Martha Bradstreet and the “Epithet of Woman”: A Story of Land, Libel, Litigation, and Legitimating “Unwomanly” Behavior in the Early Republic.
Drawing on a trove of recently discovered primary documents, this microhistorical essay reconstructs the life and legal experiences of Martha Bradstreet, a woman of some pedigree but limited means, who emigrated from Ireland in 1799 to recover a lost landed inheritance in central New York. Over the...
| Publicado en: | Early American Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal Vol. 13; no. 3; pp. 544 - 586 |
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| Formato: | Essay |
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University of Pennsylvania Press
Summer2015
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=108388264&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 108388264 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 15434273 00N jtl: Early American Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal issn: 15434273 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Summer2015 vid: 13 iid: 3 pid: 4636 pub: University of Pennsylvania Press artinfo: ui: 108388264 10.1353/eam.2015.0022 ppf: 544 ppct: 42 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 8.9MB tig: atl: Martha Bradstreet and the “Epithet of Woman”: A Story of Land, Libel, Litigation, and Legitimating “Unwomanly” Behavior in the Early Republic. aug: au: BLAAKMAN, MICHAEL A. affil: Yale University su: Bradstreet, Martha Women immigrants Divorce Gender role Legal status of women Credit Property New York state history History United States sug: subj: United States Bradstreet, Martha Women immigrants Divorce Gender role Legal status of women Credit Property New York state history History ab: Drawing on a trove of recently discovered primary documents, this microhistorical essay reconstructs the life and legal experiences of Martha Bradstreet, a woman of some pedigree but limited means, who emigrated from Ireland in 1799 to recover a lost landed inheritance in central New York. Over the following three decades, to pursue her land claims, Bradstreet separated from and eventually divorced an oppressive husband, exonerated herself of malice charges, forcefully defended her credit and her character, launched dozens of lawsuits, and strenuously debated attorneys and judges both in court and in print. This essay investigates how Bradstreet justified her actions in a period when conceptions of appropriate gender behavior were narrowing. Bradstreet consistently deployed a creative rhetorical strategy that framed her ''unwomanly'' acts not as transgressions against the gendered order, but rather as consummately virtuous, maternal, and feminine. By subtly manipulating normative gender ideology, the essay concludes, Bradstreet was able to expand the realm of acceptable female behavior in the spheres of law, credit, reputation, and property. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Essay src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Early American Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal is the property of University of Pennsylvania Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Early American Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal holder: University of Pennsylvania Press dt: @attributes: year: 2015 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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