Early American Women: A Documentary History, 1600 - 1900

by Woloch, Nancy

• ISBN13: 9780072418224
• ISBN10: 0072418222
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-25
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

This volume is a collection of over 100 primary sources in women's history that reveals the diversity of women's experience from the colonial era through the 19th century. The documents range from the familiar to the unusual. Collectively, they evoke interest, inspire reflection, and invite commentary from readers. This volume can stand alone, or it can be used in combination with Susan Ware's MODERN AMERICAN WOMEN, 1890 TO THE PRESENT.

Table of Contents

PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PART 1 A NEW WORLD: THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES

1 First Encounters

NARRANGANSETT WOMEN, Roger Williams, 1643
WOMEN’S LIVES AMONG THE DELAWARE, John Heckewelder, 1819
IROQUOIS WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT, Pierre de Charlevoix, 1721
A NEW ENGLAND CAPTIVITY, Mary Rowlandson, 1681
LIFE AMONG THE SENECA, Mary Jemison, 1824
THE FIRST SHIP, A Chinook Tale

2 Well-Ordered Families

HUSBANDS AND WIVES, Benjamin Wadsworth, 1712
EVANGELICAL CHILD-REARING, Susanna Wesley, 1732
TO IMPROVE IN EVERY VIRTUE, Eliza Pinckney, 1750s
TIED HAND AND FOOT, Esther Burr, 1756-1757
AN ABOMINABLE WICKEDNESS, Abigail Bailey, 1815
A DECREE ON SEDUCTION, New Spain, 1752

3 The Colonial Economy

LAWS ON SLAVE DESCENT, Virginia and Maryland, 1662-1692
SKILLED SLAVES IN MARYLAND, The Maryland Gazette, 1748-1763
AN INDENTURED SERVANT’S COMPLAINT, Elizabeth Sprigs, 1756
APPRENTICESHIP IN PENNSYLVANIA, List of Indentures, 1771-1773
ADVENTURE SCHOOLS, Advertisements, 1750s-1770s
A MAINE MIDWIFE, Martha Ballard, 1785

4 Women and the Law

AN ANTENUPTIAL CONTRACT, Massachusetts, 1653
DIVORCE IN NEW ENGLAND, Connecticut, 1655-1678
A SEPARATION DECISION, Maryland, 1680
FEME SOLE TRADER ACTS, South Carolina, 1712 and 1744
MALEFACTORS AND COMPLAINANTS, Massachusetts, 1675-1680
WIDOWS, WILLS, AND DOWER RIGHTS, Virginia, 1642, and New York, 1721-1759
WOMEN’S ESTATES, Massachusetts, 1664, and New York, 1747-1759
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST ELIZABETH MORSE, Massachusetts, 1679-1680

5 Religious Experiences

A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Anne Bradstreet, ca. 1670
ANNE HUTCHINSON’S TRIAL, Massachusetts Bay, 1637
AN EPISTLE TO QUAKER WOMEN, Lancashire Women’s Meeting, 1675
A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE OF AWAKENING, David Brainerd, 1746
NARRATIVE OF OLD ELIZABETH, A Former Slave Recalls Her Conversion
Experience of the 1770s

6. The Revolutionary Era

AN ADDRESS TO GEORGE III, Phyllis Wheatley, 1768
A CAROLINA PATRIOT, Eliza Wilkinson, 1782
A LOYALIST WIFE, Grace Galloway, 1778-1779
REMEMBER THE LADIES, Abigail Adams, 1776
THOUGHTS UPON FEMALE EDUCATION, Benjamin Rush, 1787
EXCELLENCY IN OUR SEX, Judith Sargent Murray, 1790

Suggestions for Further Reading

PART 2 THE YOUNG NATION, 1800-1860

7 The Middle Class: Domestic Lives

MATRMONIAL RISKS, Emma Willard, 1815
THE DEFERENTIAL WIFE, Caroline Gilman, 1838
SYSTEM AND ORDER, Catharine Beecher, 1841
FIRST TO NONE, Catharine M. Sedgwick, 1828
THE WIDOWED STATE, Sarah Connell Ayer, 1832-1833

8 The School and the Mill

RULES OF THE SCHOOL, Eliza Ann Mulford, 1814
A RATIONALE FOR FEMLE EDUCATION, Emma Willard, 1819
A CHOCTAW MISSION SCHOOL, Miss Burnham’s Report, 1824
REPORTS ON WESTERN SCHOOLS, Letters from Teachers, 1847
RULES OF THE MILL, Lowell and Lancaster, 1820-1840
A LETTER FROM LOWELL, Harriet Farley, 1844
A SPIRIT OF PROTEST, The Voice of Industry, 1846

