FREEDOM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE: THE PUZZLES OF

STATUS AND ACCESSDR. EVELYN STERNE

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORYUNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

RIGHT TO VOTE IS IDEAL LENS FOR VIEWING CONCEPT OF FREEDOM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE IN 19TH CENTURY

THROUGH THIS LENS, FREEDOM LOOKS MUCH MORE THEORETICAL THAN PRACTICAL

STORY OF WOMEN’S & AFRICAN AMERICANS’ POLITICAL EXCLUSION IS WELL-KNOWN, BUT WORKERS’ & IMMIGRANTS’ IS NOT. ◦ ALEX KEYSSAR, THE RIGHT TO VOTE

GOALS FOR TONIGHT:

WE’LL USE CONNECTING THEME OF SUFFRAGE TO EXPLORE:

ANTEBELLUM WOMEN’S LEGAL STATUS

RI’S DORR REBELLION (1842)

RACE, IMMIGRATION AND POLITICAL EXCLUSION IN LATE 19TH c.

GOALS FOR TONIGHT:

USE “THE PROTEST OF LUCY STONE AND HENRY BLACKWELL UPON THEIR MARRIAGE ON MAY 2, 1855,” TO DISCUSS WHICH LEGAL RIGHTS ANTEBELLUM WOMEN WERE DENIED

PRINCIPLE OF “COVERTURE”

ANTEBELLUM WOMEN’S LEGAL STATUS

WOMEN HAD MADE MODEST GAINS AFTER 1830 IN:

RIGHT TO DIVORCE

PROPERTY OWNERSHIP

BUT…

ANTEBELLUM WOMEN’S LEGAL STATUS

WHEN DID WOMEN ORGANIZE TO DEMAND THEIR RIGHTS?

1848 WOMAN’S RIGHT’S CONVENTION◦ SENECA FALLS (NY)

LED BY ELIZABETH CADY STANTON & LUCRETIA MOTT

300 WOMEN (AND MEN) ATTENDED◦ INCLUDING FREDERICK DOUGLASS

ANTEBELLUM WOMEN’S LEGAL STATUS

GROUP WORK ON “DECLARATION OF SENTIMENTS”:

WHICH SPECIFIC RIGHTS WERE DEMANDED?

HOW WERE THEY JUSTIFIED?

WHAT IS STRIKING ABOUT THE RHETORIC?

ALSO THINK ABOUT: “WHY 1848”?

WOMAN’S RIGHTS CONVENTION (1848)

WHY 1848?

ANTEBELLUM REFORM CLIMATE: KEY SUFFRAGISTS WERE ABOLITIONISTS LINKS TO EVANGELICALISM

CLIMATE OF INDIVIDUALISM: REVOLUTION, 2ND GREAT AWAKENING

SUFFRAGE REFORM NATIONWIDE: AN UNEVEN REVOLUTION

SENECA FALLS CONVENTION (1848)

THE NATIONAL PICTURE: A POST-REVOLUTION SUFFRAGE REVOLUTION

WHO COULD VOTE IN COLONIAL ERA? WHY WAS VOTE LAND-BASED?

WHY DID MOST STATES REMOVE LAND REQUIREMENTS (FOR WHITE MEN) AFTER REVOLUTION?

BUT NOT RI…

RI’S DORR REBELLION (1842)

BECAUSE ONLY LANDOWNERS COULD VOTE IN RI, BY 1842:

PROPORTION OF VOTERS DECLINING

POPULAR GROUNDSWELL FOR REFORM GROWING

THOMAS WILSON DORR STEPPED FORWARD◦ UNLIKELY REBEL

RI’S DORR REBELLION (1842)

THE DRAMA MOUNTED…

2 GOVERNMENTS: PEOPLE’S vs. LAW & ORDER

2 CONSTITUTIONS

FAILED ATTACK ON PROVIDENCE ARSENAL ESCAPE, ATTEMPTED COMEBACK, EXILE,

ARRESTS AND MARTIAL LAW

RI’S DORR REBELLION (1842)

1843 CONSTITUTION CREATED A TWO-TIERED POLITY:

FREE SUFFRAGE FOR NATIVE-BORN MEN (WHITE & BLACK)

LAND REQUIREMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS

“A SYSTEM OF ELECTIONS WITHOUT VOTERS”

ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO CHANGE

RI’S DORR REBELLION (1842)

BY 1850s RI WAS ONLY STATE WITH: LANDOWNING REQUIREMENTS FOR

WHITES SEVERE AND EXPLICIT VOTING

RESTRICTIONS ON IMMIGRANTS WHY DID OPPOSITION RUN SO DEEP?

