Mary Wollstonecraft and Women Voters in America

In 1792, English writer and political philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Because of this work – one of the earliest publications to champion women’s rights and empowerment in education, politics, society, and marriage – she is today considered a preeminent feminist thinker of her generation. Rights of Woman, which advocated for equal educational opportunities for men and women, was serialized in American magazines; the first American book edition of Wollstonecraft’s work was printed in Philadelphia in 1794. Though she died on Sept. 10, 1797, Wollstonecraft’s writing continued to influence American readers – especially women – for generations.

In a tableau scene in the core galleries of the Museum, three women – including one holding a copy of Wollstonecraft’s work – gather at the Rocky Hill Inn in Somerset County, New Jersey, for a state election held Oct. 13-14, 1801. Depicted in the scene are two white women holding ballots to vote, as was the right at the time of property-owning women in New Jersey. A woman of African descent, possibly as a voter, or possibly as the enslaved property of one of the other women, clenches her hand in her pocket.

The woman casting her vote into a ballot box represents an older generation of women whom critics labeled as “petticoat electors,” a phrase meant to diminish older women voters as inexperienced in politics and the pawns of male candidates. “Petticoat elector” references a woman’s petticoat, a skirt-like garment covering from her waist to her shoes. Though still a popular garment in 1801, the petticoat was considered old fashioned compared to the neoclassical garments like those worn by the younger woman next to her – a “Wollstonecraftian.” 

This middle figure represents the younger generation of women whom critics labeled as “Wollstonecraftians” in newspapers of the time, suggestive of their radicalism and potential to bring the politics of Revolutionary Europe to America. Many Americans associated these new ideas with the rising popularity of the neoclassical, or “antique” style of dress. This woman wears a neoclassical gown. It did not require a petticoat to be worn underneath it, making the gown appear more modern than those of the mid-1700s. 

This voter holds in her hand a copy of Wollstonecraft’s Rights of Woman, reflecting the opposite danger that papers attributed to women voters from those of “petticoat electors” — that women were more radical than men. 

In the years after New Jersey barred women from the electorate in 1807, women activists in New Jersey and across the nation turned to educational initiatives to prepare young girls for future political participation, perhaps inspired by Wollstonecraft’s work. The debate over women voting sparked charges that revealed popular beliefs about women’s self-control and sexuality that would be repeated throughout the next 200 years.