Graduation Year
2021
Date of Submission
5-2021
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Award
Best Senior Thesis in History
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History
Reader 1
Professor Daniel Livesay
Terms of Use & License Information
Abstract
This thesis evaluates the extent to which the Early Republic concept of republican motherhood stripped elite American women of the social, political, and legal rights available to them during the Colonial Era and the American Revolution. Through examining the philosophical basis of republican motherhood and the development of separate spheres of influence, it becomes clear that republican mothers experienced a constriction of opportunities rather than the achievements of liberties so often associated with the American Revolution. Regardless, republican motherhood provided an essential first step towards female citizenship and suffrage through systemizing a passive political role for women.
Recommended Citation
Presson, Chandler, "Step Back to Spring Forward: Republican Motherhood and the Precariousness of Women’s Rights from the Colonial Era to the Early Republic" (2021). CMC Senior Theses. 2773.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2773
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
