NCC Love and Power in Eighteenth Century Courtship Analysis Paper As historians, we are constantly engaged in an ongoing intellectual conversation stretchi
NCC Love and Power in Eighteenth Century Courtship Analysis Paper As historians, we are constantly engaged in an ongoing intellectual conversation stretching back generations. The purpose of this assignment is for you to enter this conversation by reading, analyzing, and critiquing the argument presented in an important piece of secondary literature. Each student is to select the secondary readings listed in ONE week of the syllabus and write a short paper summarizing the argument, situating it in the historiography of the Civil War, and analyzing its strengths and weaknesses. For some tips on reading historical scholarship and writing analytical reviews, see the relevant handouts posted in the Writing Resources folder on our class Blackboard site.Task: In a well-organized, thesis-driven paper of 3-5 pages, students will:
briefly summarize the central argument of each piece
discuss the methods or sources used by the authors
explain how the piece relates to other shared readings from the course
evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each piece
Do you agree or disagree strongly with either author? Why?
Formatting:
All papers should have an introduction and conclusion that clearly state the papers central argument.
Papers should have a single-spaced heading that includes the students name, course number, and date, followed by the paper title. A separate title page is not necessary. All pages should be numbered.
Standard formatting rules apply 12 pt. font, Times New Roman or other standard font, 1 margins, double-spaced.
All sources MUST be cited with Chicago Style footnotes (see Chicago Style Citation handout on Blackboard) “The Cornerstone of a Copious Work”: Love and Power in Eighteenth-Century Courtship
Author(s): Nicole Eustace
Source: Journal of Social History, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Spring, 2001), pp. 517-546
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3789816
Accessed: 25-09-2019 04:19 UTC
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
Don't use plagiarized sources. Get Your Custom Essay onNCC Love and Power in Eighteenth Century Courtship Analysis Paper As historians, we are constantly engaged in an ongoing intellectual conversation stretchiGet an essay WRITTEN FOR YOU, Plagiarism free, and by an EXPERT!
Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Journal of Social History
This content downloaded from 134.74.20.15 on Wed, 25 Sep 2019 04:19:35 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
“THE CORNERSTONE OF A COPIOUS WORK”: LOVE AND
POWER IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY COURTSHIP
By Nicole Eustace University of Pennsylvania
When Henry Drinker set sail from Philadelphia to attend to busine
in the winter of 1760, he left unresolved negotiations ofa most im
delicate kind. Until the moment he was called away by demands of
Drinker, staunch Quaker and promising merchant, had found his t
by the effort to convince a certain young woman named Betsy
become his wife. Forced to continue his courtship by correspond
frequent letters home. Completing one such missive, Henry found
nearly overflowed his letter and wrote, when sealing it, “I find t
Cover there is some danger of losing a word by Wax or Wafer wh
perhaps be as a Corner Stone to my Love-Fabrick, and by los
foundation … of a copious work.” We might well expect that the
lines about his “love-fabric” were meant for the eyes of his intend
in actuality, this epistle, which to the modern reader looks very
love letter, was sent not to Betsy, but to her sister Mary instead.
intriguing question: why would Henry attempt to lay the corne
love for one sister by writing a letter to the other? Strange as this p
seem, it was nothing out of the ordinary in the eighteenth centur
phenomenon of the public love letter was quite common.1
Just two years earlier, in the autumn of 1758, another young
William Franklin had followed a remarkably similar procedure. Li
professional ambitions called him to England before his courtship
could be brought to closure. And so William, son of the famous
aspirant to colonial office, also relied on correspondence in the l
pursuit of his marriage prospects. From his lodgings in London h
a closely written eight-page letter so personal, it initially appears
Madam” it was addressed to could be none other than Elizabeth G
young lady he was courting. William spoke to her of his hope th
communications could “raise or keep alive some soft emotions in
But in actuality, the “Madam” in question was not William’s Eliz
Madam Abercrombie, a middle-aged married woman who was a m
of both. Madam Abercrombie herself saw nothing unusual in Will
in fact she in turn sent a letter to Elizabeth’s mother explaining,
I received a very long Epistle from Mr. Franklin and as the whole
is relative to Dear Miss Graeme wrote with a design to be Comm
desire if agreeable to See you here as the contents will remain in
have your Orders and Opinion on the sentiments.” The stories of
couples provide a fascinating opportunity to examine the public e
social meanings of what modern readers might believe to be am
private of emotions: romantic love.2
The prevalence of public love-letters in the eighteenth century
This content downloaded from 134.74.20.15 on Wed, 25 Sep 2019 04:19:35 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
518 journal of social history spring 2001
apart as a critical period for understanding the origins of m
Historians like Daniel Blake Smith have identified this centu
transition in two areas of courtship decisions: the relative inf
courting couples on marriage choices and the relative weig
economic and social considerations. In the seventeenth cent
ment in courtships was commonplace and parents were ex
decisive influence on their children’s marriage choices. Thou
one important aspect of early colonial marriages, economic
ations were equaily acknowledged. A rhetoric of idealized r
yet taken hold. By the nineteenth century, on the other hand
tic love prevailed over all other factors. Social and econom
marriage choices, if mentioned at all, were simply discoura
came intensely private matters, idealized as a meeting of
and community members were not expected to intrude on.
