Art

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Sexual correctness is a dogma that permits no dissent. Gender feminists have no scruples about silencing and dismissing the voices of women who disagree. Thus--though individualist feminism is a rich tradition with deep roots in American history--it is virtually ignored. This bibliographic essay is a pioneering step toward reclaiming an aspect of feminist history that the orthodoxy would rather remain in the dustbin.
Today, the majority of American women feel alienated from forms of feminism that do not address their daily needs. One can understand their disillusionment. American feminism has forgotten its roots and has taken a disastrous turn away from the true interests of women. It is time to rediscover the rich and distinctly American tradition of individualist feminism: a tradition based on the principles of self-ownership and equal treatment under just laws. Although the American tradition draws heavily upon British classical liberalism--especially the work of British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft--American women organized around issues that were uniquely their own, such as Puritanism, the American Revolution and slavery.
As an organized and self-conscious movement, American feminism arose during the 1830's. Prior to this, women who made a stand for their own conscience against authority did so as individuals. Anne Marbury Hutchinson (1591-1643) led the first organized attack on the Puritan orthodoxy of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, thus evoking the sexual equality practiced by some European Protestant sects. The Antinomian Controvery 1636-1638: A Documentary History (1968; Durham: Duke University Press, 1990), edited by David D. Hall is an excellent collection of contemporaneous documents surrounding Hutchinson's trial and banishment. Selma R. Williams' Divine Rebel: The Life of Anne Marbury Hutchinson (N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart & Wilson, 1981) provides good biographical background.
Abigail Adams (1744-1818), wife of John Adams,...