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The Political-Domestics: Sectional Issues in American Women's Fiction, 1852-1867

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The Political-Domestics: Sectional Issues in American Women's Fiction, 1852-1867 W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1994 The political-domestics: Sectional issues in American women's fiction, 1852-1867 Beverly Peterson College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Recommended Citation Peterson, Beverly, "The political-domestics: Sectional issues in American women's fiction, 1852-1867" (1994). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623863. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-42c6-2g07 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. A Bell & Howell Information C om pany 300 North Z eeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 THE POLITICAL-DOMESTICS: SECTIONAL ISSUES IN AMERICAN WOMEN'S FICTION, 1852 - 1867 A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the American Studies Program The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy fay Beverly Carol Peterson 1994 UMI Number: 9528258 Copyright 1995 by Peterson, Beverly Carol All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9528258 Copyright 1995, by UMI Company. All rights reserved- This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Beverly0 arol Peterson Approved, September 1994 Susan V. Donaldson, Director £) - 1Ztr “ Robert A. Gross Chandos Brown Robert Scholnick 9 ., a ci \ Elizabeth Fox-Cjfem-Cfenovese Emory University ii DEDICATION To ray mother, Jane Mahoney Peterson, and in memory of ray father, Allan F. Peterson iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................... V ABSTRACT................................................ vii INTRODUCTION . 2 CHAPTER I. AUNT PHILLIS'S CABIN; REFUTING UNCLE TOM. 28 CHAPTER II. POLITICS AND DOMESTICITY IN NORTHWOOD . 76 CHAPTER III. THE PLANTER'S NORTHERN BRIDE: DOMESTIC FICTION ACCOMMODATES PROSLAVERY IDEOLOGY. 132 CHAPTER IV. DOMESTIC FICTION CONTENDS WITH CONFEDERATE POLEMICS IN MAC ART A .................................... 180 CHAPTER V. CAMERON HALL: A RETREAT FROM POLITICS TO DOMESTICITY.......................................... 222 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 266 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the many people who have helped me at various stages of writing this dissertation. Professors Ernest Rhodes and Carolyn Rhodes, my friends and mentors, encouraged me to pursue a doctorate and offered advice and support at every phase of my graduate studies. Their experience and wisdom have been invaluable. I aspire to emulate their life-long commitment to learning and their generosity in nurturing others. My dissertation advisor, Susan V. Donaldson, has patiently read and critiqued each chapter of this disserta­ tion several times. She challenged me to clarify my ideas and helped me to see implications of my research that had eluded me. Her insights have made this a stronger project than it would have been without her guidance. My outside reader, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, met with me early in the research phase of this project to suggest profitable lines of analysis. Her comments on a previous draft helped me avoid over-generalizing about the South and slaveholders. The other members of my committee, Robert A. Gross, Robert J. Scholnick, and Chandos M. Brown, provided helpful commentaries on my proposal and on the final two drafts of this dissertation. The questions and challenges from all of the members of my committee continue to interest me and to shape my research as I advance in my explorations of political-domestic fiction. I am grateful also to Robert J. Scholnick who, in his capacity as Graduate Dean, generously found creative sources of funding to help me complete this project. The American Studies Program at the College of William and Mary and the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia provided very generous scholarships and stipends. Many fellow graduate students at the College of William and Mary have provided intellectual and moral support throughout this project. Alexander Ormand Boulton, who listened to many rambling explanations of what I hoped to discover in my research, was the first person to hear a thesis in my ideas. He helped me articulate my research questions and suggested valuable sources of information. Alex exemplifies for me the rewards of a life of the mind. Nancy C. Parrish and Sarah Bird Wright have been the kind of friends one always hopes to find in academe. Their bound­ less generosity in sharing ideas, tactfully critiquing my v work, and bolstering my confidence can never be repaid. Katherine Hemple Prown, Darlene O'Dell, Phyllis Hunter, and Valerie Gill all took time from their own projects to read and make extensive comments on various chapters in this dissertation. Such collegiality is invaluable, especially when one is doing interdisciplinary work. My mother, Jane Mahoney Peterson, my father, Allan F. Peterson, and my sister, Ellen Hutchins, have provided unquestioning support throughout my years of education. Their faith in me made failure impossible. I am particularly fortunate to have met Joseph Galano shortly before embarking on my doctoral studies. Joe has shown me how to balance the demands of a busy professional life with those of a rich personal life. He reminds me to play and to celebrate. Joe's sense of humor and his un­ stinting support of me and my work have enriched my life. Part of the joy of academic work is being able to share ideas with others, and Joe has dramatically increased that joy for me as I wrote this dissertation by being a good listener and a good friend. ABSTRACT This is a study of five novels written by American women during the middle of the nineteenth century. The novels are Aunt Phillis's Cabin (1852) by Mary Henderson Eastman, Northwood (1827 and 1852) by Sarah Josepha Hale, The Planter's Northern Bride (1854) by Carolyn Lee Hentz, Macaria (1864) by Augusta Evans, and Cameron Hall (1867) by Mary Anne Cruse. In advancing their authors' opinions on sectional issues like slavery and secession, these novels make overt political statements of a kind not usually associated with writers of domestic fiction. All of the novels in this study conform in some ways to the conventions of the domestic fiction genre, but the authors have bent the framework of that genre to accommodate their political purposes. In some cases genric practices and polemics are mutually disruptive; in some they reinforce each other; and in some the authors choose between politics and domesticity. The degree to which domestic fiction is incompatible with a traditional world view shows that genres are not ideologically neutral. In examining the adaptations made by five novelists, this dissertation demonstrates that "genre" is not a static category. Instead, genres respond to cultural and historical forces. To read mid-nineteenth-century novels written by women only from a gynocritical perspective— that is, for what they say about women's psychological or social realities— is to miss the way fiction reflects and helps to shape broader political concerns. More nuanced readings of domestic fiction show how a genre associated with women writers and readers became inflected to advance the authors' political opinions. Reading these novels as political-domestic fiction contributes to an ongoing discussion of how American women have always participated in politics. vii THE POLITICAL-DOMESTICS: SECTIONAL ISSUES IN AMERICAN WOMEN'S FICTION, 1852 1867 Introduction "Let me write the fictions for a people, and I care not who makes the speeches." Lucien B. Chase Encrlish Serfdom and American Slavery New York: 1854 In 1853 when Harriet Beecher Stowe
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