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78 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Matrilineal
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you are known by your mother's family. Descent passes through your mother's line. Property and possessions pass through women. Chiefs were men, but they could only become Chiefs because of their mothers.
-A term referring to Native Americans before contact. Mainly 17th cent. -Significance: This shows the power of women in Native American culture. If descent passes through women, that means society is organized around women. Not all Native American societies were matrilineal, but agricultural ones usually were. |
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Matrilocal
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Upon marriage, the man comes to the woman's house to live. Women control crops, cloth, land. If the marriage dissolves, the man leaves.
-17th century/ pre-contact -Significance: If the man comes to live with the woman, then she's not depending on him, so she has more independence than we're used to seeing in history, compared to Europeans. |
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Clan Matrons
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The women who controlled what happened in the village. Controlled who married whom – informal political power. They could vote to dispose a chief and decide who was part of chiefs council. They control the food, so through that they could control whether the men could go to war: If men wanted to go to war, but the Clan Matrons didn't, then they could deny them food.
-17th Cent/ pre-contact -Significance: Some women had political power, they could have a say, though food, in what wars men decided to fight in. |
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Cradle Board
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the fur-lined board the babies were kept in for the first year of life.
-17th Century/per-contact -Significance: Gives a clue into how Native Americans reared children. They obviously moved around, because they could put the board on their back or hang it in a tree. |
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Mestizo
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mixing. A mestizo culture – mixing between Native Americans and Europeans. Not as much here as with Spainards in Mexico.
-Contact, 17th Cent and on -Significance: there were relationships between Native Americans and Europeans. |
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“Trading Girls”
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N.A. Women who were willing to trade sex for European goods. N.A. Didn't think this was weird or unacceptable, but Europeans thought it proved how overly sexual they were. Women used their bodies as commodities.
-Contact/17th century -Significance: Shows different views of sex and sexuality between N.A and Euros. Shows that women used their bodies for power, and the Native American culture allowed that. |
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Eve
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First woman, first sinner. She is second to man, inferior. She led Adam away so she is a temptress. It's her fault that we're not still in Eden.
-17th Century -Significance: Women are equated to Eve. They are thought of as sinners and temptresses, as well as inferior to men. |
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Virgin Mary
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Jesus' mom who got pregnant before she had sex. She is the ideal woman because she didn't even have sex for pregnancy – the most pure woman possible.
-17th Century -Significance: every woman should try to be as much like Mary as possible. She is ideal. This shows the impossible standards for women they had. Shows how restricting their society was. |
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Puritans
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Protestant who broke away from the church of England because they wanted to purify it, thought it was too Catholic. Wanted to be model society. Very hierarchical. Believed women were in every way inferior and needed to be closely watched so they didn't go astray.
-17th century -Signifcance: women's inferiority was so ingrained in their society that of course women were oppressed. This was the group that settled in New England. |
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“help-meet”
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a woman is her husband's “help-meet”. He will tell her how to help and she will obey.
-17th century -Significance: shows how submissive women are to men in Puritan/European culture |
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Patriarchy
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the power of the father. The power of men over society. Independent adult men ruled over dependents. They believed this was the god-ordained natural order of the universe.
-17th century. Present day. -Significance: this was how Puritan society operated, on the basis of patriarchy. They didn't know or think of any other way. This was just natural to them. |
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Femmes Sole
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Femmes Sole: the legal state that was not yet married or now widowed. An English law that supported patriarchy. One of the legal states for women. Gave her some rights. Gave her all the legal rights, except voting, that men have. This is not to give women rights, but for practical purposes only. To keep women from becoming burdens on the community. Does not allow woman to make profit by selling land, just to break even and keep from destitution.
-17th century -shows the short-comings of patriarchy. They had to make a law that made up for its shortcomings, but didn't recognize that patriarchy is a bad system. |
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Femmes Coverts
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legal state for women who are covered (married). A married woman has no legal identity – she has experienced civil death. Everything that was hers, becomes his. She has no right to anything. Her husband is responsible for her small crimes, but she must pay for adultery or murder.
-17th century -shows how all consuming marriage is for a woman. How she is considered the property of her husband. |
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“Dower Third”
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the legal right that a widow gets one-third of her husband's property. Another way to keep her from becoming a burden on the community. She couldn't will it to others – it was just to maintain herself. She had to get permission from the court to sell it.
