3.11

• Republican Motherhood


  Idea that mothers were in the best position to influence political ideas by raising virtuous sons educated in the principles of liberty
• Benjamin Rush wrote an essay in 1787 called Essay on Female Education which posited the idea of Republican Motherhood
• Women's roles in early American society

  • Diminished compared to today
  • Didn't have voting rights
  • Roles were more limited
• Many leaders were convinced that wives and mothers were especially crucial to the establishment of a strong America
• The idea of Republican Motherhood led to the expansion of schooling for girls
• Expansion of schooling for girls

  • Massachusetts instituted elementary education for all children in 1789
  • Academies for girls multiplied
• Some women, like Judith Sargent Murray, pushed for an even more expanded role for women arguing that women should be able to attain the necessities of life apart from the help and patronage of a man
• The idea of expanded education for women did not extend to black women, the bulk of whom were either enslaved or could only find work as household servants
• American Indian women's influence diminished during this period as men's roles as warriors and diplomats expanded, decreasing the roles and influence of the Indian women
• Art and literature in the early republic

  • Increasingly found expression of national identity as Americans
  • Influenced by European styles during colonial days
• John Trumbull's depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence romanticized the event and provoked a sense of nationalistic fervor
• Architecture in the early republic was mostly formal brick and stone, reflecting the classical revival style, as seen in Thomas Jefferson's Monticello
• Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack


  Annual handbook filled with aphorisms that helped shape American identity as industrious and hard working
• The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, written by Thomas Jefferson, defined the separation between church and state, which was a very American thing to believe