The historical source “A downright gabbler or a goose that deserves to be hissed,” ¹ is a cartoon that was created in 1829 by James Akin. The cartoon is a satirical cartoon, which targets Frances “Franny” Wright, who was an activist and outspoken critic of slavery. Based on Frances’ thoughts on slavery, the piece was likely created to discredit Frances and attack her through this cartoon that makes her seem foolish. When depicting the piece, Frances is generally being compared to a “gabbler” who would be considered to talk nonsense and a “goose”. The image and the title suggest that they believe her views on slavery were absurd. The way she is portrayed in the piece is in somewhat a way to make her seem unprofessional and how women are generally portrayed when they step out of the expectations that are placed on them.

To understand the concept of the cartoon, and what led to this discourse on Frances Wright, events during the 1820s and the 19th century in general should be considered. In this period, women were considered to have no place in public such as politics and were expected to stay at home and do domestic work. Despite these expectations on women, they began to participate in politics or public works, especially during a time when there were a lot of issues that women were against and wanted to speak out against. Frances Wright one of the first women to have spoken out against issues that they believed in such as the antislavery experiment. According to Bederman, “Frances Wright proposed an antislavery experiment known as Nashoba”.² Wright’s views on slavery and equality challenged the norms, which then led to a lot of criticism from the press and other people. Wright viewed the US as a republican utopia and worked on the emancipation of slaves and continued to express her opinions on the issue in Views of Society. Because of the expectations people had on women and Frances Wright’s obvious defiance with the norms, people began to criticize her and were mad about her views. In many articles such as the Literary Gazette, they claimed Wright’s views to be “a tissue of impertinence, injustice and falsehood”.³ This shows that not only were they essentially not interested with her opinions, but they were also not comfortable about her speaking on matters that they believe that she has no rights to.

Other than Frances Wright, there were also other women who participated in a movement that was out of the norm. around 1829, there were issues that surrounded Native Americans, in which they were being forcefully removed from their lands. Many women were against this and Theodore stated in her article that “Charlotte Cheever, her daughter and 50 other women signed and submitted a petition and protested the federal government’s proposal to forcibly remove Native Americans from their southern lands”. ⁴ Since women were restricted to domestic work, their role in this position was new and the article states that “these petitions open a new window into women’s political activism in the United States”. ⁵ Because of the expectations on women, the role that they have placed themselves into politics and on their petitions could have angered people and began to criticize them.

Although women began to participate in petitions and politics in general, they believed their participation was part of their role as a woman. Portnoy stated that “Catharine Beecher urged women to join the fight against Indian Removal. Told women to learn about the crisis to educate others, to persuade their male neighbors and relations to take a stand”. ⁶ This shows that although people might view what they are doing to be out of their roles as women, who are usually seen as nurturers. According to the text, “Beecher interpreted the crisis as one to which women could and should respond and she described an appropriate persona women could adopt that conformed to values she considered paramount and that was simultaneously political, conservative and well within the confines of decorous female behavior”. ⁷ This shows that because of the rejection that women who spoke were receiving, they had to strategize how they would continue their involvement in the case and ensured that their participation was extension to their duties as women.

In conclusion, the satirical cartoon of Frances Wright shows a reflection on the events that occurred in the 19th century and how women were essentially in a spotlight where they were often criticized. This piece tells us that women were critiqued on their beliefs of political matters, and they had to make sure that their actions were considered decorum of female behavior.

1. Akin, James. “A Downright Gabbler, or a Goose That Deserves to Be Hissed.” Library of Congress, 1 Jan. 1970, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002708975/.
2. Bederman, Gail. Revisiting Nashoba: Slavery, Utopia and Frances Wright in America, 1818-1826. JSTOR. Vol, 17. No. 3. 2005. 438.
3. Bederman, Gail. Revisiting Nashoba: Slavery, Utopia and Frances Wright in America, 1818-1826. JSTOR. Vol, 17. No. 3. 2005. 444.
4. Theodore, Alisse. “A Right to Speak on the Subject”: The U.S. Women’s Antiremoval Petition Campaign, 1829-1831. JSTOR. Vol. 5. No. 4. 2002. 601. 
5. Theodore, Alisse. “A Right to Speak on the Subject”: The U.S. Women’s Antiremoval Petition Campaign, 1829-1831. JSTOR. Vol. 5. No. 4. 2002. 602.
6. Portnoy, Alisse Theodore. “Female Petitioners Can Lawfully Be Heard”: Negotiating Female Decorum, United States Politics, and Political Agency, 1829-1831. JSTOR. Vol. 23, No 4. 2003. 582.
7. Portnoy, Alisse Theodore. “Female Petitioners Can Lawfully Be Heard”: Negotiating Female Decorum, United States Politics, and Political Agency, 1829-1831. JSTOR. Vol. 23, No 4. 2003. 583.