-17th century -this law assumes husbands are good and that the world would be better with them in charge. Shows how dependent women were on their husbands. |
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“dame schools”
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schools run by women (usually widows, spinsters). One to two years of rudimentary education. The goal was to learn how to read and write and sign your name. Ages 9-11. In a Puritan family, girls would know how to read the Bible anyway, because they must read the Bible. Often run in homes.
-17th century -shows how uneducated women were. Education was for men – women supposedly didn't need it. They found ways to get some education, but this is minimal. Important that even though they were working, they were still in the home. |
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Authoritarian Family
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purpose is to be an economic unit and to maintain order and discipline. A patriarchal family – not the same as a benevolent father. Ruler through social rule and divine rule.
- early to mid-17th century -men were in charge? |
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“spinster”
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a woman over the age of 24 in Northern colonies who wasn't married. You got the name because you were only useful to spin cloth.
-early to mid 17th century -shows how you are expected to get married. Very strange and undesirable not to. They believed people needed to be members of families and start their own in order to have a stable community. |
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“betrothed”
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once a couple had gotten permission to marry, they were betrothed. Notices were put out, so the community could tell them if there was a problem.
-early to mid-17th cent. |
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dowry
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both men and women received them. Men got land, women got domestic goods.
-early to mid-17th century |
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Quakers
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pacifists. Anabaptists. Persecuted. Very different from Puritans. They believed everyone could interpret the Bible for his or herself. Believed marriage love should mirror God's love. No passion or romance though. They were the only religious group that did not include the word “obey” in their marriage contract.
-here, early to mid-17th century -they were different from Puritans. Allowed women more autonomy. Let them speak at Meetings. Much more equal. |
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Fornication
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sex outside of marriage. For women, this means before marriage. For a man, this also includes before and during marriage. You could be brought to trial. Public whipping and fine is the punishment.
-early mid-17th century -men could only fornicate. Women could fornicate and commit adultery. Shows the double-standard present in everything. |
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Adultery
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Having sex with a married women. For both men and women. If the woman is married, then it's adultery. It's not if the man's married but the woman isn't. You could receive the death penalty for this (though I don't think you often did).
-early to mid-17th century -very crazy double standard. Depends solely on whether or not the woman is married. |
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“holy conversation”
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what the Quakers, who believed children were born innocent, practiced. The process of keeping a pure household for the children, a stable nurturing environment for the children to come to God. The conversation refers to the process and environment.
-early to mid-17th century -raising children and mentality varied drastically depending on what your political affiliation was. |
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domestic servants
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if there was a surplus of girls, they would work in another family as a domestic servant. The money was not their own – it would go to their family.
-early, mid-17th century -women were always under someone else's supervision. Never autonomous. A way to contribute to the household. They were rented out, basically. |
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Deputy husbands
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a legal title that allowed women to stand in for their husbands if he were absent. Deputized as husband only while husband was gone: temporary. You had to apply for this and get husband's permission, but after that, the Court didn't monitor you.
-early, mid 17th century -shows that any autonomy women did get was temporary and only happened if there wasn't a man around to “protect” her. Her “independence” was closely monitored and she had to get permission to have it. Not inherent. |
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Midwives and Healers
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the most important roles women could have. These women knew their trade and got paid for it. They were able to travel and therefore were threatening. Gained you a lot of respect. Healers were like doctors.
-early, mid 17th century -women did have some careers open to them, but midwives and healers were often regarded with suspicion and called witches. Dangerous to be too good at your job. |
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Indentured Servants
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couldn't pay passage over, so agree to be a slave for a certain number of years (7). At the end of indenture, they are given pots, pans, clothing. Female servants often sexually exploited. If you got pregnant, the time you couldn't work got added on. Remember the letter we read. Women chose to go to the South because their were great marriage prospects.
-early, mid 17th century. Not as common once slave ownership takes over, at end of 17th (first slave ship came over in 1619). -shows how bad things must have been in England if people were willing to do this in order to get over. |
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Anglicans
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Church of England, Protestant Church. Divorce not allowed, because marriage was a vow in front of God. You could have bed and board separation, but couldn't remarry. Could self-divorce. What many people were in colonies, but not Puritans.
