Women and Gender in the Early American Settler Nation
Research Questions What ideologies were at work in early America?Which ideologies of womanhood seem to be at play as women supported their soldier-settler husbands through correspondence, in person, and as co-emigrants to the western borderlands? Using Text Analysis, what do the words that the women use say about their role in society? Introduction Widowed and left with nothing in Ireland, Mary Keating desperately begs her cousin, Anthony Wayne, to help her cross the Atlantic. She sends a series of letters that go unanswered. Unbeknownst to her, her cousin is gravely ill. Wayne dies, ultimately unable to assist his cousin. Such is the precarious nature of woman’s stability in early America; women were forced to rely on patriarchal figures in order for them to create a new version of American identity. This…