RI’S DORR REBELLION (1842)

USE YOUR DOCUMENT TO EXPLORE REASONS RAISED/RHETORIC USED TO DENY POLITICAL ACCESS TO IRISH CATHOLICS (IN RI & OTHER CONTEXTS).

WHAT DOES THIS DOCUMENT REVEAL

ABOUT ANTEBELLUM POLITICAL & CULTURAL CONCERNS?

WHICH STRIKE YOU AS SINCERE? SELF-SERVING?

GROUP WORK: DOCUMENTING ANTI-CATHOLICISM IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA

ONLY NATIVE-BORN PROTESTANTS SHOULD HOLD OFFICE

21-YEAR WAITING PERIOD FOR NATURALIZATION

BY 1855 CONTROLLED STATE LEGISLATURES IN NEW ENGLAND & BORDER STATES, WITH SUBSTANTIAL NUMBERS IN CONGRESS

MOMENT QUICKLY FADED ONCE ELECTED, YET SIGNIFICANCE RAN DEEPER

OUTCOME: THE AMERICAN (KNOW-NOTHING) PARTY, F. 1854

DORR REBELLION HAD EXPOSED DEEP CONCERNS ABOUT INTEGRATING CATHOLICS INTO POLITY

FORESHADOWED SUBSEQUENT ATTEMPTS TO EXCLUDE IMMIGRANTS FROM AMERICAN FREEDOMS

IMPLICATIONS OF DORR REBELLION

BY THE GILDED AGE, IRISH CATHOLICS SEEMED LESS WORRISOME BECAUSE OF NEWER THREATS

THE “NEW” IMMIGRATION: HOW HAD THE POPULATION DIVERSIFIED

SINCE MID-CENTURY? “NEW” IMMIGRANTS PERCEIVED NOT ONLY

AS UNAMERICAN, BUT ALSO AS NONWHITE◦ DAVID ROEDIGER, WORKING TOWARD

WHITENESS

RACE, IMMIGRATION AND POLITICAL EXCLUSION IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

USE YOUR DOCUMENT TO EXPLORE WHY THE “NEW” IMMIGRANTS SEEMED SO DIFFERENT AND THREATENING THEY WERE RACIALIZED AS ‘NONWHITE’.◦ DOCUMENTS FROM JON GJERDE, MAJOR

PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN IMMIGRATION AND ETHNIC HISTORY

RACE, IMMIGRATION AND POLITICAL EXCLUSION IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

THESE CONCERNS PEAKED WITH THE CHINESE

WHY SEEN AS ESPECIALLY THREATENING?◦ CULTURALLY?◦ ECONOMICALLY?◦ (.002 % OF POPULATION IN 1880)

CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT (1882)◦ CHINESE COULD NOT IMMIGRATE◦ THOSE ALREADY HERE COULD NOT NATURALIZE

RACE, IMMIGRATION AND POLITICAL EXCLUSION IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

OTHER STATES & CITIES FOLLOWED RI’S EXAMPLE AND SUBTLY RESTRICTED IMMIGRANT/WORKING-CLASS VOTE◦ LITERACY TESTS, RESIDENCY RULES,

REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS, PAUPER RESTRICTIONS

◦ *LOCAL TAX REQUIREMENTS*

RIGHT TO VOTE WAS CONTRACTING AS RI’S WORRIES BECAME NATIONAL WORRIES

IMPLICATIONS FOR IMMIGRANT SUFFRAGE

OTHER STRUCTURAL IMPEDIMENTS TO IMMIGRANTS’ POLITICAL INCLUSION WHICH OTHER FACTORS PREVENTED

IMMIGRANTS FROM ENTERING POLITICS IN RI?

IMPLICATIONS FOR IMMIGRANT SUFFRAGE

FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY AT TIME OF CONTRACTION

COMPETING WITH MEN WHO LACKED FULL ACCESS TO VOTE THEMSELVES

YET SKILLFULLY PLAYED ON FEARS OF ETHNIC VOTES

IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE

NEW NATION WAS TRYING ON “DEMOCRACY” UNCOMFORTABLY◦ CONFRONTING LIMITS OF ITS OWN VISION

TO WHAT EXTENT DID THE U.S. LIVE UP TO ITS PROMISES OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN THE 19TH c.?

WHY DID WOMEN, IMMIGRANTS FALL OUTSIDE CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTIONS OF THE VIRTUOUS REPUBLICAN CITIZEN?

FREEDOM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE: THE PUZZLES OF STATUS AND ACCESS