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As a result of this system, according to his own account, he believed this gave him an advantage of a quarter of a century over his contemporaries....His Considerations on Representative Government belongs to the year 1860; and in 1863 (after first appearing in magazine form) came his Utilitarianism. In the Parliament of 1865-68, he sat as Radical member for Westminster. He advocated three major things in the House of Commons: women suffrage, the interests of the laboring classes, and land reform in Ireland.

Click on his name or his portrait to learn more about him and Utilitarianism.

The object of this Essay is to explain as clearly as I am able grounds of an opinion which I have held from the very earliest period when I had formed any opinions at all on social political matters, and which, instead of being weakened or modified, has been constantly growing stronger by the progress reflection and the experience of life. That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes--the legal subordination of one sex to the other--is wrong itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other.

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#30

Legal Disabilities of Women, Sarah Grimké (1837)

#29

Letters on the Inequalities of the Sexes, (Letter 8, p. 3) Sarah Grimké (1837)

1.Mill considers why it is difficult to apply reason and argument to the issue of equality for women. Why doesn’t reason and logic work? Note references to this.

2.What are Mill’s ideas on the force of habit relative to what is considered “natural”?

3.Is there any evidence that Mill was aware of, and possibly used, ideas coming out of the American struggle for women’s rights?

4.Do men really understand women? If so why, if not, why not?

5.Is there any motivation for men to resist equality for women? Is there any motive for women to resist equality with men? Are these reasonable or not?

Read these in the order suggested. focus your attention on the Grimké letter on Legal Disabilities. The object is not to memorize the entire list. What we want to do is to understand the difference between legal Disabilities and Inequalities.

First, make sure you understand what a legal disability is. You may want to write a little definition in the margin. Be able to demonstrate you understand the concept by presenting an example or two.

Second, do you get a sense that Sarah Grimké is may possibly have read Mary Wollstonecraft? What makes you think that might be true?

Third, is there evidence that Grimké makes explicit connections between the status of women in her era and the status of blacks in her era? If so, make note of it. (Note: many of the advocates for women's rights were also active in the abolition movement.--note also the name of the organization of which her correspondent, Mary S. Parker, is president. That will tell you something about conditions in that era.

Sarah Grimké, pictured to the left, was one of the bravest women of her time. Born and raised in South Carolina to a family of wealthy slave-owning planters, she defied her father, a staunch supporter of slavery and of an inferior role for women. She later settled in Philadelphia, where a strong Quaker community was sympathetic to at least some of her views. Read about her and her sister, Angelina by clicking on her portrait.

John Stuart Mill was born in London on May 20, 1806 and was the eldest son of James Mill. He was educated entirely by his father and was deliberately shielded from association with other boys of his age. From his earliest years, he was subjected to a rigid system of intellectual discipline