In The Maternal Physician (1811), one of the earliest comprehensive childcare manuals by an American woman, Mary Palmer Tyler articulated an expanded role for mothers in child rearing and argued that mothers' authority in the physical care and mental development of children is superior to that of physicians or fathers. A daughter of the Revolutionary generation in Massachusetts, Tyler filtered Enlightenment thought through her experience as a mother to formulate a systematic approach to raising successful citizens for the new republic. Tyler's understanding of a mother's role in the formation of responsible citizens represents a classic example of what historians have labeled "republican motherhood." By 1858, when she began writing a memoir, Tyler had reformulated her patriotism. Published as Grandmother Tyler's Book (1925), this book is a romantic adventure story of her marriage to playwright Royall Tyler (1757-1826) in which her domestic skills and Christian motherhood prevailed in frontier Vermont.

Born...