-mid, early 17th -The difference between marriage for them and Quakers and Puritans. Because they were married till death, women ended up marrying more than once, which created complex families. |
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Complex Families
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step and half-siblings. Common now, but not in 17th century. Started occurring. Now you can live with people unrelated to you. Normal to have 10+ family members
-early, mid 17th -is the central family starting to disappear? Blurring the lines of who's in charge? |
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Plantation Mistresses
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in charge of a household and its laborers. Expansive, more than most white women were in charge of. Delegates the gross chores instead of having to do them herself. She handled anything with expensive ingredients: didn't want it stolen. Responsible for health care of everyone. Served as a healer.
-early, mid 17th -shows some women who had some power. But she exploited others (blacks, indentured servants) to get her power. |
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Virginia Law of 1662
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states that slavery is an inheritable status according to the condition of the mother. Other colonies follow this law and by the end of the 17th century every colony has it.
-1662 -it means that a master can have sex with his slave and profit from it. It means that race is the defining factor in slavery. It makes motherhood a very conflicted issue for slave women. Makes it so the children couldn't try to inherit, so that the race line isn't blurred, and maintains the white man's morality. Soon after this, they banned interracial sex (but it was ok w/ slave women) |
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fictive kinship
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calling close adults “aunt” and “uncle” and close-in-age children “cousins” to create a sense of family. Treated this as blood family. It can expand, so if you're sold, you can be adopted into a new family. This stems from prizing extended kin in Africa – was not a conscious decision, it just developed.
-mid to late 17th century -shows a way slave found to adapt. Shows how they created a support network for themselves. It was easier to have this kinship in the South, on large plantations. Shows what they valued. |
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task system
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used in Chesapeake and Carolina. Each slave was assigned a task to do for the day. When you finished it, the rest of the day was yours. Vastly preferred by slaves. Used more with rice and tobacco.
-during slavery. Now, 17th century -whatever system you had, would determine your life. |
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gang system
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brutal. Divide slaves into groups and you perform one task to do from sun-up to sun-down. No free time, used for cotton.
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Population explosion
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happened all over in the 18th century. For blacks, it was because so many were being imported as slaves. For whites, it's because they're having babies. From 1720-1760, the population quadrupled. Common to have 8 or more children.
-18th century -through adaptation, more births surviving. The different ways the populations grew. |
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Immediate Family
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it became the most important focus of of your affection. Important in a way it hadn't been.
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Benevolent Patriarch/Paternal Father
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a slow change from dominating/authoritarian family to his. Father was for the North, Patriarch was for the South. The men are still in charge, but now they are kind about it. The man took care of his dependents. In exchange for caring for them, you get your family's gratitude and obedience. Because they care for dependents, they are surprised when dependents are ungrateful.
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Companionate Marriage
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seek a partner based on love and companionship. Not just economic anymore. Marriage is viewed in a better light. Because there is the expectation of love, divorce rates rise. Sex is less guilt-ridden now.
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Child-centered Family
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(this is for middle class and above). Focus of family is now on children. Childhood exists. Phase in your life when you focus on individual growth, identity, autonomy. Belief in childhood innocence. Children will be dutiful out of love instead of fear.
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Patriots
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in favor of revolution. Derogatory: rebels
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Loyalists
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called Tories. Loyal to King.
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“Daughters” of Liberty
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a formal group. By calling themselves this, they are being political. Made a show of not purchasing British goods. Women making political decisions. Taking action. In turn, Loyalists made a show of drinking tea.
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Homespun
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the type of cloth used in clothing when they don't support British goods. This becomes patriotic and women have an active role in it.
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Esther Deberdt Reed
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incredible patriot, wife of governor of Pennsylvania. She went on a cause to collect medicine, pewter, etc. for the troops. Wrote “Sentiments of an American Woman”
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“Sentiments of an American Woman” (1780)
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a public document, written for men, to say that women's love of public good is at least equal to men's. She uses precedent to say that women have participated in the past and that they need to participate now. Calls on women to make sacrifices for the country, which isn't a “man's cause,” but an “American cause”
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Ladies Associations
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organized groups to aid the troops. They divided the city into districts and gave women different districts where they would go door to door and collect supplies for the army. They sent them to Martha Washington – Reed's group wanted to give every soldier a silver dollar, but George said that the soldiers would waste it and then should make shirts instead. Women with money made him uncomfortable.
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Mercy Otis Warren
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an elite. A prolific writer who supported the American cause. Wrote satire, was threatened b/c of her writing, but didn't stop.
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Camp Followers
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women who couldn't provide for themselves followed the army around and cooked, washed, nursed. They received half-rations for their work. People view them as prostitutes (which some were). One women for every 15 men. They made it difficult for the army to move and hide (george didn't like them). Sometimes they would go on the battlefield to fight or help soldiers.
