Date of Award
5-2001
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History
Recommended Citation
Deyo, Jacqueline, "New Jersey women and their strategies for exerting power in marriage, 1770-1800" (2001). Honors Theses. 427.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/427
Comments
In recent years, women's history has attempted to document and explore the lives of early American women beyond the traditional role of obedient, passive, and dutiful wife and mother. Historians investigated women's roles in supporting the Revolution, in the political system of the new republic, and in their own "female subculture" where they had power in the home or church. This paper describes individual cases of late eighteenth-century New Jersey women who also do not fit into the established woman's role. I discovered and investigated strategies women used to exert power within their marriages and relationships. The result is a fresh image of early American women that highlights their clever resourcefulness, surprising abilities, and strong personalities.