A Woman's Right to Vote after the Revolutionary War
Following the Revolutionary War, women had a notable increase in social status due to their contributions to the war efforts. The women took on the roles of their husbands at home and supported or encouraged them to join the fight. Their efforts were recognized by men as, without the support of the women, the war could have had a vastly different outcome. While gaining social equality was a step forward for the women of the 18th and 19th centuries, they were still lacking equality in one important area: government. After independence was declared, women receiving the right to vote was a topic of discussion; however, it was quickly dismissed by those in power. Politics was seen as a male domain and too “masculine” for women who were said to be unqualified and uneducated. But was this truly the reason women were denied the right to vote? The real reason was not because women were uneducated or lacked understanding. Instead, the reason for the denial of this right was based on custom and tradition.
This idea of custom and tradition laid the foundation for arguments used to exclude women from political participation. Rosemarie Zagarri, author of Revolutionary Backlash, came to the same conclusion as to why women were denied this fundamental right, stating that “custom and tradition, not nature, limited women’s roles and possibilities.”1 Throughout her book, she talks about how women were confined to "feminine" roles created by society and voting was said to masculinize women. While women felt they deserved the right to representation, the men felt they should stick to what they were made for: “softer, smoother paths” spreading “light and cheerfulness” and being caretakers.2 This argument was used to justify excluding women from the vote and solidify their place within traditional boundaries.
With women excluded from the new government, their discontent grew. Through many letters women began questioning why they weren’t being treated as political equals, especially when they were just as capable of making decisions as men. The more these conversations took place, the clearer it became that arguments against women voting all traced back to custom and tradition. Women such as Abigail Adams wrote to their husbands, asking to be considered when creating the new government, but they were met with mockery and dismissed immediately. These men considered women voting unnatural, too masculine, and disruptive to the political order.3 They argued that women’s involvement in government would take away from their traditional roles as homemakers as their attention would be divided. Although men recognized women’s vital contributions to winning the war, they still refused to acknowledge them as equals and believed they needed to stick to their traditional roles and follow established customs.
1Zagarri, Rosemarie. Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007, 16.
2Ibid., 16.
3“John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives.