AP US History · Contextualization
Murray’s argument most directly extended which idea associated with the era of the American Revolution?
Judith Sargent Murray, 1790
In an essay published in 1790, Murray argued that observed differences in men’s and women’s intellectual achievement reflected unequal education, not unequal natural capacity. Boys, she argued, were encouraged toward study and public ambition, while girls were confined to domestic instruction. Women could not fairly be judged intellectually inferior when they had been denied comparable opportunities to learn.
Adapted from Judith Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes,” Massachusetts Magazine, 1790.
Murray’s argument most directly extended which idea associated with the era of the American Revolution?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B: Enlightenment claims about natural equality beyond the immediate dispute over colonial independence
Murray argues that differences in achievement reflect unequal education, not unequal natural capacity. That applies the Revolutionary era's Enlightenment language of natural equality to women's minds, extending it beyond the dispute with Britain. B is correct. Choice A is tempting because republican motherhood also supported women's education, but it justified that education by women's domestic and civic roles, not equal capacity. Choice C concerns spiritual equality before God rather than intellectual capacity. Choice D, the Federalist idea of filtering popular opinion through elected officials, is about government design and not Murray's claim.
More Contextualization questions
- Question 2Which development from 1780 to 1820 would best support a historian arguing that Murray was…
- Question 4Douglass’s argument most directly challenged which development of the late nineteenth century?
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