,Pro-Level Exam Preparation
Guide: Through Women's
Eyes, 6th Edition
Resource Type: Comprehensive Exam Preparation & Instructor’s Guide Target Text: Through
Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents (Combined Volume 1+2) Edition: 6th
Edition (2024) Authors: Ellen Carol DuBois, Lynn Dumenil, Brenda E. Stevenson Publisher:
Bedford/St. Martin's (Macmillan Learning) Subject Domain: U.S. Women’s History / Gender
Studies / American History
Prepared For: Advanced Placement (AP) Instructors, Undergraduate Faculty, and
High-Performance Students Purpose: To provide an exhaustive, empirically grounded
assessment toolkit designed to test recall, analysis, and synthesis of the specific
historiographical arguments and primary sources presented in the 6th edition.
Legal Disclaimer
This document is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or
sponsored by Bedford/St. Martin's, Macmillan Learning, or the authors of the textbook Through
Women's Eyes. All references to the textbook, specific chapters, and authors are for educational
and descriptive purposes only, falling under the doctrine of fair use for commentary and
criticism. The questions and analyses provided herein are original creations designed to
facilitate the study of the source material. Users are advised to verify all historical claims against
the primary text.
,High-Yield Toolkit: Conceptual Frameworks &
Historiographical Bridges
This toolkit provides the essential scaffolding required to interpret the detailed questions that
follow. It addresses the specific pedagogical shifts in the 6th edition, particularly the enhanced
focus on intersectionality introduced by new co-author Brenda E. Stevenson. The following
analysis offers a framework for deconstructing the text’s complex narrative, which moves
beyond a simple linear progression of rights to a more dialectical understanding of women's
history involving setbacks, internal divisions, and intersectional identities.
I. The "Big Three" Conceptual Confusions
Students frequently conflate specific gender ideologies spanning the 18th and 19th centuries.
The 6th edition is careful to distinguish these as distinct historical phases with unique political
implications.
1. Republican Motherhood vs. The Cult of Domesticity
The distinction between these two ideologies is subtle but critical for understanding the
evolution of women's political agency. "Republican Motherhood," emerging from the
Revolutionary era (c. 1770s–1820s), politicized the domestic sphere. It argued that women had
a civic duty to educate their sons to be virtuous citizens of the new republic. It was a political
rationalization for female education, granting women a stake in the survival of the nation, albeit
a limited one. This differs significantly from the "Cult of Domesticity" (or "True Womanhood"),
which dominated the mid-19th century (c. 1820s–1860s). Arising alongside the Market
Revolution, Domesticity retreated from the political. It framed the home not as a training ground
for citizens, but as a spiritual sanctuary to counterbalance the ruthless public capitalist sphere. It
emphasized piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity as inherent female traits, creating a
sharper bifurcation between public and private worlds.
,2. Liberal Feminism vs. Radical Feminism (Post-1960s)
The 6th edition provides a nuanced breakdown of the Second Wave. "Liberal Feminism,"
typified by the National Organization for Women (NOW), focused on legal and institutional
equality within the existing system. Its goals were integrationist: removing barriers to entry in
education (Title IX), employment (Title VII), and politics. In contrast, "Radical Feminism" argued
that the existing system was fundamentally patriarchal and that integration was insufficient. This
strand focused on "private" issues like reproductive rights, sexual violence, and the nuclear
family as sites of oppression. The defining slogan "The personal is political" emerged from this
wing, which utilized consciousness-raising groups to link individual experiences of sexism to
broader systemic structures.
3. NWSA vs. AWSA (The 1869 Schism)
The split in the suffrage movement following the Civil War is a pivotal moment in the text. The
National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Stanton and Anthony, opposed the 15th
Amendment because it excluded women and introduced the word "male" into the Constitution.
They maintained a broad, radical platform addressing divorce, labor, and the church, and
accepted only female leadership. Conversely, the American Woman Suffrage Association
(AWSA), led by Lucy Stone, supported the 15th Amendment, arguing it was "the Negro's hour."
They pursued a more conservative, single-issue strategy focused solely on the vote and worked
state-by-state rather than seeking a federal amendment initially.
