As George Washington waited for the Constitutional Convention to begin in Philadelphia in 1787, he heard a lecture by Eliza Harriot O'Connor at the University of Pennsylvania. O'Connor represented a vision of female genius in the Age of the Constitution. O'Connor and other reformers believed that the absence of female education was solely responsible for female non-participation in governance. Professor Bilder will argue that the Constitution was tolerant of this belief in female genius and female inclusion in the political state. 

Reception to follow

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