The
Troy Female Seminary |
| At the start of the nineteenth
century, as the nation shifted toward a market economy and middle-class
men’s work moved outside the home, the domestic sphere became a middle-class
woman’s preserve. In many ways, responsibility for domesticity constrained
women’s access to the public sphere – they were in charge of
all things domestic, including educating their young children. At a time
when middle-class Americans increasingly emphasized women’s responsibility
for educating children and maintaining the moral purity of their families,
some women translated women’s domestic duties into a basis for public
action. Furthermore, males approved of such action because it was assumed
that women were destined to become teachers (1).
One factor in women’s changing roles was the development of female
educational institutions, such as Emma Willard’s seminary in Troy,
New York. Emma Willard was an educator from Connecticut who believed that women deserved the same educational opportunities as men. When she moved North at the age of twenty, Willard sent a proposal to the governor of New York requesting state funding for female seminaries (2). She argued that the prosperity of a nation greatly depended on the moral character of its citizens and that mothers undoubtedly shaped this moral character throughout childhood. Willard asserted that universal primary education for children would guarantee future prosperity and that women should play a large role as teachers (3). Although her vision for the formation of a universal school system and for female seminaries to supply these schools with teachers was widely accepted, Willard did not receive the state funding she had asked for. Without the help of the state, she turned to the town of Troy and eventually opened a seminary there in 1821. The Troy curriculum was very similar to that of an institution for young men. It included “mathematics, science, modern languages, Latin, history, philosophy, geography, and literature” (4). Willard, however, taught her pupils something more valuable than anything they could have learned in their academic lessons. She instilled in them a sense of confidence in their womanhood because her educational vision catered to their experiences in society and their desire for individual expression. As she explained in her proposal to the State of New York, her school would “bring its subjects to the perfection of their moral, intellectual and physical nature: in order, that they may be of the greatest possible use to themselves and others” (5). In this way, The Troy Female Seminary worked within the societal constraints on female education while simultaneously fostering a proud sense of womanhood among its students. The Troy Female Seminary strove to teach its students to build lives separate from the oppressive male sphere. Through learning, interacting, and teaching with other women, those involved in the Troy Female Seminary changed how they thought of themselves within society. One author attempts to describe the lasting impact of the Troy Seminary on the lives of the women who learned and taught there: “There can be no doubt of its innovative spirit with respect to women; nowhere else in the country in the 1820’s were young women told that they … should prepare themselves for self-support and not seek marriage as an end in itself” (6). Revolutionary institutions such as the Troy Seminary and self-assured women such as Emma Willard and Mary Treat provided the foundation for a movement that would make remarkable gains in the years that followed. |