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Deborah Sampson
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a woman who served in the army by the name of Timothy Thayer. She fought for months as a man. Wasn't found out until she was injured. Got a pension from Congress for her service.
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Abigail Adams
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very educated. Runs John's farm and makes a profit when he couldn't. In her letters, she wanted women to get rights like men, “remember the ladies,” but didn't call for the vote. Wants to get ride of coveture. She's wrote to him like the colonists wrote to King George. She's afraid of men being tyrants. John replies by saying that women have the power in marriage, so men need the power elsewhere.
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New Jersey Constitution (1776)
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Property owning, single/widowed women could vote. They did this intentionally. Women and free blacks could vote for 30 years. Ends in 1807 – they say it's for the safety and dignity of nation. Women had been influencing the vote too much (Federalists), so the Republicans changed the law.
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Judith Sargent Murray
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wrote “Equality of the Sexes”. A pioneer feminist. In her statement she declares the only inequality is not being educated. She says that if women got this education, they would become better wives and mothers (not very feminist). Education is the key. Says it will make housework less boring and more rewarding. This makes it not too threatening and therefore not out of reach.
-1790 -Focuses on the future instead of the present: raising good citizens. |
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Benjamin Rush
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wrote about how women needed to make their children virtuous. The is the new role for Mothers. Same time as Judith Sargent Murray.
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Young Ladies Academy of Philadelphia (1787)
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learned a lot of what boys would have learned – grammar, geography, history, rhetoric, arithmetic, English. Started by Benjamin Rush. Did not teach Latin, Classics, advanced math, sciences – these were too masculine. Goal was to be better company for men, be informed, not for practical use. They will only use it in the company of women and it will make them better women. At their graduations, men would read the speeches they wrote, because they couldn't speak in front of men. This education made them better wives, more interesting to their husbands. Brought on by the idea of republican motherhood.
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Gradual Emancipation Laws
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only in the North. Between 1780-1804 all Northern states passed laws (Vermont and Massachusetts immediately abolished it). A child born into slavery would be free at age 21. If you were already 21, you were a slave for the rest of your life. If you are under 21, you are free at 21. These laws create a wave of slave trade because owners in the North would sell to the South since they didn't get any compensation. Took 2 to 3 generations.
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Manumissions
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in the South. Individual freeing of slaves by individual masters. The only way to free in the South. Happened mainly in upper-South. Jefferson only manumits 6 slaves.
Judith Cocks Letter. Sold to the South as an indentured servant. Writing to her former master in the North, trying to figure out for how long her son will be enslaved. Worried about getting sold away from her son. |
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Domestics
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What free black women in the North did. Maids. Lots of work in the city.
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Laundresses
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Another job free black women did, because white women didn't want to. Good because it was unskilled work that you could do in your home.
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“Reservations”
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not called that until the 19th century. After the Revolution, the government took away their land and let them stay on very small parcels. Therefore, they couldn't follow their customs of hunting and migrating seasonally. Affected men more than women, b/c they couldn't hunt and become men.
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Enlightenment
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had potential to change gender roles roles, but instead decided that the that the existing hierarchy was natural. Supported patriarchy. GET MORE ON THIS
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Great Awakening
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1730s to 1770s. Great Awakening of religious fervor. Starts in Massachusetts. Women make up the majority of church members. Can coexist with Enlightenment: Churches quit freaking out about bastardy and start helping the women. Transform Christian notions of women. Women are no longer temptresses, but are vessels of virtue.
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Commercial Economy:
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Sociability
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more than good manners. A way to arrange society that rested on heterosexual mixing. Mix in the dining rooms, drawing rooms, ball rooms. This is semi-public: bridged the gap between public and private. For the elite. It requires both men and women to be education and have conversation. Much of the talk was about politics.
-End of 18th, early 19th century. Only lasts for a couple decades. -it's acceptable/expected that women will be there and discuss politics with men. Product of republican motherhood and Enlightenment. Sociability is what's happenning, civil society is the product – a blending. This mixing helps w/ companionate marriage. |
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Dolley Madison
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First Lady. She created events to make the Capitol look grand. Expert of civil society – healed political wounds. Sought political appointments for her friends/family. Tried to influence bills. Other women learned that if they went to her parties, they could talk to influential men. Women use her as a way to enter politics – wrote to her and tried to get her support.
