Marriage in the Early Republic

William Wirt practiced law in the early national period and was Attorney General under both Monroe and Adams. Elizabeth Wirt managed the household and cared for their large family. This text provides a description of their relationship, illuminating gender relations in 19th-century America. William Wirt practiced law in Virginia and Maryland in the early national period and served as Attorney General under James Monroe and John Quincy Adams. Elizabeth Wirt managed the household and cared for the Wirts' large family during her husband's frequent work-related absences. For more than three decades, the Wirts struggled to reconcile their different daily pursuits with their commitment to marriage as a partnership of equals. In this work, the author provides a description of a marital relationship that illuminates gender relations in 19th-century America. On one level it is a story of an American marriage, on another - because changing gender roles and expectations in this period caused discordance and forced adjustments - it also provides a microhistorical analysis of a broad pattern. Placing the Wirts' marriage in larger context, Jabour shows how problematic marriage - and the balancing of domestic and childcare responsibilities - could be as well-to-do Americans developed their own cultural and social expectations.