No Guarantees: Lessons from the Property Rights Gained and Lost by Married Women in Two American Colonies

Abstract:     
While our own history demonstrates long-term forward progress and expansion of women’s rights, it is also marked with periods of back-treading, and there is no absolute assurance that the rights women in the United States enjoy today will be present in the future. Rights of property, suffrage, and liberty are not guaranteed to last forever, and not just in places such as Iran and Afghanistan. Indeed, we are only a few generations removed from circumstances in which our own freedom was sharply curtailed, and they are under a continuing threat.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 22

Keywords: women's rights, suffrage, property

Accepted Paper Series