Law, women's rights, and the organization of the legal profession in the Gilded Age: Myra Bradwell's 'Chicago Legal News,' 1865--1890 (Illinois).

摘要

This dissertation looks at the evolution of women's legal rights through an analysis of the Chicago Legal News, one of the first legal newspapers to be published in the United States. The newspaper was owned and edited by Myra Bradwell, the first woman in America to apply for a license to practice law. She was turned down because she was female and married. As a result, she turned to running and editing her legal newspaper, using it as a forum to discuss the rights of women as well as other pertinent nineteenth-century reform issues.; The dissertation explores issues of nineteenth-century feminism, female activists views of the law, and the politics of women's rights, both legal and non-legal. Also included are Bradwell's detailed arguments for women's competence to practice law. She also tracks the first women who are eventually successful in gaining admission to their state bars. The creation of bar associations is a frequent topic of analysis and is also included in the work.; Against this background of legal issues, the dissertation covers specific legal topics of interest to nineteenth-century activists, feminists and lawyers. In the area of women's political rights, the issues of woman suffrage and women on juries are documented. In the sphere of the household, female independence in the form of the right to choose a profession, the right to keep earned income, and child custody are considered.; Finally, the dissertation presents an overall analysis of the state of feminist legal thought through the writings and interactions of Myra Bradwell. Through her newspaper an alternative view of the nineteenth-century Gilded Age and Progressive Era is expressed. Within her debates with the legal community and nineteenth-century reformers, she builds an intellectual case that proves the riches of economic and social prosperity have not reached all within American society.