Women and the Constitution

When the Constitution was drafted in 1787, women weren't explicitly excluded — they were simply not addressed. Dr. Catherine Allgor, historian and former President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, joins host Dr. Katie Crawford Lackey at Montpelier to unpack what that silence actually meant — and why it wasn't accidental.At the center of the conversation is a word every listener will want to know: coverture. The legal doctrine that erased a woman's identity at marriage — subsuming her personhood, her property, her wages, even her children into her husband — was never abolished by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. Dr. Allgor traces coverture from the founding era through Abigail Adams's famous "Remember the Ladies" letter, the suffrage movement, and the ERA debate, arguing that its legacy is still very much alive today.A bracing, eye-opening conversation for the 250th anniversary year — and a reminder that the republican experiment is still a work in progress.This episode is supported in part by the Virginia Law Foundation.