-Late 18th, early 19th -believed that she and other women had the right to political opinions – never questioned it. |
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Grecian Styles
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fashion that became a political statement. Cam out of France during Revolutions. Intended to evoke ancient Greece and Rome. American styles were more modest than French, but you can see her arms and figure (sometime even shoulders).
-1790s -this is political because it could show they support the French. Fashion in general showed whether you were Republican or Federalist. These styles got rid of the corset and allowed women to breath. The rich women had silk, poorer women's fabric was coarser, but they adopted it to work for them. |
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Anne Hutchinson
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lived in Puritan colony, Massachusetts Bay. She was led a religious group and was put to trial for it, because she was a woman doing a man's job. This is segment from her trail. They say that women can't be allowed to teach, she says that the Scriptures allow it.
-1638 |
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Elizabeth Sprigs
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Letter From an Indentured Servant. Her life is miserable. She's writing to her father, being very apologetic and humble, asking for forgiveness. She describes how her life is worse than an animals and she's suffering. Begs her father to send her some clothes. We don't know what she did to be out of her father's favor, but probably something criminal (fornication maybe?). She's a white woman very low in the social scale, but she must have been somewhat high in England, because she knows how to read and write. This is a typical letter from an indentured servant.
-1756 |
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Eliza Pinkney, Birthday Resolutions
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It is an 18th century document because she is very focused on relationships an raising her daughter well. She is actively involved in her relationship with God. Realizes that her duty to her husband and her duty to God are not the same thing. A kinder relationship with husband.
-1750 |
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Judith Cocks, Letter to James Hillhouse
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Writing from the South to her former master in New England. She was “set free” because she was becoming too much of a burden with her illness. Trying to get white friends to help her – she knows the system. She's also knows the standard of letter writing. 1795
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Esther Deberdt Reed
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incredible patriot, wife of governor of Pennsylvania. She went on a cause to collect medicine, pewter, etc. for the troops. Wrote “Sentiments of an American Woman”
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“Sentiments of an American Woman” (1780)
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a public document, written for men, to say that women's love of public good is at least equal to men's. She uses precedent to say that women have participated in the past and that they need to participate now. Calls on women to make sacrifices for the country, which isn't a “man's cause,” but an “American cause”
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Molly Wallace, The Young Ladies Academy of Philadelphia:
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It was founded by a group of wealthy men, one of the nation's first schools for girls. She says we're not trying to be in the Senate or have public office, we're just trying to “acquire some valuable habits.
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”Young Ladies Academy of Philadelphia (1787)
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learned a lot of what boys would have learned – grammar, geography, history, rhetoric, arithmetic, English. Started by Benjamin Rush. Did not teach Latin, Classics, advanced math, sciences – these were too masculine. Goal was to be better company for men, be informed, not for practical use. They will only use it in the company of women and it will make them better women. At their graduations, men would read the speeches they wrote, because they couldn't speak in front of men. This education made them better wives, more interesting to their husbands. Brought on by the idea of republican motherhood.
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Abigail Adams, Letters to John
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Appeals to him to “Remember the ladies.” She wants to get rid of coveture, he scorns her. She uses language of Revolution and says the women will have to “foment a rebellion” if men don't give them rights. John scorns her, tells her she already has power. She warns him.
-1776 |
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Judith Sargent Murray
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wrote “Equality of the Sexes”. A pioneer feminist. In her statement she declares the only inequality is not being educated. She says that if women got this education, they would become better wives and mothers (not very feminist). Education is the key. Says it will make housework less boring and more rewarding. This makes it not too threatening and therefore not out of reach.
-1790 -Focuses on the future instead of the present: raising good citizens. |
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Ladies Society of New York, Constitution
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Elite women who want to help women who are worse off. Charity organizations. In this Constitution, they describe what sort of women they are willing to help: Morally respectable (no begging, prostituting), 2 children under age of 10, widows. They paid them in necessaries, not in money.
-1800 |
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Colored Female Religious and Moral Society of Salem, Constitution
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Free Black women who dedicated their time to helping the poor and this sick. Like the white women's society, they also “made moral behavior a requirement”
-1818 |
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Emma Willard, Plan for Female Education
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Has a school for women in New York. She links “women's education to the well-being of the government.” Only really applied to elite women. She believed an education would make housework more interesting and also help the children, because they could better educate them (morally and intellectually). A direct link to Judith Sargent Murray.
-1819 |
