Civil War History

"CO-LABORERS IN THE CAUSE' Women in the Ante-bellum Nativist Movement Jean Gould Hales Historians often dismiss the ante-bellum nativist movement as an emotional crusade to stem the tides of change that engulfed America at mid-century. Two respected authors reiterate this theme in articles discussing nativism and women. Basing their conclusions primarily on the lurid exposés of Catholic convents which portrayed lecherous priests defiling innocent girls, they suggest that nativists clung tenaciously to traditional sex roles and denied women an active role in the movement. Rather, nativists confined woman to the proverbial pedestal as the sumbol of national purity—a purity endangered by Catholicism.1 In reality, the nativist movement was a complex blend of conservatism and liberal reformism, and it attracted a remarkably diverse following. Moreover, a critical examination of women's involvement in the movement reveals nativism's wide appeal and dual character. Coincidentally, it suggests that historians also need to reassess their conception of the nineteenth-century doctrine of femininity. Like nativism, the "cult of true womanhood" was not always the repressive bulwark of the status quo that its popular image implies. Nativists, of course, were vocal exponents of the traditional values encompassed in the cult of true womanhood. They agreed that the home was woman's proper sphere and motherhood her highest calling. Yet they were also sympathetic to working women who had to leave the domestic circle. Furthermore, nativists urged women of all classes to join their crusade and even to participate in ways that were sharply at variance with the prevailing culture. Sometimes their appeals to women were tentative and betrayed ambivalence; at other times, they were bold and unqualified. Several factors apparently nudged ante-bellum nativists toward an expanded vision of women's roles: a propensity to perceive their movement as a moral rather than a political crusade; the ' David H. Bennett, "Women in the Nativist Movement," in Carol V. R. George (ed.), "Remember the ¡Mdies": New Perspectives on Women in American History (Syracuse, 1975), 71-82, also 83-89; David Brion Davis, "Some Themes of Counter-Subversion: An Analysis of Anti-Masonic, Anti-Catholic, and Anti-Mormon Literature," Mississippi Valhy Historical Review, XLVII (1960), 205-224. Civil War History, Vol XXV, No. 2 Copyright ® 1979 by The Kent State University Press 0009-8078/79/2502-0002 $01.00/0 120CIVIL WAR HISTORY needs of their female constituents; and, ironically, their very beliefin the tenets of true womanhood. Tacitly acknowledging thatwomen had a legitimate role to play in the movement, most nativist organizations instituted women's auxiliaries. The first female societies appeared in Philadelphia in early 1844 as adjuncts of the fledgling Native American party. Party auxiliaries, called Female Native American Associations, Native American Benevolent Associations, or American Republican Benevolent Associations, subsequently appeared in Boston, New York City, New Orleans, and in several New Jersey towns.2 Nativists also formed several ostensibly non-partisan patriotic and benevolent societies in the 1840's. New Yorkers, in December, 1844, organized the Order of United Americans (O.U.A.), and, onNovember 27, 1845, they created a women's auxiliary, the United Daughters of America (U.D.A.). By the mid-1850's, the U.D.A. had ten chapters in New York City and additional chapters in Newark, Baltimore, and in scattered communities in upstate New York and Massachusetts.3 In 1845, Pennsylvania nativists established the United Sons of America (U.S.A.) and its auxiliary, the Patriotic Daughters of America (P.D.A.). By 1851, the P.D.A. had at least seven camps in Pennsylvania, two in Baltimore, and one each inNewJersey and Massachusetts.4 Native-born working men and women instituted a third order, the United American Mechanics (O.U.A.M.), and its counterpart, the United Daughters of America (U.D.A.). The U.D.A. was probably the most successful of the ante-bellum female societies. By 1852, it had thirty-eight councils in Pennsylvania, six in New York state, four in New Jersey, two in Baltimore, and one in Wilmington, Delaware.5 Several minor women's societies apparently flourished without male affiliates. Among these were the American Daughters of Liberty of NewYork City and a militia...