courtship shared aspects of both earlier and later systems. A
of romance had begun to develop, yet the influence of comm
lingered. The phenomenon ofthe public love-letter indicate
romanticized before it was privatized.3
This article aims to problematize the meaning and develop
views of courtship as they emerged in the eighteenth centu
iting declarations of love as inauthentic or unimportant,
marriage continued to have a very significant impact on so
munity standing, even after the introduction of romantic
love, as it developed in the nineteenth century, assumed a
private life and public status. Historian Karen Lystra has go
that romantic love was an important element in the develo
individualism. But in the eighteenth century, older models o
nal and constructed through social relations continued to
models ofthe self as individual and autonomous. So becomin
changed social roles as much as personal relationships.4
The open assertions of love and devotion that develop
century courtships were not transparent, distinct from neg
and social status, or devoid of connotations of power. On th
tions of sentiment were inseparable from assertions of status
intimately connected. Analyzing who expressed what emo
during courtship reveals much about the status calculations
ations that underlay marriage decisions. As striking as the
public expressions of love at this time is the relative absen
declarations on the part ofthe women these suitors addresse
eighteenth-century Philadelphia, those people with the lear
to leave letters and diaries behind, many love letters from
women and their families survive, while hardly any exist fr
the men who courted them. If the expression or suppression
the terms of social interactions, then the fact that women
love matters as much as the fact that men often made pu
theirs5
While many historians have noted discrepancies in men’s and women’s decla?
rations of love?Rothman finds that by the nineteenth century both expressed
This content downloaded from 134.74.20.15 on Wed, 25 Sep 2019 04:19:35 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
THE CORNERSTONE OF A COPIOUS WORK 519
love but men’s remarks remained much more elab
linked such differences to issues of gendered power. Ro
simply that “women’s role was to embody rather than
ideal.” But a review of the complete correspondence of
that eighteenth-century women easily and eagerly articu
female friends, remaining reticent only when it came to
For example, as a girl, Betsy Sandwith maintained a pro
her close confident and frequent companion Eliza Mo
write to her frequently, remarking in one letter, “if you
of you, you could never lack for something or other to w
we see one another very often, But when two people
There is even a pleasure in Thinking of each other.” A
who would one day become known throughout Philade
her sophisticated poems, devoted one of her first litera
affection between female friends. In this poem, title
Friendship to Love,” she declared:
Friendships Steady Flame as far;
Out shines that transient Blaze
As Mid Day suns a glimmering star.
