The Origins of Liberty Rhetoric, 1770s-1820s
For women in the period from the 1770s, when the American Revolution took place, to the 1820s, "Liberty Rhetoric" was very familiar. American colonists had used the argument for liberty in order to break away from Britain, and the same sort of rhetoric emerged during the War of 1812 against Britain. In the 1780s and 1790s, French women also used the same rhetoric to argue for their own liberty during and after the French Revolution, which illustrates the power of these ideas. However, after the success of the American Revolution, women's political agitation took on a different light; now, when women rebelled, they weren't rebelling against a British "them," but against male authority here at home. As a result, one sees during this period magazines like Godey's Lady's Book and other things aimed at encouraging women to restrain their cries for liberty, or which couched female liberty in the less threatening arena of the "Republican Mother," who put her personal liberty behind raising her children to be good Americans.
Comparing Texts of Liberty Rhetoric
- The 1776 Declaration of Independence is a classic example of Liberty Rhetoric.
- The 1789 Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen, written during the French Revolution in 1789, also draws on Liberty Rhetoric.
- Olympe De Gouges's 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman, written in response to the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen, places Liberty Rhetoric at the service of the fight for women's full citizenship.
- The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen and the Declaration of the Rights of Woman Compared (Frames Version).
Images of "Liberty" as a Woman
- "The Congress," a 1775 cover illustration for Pennsylvania Magazine (Library of Congress)
- Questions to Ponder
Tracing the Development of American Women's Use of Liberty Rhetoric
Women embrace the Revolutionary struggle--even after the Revolution has ended
- Woodcut from "A New Touch on the Times," 1779 (New York Historical Society)
- Questions to Ponder
- "The Edenton Ladies' Tea Party," a British cartoon lampooning women's revolutionary commitment (Library of Congress)
- Questions to Ponder
- The poetry of Grace Growden Galloway, 1760s
- Questions to Ponder
- Abigail Adams, letter to her husband John Adams, regarding women's legal standing, 1776
- Questions to Ponder
- Eliza Wilkinson, letter to a female friend, 1782
- Questions to Ponder
- Poem published in the 1797 Newark Centinel of Freedom
- Questions to Ponder
Attempts to steer women toward caution, restraint, and domestic production
- "Keep Within Compass," illustration published between 1785 and 1805 (Winterthur Museum)
- Questions to Ponder
- Godey's Lady's Book and the Cult of True Womanhood
Go to the Origins of Liberty Picture Gallery