From Virtue to Character: American Childhood, 1775-1850

Explores the experience of childhood in America from the Revolution to the Civil War. Beginning with the child-rearing concepts of John Locke and those who popularized and elaborated on his views, traces how the enlightened hope of the malleability of the child was folded into the ideology of the early American republic. As cultural leaders sought to mold children into virtuous citizens and citizens wives, they drew on European enlightened thought, which they blended with the American religious experience and Protestant belief.