The Fight Against the Despotism of the Peticoats
Although women made significant contributions to the war effort, their efforts were quickly forgotten when the topic of politics entered the conversation. As the new American government took shape, it was created solely by men in power, most of whom were revolted by the idea of granting women the right to vote and a place in government. As the idea of women voting gained more attention, men began to publicly voice their criticisms. They saw politics as a male domain, and as such, was no place for women who were expected to maintain their feminine roles in society. Their opposition wasn’t based on women being uneducated or unqualified; instead, it stemmed from customs and traditions created over time by society which ultimately led to women being denied the right to vote.
In 1797, a poem titled “Freedom of Elections” was published in the Centinel of Freedom mocking the idea of women voting. While the poem starts off by supporting the idea, the author's true belief on the subject becomes clear in later stanzas. He calls women voting a sight so unnatural and strange that it seemed like a “Milennial state was near, sir!’’ He continues in his poem:
“While men of rank, who play’d this prank,
beat up the widows’ quarters;
Their hands they laid on every maid,
And scarce spar’d wives, or daughters!”
“To Congress, lo! Widows shall go,
Like metamorphos’d witches!
Cloth’ed in the dignity of state,
And eke! in coat and breeches!”
“Then Freedom hail— thy powers prevail
O’er prejudice and error
No longer shall man tyrannize
And rule the world in terror.”
“Open wide your throats
And welcome in the peaceful scene
Of Government in petticoats!”1
In his stanzas above, you can see he starts off by reducing women in politics to nothing more than a sexual prank played on women by men. He painted a picture that had women been given the right to vote, they would lose their femininity and begin acting and dressing like men. This poem was written to appear as if it’s for the cause of female suffrage; however, he makes it clear it's a satirical poem as he mocks the agurment of a womens right to representation, reducing it to something only worth ridicule.
The author of this poem wasn’t the only one who ridiculed the idea of women in politics. On December 20, 1755, Esther Edwards Burr wrote to Sarah Prince Gill regarding this subject. He wrote, “The Men say that Women have no business to concern themselves about [politics] but [should] trust to those who know better. And be content to be destroyed because that they did all for the best…”2 This idea reflected the common assumption that men were naturally able to handle political matters better than women. This belief that women were unfit for politics, despite their intelligence and capabilities, was shared by many influential men of the time, including the second U.S. President, John Adams. In a letter to James Sullivan in 1776, Adams outlined his reasoning for excluding women from politics. He argued that “their Delicacy renders them unfit for Practice and Experience, in the great Business of Life, and the hardy Enterprizes of War, as well as the arduous Cares of State. Besides, their attention is So much engaged with the necessary Nurture of their Children, that Nature has made them fittest for domestic Cares. And Children have not Judgment or Will of their own.”3 By portraying women as delicate and meant for domestic roles, Adams reinforced the customs and traditions that kept women from participating in government and politics. These societal beliefs caused the denial of women's right to vote, ensuring that political power remained in the hands of men.
As you can see, the denial of women’s right to vote after the American Revolution was not because they lacked the intelligence to make smart decisions, but because of deeply ingrained customs and traditions that confined women to roles as delicate homemakers. Men like John Adams and the author of the "Freedom of Elections" poem show how societal norms shaped the view of women’s roles in society. These traditional beliefs reinforced the exclusion of women from politics. Even though women played a major role in the war, their contributions were overlooked when it came to government representation. While men may have recognized women as social equals, they were unwilling to accept the idea of women as political equals.
1Freedom of Elections, Centinel of Freedom (Newark, N.J.), October 18, 1797.
2New-York Weekly Journal, August 19, 1734; Esther Edwards Burr to Sarah Prince Gill, November 29, 1755 (entry for December 20, 1755), in The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr, 1754– 1757 , ed. Laurie Crumpacker and Carol F. Karlsen (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1984).
3“From John Adams to James Sullivan, 26 May 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0091. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 4, February–August 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 208–213.]