The fields of antebellum (pre-Civil War) political history and women’s history use separate sources and focus on separate issues.
Political historians, examining sources such as voting records, newspapers, and politicians’ writings, focus on the emergence in the 1840’s of a new “American political nation,” and since women were neither voters nor politicians, they receive little discussion.
Women’s historians, meanwhile, have shown little interest in the subject of party politics, instead drawing on personal papers, legal records such as wills, and records of female associations to illuminate women’s domestic lives, their moral reform activities, and the emergence of the woman’s rights movement.
However, most historians have underestimated the extent and significance of women’s political allegiance in the antebellum period.
For example, in the presidential election campaigns of the 1840’s, the Virginia Whig party strove to win the allegiance of Virginia’s women by inviting them to rallies and speeches.
According to Whig propaganda, women who turned out at the party’s rallies gathered information that enabled them to mold party-loyal families, reminded men of moral values that transcended party loyalty, and conferred moral standing on the party. Virginia Democrats, in response, began to make similar appeals to women as well.
By the mid-1850’s the inclusion of women in the rituals of party politics had become commonplace and the ideology that justified such inclusion had been assimilated by the Democrats.
The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to
A.
examine the tactics of antebellum political parties with regard to women
B.
trace the effect of politics on the emergence of the woman’s rights movement
C.
point out a deficiency in the study of a particular historical period
D.
discuss the ideologies of opposing antebellum political parties
E.
contrast the methodologies in two differing fields of historical inquiry
However, most historians have underestimated the extent and significance of women’s political allegiance in the antebellum period. 是文章提主题句。underestimate是关键字。就是说他们低估了妇女政治忠诚的范围和重要性。后面的例子对应了前面 since women were neither voters nor politicians, they receive little discussion. 就说历史学家只关注了voting，没有能够注意到speeches，rallies这些素材，因此没有发现妇女在政党发展的表现。
Women's 历史学家们对party politics基本没有兴趣，反而利用 personal papers, legal records such as wills, and records of female associations 来阐释 women’s domestic lives, their moral reform activities, and the emergence of the woman’s rights movement.
而第二段的主题句和例子，说的都是政党和女性的结合的情况。没有 rights' movement什么的。
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