,
, II. Visual Decoding
The 6th edition relies heavily on "Reading into the Past" and visual analysis. Two primary visual
themes require specific analytical frameworks:
1. The Separate Spheres Diagram:
2. Suffrage Maps:
Guide: Through Women's
Eyes, 6th Edition
Resource Type: Comprehensive Exam Preparation & Instructor’s Guide Target Text: Through
Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents (Combined Volume 1+2) Edition: 6th
Edition (2024) Authors: Ellen Carol DuBois, Lynn Dumenil, Brenda E. Stevenson Publisher:
Bedford/St. Martin's (Macmillan Learning) Subject Domain: U.S. Women’s History / Gender
Studies / American History
Prepared For: Advanced Placement (AP) Instructors, Undergraduate Faculty, and
High-Performance Students Purpose: To provide an exhaustive, empirically grounded
assessment toolkit designed to test recall, analysis, and synthesis of the specific
historiographical arguments and primary sources presented in the 6th edition.
Legal Disclaimer
This document is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or
sponsored by Bedford/St. Martin's, Macmillan Learning, or the authors of the textbook Through
Women's Eyes. All references to the textbook, specific chapters, and authors are for educational
and descriptive purposes only, falling under the doctrine of fair use for commentary and
criticism. The questions and analyses provided herein are original creations designed to
facilitate the study of the source material. Users are advised to verify all historical claims against
the primary text.
,High-Yield Toolkit: Conceptual Frameworks &
Historiographical Bridges
This toolkit provides the essential scaffolding required to interpret the detailed questions that
follow. It addresses the specific pedagogical shifts in the 6th edition, particularly the enhanced
focus on intersectionality introduced by new co-author Brenda E. Stevenson. The following
analysis offers a framework for deconstructing the text’s complex narrative, which moves
beyond a simple linear progression of rights to a more dialectical understanding of women's
history involving setbacks, internal divisions, and intersectional identities.
I. The "Big Three" Conceptual Confusions
Students frequently conflate specific gender ideologies spanning the 18th and 19th centuries.
The 6th edition is careful to distinguish these as distinct historical phases with unique political
implications.
1. Republican Motherhood vs. The Cult of Domesticity
The distinction between these two ideologies is subtle but critical for understanding the
evolution of women's political agency. "Republican Motherhood," emerging from the
Revolutionary era (c. 1770s–1820s), politicized the domestic sphere. It argued that women had
a civic duty to educate their sons to be virtuous citizens of the new republic. It was a political
rationalization for female education, granting women a stake in the survival of the nation, albeit
a limited one. This differs significantly from the "Cult of Domesticity" (or "True Womanhood"),
which dominated the mid-19th century (c. 1820s–1860s). Arising alongside the Market
Revolution, Domesticity retreated from the political. It framed the home not as a training ground
for citizens, but as a spiritual sanctuary to counterbalance the ruthless public capitalist sphere. It
emphasized piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity as inherent female traits, creating a
sharper bifurcation between public and private worlds.
,2. Liberal Feminism vs. Radical Feminism (Post-1960s)
The 6th edition provides a nuanced breakdown of the Second Wave. "Liberal Feminism,"
typified by the National Organization for Women (NOW), focused on legal and institutional
equality within the existing system. Its goals were integrationist: removing barriers to entry in
education (Title IX), employment (Title VII), and politics. In contrast, "Radical Feminism" argued
that the existing system was fundamentally patriarchal and that integration was insufficient. This
strand focused on "private" issues like reproductive rights, sexual violence, and the nuclear
family as sites of oppression. The defining slogan "The personal is political" emerged from this
wing, which utilized consciousness-raising groups to link individual experiences of sexism to
broader systemic structures.
3. NWSA vs. AWSA (The 1869 Schism)
The split in the suffrage movement following the Civil War is a pivotal moment in the text. The
National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Stanton and Anthony, opposed the 15th
Amendment because it excluded women and introduced the word "male" into the Constitution.
They maintained a broad, radical platform addressing divorce, labor, and the church, and
accepted only female leadership. Conversely, the American Woman Suffrage Association
(AWSA), led by Lucy Stone, supported the 15th Amendment, arguing it was "the Negro's hour."
They pursued a more conservative, single-issue strategy focused solely on the vote and worked
state-by-state rather than seeking a federal amendment initially.
,
, II. Visual Decoding
The 6th edition relies heavily on "Reading into the Past" and visual analysis. Two primary visual
themes require specific analytical frameworks:
1. The Separate Spheres Diagram:
2. Suffrage Maps:
