We mean to be counted : white women & politics in antebellum Virginia / Elizabeth R. Varon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Varon, Elizabeth R., 1963-

Series:

Gender & American culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Virginia--Politics and government--1775-1865.

Virginia.

Whig Party (Va.)--History.

Whig Party (Va.).

Women--Political activity--Virginia--History--19th century.

Women.

Women social reformers--Virginia--History--19th century.

Women social reformers.

Women, White--Virginia--Societies and clubs--History--19th century.

Women, White.

Elite (Social sciences)--Virginia--History--19th century.

Elite (Social sciences).

Politics and government.

Women--Political activity.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 234 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, ©1998.

Summary:

Demonstrates the widespread reform efforts and partisan political activities of elite white women in antebellum Virginia. An eye-opening contribution to the history of womenUs activism in the U.S.

"Over the past two decades, historians have successfully disputed the notion that American women remained wholly outside the realm of politics until the early twentieth century. Still, a consensus has prevailed that, unlike their Northern counterparts, women of the antebellum South were largely excluded from public life. With this book, Elizabeth Varon effectively challenges such historical assumptions. Using a wide array of sources, she demonstrates that throughout the antebellum period, white Southern women of the slaveholding class were important actors in the public drama of politics." -- Back Cover

"Through their voluntary associations, legislative petitions, presence at political meetings and rallies, and published appeals, Virginia's elite white women lent their support to such controversial reform enterprises as the temperance movement and the American Colonization Society, to the electoral campaigns of the Whig and Democratic Parties, to the literary defense of slavery, and to the causes of Unionism and secession. Against the backdrop of increasing sectional tension, Varon argues, these women struggled to fulfill a paradoxical mandate: to act both as partisans who boldly expressed their political views and as mediators who infused public life with the "feminine" virtues of compassion and harmony." -- Back Cover

Over the past two decades, historians have successfully disputed the notion that American women remained wholly outside the realm of politics until the early twentieth century. Still, a consensus has prevailed that, unlike their Northern counterparts, women of the antebellum South were largely excluded from public life. With this book, Elizabeth Varon effectively challenges such historical assumptions. Using a wide array of sources, she demonstrates that throughout the antebellum period, white Southern women of the slaveholding class were important actors in the public drama of politics.

Through their voluntary associations, legislative petitions, presence at political meetings and rallies, and published appeals, Virginia's elite white women lent their support to such controversial reform enterprises as the temperance movement and the American Colonization Society, to the electoral campaigns of the Whig and Democratic Parties, to the literary defense of slavery, and to the causes of Unionism and secession. Against the backdrop of increasing sectional tension, Varon argues, these women struggled to fulfill a paradoxical mandate: to act both as partisans who boldly expressed their political views and as mediators who infused public life with the "feminine" virtues of compassion and harmony.

Contents:

Ch. 1. The Representatives of Virtue: Female Benevolence and Moral Reform

Ch. 2. This Most Important Charity: The American Colonization Society

Ch. 3. The Ladies Are Whigs: Gender and the Second Party System

Ch. 4. To Still the Angry Passions: Women as Sectional Mediators and Partisans

Ch. 5. 'Tis Now Liberty or Death: The Secession Crisis

Epilogue: The War and Beyond.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-220) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Varon, Elizabeth R., 1963- We mean to be counted.

ISBN:

0807823902

9780807823903

0807846961

9780807846964

OCLC:

37024161

Online:

Book review (H-Net)

Book review (H-Net)

Book review (H-Net)

Book review (H-Net)