On March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams wrote a celebrated letter to her husband John, who was then serving as a Massachusetts representative to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Keenly aware that the delegates from all Thirteen Colonies were on the brink of composing a Declaration of Independence, Abigail urged John to “Remember the Ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands.”
Abigail’s famous request underscored the fact that colonial authorities had treated women as second-class citizens. Her letter demonstrated that colonial women were keenly aware of the discrepancy between their subordinate legal status and republican ideal of equality. However, traditional expectations about women’s legal rights and customary roles were deeply entrenched. Given this mindset, it is not surprising that John Adams dismissed his wife’s plea by replying, “As to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot but laugh…We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems.”
Republican Motherhood
As John Adams confidently predicted, America’s new Constitution did not lead to an expansion of women’s legal rights. American women still could not form contracts, buy or sell property, serve on juries, or vote. Given these restrictions, what should be the role of women in a new republic dedicated to the principles of liberty and equality?
Although the subordinate legal position of American women remained unchanged, the new republic still required well-informed citizens and virtuous public officials who would prioritize the public good over their own interests. This need helped give rise to a new ideal for American wives that historians now call Republican Motherhood.
According to its advocates, republican mothers had the responsibility to become exemplary parents who would raise their children to uphold the ideals of the new American republic. Women would thus play a vital and respected role in shaping America’s moral character. Catherine Beecher unhesitantly forecast, “Let the women of a country be virtuous and intelligent, and the men will certainly be the same.”
New opportunities and roles
Republican motherhood both reinforced and expanded women’s traditional role. The concept gave motherhood a new dignity and importance. At the same time, it also placed a new emphasis upon increased educational opportunities for the nation’s republican mothers. If mothers were to become “caretakers of the Republic,” it logically followed that they would need more options to learn about government, history, and philosophy.
During the early 1800s, communities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states opened several academic schools for young women. This eventually enabled women to become teachers. The commitment to recognize women as teachers and “moral guardians” led directly to the emergence of educated women who would play leading roles in the abolition and temperance movements.
So why should you remember Republican Motherhood? APUSH test writers expect students to know that formidable legal and cultural barriers circumscribed women’s lives during the early Republic. Although women remained excluded from the nation’s political life, Republican Motherhood provided the intellectual foundation for the women’s rights movement that emerged following the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.