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.Some became associated with the antislavery, antisouthern wing ofthe Whig Party, while a few became radical Democrats who would later bedrawn to Free Soil in the late 1840s.But what about the women who par-ticipated in the Anti-Masonic crusade, through their families, churches andcommunities?Again, the lack of obvious records and research necessitates inference.It follows, however, that Anti-Masonic women also reinforced the ranks ofthe temperance and antislavery movements.In the 1820s and 1830s greatnumbers of middle-class white Protestant women, and some free AfricanAmerican women in the North, moved into benevolent and reform activitiesin the public sphere, while continuing also to be caught up in the revivals ofthe Second Great Awakening.Was it not possible that the Anti-Masonic ex-perience, combined with that of parallel reform movements driven by evan-gelical impulses, also propelled women into an awakening that led to a con-viction, if not activism, of the need for an expansion of women s rights?Some historians have posited a strong historical connection betweenProgressive and Reactionary 123 abolitionism and feminism.In the 1830s antislavery women entering thepublic sphere confronted criticism from conservative men and women, whochallenged them on grounds of propriety and morality.In responding totheir critics, abolitionist women laid the groundwork for the passage fromseeking equality for women in order to free them to work against slavery,to working for women s rights as an end in itself. ²p An extensive literatureon women s reform activity, however, warns that participation in antislav-ery/abolition did not necessarily lead to proto-feminism or the embrace ofwoman suffrage or women s rights generally.Several historians have ques-tioned the notion of a neat sequence of stages from reform, benevolence,and abolition to women s rights.It appears that only some, a minority, ofwomen reformers advanced to a radical position for women and, further,that the issue of women s equality more often divided female activists, iso-lating ultraists from their benevolent and perfectionist peers. ²¹Further, while antislavery women s entry into the predominantly malepublic arena implicitly challenged the ideology of a separate sphere of do-mesticity for women, most antislavery women gave moral and pragmaticreasons, couched in traditional Christian evangelical rhetoric, to justifytheir activism.²² These qualifications to the pattern of evangelical reformand antislavery leading to early feminism carry considerable weight and arebased on careful scrutiny of the complexities of female activism.Yet somewomen reformers clearly did develop a feminist ideology and a women sagenda because of their antislavery and other activist experiences.Moreover,in recent years historians have also uncovered evidence of numerous indi-vidual women politicos who engaged in all kinds of political activities, in-cluding editing partisan newspapers, giving campaign speeches, lobbyinglegislatures, and pulling wires behind the scenes at political conventions.Even these women whose actions reached far beyond traditional genderroles often professed an adherence to the ideology of separate spheres andwomen s domestic role except, somehow, for them.These admittedly ex-ceptional women acting in men s roles for the most part paid lip serviceto the ideology of separate spheres, even as their actions totally ignoredit.²³ Perhaps, then, many other activist women in abolition and temperancefound it tactically useful not to raise the woman question even as theirconsciousness was indeed changing.The question of Anti-Masonry s impact on women s consciousness iseven more difficult than assessing the influence of reform and abolition indeveloping a women s rights mentality.Unfortunately, the otherwise infor-124 Progressive and Reactionary mative histories of women s antebellum activism contain nothing regard-ing Anti-Masonry, nothing suggesting any link between that crusade andwomen s rights.Yet Anti-Masonry and incipient feminism were influencedby the same evangelical impulses inspiring temperance, antislavery, andother moral reforms.Such a connection was likely, however, especially giventhe abundant evidence noted above of men moving from Anti-Masonryto antislavery and other moral reforms [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]
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.Some became associated with the antislavery, antisouthern wing ofthe Whig Party, while a few became radical Democrats who would later bedrawn to Free Soil in the late 1840s.But what about the women who par-ticipated in the Anti-Masonic crusade, through their families, churches andcommunities?Again, the lack of obvious records and research necessitates inference.It follows, however, that Anti-Masonic women also reinforced the ranks ofthe temperance and antislavery movements.In the 1820s and 1830s greatnumbers of middle-class white Protestant women, and some free AfricanAmerican women in the North, moved into benevolent and reform activitiesin the public sphere, while continuing also to be caught up in the revivals ofthe Second Great Awakening.Was it not possible that the Anti-Masonic ex-perience, combined with that of parallel reform movements driven by evan-gelical impulses, also propelled women into an awakening that led to a con-viction, if not activism, of the need for an expansion of women s rights?Some historians have posited a strong historical connection betweenProgressive and Reactionary 123 abolitionism and feminism.In the 1830s antislavery women entering thepublic sphere confronted criticism from conservative men and women, whochallenged them on grounds of propriety and morality.In responding totheir critics, abolitionist women laid the groundwork for the passage fromseeking equality for women in order to free them to work against slavery,to working for women s rights as an end in itself. ²p An extensive literatureon women s reform activity, however, warns that participation in antislav-ery/abolition did not necessarily lead to proto-feminism or the embrace ofwoman suffrage or women s rights generally.Several historians have ques-tioned the notion of a neat sequence of stages from reform, benevolence,and abolition to women s rights.It appears that only some, a minority, ofwomen reformers advanced to a radical position for women and, further,that the issue of women s equality more often divided female activists, iso-lating ultraists from their benevolent and perfectionist peers. ²¹Further, while antislavery women s entry into the predominantly malepublic arena implicitly challenged the ideology of a separate sphere of do-mesticity for women, most antislavery women gave moral and pragmaticreasons, couched in traditional Christian evangelical rhetoric, to justifytheir activism.²² These qualifications to the pattern of evangelical reformand antislavery leading to early feminism carry considerable weight and arebased on careful scrutiny of the complexities of female activism.Yet somewomen reformers clearly did develop a feminist ideology and a women sagenda because of their antislavery and other activist experiences.Moreover,in recent years historians have also uncovered evidence of numerous indi-vidual women politicos who engaged in all kinds of political activities, in-cluding editing partisan newspapers, giving campaign speeches, lobbyinglegislatures, and pulling wires behind the scenes at political conventions.Even these women whose actions reached far beyond traditional genderroles often professed an adherence to the ideology of separate spheres andwomen s domestic role except, somehow, for them.These admittedly ex-ceptional women acting in men s roles for the most part paid lip serviceto the ideology of separate spheres, even as their actions totally ignoredit.²³ Perhaps, then, many other activist women in abolition and temperancefound it tactically useful not to raise the woman question even as theirconsciousness was indeed changing.The question of Anti-Masonry s impact on women s consciousness iseven more difficult than assessing the influence of reform and abolition indeveloping a women s rights mentality.Unfortunately, the otherwise infor-124 Progressive and Reactionary mative histories of women s antebellum activism contain nothing regard-ing Anti-Masonry, nothing suggesting any link between that crusade andwomen s rights.Yet Anti-Masonry and incipient feminism were influencedby the same evangelical impulses inspiring temperance, antislavery, andother moral reforms.Such a connection was likely, however, especially giventhe abundant evidence noted above of men moving from Anti-Masonryto antislavery and other moral reforms [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]