9 Western Frontiers

CROSSING THE PLAINS, Amelia Stewart Knight, 1853
A NORWEGIAN IMMIGRANT IN WISCONSIN, Jannicke Saehle, 1847
A WOMEN’S VIEW OF THE GOLD RUSH, Mary B. Ballou, 1852
CHEROKEE WOMEN RESIST REMOVAL, Petitions of the Women’s Councils, 1817,1818
LIFE AMONG THE PIUTES, Sarah Winnemucca, 1883
A WOMAN KILLS HER DAUGHTER, A Sioux Tale

10 Mistress and Slave

AN ALABAMA DIARY, Sarah Haynesworth Gayle, 1828, 1833
THE CRUEL MISTRESS, Angelina Grimke Weld, 1839
A REPLY TO HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, Louisa S. Cheeves McCord, 1853
MRS. CHESNUT’S COMPLAINT, Mary Boykin Chesnut, 1861
AN ATMOSPHERE OF LICENTIOUSNESS AND FEAR, Harriet A. Jacobs, 1861
ROSE WILLIAM’S STORY, Federal Writers’ Project Interviews, 1941

11 The Reform Impulse

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED, The Advocate of Moral Reform, 1838
O, YE DAUGHTERS OF AFRICA, AWAKE!, Maria W. Stewart, 1831
A LETTER TO THE LIBERATOR, Andover Female Antislavery Society, 1836
REPLY TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CLERGY, Sarah Grimke, 1837
DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS, Seneca Falls Convention, 1848
LUCY STONE’S MARRIAGE PROTEST, Henry B. Blackwell and Lucy Stone, 1855
SOJOURNER TRUTH SPEAKS, 1851

Suggestions for Further Reading

PART 3 THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, 1860-1900

12 Women’s Civil War

A UNION NURSE, Louisa May Alcott, 1863
NORTHERN WOMEN ON FARMS, Mary A. Livermore, 1890
A WARTIME MISTRESS, Louticia Jackson, 1863
CONFRONTING DEFEAT, Eva B. Jones, 1865
MOMENTS OF EMANCIPATION, Accounts of Former Slaves, 1865-1937
A Virginia Woman, Harriet Tubman, Clarissa Burdet, Fanny Berry
A Tennessee Woman, Mary Anderson, Katie Darling

TEACHING THE FREEDOM, Sarah Chase and Lucy Chase, 1866-1868
A FORMER SLAVE REMEMBERS THE WAR, Susie King Taylor, 1902

13 Urban Wage Earners

NEW YORK PROSTITUTES, William Sanger, 1858
XIN JIN’S CONTRACT, San Francisco, 1886
SHOP GIRLS AND PIECE WORKERS, Helen Campbell, 1893
OBJECTIONS TO DOMESTIC SERVICE, Lucy Maynard Salmon, 1897
BLACK SERVANTS IN PHILADELPHIA, Isabel Eaton, 1899
THE OFFICE CLERK, Clara Lanza, 1891
A LABOR ORGANIZER, Leonora Barry, 1888
A SWEATSHOP GIRL’S STORY, Sadie Frowne, 1902

14 College Women

MISS D. AND MISS E., Edward H. Clarke, 1873
SEX IN EDUCATION ATTACKED, Julia Ward Howe et al., 1874
A DEBATE OVER COEDUCATION, Olive Anderson, 1878
A COLLEGE ROMANCE, M. Carey Thomas, 1877
AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN AT OBERLIN, Mary Church Terrell on the 1880s
THE MARRIAGE QUESTION, Millicent Washburn Shinn, 1895

15 Clubs, Causes, and Reform

A TEMPERANCE TALE, Mary Clement Leavitt, 1888
THE WOMAN’S CLUB, Cleveland Sorosis, 1893
THE BLACK CLUB MOVEMENT, Fannie Barrier Williams, ca. 1900
AN INDIAN TEACHER AMONG INDIANS, Zitkala-Sa, 1900
EARLY DAYS AT THE HULL HOUSE, Jane Addams, 1892
A WHITE WOMAN’S FALSEHOOD, Ida B. Wells, 1894

16 Woman Suffrage/ Women’s Rights

THE JOYS OF ACTIVISM, Julia Ward Howe, 1899
POLITICAL LESSONS, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, 1882
WE ARE ALL BOUND UP TOGETHER, Frances Ellen Harper, 1866
WORKING WOMEN DEBATE WOMAN SUFFRAGE, The Shoemakers of Lynn, Massachusetts, 1874
AN “ANTI” SPEAKS OUT, Amelia Barr, 1896
THE SOCIAL HOUSEKEEPING RESPONSE, Anna Garlin Spencer, 1898
THE ILLS OF THE HOME, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1903

Suggestions for Further Reading