Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History

Carol Berkin’s "Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence" is an excellent book that I immensely enjoyed. When many people think of the Revolutionary War, they might imagine George Washington gallantly leading his men through the winters at Valley Forge or the like. Berkin begins her masterpiece by giving a general overview of the roll that women played in our countries war for independence. Now I, like many others come to think of the iconic role model women like Betsy Ross and the fabled Molly Pitcher, but this star of a book opened my eyes to the everyday

The American Revolution was the initial push for women wanting rights. In a letter to Mary Otis Warren, Abigail Adams discloses that she asked her husband to include women and to not put all the power into the hands of men(Doc B). The American Revolution also greatly changed the lives of women. If the republic were to succeed, women must be educated so they could teach their children moral and virtue. Although their status in society stayed private and almost the same, women had a larger role in day to day life because of the Republican Motherhood. Women were honored to take on these news domestic roles(Doc C). Because of the increase in women’s education, women were able to contribute to other important movements such as the

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” This is a quote that was taken from a scholarly article written by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. The article for this assignment discusses how this single line ignited a fire within the female population across the nation. Ulrich published her article that was titled with this line in 1976. From there, it was used in 1995, when journalist Kay Mills used it as an epigraph for her informal history of American women, From Pocahontas to Power Suits.

After studying women and gender history in early America for the past semester, my views about American history have changed tremendously. Having very little prior experience with history, I had many assumptions and preconceived notions from high school history classes. Women were never even mentioned in my previous learning about U.S. history, so I assumed they took on unimportant roles and had little, if any, impact on shaping our country’s history. However, after this semester of delving deeply into the women of early America, I could not have been more incorrect. Although they were not typically in the public realm, we cannot fully understand history without studying women. The following readings uncovered the roles of women in the private sphere and were crucial to my new understanding of the importance of women in American history by bringing women to the forefront.

Women are frequently overlooked when it comes to history in the 18th centuries. They were there in the flesh for all of the historical events, but they are rarely mentioned. Everyone has heard of the “Founding Fathers”, but students rarely hear about the “Founding Mothers” in their curriculum. Although women did not directly plan out our government, they still deserve to be given some credit for it. The roles that women played during the Revolutionary War greatly influenced the outcome of the war and the country that resulted from it.

In American history, it is not very common to hear about women and their part in history until about 1865 when they began to speak out. Throughout history women were submissive and in the background for most of their lives. Cooking and cleaning while men took the spotlight and made all the decisions. Soon after the Civil War and the 14th amendment, women began to speak out and fight for their rights. Eventually in 1920, the 19th amendment was passed and women were given the right to vote. The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote, marked a turning point in United States women's history because women’s lives changed from being in the background of men to becoming leaders in their

From the beginning of time, women have had to succumb to the authority of men. Women were essentially men’s slaves and had little say in the household and had virtually no voice in politics. They were to be seen and not heard. There were, however, instances of women that were able to call attention to themselves, whether negative or positive. The girls involved in the Salem Witch Trials, for example, were able to draw an awareness to themselves and become a significant heated topic. Sarah Kemble Knight gained a reputation for herself by being knowledgeable in

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, an author and professor of history at Harvard University, introduced the phrase in a 1976 journal article about the characterization of women in Puritan funeral sermons. Ulrich more recently wrote a book, based on the phrase, that explores how women in the past have challenged the ways history was written. In her essay “Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History,” Ulrich discusses the history of the phrase, how it was coined, and how it has taken on a life of its own. The phrase is now commonly seen on everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs, and has been featured in magazine articles and even advertising campaigns. She reflects on how her “accidental fame” has given her new insights into her historical studies.

