c
sentiment, which is often observed as characterizing American taste in
literature, seems to be mainly due to the influence of women, for they
form not only the larger part of the reading public, but an
independent-minded part, not disposed to adopt the canons laid down by
men, and their preferences count for more in the opinions and
predilections of the whole nation than is the case in England. Similarly
the number of women who write is infinitely larger in America than in
Europe. Fiction, essays, and poetry are naturally their favorite
provinces. In poetry more particularly, many whose names are quite
unknown in Europe have attained wide-spread fame.

Some one may ask how far the differences between the position of women
in America and their position in Europe are due to democracy? or if not
to this, then to what other cause?

They are due to democratic feeling, in so far as they spring from the
notion that all men are free and equal, possessed of certain inalienable
rights and owing certain corresponding duties. This root idea of
democracy cannot stop at defining men as male human beings, any more
than it could ultimately stop at defining them as white human beings.
For many years the Americans believed in equality with the pride of
discoverers as well as with the fervor of apostles. Accustomed to apply
it to all sorts and conditions of men, they were naturally the first to
apply it to women also; not indeed as respects politics, but in all the
social as well as legal relations of life. Democracy is in America more
respectful of the individual, less disposed to infringe his freedom or
subject him to any sort of legal or family control, than it has shown
itself in Continental Europe; and this regard for the individual inured
to the benefit of women. Of the other causes that have worked in the
same direction, two may be mentioned. One is the usage of the
Congregationalist, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches, under which a
woman who is a member of the congregation has the same rights in
choosing a deacon, elder, or pastor, as a man has. Another is the fact
that among the westward-moving settlers women were at first few in
number, and were therefore treated with special respect. The habit then
formed was retained as the communities grew, and propagated itself all
over the country.

What have been the results on the character and usefulness of women
themselves?

Favorable. They have opened to them a wider life and m