Here Elizabeth positively rejected romantic love in favor
In yet another example, a young woman named Peggy
close friend and cousin Sally Logan how some people co
be friendships between girls.” She continued, “if tis not
what is it I feel for thee? Nothing less I am sure.” Thi
that far from being the exclusive purview of men, l
exist in a wholly female world. The prevalence of lovin
matters because it makes clear the singularity of the f
have survived from young women to their suitors. We
of the lack of women’s love-letters simply by saying th
less expressive than men.7
On the other hand, it would be equally inaccurate to c
had no interest in the possibility of romantic love. Dev
ships did not prevent young people from discussing c
particularly liked writing each other secret coded let
a girl, Betsy would correspond about courtship only
code-name Babette. Her friend Ann Swett, code-name
essence of courtship views among the young when, a
one prospective suitor, “my dear you know it would be
he’s your lover or mine because one or the other will se
that is the main thing mon petit…” For young women
like Babette and Nanette, flirtation itself was enjoyed a
so long as serious courtships remained only a remote po
Courtship code-names became all the rage among you
century Philadelphia and reflected the kind of emphas
documented for a later period. One group of Quaker
credibly elaborate system of code-names worked out;
This content downloaded from 134.74.20.15 on Wed, 25 Sep 2019 04:19:35 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
520 journal of social history spring 2001
Sally Logan about boys called “amiable Harry Mandeville”
Beauchamp,” about girls called “Maria” and “Matilda” and ab
“Rinaldo and Flavilla” all in a single letter. Meanwhile,
William Franklin, and other members of their circle played
quently employing literary congnomens in their letters an
signed her poems Laura, while William wrote under the n
young men’s discussions of courtship were equaily playful
themselves. One young man, who signed himself only w
“Nemo,” wrote frequent letters to his fifteen-year-old frie
who was away at college. A letter he sent Thomas describin
a young woman has survived completely intact?except for
young woman’s name had been blacked out of the letter,
serve secrecy. Code-names seemed designed to prevent me
posite sex from knowing just who was interested in whom
seemed as eager as young women to adopt them. This pres
lem for understanding the prevalence of men’s public lovephases of courtship young men and women alike emphasize
privacy.9
Given the very different meanings marriage held for men and women, this
divergence is intriguing but not surprising. To fully understand the connections
between love and status, we need to be aware of the importance of youth as a
social category. Nothing marked the entrance to adulthood in the eighteenth
century like the ceremony of marriage, which made young women into wives
and young men into household masters. Married men headed households and
controlled the labor and property of all household members. Young never married
men, on the other hand, were bound first by law and then by custom to live and
work in the households of other men, be they fathers or masters. To take a wife
then was to announce a new social standing. For young men, marriage loomed as
a major hurdle between youth and manhood. For young women too, courtship
was a major rite of passage which marked the threshold of their adult lives. Much
as young men and women might have desired to come to courtship decisions as
unfettered individuals, they could not do so in an age in which so-called private
decisions had such a profound impact on community status.10
Men who remained bachelors became subject to a brand of popular ridicule
simply never directed at those who were family masters. Take for example this
jibe delivered by a man named Thomas Lightfoot to his opponent in a business
dispute. Lightfoot decreed, “I wish every person with whom I have to do were
fiilly endowed with that noble principle of doing unto all men as they would
willingly be done by, but I know old Bachelors are apt to grow both covetous and
peevish, both which I wish thou may steer clear of.” Agreement seemed almost
universal that remaining single was a most unattractive option for men. Thus
when Samuel Fisher sent his brother Thomas greetings from mutual friends he
had met while traveling he told him, “the next question after inquiring ab[ou]t
thy health [is] ‘Is he married.’ ‘No.’ The lazy chap. What is he after, he will
soon be an old Batchler.'” To waste one’s chances and risk becoming an “old
bachelor” was to lay oneself open to public scorn and private disappointment.
So young men who aimed to be masters soon shed their casual stance and began
to consider marriage in earnest.11
This content downloaded from 134.74.20.15 on Wed, 25 Sep 2019 04:19:35 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
THE CORNERSTONE OF A COPIOUS WORK 521
They became absorbed by what one man called “the
thoughts.” Most looked forward to marriage and noted
who had already managed to marry. Thus one young m
and business partner,
I received a letter some time since from Our mutual Friend
informs me that he & his dear Polly had Accomplished the
to think himself happily out of the road of Old Batcheider
the present more pleasant and Easie, he has desired us t
horse Chaise, And send him [it] by the first Opportunity.
Recurrent references to “old batcheiders,” a male cou
and a term which has no modern equivalent, indic
eighteenth-century men experienced particular anxiety
riage. Almost entireiy missing from eighteenth-centur
was the nineteenth-century stereotype of the ever-agin
snare a man.12
Writing home to his friend Joseph Shippen from abr
also quite persistent in his praise of marriage. In one 1761
to hear you are well settled, agreeable to your liking.”
