[802] ASTELL, _An Essay in Defense of the Female Sex_ (London, 1696; 3d ed., 1697). _Cf._ her _Serious Proposal to the Ladies_ (London, 1694; 3d ed., 1697); and her _Reflections upon Marriage_ (London, 1700; 4th ed., 1730).
[803] DEFOE, _An Essay upon Projects_ (London, 1697).
[804] _The Hardships of the English Laws in relation to Wives_ (London, 1735), 4 ff.
[805] "SOPHIA," _Woman not Inferior to Man; or, A short and modest Vindication of the natural Right of the Fair-Sex to a perfect Equality of Power, Dignity, and Esteem with the Men_ (London, 1739; 2d ed., 1740). This tract was answered by a "GENTLEMAN," _Man Superior to Woman; or, a Vindication of Man's Natural Right of Sovereign Authority over the Woman_ (London, 1739), insisting that woman was not created at all, but is "a sort of after-produced being" who must not "presume to call in question the great duty of vassalage" to man, under penalty of the withdrawal of his heart from her power. To this "SOPHIA" rejoined in _Woman's Superior Excellence over Man_ (London, 1740).
[806] A new edition of this book, with an introduction by MRS. FAWCETT, appeared in London in 1890. _Cf._ PENNELL, "A Century of Women's Rights," _Fort. Rev._, XLVIII, 408 ff.; RAUSCHENBUSCH-CLOUGH, _A Study of Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Woman_; OSTROGORSKI, _The Rights of Women_, 40; RICHTER, _Mary Wollstonecraft die Verfechterin der "Rechte der Frau."_
The foundations were thus laid upon which, chiefly during the last half-century,[807] a vast literary superstructure--controversial, historical, and scientific--has been erected; a many-sided literature worthily embodying the thought of a great transitional stage in social progress. The opponents of woman's liberation have been forced to choose new weapons. Satire and mockery are no longer in vogue. Both sides are very much in earnest. The tone of present discussion is nothing if not serious. Moreover, while the battle for sexual equality in the family and in the state is very far from being yet fought out, the ultimate victory seems already assured.
[807] In Germany DOROTHEA CHRISTINE ERXLEBEN, in her _Gründliche Untersuchung der Ursachen, die das weibliche Geschlecht vom Studium abhalten_ (Berlin, 1742); _Vernünftige Gedanken vom Studiren des schönen Geschlechts_ (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1749); and HIPPEL, _Bürgerliche Verbesserung der Weiber_ (Berlin, 1792); followed by his _Nachlass über weibliche Bildung_ (Berlin, 1801), were already beginning the agitation for woman's liberation. A remarkably clear and incisive essay in defense of woman, entitled _De l'égalité des deux sexes_, appeared in Paris in 1673. CONDORCET, _Lettres d'un bourgeois de New Haven à un citoyen de Virginie_ (1787) compressed into a few sentences the basic arguments for the movement. In the same year appeared MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT'S _Thoughts on the Education of Daughters_, a forerunner of her _Vindication_ five years later. During the next fifty years a few earnest champions of woman's freedom came forward. First was MARY ANNE RADCLIFFE, _Female Advocate, or an attempt to recover the Rights of Women from Male Usurpation_ (London, 1799); followed by HANNAH MATHER CROCKER, _Observations on the Real Rights of Women_ (Boston, 1818); WILLIAM THOMPSON AND MRS. WHEELER, _Appeal ... of Women_ (London, 1825), a book written in reply to a statement in JAMES MILL'S article on _Government_, and possibly influencing John Stuart Mill's later thoughts on the subject; SARAH M. GRIMKE, _Letters on Equality of the Sexes_ (Boston, 1838); LADY SYDNEY MORGAN, _Woman and her Master_ (London, 1840); MRS. ELLIS, _Woman's Rights and Duties_ (London, 1840). The movement took organic form in 1848, when the first convention was held at Seneca Falls, New York. This was followed in 1850 by conventions in Ohio and Massachusetts. In 1851 MRS. JOHN STUART MILL'S powerful article in the July number of the _Westminster Review_ on the "Enfranchisement of Women" supplied the agitation with a definite program. See FAWCETT, _The Woman Question in Europe_, 273, note; STANTON, ANTHONY, AND GAGE, _Hist. of Woman Suffrage_, I, 70 ff.; OSTROGORSKI, _Rights of Women_, 54 ff.; JOHNSON, _Woman and the Republic_, 39 ff.; WADE, _Women, Past and Present_, 247.