Harriet Martineau on the Theory and Practice of Democracy in America

Close analysis of Harriet Martineau’s lengthy examination of American life, Society in America, and her methodological treatise, How to Observe: Morals and Manners, reveals that she adapts Adam Smith’s theory of sympathy to accommodate greater diversity among observers and the observed. Martineau’s innovative account of sympathy and her method of observation distinguish her from her contemporary, Alexis de Tocqueville. Her approach is better able to address slavery and the disenfranchisement of women by allowing people to empathize with those who are radically different from themselves. For Martineau, as individuals connect to others in this way, they are in a stronger position to realize the disparate treatment and injustices others face, and to support abolitionism and women’s suffrage.

Lifting the “Claud-Lorraine Tint” over the Republic

Frances Wright makes several major contributions to political theory. She served as an essential transitional figure from republicanism to early American socialism. Wright outlined a comprehensive system of reform based on an epistemological method of inquiry. Although Alexis de Tocqueville is credited with anticipating aspects of what would become critical race theory, her devastating critique of slavery in America precedes his by several years and includes elements of critical race theory as well. Unlike Tocqueville, Wright also applies those principles to the plight of American women, which prefigures aspects of critical feminist theory. Wright presents an early version of intersectionality by portraying the oppression of women, the enslavement of African Americans, and the injustice of economic inequality as intertwined through institutionalized corruption.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Rhetoric of Ridicule and Reform

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, considered the “philosopher” of the early women’s rights movement, has also been criticized for her elitism and racism. This chapter examines an early manuscript in which Stanton presents a set of fundamental principles that shape her life’s work, along with precursors to her controversial comments. These arguments pre-date social Darwinism, which critics often cite as the basis of her racism. They also precede Stanton’s objections to the prospect of enfranchising freed black men before women, many of which included racist and elitist comments. Using Adam Smith’s discussion of Jonathan Swift and the moral rhetoric of ridicule in the Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres as an interpretative frame, this chapter explores the possibility that Stanton’s early remarks are part of a rhetorical strategy that uses ridicule and sarcasm to expose hypocrisy and advocate for reform—while consistently arguing for universal equality. Stanton may have ultimately harbored racist sentiments, but she might have also been continuing her rhetorical strategy of appropriating popular ideas, and even prejudices, to suit her purposes.

“The Most Belligerent Non-Resistant”

Lucretia Mott’s Quaker speeches and other writings are examined to show that her contributions to political theory are shaped by a radically antidogmatic worldview rooted in her progressive religious faith, an unwavering commitment to autonomy for all people, and an egalitarian conception of power. Mott proposes a dialectical, self-reflective, critical approach that serves as the basis of political citizenship. By exposing the hidden sources of inequality, oppression, and injustice, her approach empowers human beings to shape an egalitarian, voluntarist political system. This in turn allows Mott to argue for abolitionism and expanding women’s rights, including suffrage. Moreover, like Sarah Grimké, Mott also reflects important aspects of early Quaker constitutionalism by emphasizing the importance of human reason guided by the inner light and the role of deliberation in fashioning a government based on authentic consent.

Introduction

Path-breaking scholarship in women’s history has provided invaluable insight into the contributions of these seven women. Literature scholars have analyzed the theme of sympathy and its derivative, sentimentality, in their speeches and writings. Scholars of rhetoric and communications studies have studied the rhetorical strategies deployed by these women to argue for abolishing slavery and expanding women’s rights. Their work has been situated among broader theoretical approaches such as liberalism, republicanism, and the Scottish Enlightenment. Critical race and feminist theory have highlighted the importance of intersectionality in their contributions. By expanding on these findings, this book argues that these women should no longer be overlooked in American political thought. They have been considered activists, not political theorists, because most did not write extended treatises, and none were professional philosophers. Some were more overtly religious than political. They are often seen as unoriginal, deriving their ideas largely from their male counterparts. However, close and careful analysis of their speeches and writings allows their theoretical arguments to emerge on their own terms. Previously neglected works by Adam Smith and other mainstream theorists provide a theoretical framework that highlights the originality of their contributions. The introduction concludes with summaries of each chapter.

