Lesson
Women in Early America (1600-1800)
Founding Principles
Civic Virtue, Consent of the Governed, Equal Protection, Equality, Individual Responsibility, Liberty, Private Virtue, Representative / Republican Government
Virtues
Materials
- Background Essay: Life in Early America
- Handout A: Equality and Voting Amendments
- Appendix A: Amending the Constitution
- Appendix B: Timeline and Quotes
- Appendix C: Timeline Cards
- Answer Key
Lesson Components
Lesson plan
Key Terms
- homogeneous
- coverture
- non-entities
- Republican Motherhood
- executor of a will
More Information
FOR FURTHER READING
- Adams, Abigail. Letters, Library of America Adams Family Collection (2016)
- Berkin, Carol. Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence (2006)
- Kerber, Linda “The Republican Mother: Women and the Enlightenment—An American Perspective” in Toward an Intellectual History of Women Durham: University of North Carolina Press (1997)
- Kerber, Linda. Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (1997)
- Murray, Judith Sargent. “On the Equality of the Sexes” (1790)
- Norton, Mary Beth. Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750–1800 (1996)
- Rush, Benjamin. “Thoughts upon Female Education” (1787)
- Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Standards
Advanced Placement
- National
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Related materials
In this lesson, students will learn about the life of Abigail Adams and how she fought for respect for the respect of women’s rights.
To continue our celebration of the 19th Amendment's ratification, Mary, Gary, and Eryn discuss the seminal works of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter, Mary Shelley. They’ll explore how both women were icons in their own rights, as Wollstonecraft famously advocated for enhanced female education in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, while Shelley authored the sci-fi classic, Frankenstein. Learn how this mother-daughter pair proved to be an empowering force in the early struggle for women’s rights and equality!
Note: This lesson is adapted from materials contained in the Bill of Rights Institute’s U.S. History resource entitled Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: A History of the American Experiment.
