Gender & Amer
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Rebecca Edwards’ Angels in the Machinery traces the relationship between family power structures and gender and the development of partisan politics from the Whig era to the early twentieth century. Through a series of essays, Edwards traces the expanding role for women outside of the home and within party politics, a role she argues was actually more integrated with partisan political machinery before 1890 as opposed to afterwards. Edwards contends that the industrial revolution created many domestic political issues that manifested the formation of two powerful political parties with broad constituencies, constituencies that were actually communities of individuals who shared similar faith or values. Women played an instrumental role in politics of this era because they were viewed as being superior in morality by Republicans, even though the Democrats viewed them as a threat to the white patriarchy. Because of the transformation from the Agrarian Era to the Industrial Era, Edwards contends that many fundamental changes and the redefining of many values took place which burdened the American leadership to try and consolidate a broad constituency with shared values. Therefore this Gilded Age was marked by a struggle for American society to come to an agreement upon the definitions of family and government power. The Republicans viewed their legislation as necessary for protecting family values, whereas
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tinue to describe the family as our most important social institution. In politics, we still propose and dispute policies designed to strengthen marriage, assist mothers and fathers in fulfilling their proper roles, and protect ‘family values’ that are defined in many different ways. Conservatives still associate women’s rights with expansions of the federal government’s power, and they still link patriarchal authority in the home with resistance to government intrusion.
ANALYSIS
The author’s thesis is that the definition of the family and family values, including the definition and relationship of gender, has always played a role in not just politics but also in defining the shape of the American nation. As she asserts in her introduction, the same inherent injustice suffragettes argued against in 1880 still exists as a bone of contention among Americans today as we try to define gender relationship and the values of a collective nation, “The theory of a masculine head to rule the family, the church, or the State is contrary to republican principles and the fruitful source of rebellion. Their assertion remains contested, not only in its claim of women’s equality but in its definition of the American nation.” In other
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2233
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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