring to offices and dignities .’’1 Nelly Custis’s ride to the hustings was but one example of women’s desire to claim a new political role for themselves in postrevolutionary America. At the same time that Mary Wollstonecraft was opening up the public debate about women’s rights, women were becoming increasingly active in and engaged with politics. Growing female literacy and increasing access to printed materials allowed them to form their own political opinions. As readers and writers, they felt freer to express their views in private conversations, letters, and in print. As more men came to serve in government at both the state and federal levels, more women became partners in serving the public good. The nature of politics in postrevolutionary America also facilitated women’s involvement. Conducted out of doors and in the streets, this kind of politics enabled nonvoters as well as voters to participate in activities and events of importance. As a result, middle-class and elite white women found more ways to involve themselves in politics than ever before. Female Politicians 47 Widely observed and reported, these changes provoked a variety of responses among American women and men. Some supported the innovations , others resisted. Highly politicized women even gained a name for themselves: female politicians. In contrast to republican wives and mothers, who affected politics indirectly by influencing their sons and husbands, female politicians saw themselves as independent political beings. Like Nelly Custis, they demanded that their political views be heard and sought out opportunities to express themselves. Along with Mary Wollstonecraft and female suffrage in New Jersey, these ‘‘female politicians’’ came to symbolize both the perils and the possibilities of women’s rights in the early republic. Debating Women’s Rights Historians have often commented on the apparently limited impact of the American Revolution on women’s political rights. Women did not organize collectively to demand their rights. Except in New Jersey, no state allowed women to vote. Even in the Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft presented only a brief and tentative discussion of women’s political rights. Even so, the postrevolutionary era did witness a widespread, vigorous, and often heated debate on the subject of whether women should vote and hold public office. By and large this debate occurred not because an organized group or formal institution demanded it but because the idea raised issues that Americans needed to answer for themselves. A subject that had once seemed too obvious to warrant discussion was now open to scrutiny and subject to public debate. Significantly, the phrase ‘‘women’s rights’’ did not always or necessarily refer to the issue of women’s political rights. The term had a wide variety of meanings. One common interpretation focused on women’s spiritual equality with men and their right to achieve salvation. For centuries , many Christians had placed the entire burden of original sin on women and attributed their inferiority to this transgression. Under the influence of Enlightenment principles, more liberal theologians began to blame Adam as well as Eve for the sin in the Garden of Eden. Others insisted that whatever the original fault, Christ’s death and resurrection had absolved women of their responsibility. According to one commentator , women were now ‘‘entitled to the same rights, capable of the same enjoyments...

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