In Dependence

“A fascinating and affirming portrait of how women negotiated power by leaning into their dependent status. In Dependence is cogently argued and well written.” - Kelly A. Ryan, author of Regulating Passion: Sexuality and Patriarchal Rule in Massachusetts, 1700–1830 “A powerful book whose assertions transform our understanding of women’s agency in early America. Beatty masterfully teases out meaning from an exhaustive range of sources to demonstrate how women’s dependent status, rather than independent status, enabled them to achieve financial and legal protections.” - Susan Branson, author of Dangerous to Know: Women, Crime, and Notoriety in the Early Republic “Impressive and comprehensive. Beatty skillfully utilizes a range of sources in a novel manner to illuminate the plight of women in an era when husbands who did not provide adequate support for wives and children, or even resorted to cruelty and abuse, were rarely held accountable. Yet, as Beatty demonstrates, women found ways to use the patriarchal system to their advantage to succeed in achieving redress. In Dependence is a well-researched and important addition to the scholarly literature on the role of women in early America.” - Jeanne E. Abrams, University of Denver “Beatty highlights the agency of Revolutionary-era women who used the language of female dependence to claim property rights, financial support, divorce, and, in the case of Black women, self-ownership.” - B. B. Pfleger, California State University Los Angeles (Choice Connect) “[Beatty’s] fascinating study explores the multiple ways Black and white women used and were used by the idea of dependence in the new independent nation.” (William and Mary Quarterly) “The real contribution of this persuasive book is to show that the American Revolution did very little to weaken the pervasive power of the patriarchal state.” (The Journal of Southern History)

Jacqueline Beatty is Assistant Professor of History in the Department of History and Political Science at York College of Pennsylvania.