Conclusion

Frances Wright’s early socialist critique exposed the systemic oppression of ordinary American citizens at the hands of the ruling white male elite, and encouraged individuals to scrutinize the mechanisms of political power to ensure their legitimacy. Wright dealt more directly with slavery and the oppression of women than her better known contemporary Alexis de Tocqueville. Harriet Martineau refashioned Adam Smith’s moral theory of sympathy to provide a pathway to abolishing slavery and expanding women’s rights. Angelina Grimké, Sarah Grimké, and Lucretia Mott provided the foundations for a Quaker political theory, a set of ideas framed within their religious worldview on issues of equality, freedom, citizenship, and constitutional reform. Elizabeth Cady Stanton exposed the hypocrisy of women’s oppression and began a process of moral instruction reminiscent of Smith’s moral theory. Using her unique status as a free black woman to destabilize stereotypes and biases, Sojourner Truth encouraged men and women of all races to reexamine their double standards and hypocrisies. These women were limited by the political and cultural norms in which they lived, and yet they expanded the fundamental principles of the American project to address the needs of the disenfranchised, a process that continues today.

The Shadow and the Substance of Sojourner Truth

The chapter explores the important yet neglected theoretical contributions of Sojourner Truth. Because she was illiterate, Truth left behind no writings in her own hand. Yet fragmentary evidence remains from those who saw and wrote about her, including Frederick Douglass. Applying the analytical framework that emerges from previous chapters reveals that Truth’s most frequently deployed rhetorical tactic is ridicule, the weapon of choice of her contemporary Elizabeth Cady Stanton as well. Like Frances Wright and Lucretia Mott, Truth leads her audience through speech and deed to confront the persistent injustices against women and freed slaves that are deeply rooted in the American project itself. Like Mott and the Grimkés, Truth’s egalitarian political views were deeply influenced by her religious faith, which also relied on an inner voice. As a freed black woman of modest means, unhindered by race, gender, and class privilege, Truth embodies the very concept of intersectionality about which other reformers could only write and speak.

Sarah Grimké’s Quaker Liberalism

Sarah Grimké’s Letters on the Equality of the Sexes is considered one of the first systematic accounts of women’s oppression in America. To explore her Quaker-based political theory, Grimké’s work is situated within research on Quaker constitutionalism and Founder John Dickinson. Grimké and Dickinson offer an egalitarian, non-patriarchal understanding of religion and politics. For both, the word of God is accessible directly by individuals through synteresis, an inner light, which is interpreted through human reason. An eternal fundamental constitution, based on these interpretations, informs the creation of political institutions and civil society in particular nations like America. Slavery and the oppression of women would have no place in a society guided by the eternal constitution. Reason is fallible, however, and the word of God is often misinterpreted by individuals or misapplied in particular societies, thereby allowing injustices such as slavery and women’s oppression to flourish. Reform requires returning to first principles through collective deliberation.

Facing the “Sledge Hammer of Truth”

In 1837, Angelina Grimké and the education reformer Catherine Beecher engaged in a highly charged public interchange over the abolition of slavery and the rights of women. To explore her unique theoretical contributions, Grimké’s rhetoric of sympathy is compared with Adam Smith’s Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. Grimké advances a powerful defense against Beecher’s critique by offering a theory of sympathy that, unlike sentimentality, carefully balances reason with emotion. Employing rhetorical strategies similar to those outlined by Smith, Grimké conveys a moral and political teaching, in particular, a theory of universal human rights, which is crucial to abolitionism and the advancement of women’s rights. Yet she expands Smith’s understanding through poignant examples in which sympathy can unite the enfranchised and the marginalized and lead to change.