Bücher von Linda K. Kerber

This pioneering study redefines women's history in the United States by focusing on civic obligations rather than rights. Looking closely at thirty telling cases from the pages of American legal history, Kerber's analysis reaches from the Revolution, when married women did not have the same obligation as their husbands to be "patriots," up to the present, when men and women, regardless of their marital status, still have different obligations to serve in the Armed Forces. An original and compelling consideration of American law and culture, No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies emphasizes the dangers of excluding women from other civic responsibilities as well, such as loyalty oaths and jury duty. Exploring the lives of the plaintiffs, the strategies of the lawyers, and the decisions of the courts, Kerber offers readers a convincing argument for equal treatment under the law.

Drawn from the direct testimony provided by women in their letters, diaries, and legal records, this text describes women's participation in the American Revolution, evaluates changes in their education in the late 18th century and analyzes their status in law and society.

This volume addresses the role of women in early American history, and more broadly in intellectual and cultural history, and it explores the rhetoric of historiography. The author includes women in the history of the Revolutionary era, then makes the discovery that gender is her central subject.