Gender and Morality in Anglo-American Culture, 1650-1800

237 Pages·2003·1.06 MB·English

by  Ruth H. Bloch

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Gender and Morality
in Anglo-American Culture,
1650-1800
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Gender and Morality
in Anglo-American Culture,
1650-1800
Ruth H. Bloch
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley . Los Angeles . London
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2003 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bloch, Ruth H., 1949–
Gender and morality in Anglo-American culture,
1650–1800 / Ruth H. Bloch.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN0–520–23405–7 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN0–520–23406–5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Women—United States—History. 2. Women
colonists—United States—History. 3. United
States—History—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775.
4. Sex role—United States—History. 5. Ethics—
United States—History. I. Title.
HQ1416 .B53 2003
305.4'0973—dc21 2002003987
Manufactured in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication is both acid-free and
totally chlorine-free (TCF). It meets the minimum
requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R1997)
(Permanence of Paper) 8
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For Ben and Aaron
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part one .
Overviews
1. Theory. A Culturalist Critique of Trends
in Feminist Theory (1993) 21
2. History. Untangling the Roots of Modern Sex Roles:
A Survey of Four Centuries of Change (1978) 42
Part two .
Colonial Transitions
3. Revaluing Motherhood.American Feminine Ideals
in Transition: The Rise of the Moral Mother,
1785–1815 (1978) 57
4. Regulating Courtship.Women and the Law
of Courtship in Eighteenth-Century America (2001) 78
5. Utilitarian vs. Evangelical Perspectives.
Women, Love, and Virtue in the Thought
of Edwards and Franklin (1993) 102
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viii Contents
Part three .
Revolutionary Syntheses
6. Religion and Sentimentalism.Religion,
Literary Sentimentalism, and Popular
Revolutionary Ideology (1994) 121
7. Republican Virtue.The Gendered Meanings
of Virtue in Revolutionary America (1987) 136
8. Public/Private.Gender and the Public/Private
Dichotomy in American Revolutionary Thought (2001) 154
Notes 167
Index 217
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Acknowledgments
This book represents much of my creative career as a women’s historian,
and my debts are large and multiple. Specific acknowledgments for the
pre-published papers appear at the opening of each of their respective
endnotes, but I have many more thanks to give. At different points in its
development, my research has benefited from grants from the American
Council for Learned Societies, the National Endowment of the Humani-
ties, the Center for the Study of Women at the University of California at
Los Angeles, and the University of California Academic Senate. My edi-
tor, Monica McCormick, generously welcomed the opportunity to edit
this collection and skillfully ushered the manuscript through the publica-
tion process. Over the years leading up to this book, numerous col-
leagues at UCLA and around the nation have given my work steadfast
support and cogent criticism, especially Joyce Appleby, Robert Abzug,
Edward Berenson, Charles Capper, Ellen DuBois, Daniel Howe, Naomi
Lamoreaux, Temma Kaplan, Carol Karlsen, Nikki Keddie, Jan Lewis,
Kathryn Norberg, Debora Silverman, Joan Waugh, and Mary Yeager.
Graduate research assistants Holly Brewer, Rachelle Friedman, Ellie
Hickerson, Anne Lombard, and Jonathan Sassi were always helpful.
Professional panels of historians, referee reports, and discussion groups
too numerous to enumerate have continuously helped me to think
through my ideas. Personal friends have also been essential to the life
context of my scholarship, including Jeff Alexander, Wendy and Jeff
Bricmont, Joan Chodorow, Nancy Chodorow, Franny Cohen, Judy
ix