Mere Equals: The Paradox of Educated Women in the Early American Republic

1. “More like a Pleasure than a Study”: Women’s Educational Experiences

18  Chapter 1 “More like a Pleasure than a Study” Women’s Educational Experiences In 1801,Violetta Bancker left her home in New York to attend Mrs. Capron’s Female Academy in Philadelphia. In a letter to her father,Violetta described her teachers: “you and mama wish to know my opinion of Mrs. Capron: I find her very affectionate and kind. Mrs. Mallon who is the English teacher is a very sensible woman and very capable....the other teachers are all very agreeable.” Among her various studies, Violetta expressed particular interest in geography, which as she noted, “is so very pleasing that it seems more like a pleasure than a study.”A year and a half later, Violetta remained in Philadelphia. She left Mrs. Capron’s school to attend another academy, taught by Mr. Jaudon. “I find my time and the season for learning are fast passing away and cannot be recalled,” Violetta reflected. “I fear I have not improved as I ought the many precious and golden hours that have passed, and I think I am resolved to be more diligent and careful in the improvement of what may remain.” Writing to her mother in December 1802, Violetta expressed growing commitment to her academic studies: The solicitude which my kind Preceptor expresses for my improvement , and the constant exertion which he uses in directing my studies to the best effect are with me powerful motives to industry; for I think it would be at once foolish and ungrateful to thwart his kind endeavors “MORE LIKE A PLEASURE THAN A STUDY” 19 for my advantage by my own inattention. But the pleasure it will give to my dear parents and friends at New York to hear and know of my improvement in useful and ornamental branches, is another and even a higher motive to stimulate my industry in the pursuit of such acquirements .1 Violetta was flattered by her teacher’s interest in her academic progress,which inspired her to attend more diligently to her studies. Her parents also clearly supported her intellectual endeavors—they paid for her tuition as well as her living expenses in Philadelphia for nearly three years. Violetta was eager to please her instructor and parents, but she clearly derived personal enjoyment and satisfaction from her studies. As she reflected,her extended stay in Philadelphia provided “the theatre of many scenes of juvenile bliss, wholesome instruction, and salutary advice.”2 Violetta Bancker’s educational journey was representative of larger trends that shaped individual women’s access to educational opportunities throughout early national America. The “age of academies” ushered in a new era in women’s education that has been well documented by historians of education.3 Rather than provide a traditional institutional history of female academies, in this chapter I focus on individual women’s experiences with education. I have uncovered evidence of female students’ educational journeys in a number of primary source materials, including women’s private journals and letters, student journals and compositions, and published orations , essays, and school catalogues. Evidence from these various writings suggests that education mattered deeply to those women, who were among the first generations to benefit from changes in the early national educational landscape. Women’s writings indicate how they used education and knowledge as tools of self-fashioning, constructing identities for themselves that privileged the importance and worthiness of their educational endeavors .4 Young women also demonstrated their awareness of the frequent public discourse and debate surrounding women’s education. Reluctant to be cast as the coquette or the pedant, women approached education with optimism, determined to fashion positive identities as learned women. Exploring the interplay between public representations and personal experiences, in this chapter I examine women’s educational acquisitions as both individual and social enterprises. What did access to education mean to young women? How did the acquisition of new forms of knowledge shape women’s sense of themselves? Did the pursuit of intellectual equality inspire women to live merely as the equals of man? 20 CHAPTER 1 “An Astonishing Revolution of Sentiment and of Practice” In May 1813, fourteen-year-old Margaretta Cornell left her family home in Monmouth County, New Jersey, and traveled to New Brunswick, New Jersey, to begin attending Miss Hay’s boarding school. “How do you like your present situation?” Maria Cornell inquired of her daughter. “I hope it is favorable for the purposes of study...