Man–Citizen–Soldier: Ascriptive Republicanism, Manhood, and Womanhood

Ascriptive republican ideology has historically excluded people of color and women from full political membership. This ideology portrays women as incapable and Black men as unwilling to pursue independence, thus deeming them unworthy of citizenship. However, both women and African-Americans have served in various capacities, including combat roles, in most American wars. They often fought in the conviction that their sacrifice would compel political elites to accept a more inclusive republican ideology.

Proponents of ascriptive republicanism addressed these contradictions in several ways. They downplayed or ignored the contributions of women and Black men to America's wars, minimized the historical ineffectiveness of the militia system, and cultivated the myth of the virtuous white citizen-soldier. They also developed tropes to reconcile the presence of armed women and African-Americans with their ideology.

This paper focuses on women—white and Black—and arms. First, historical records show that women of both races have always been present in American wars, with some even carrying firearms as an exercise in republican political membership. Second, ascriptive republican ideology developed the concept of "republican mothers and wives" for white women, positively differentiating them from other categories of people who couldn't be citizen-soldiers while reinforcing their subordination to white men. Third, since this worldview was incompatible with women bearing guns to exercise political rights, dominant narratives either portrayed them as defenders of the private domain or, in cases like female soldiers or spies, rejected their femininity altogether.

Like Black civil rights movements, women's rights movements tried to employ inclusive republican arguments based on women's war service to support political membership. However, such attempts were unsuccessful because they ran counter to dominant ascriptive republican myths of citizenship that associated political membership with white manhood.