Thomas F. (hardtack) - , reviewed on 11/5/2020 + 2701 more book reviews

As someone who loves history, especially American history, I read many books about women's roles in it. After all, if you don't then you miss 50% of history.

This book added to my knowledge in many ways. I was particularly interested to learn that from 1790 to 1800 in New Jersey, white women and free black women had the vote.

Not all the men thought this was a good idea. As stated in the book, "Many critics of formal educational institutions for women voiced concern that intellectual pursuits would have a de-feminizing effect on women As one Boston minister bluntly put it, 'Women of masculine minds have generally masculine manners.'" But it continues with, " However... if a good education prepared a women to be a good mother and wife, an exemplar and conveyor of moral character, then it was an asset to the republic."

The gains women made during the Revolution were lost in less than two decades, "In my opinion," wrote one young women in 1801, "[political subjects] are altogether out of a women's sphere."

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