Gendering Secession: White Women and Politics in South Carolina, 18591861 [Hardcover]

Reveals, from the women's point of view, why South Carolina dared to leave the Union and stand alone.This book recreates the year 1860 for elite white South Carolina women, tracing the major events on the road to, during, and after secession. It will interest students and scholars of the U.S. Civil War, the American South, and women and gender studies.This book recreates the year 1860 for elite white South Carolina women, tracing the major events on the road to, during, and after secession. It will interest students and scholars of the U.S. Civil War, the American South, and women and gender studies.Gendering Secession explores the lives and politics of South Carolina's elite white women from 1859 to 1861. The political drama that unfolded during the secession crisis of 1860 has long captured our attention, but scant regard has been paid to the secessionist women themselves. These women were astute political observers and analysts who filtered their improper political ideas through avenues gendered as feminine and therefore socially acceptable. In recreating the rhythms of the year 1860, Melissa DeVelvis spotlights the moments when women realized that national events were too overwhelming to dismiss. Women processed these changes through religious metaphor and prophecy, comparisons to history and the American Revolution, and language borrowed from popular novels. Drawing from emotions history, literary analysis, and even handwriting analysis, DeVelvis reveals how these fiercely patriotic South Carolinian women responded to threats of disunion with fears and misgivings that men would or could not express.Introduction; 1. 1859, the last fully antebellum year; 2. 'The gay season,' JanuaryMay 1860; 3. Escaping the sickly season, MaySeptember 1860; 4. South Carolina takes action, OctoberDecember 1860; 5. The waiting game: December 1860March 1861; 6. Catharsis and conclusion: Fort Sumter, First Bull Run, and a peek at postbellum.Women are like teabags,' Eleanor Rol“$