Lisa Pace Vetter. The Political Thought of America’s Founding Feminists

In The Political Thought of America’s Founding Feminists, Lisa Pace Vetter argues that early feminists should be incorporated into the canon of America political thought, which continues to be dominated by male thinkers and writers. That there is a need for her argument may surprise (or perhaps not) scholars of women’s history, who have written extensively about the activists covered in each of her chapters: Frances Wright, Harriet Martineau, Angelina Grimké, Sarah Grimké, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth. Vetter points out that these feminists grappled with the foundational American problems of slavery and women’s status, articulating an early understanding of critical race theory, feminist theory, and intersectionality. They expanded on the political thought of Adam Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Jeremy Bentham, adapting sympathy, dialogue, independent thought, and ridicule to expose the contradictions in the American political project. While Vetter does not provide a framework for understanding the writings of early feminists, her analysis of these theorists yields new interpretations of their significance to American political thought.

Argument (complex analysis) · Art history · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Surprise · Sympathy · Wright · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · European Political History Analysis · Gender Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology