These Fiery Frenchified Dames: Women and Political Culture in Early National Philadelphia

Early American Studies

by Susan Branson

On July 4, 1796, a group of women gathered in York, Pennsylvania, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of American independence. They drank tea and toasted the Revolution, the Constitution, and, finally, the rights of women. This event would have been unheard of thirty years before, but a popular political culture developed after the war in which women were actively involved, despite the fact that they could not vote or hold political office. This newfound atmosphere not only provided women with opportunities to celebrate national occasions outside the home but also enabled them to conceive of possessing specific rights in the young republic and to demand those rights in very public ways.

Susan Branson examines the avenues through which women's presence became central to the competition for control of the nation's political life and, despite attempts to quell the emerging power of women—typified by William Cobbett's derogatory label of politically active women as "these fiery Frenchified dames"—demonstrates that the social, political, and intellectual ideas regarding women in the post-Revolutionary era contributed to a more significant change in women's public lives than most historians have recognized.

As an early capital of the United States, the leading publishing center, and the largest and most cosmopolitan city in America during the eighteenth century, Philadelphia exerted a considerable influence on national politics, society, and culture. It was in Philadelphia that the Federalists and Democratic Republicans first struggled for America's political future, with women's involvement critical to the outcome of their heated partisan debates. Middle and upper-class women of Philadelphia were able to achieve a greater share in the culture and politics of the new nation through several key developments, including theaters and salons that were revitalized following the war, allowing women to intermingle and participate in political discussions, and the wider availability of national and international writings, particularly those that described women's involvement in the French Revolution—perhaps the most important and controversial historical event in the early development of American women's political consciousness.

Given these circumstances, Branson argues, American women were able to create new more active social and political roles for themselves that brought them out of the home and into the public sphere. Although excluded from the formal political arenas of voting and lawmaking, American women in the Age of Revolution nevertheless thought and acted politically and were able to make their presence and opinions known to the benefit of a young nation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 2001

Reviews

[ab · Rating 2 out of 5]

could have been a long article, honestly. found a lot of it repetitive but the points were well made and useful.

[QOH · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm caught between 3.5 and 4 stars.

This is a good look at women's roles in the (very) early republic, but in a very specific location (Philadelphia) and a very specific time (until about 1800). No surprise there, because it's in the title (and why I wanted the book), although I had hoped there would be more lead-up to the War of 1812.

The author starts by throwing down a historiographical gauntlet and critiquing other methods of women's history, which sets a high bar that, for me, wasn't met in the 149 pages of text (including illustrations).

Some situations are richly drawn, like the nightmare months of Federalist surveillance faced by Republican-Democrat Deborah Logan, while her husband was (on his own initiative as a private citizen) smoothing ruffled French feathers during the Adams administration. If there were more examples described as well as Logan's, this would have been a very fine book, indeed.

For such a short book, there are an amazing number of repetitions, mainly of biographical material (e.g. William Cobbett and Elizabeth Willing Powel). Sometimes the relevant information comes after the subject has been mentioned several times, which is somewhat less than helpful. Cobbett I knew well; Powel I did not.

There are also interesting omissions. In discussing American salonnieres, after describing Anne Bingham and others, the author mentions Dolley Madison's Washington City entertainments from 1808 on--but Madison was acting as a hostess when her husband was secretary of state, because both Jefferson and Burr were widowers. (She was also forcing civility on Jefferson because Jefferson refused to hold anything like a drawing room or salon himself.)

In all--a quick read, well sourced, and entertaining. Definitely a good start for someone interested in this particular time and place.

[KV Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well put-together book. Concise, convincing, and with excellent documentation. As a bonus, it's also fun to read.