For instance, Harriet Tubman and Hillary Clinton are two examples of women who chose to become leaders in America’s society. They both were very bold by stepping up to what they wanted to pursue. Not only does the modern society today holds women who have become great leaders, but it also holds strong female leaders from the past. Just by helping many slaves who have been under the ruling of their owners, Harriet Tubman becomes one of America’s most legendary abolitionists because of her action of freeing more than 700 slaves. On the other hand, a woman who lives in the modern society today, Hillary Clinton, is known for attempting to run for president, but finishing in second place in the election. Because of her success, she has become a person who is not only respected from having a bold character, but also an inspiration to future generations of women who also dream of being known as the first woman president of America. Furthermore, a woman that is stereotyped by society but is trying to break the unreasonable label is almost like being conformed in a glass box trying to escape. The reality for a women could consist of being faced with criticism. The strength of one can only bring them far enough to reaching success. Specifically for women, in some cases, having motivational support from others can influence them even more than before, and will help them achieve even greater accomplishments.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, in a scholarly article written in 1976, wrote that “well-behaved women seldom make history” (Ulrich XIII). Over time, that phrase has became a slogan for feminists around the world. It appears on many products and media, like shirts, jewelry, and even wine glasses. At the time she wrote it, she meant for it to mean that women who are well-behaved do not get their stories told, even if they did something extraordinary or heroic, though now, people interpret it in many different ways.

The time period between the late 1800s and early 1900s was a ground for many crucial changes for women and how they were viewed and treated. The right to their children, property, and earnings was granted to them during this time period ("Women Suffrage in the Progressive Era - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress"). Many women, no matter what their occupation might have been, supported this movement ("Women Suffrage in the Progressive Era - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress"). Female Writers were extremely proactive when it came to clearly displaying the mistreatment that women endured while society viewed it as right. One writer in particular, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, published a short story the displayed the injustice in the treatment. “The Revolt of Mother” clearly displays the repression of women in a society much like the one we live in today, and the story leaves the reader with an essential lesson of standing up for one’s self. This piece of work is heavily influenced by the oppression Freedom faced during her life time.

Mary Wollstoncraft's book, "The Vindication of the Rights of Women," is an incredibly insightful look into the life of women in the early portion of this century. It is a philosophical examination of the condition of women, in relationship to some very basic rights, and is also a very enlightening look at how short a distance we really have come, as a society, in relationship to our perceptions of women. Wollstoncraft presents herself as an incredibly enlightened individual who looks at her gender as a subject which should be seen as reasonable creatures, rather than brutes or heroines.

Even though women make up approximately half of the United States population, there were few opportunities for women to have female role models or perspectives of history that focused on women until a little over a century ago, when World War I and the First Wave of Feminism changed the role women played in society forever. However, it is remarkable to examine how women had and been continuously pushed to the back of the conversation, even as feminism became a nationally recognised issue. Even now, our nation’s history is told in an androcentric fashion; even if gender inequality throughout our nation’s history has shaped many social structures today, there is a lack of recognition of the importance of women. On top of that, such an androcentric

The role of women in society has been well documented through world literature. “And the reality is that for a large bulk of human history, women have been treated as the subordinate to men and have not been given a voice”(David Splawn, 2015). Works such as The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Hamlet by William Shakespeare,The Education of Women by Daniel Defoe, and A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. These works come from a wide variety of time periods, they range from the middle ages to the modern era, where the first was published around 900 years before the last.

Throughout the ages, women have aided in the achievement of greatness of their brothers, sons, fathers and husbands. However, there are moments in history where this aid is more than a hand to hold. The distinction must be made that the Rosie the Riveter Movement did not take place for the same reasons as women’s suffrage. Thus, there is a difference between the concepts of Feminism and Patriotism. It is true that in some ways when the war ended women who worked had earned a more equal relationship with men in the workplace, however this was not the purpose of ‘Rosie the Riveter’. If one requires an example of a feminist movement, the events that took place in the 1960s and 1920s should suffice. Women assumed the roles of men during the war, and did so out of the responsibility to their country. This is the precise reason why World War II was the greatest moment in history for American women. The movement was not one of suffrage or equality; it was a demonstration of innate strength, endurance, and especially patriotism. Despite the odds, and all those who doubted them, women exercised their patriotism for their country. This is evident in the valor that many unrecognized women displayed in the United States’ Armed Forces, and on the Homefront. Neither gender, nor sexuality held any responsibility for their simple, yet heroic actions.