The Gendering of American Politics: Founding Mothers, Founding Fathers, and Political Patriarchy

by Mark Kann

Overview

America's founding mothers and fathers built gender bias into American politics. This book examines traditional prejudices against women's political participation as well as efforts to overcome these prejudices during a revolutionary era. It inquires into the shifting male hierarchies that kept some men out of politics, admitted others to a limited citizenship, and privileged a few men with leadership authority. It also assesses the impact of the founders' gender bias on modern American politics.

The gendering of American poltics began as a compromise between traditional patriarchal ideals that subordinated all women to male authority and revolutionary norms that recognized women's capacity for independence, reason, and patriotism. That compromise was manifested in the doctrine of republican womanhood which perpetuated women's exclusion from citizenship but afforded women sufficient educational opportunity and family influence to raise citizens and educate statesmen for the new republic. The gendering of American politics was concluded by a second compromise. The founders often expressed a desire to exclude disorderly men from public life and empower a few heroic men to exercise great leadership powers, but they generally settled for granting weak citizenship to most white family men and supporting elite government by accomplished gentleman legislators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275961114
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/30/1999
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

MARK E. KANN is Professor of Political Science and holds the USC Associates Chair in Social Science at the University of Southern California. He is the author of several books, including A Republic of Men (1998).

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Remember the Ladies
Women's Exclusion from Politics
The Case for Women's Inclusion
The Doctrine of Republican Womanhood
The Ranks of Men
Disorderly Men
A Small Governing Elite
Weak Citizens and Gentleman Legislators
Conclusion: The Founders' Legacy
American's Gendered Politics
Notes
Bibliography
Index