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athousanderrorsvia http://ift.tt/2eR7Bi1:
fandomfeministe:
majorandre:
Alright, chickadees, I’ve seen a lot of discussion of this topic recently and I feel like it really needs to be set straight, because –– unfortunately –– the general consensus of feminism among figures in American history (especially where they overlap with Hamilton musical characters) is often incorrect. I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but saying things like “John Laurens was a total feminist!” just simply isn’t true. Sorry.
That being said, I figured I would take a few minutes to sum up the opinions on women’s suffrage held by some of the more recognizable faces of the American Revolution.
Luckily for me, @john-laurens already explained why Laurens wasn’t a feminist in this post. Quick recap: Laurens held the standard opinions of where a woman’s place in society was for that time period and never actually spoke out about any women’s rights issues. So, not a feminist.
And not to keep the bad news train going but… Hamilton wasn’t a feminist, either. Hamilton didn’t think women should be allowed to vote (see: Farmer Refuted, the classic “only land-owning men should be allowed to vote” argument), and the way he discusses women, especially to his boyfriend Laurens, is definitely not the way any feminist would speak. In the April 1779 letter from Hamilton to Laurens (yes, that letter), Hamilton describes what he’s looking for in a woman and, well:
Take her description—She must be young, handsome (I lay most stress upon a good shape) sensible (a little learning will do), well bred (but she must have an aversion to the word ton) chaste and tender (I am an enthusiast in my notions of fidelity and fondness) of some good nature, a great deal of generosity (she must neither love money nor scolding, for I dislike equally a termagent and an œconomist). In politics, I am indifferent what side she may be of; I think I have arguments that will easily convert her to mine. As to religion a moderate stock will satisfy me. She must believe in god and hate a saint. But as to fortune, the larger stock of that the better.
Yes, this letter was primarily Hamilton being a cheeky little shit to Laurens about not telling him about his wife (that’s a whole different can of worms; basically Hamilton was upset his boyfriend didn’t tell him he was already married when they’d known each other or, as drunk me put it, had been doing hand stuff for over a year), but there’s clearly language in that portion of the letter indicative of Hamilton’s general lack of respect toward women. Most of that particular letter is him just being ‘yes homo’ to Laurens, but that combined with the fact that he never spoke out for women’s rights is a pretty solid case for Hamilton not being a feminist.
Surprise, surprise, Aaron Burr was actually sort of a feminist. Yeah, he fucked his way through Europe like the plague, but before his Hamilton-related mental breakdown, Burr had married a woman a decade his senior and his intellectual equal. He also made sure his daughter got the best education on offer, and she was often considered one of the most intelligent women in America (though, let’s be honest, that’s her accomplishment and not his). He wasn’t by any means the pinnacle of feminism in the 18th and 19th centuries, but he was better than most of his colleagues at the time.
Thomas Jefferson believed in equal rights for women’s education, but not that they deserved the right to vote. Personally, I don’t think he can be pegged as a feminist given the whole Sally Hemmings situation, so I’m just going to leave it at that. Abigail Adams was a total feminist. And badass. I love her. Her husband John was none of those things. Sorry, John. You sorta suck. Benjamin Tallmadge and Nathan Hale spoke out for women’s rights to equal education while at Yale, and Tallmadge continued to support the women’s rights movement after the war was over.
There are a ton of other people I could get into with this, but this post is getting long already and, honestly, I felt like I’d just touch on a few of the basics. If you’d like a more in-depth analysis (with textual evidence, etc) on these or any other AmRev era historical figures and their views on feminism, just hit me up.
@smaudg, this is the post I was telling you about! Definitely read the links :)
fandomfeministe:
majorandre:
Alright, chickadees, I’ve seen a lot of discussion of this topic recently and I feel like it really needs to be set straight, because –– unfortunately –– the general consensus of feminism among figures in American history (especially where they overlap with Hamilton musical characters) is often incorrect. I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but saying things like “John Laurens was a total feminist!” just simply isn’t true. Sorry.
That being said, I figured I would take a few minutes to sum up the opinions on women’s suffrage held by some of the more recognizable faces of the American Revolution.
Luckily for me, @john-laurens already explained why Laurens wasn’t a feminist in this post. Quick recap: Laurens held the standard opinions of where a woman’s place in society was for that time period and never actually spoke out about any women’s rights issues. So, not a feminist.
And not to keep the bad news train going but… Hamilton wasn’t a feminist, either. Hamilton didn’t think women should be allowed to vote (see: Farmer Refuted, the classic “only land-owning men should be allowed to vote” argument), and the way he discusses women, especially to his boyfriend Laurens, is definitely not the way any feminist would speak. In the April 1779 letter from Hamilton to Laurens (yes, that letter), Hamilton describes what he’s looking for in a woman and, well:
Take her description—She must be young, handsome (I lay most stress upon a good shape) sensible (a little learning will do), well bred (but she must have an aversion to the word ton) chaste and tender (I am an enthusiast in my notions of fidelity and fondness) of some good nature, a great deal of generosity (she must neither love money nor scolding, for I dislike equally a termagent and an œconomist). In politics, I am indifferent what side she may be of; I think I have arguments that will easily convert her to mine. As to religion a moderate stock will satisfy me. She must believe in god and hate a saint. But as to fortune, the larger stock of that the better.
Yes, this letter was primarily Hamilton being a cheeky little shit to Laurens about not telling him about his wife (that’s a whole different can of worms; basically Hamilton was upset his boyfriend didn’t tell him he was already married when they’d known each other or, as drunk me put it, had been doing hand stuff for over a year), but there’s clearly language in that portion of the letter indicative of Hamilton’s general lack of respect toward women. Most of that particular letter is him just being ‘yes homo’ to Laurens, but that combined with the fact that he never spoke out for women’s rights is a pretty solid case for Hamilton not being a feminist.
Surprise, surprise, Aaron Burr was actually sort of a feminist. Yeah, he fucked his way through Europe like the plague, but before his Hamilton-related mental breakdown, Burr had married a woman a decade his senior and his intellectual equal. He also made sure his daughter got the best education on offer, and she was often considered one of the most intelligent women in America (though, let’s be honest, that’s her accomplishment and not his). He wasn’t by any means the pinnacle of feminism in the 18th and 19th centuries, but he was better than most of his colleagues at the time.
Thomas Jefferson believed in equal rights for women’s education, but not that they deserved the right to vote. Personally, I don’t think he can be pegged as a feminist given the whole Sally Hemmings situation, so I’m just going to leave it at that. Abigail Adams was a total feminist. And badass. I love her. Her husband John was none of those things. Sorry, John. You sorta suck. Benjamin Tallmadge and Nathan Hale spoke out for women’s rights to equal education while at Yale, and Tallmadge continued to support the women’s rights movement after the war was over.
There are a ton of other people I could get into with this, but this post is getting long already and, honestly, I felt like I’d just touch on a few of the basics. If you’d like a more in-depth analysis (with textual evidence, etc) on these or any other AmRev era historical figures and their views on feminism, just hit me up.
@smaudg, this is the post I was telling you about! Definitely read the links :)