three years later when his friend had still not married
by the first vessel for Philada to join my Friends and set
in the place of my Birth. Tis high time to hear you ha
afraid of Matrimony or have the refined elegencies of
your relish for the exquisitely soft and native Charms
There were subtle community pressures on men to ma
households and full members of their communities?pr
men themselves as much as by anyone else.13
Morgan’s use of the term “well-settled” highlights the
between marriage and men’s quest to become household
used to indicate marriage, settling could as easily refer
securing employment. That these concerns could be c
term shows how closely connected marital status and
Thus one man told his friend, “I am glad thee art so w
hope is possessed ofa sweet dear agreeable consort,” wh
a friend whose daughter had recently married by say
circumstances of your family … and the settlement of
come on and continue to your comfort.” And when H
Mary that he expected his love-letter to lay the founda
drew explicitly on the images of home-building implicit i
as settlement.14
In practice, many young men would not move into h
the time of their marriage, so that getting married an
often literally synchronous as well as theoretically syn
a friend’s marriage one man noted, “Jemmy Tilghma
lst instant to Miss Nancy Francis and they are just co
take possession of Mr. Francis’s house in Talbott.” In
Hopkinson, discussing wedding plans with his fiance N
This content downloaded from 134.74.20.15 on Wed, 25 Sep 2019 04:19:35 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
522 journal of social history spring 2001
I find myself absorb’d in the Idea of my approaching Happine
to Thursday the first of September with impatient Delight?A
Sea Man views the distant Land and Harbour of Rest … [unt
be many things to do & the Time but short?I shall move my s
possible and so take possession of my House.
Tempest-tossed suitors might well long for a home of th
“possession” ofa house entailed more than just making a hom
a household and estabiishing young men in the new social r
So long as marriage remained a key measure of maturity,
love was involved in courtship decisions.15
The full stakes of eighteenth-century courtship derived
of competing ideals of self?the self as independent and i
as created through social relationships. Much as young men
courtship decisions on the basis of their individual feelin
made would inevitably have an important and lasting im
standing. In fact, young men needed willing women to ass
the status of household masters. Of course family historians
much on the question of property transfers at marriage and
between fathers and sons. But the potential influence of w
has too often been overlooked. Just how willing women were
intriguing question. It would seem that Betsy Sandwith, for
reservations.16
While marriage, for men, meant assuming the mantle of
women it meant something much different. Though cour
women the possibility of love and joy, it also carried with
Young women in this period had begun to express a dissa
subordinate social position in relation to men. Though re
feminist” commentaries have survived among the writings
women, several vivid statements do stand out in the rec
Betsy’s friend Ann Swett, the young woman who wrote by
nette, recounted her efforts to stand up for the rights o
French to “Babette” she explained:
My Daddy … has been letting us know that a husband has a ri
wife when she deserves it, that is endeavoring to convince us
determined not to be convinced of what might sometime or ot
to us … [Thee] knows it could not affect me as I have no husb
but as I am determined to plead for the liberties of my sex in
what I could which was very little, and being tired came up
Ann Swett deliberately linked the issue of marital relatio
with “the liberties of her sex,” and yet she remained strange
ability to mount a convincing defense ofthe same.17
In another case, a father reported on the views of his d
sent news of his daughter Betty to a favorite female relati
whom he regularly corresponded, saying, “I had heard her
intended to become Authors, by writing a learned piece, t
of men’s assuming so great superiority over the women; this
thee, for I once by accident saw some sheets ofthe work ..
pleased and amused by his daughter’s endeavors. But he m
This content downloaded from 134.74.20.15 on Wed, 25 Sep 2019 04:19:35 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
THE CORNERSTONE OF A COPIOUS WORK 523
bit threatened as well. For he added, “I hope to be ad
there may perhaps be need to say something which m
world may have on publication, least they should be
domination instead of the pretended equality.” Just
the worth of the “very little” she could say for her
took care to impose limits on just how far her “lear
Particularly for young women of the elite, the p
courtship?so evident in the romantic intrigues des
dence?could pale in the face ofthe real-life roles and
and motherhood. As Eliza exclaimed privately to Be
man they knew:
Does he think that women were made for no other pu
slaves to men? … Does he think that all the business of
how to make a sausage or roast a joint of meat & take c
in short Good Economy; all That is Necessary, I avow it
take charge of our spirits at the same time; must we Negle
for fear of offending Our masters … [even] the most M
of learning.
Among elite young women who had the leisure and
learning and their spirits so long as they remained a
of their fathers, marriage could mean great sacrific
long to take up their rightful place as household he
long and well over thoughts of the strictures to be
“offending their masters.”19
Many other women expressed such anxieties in les
terms. It seems that Elizabeth Graeme was no more
to give up the freedoms of girlhood and take up the r
pecially in the early intensive years of childbearing,
would usurp much of young women’s former freed
Stedman joked while survey ing the courtship scene
There is nothing new in the diversion way and as to mar
of. Those that are in that state of bondage think fit now
multiply in downright compassion as this is a young co
So in a counsel its been thought fit as there’s no ne…
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
