Some people – particularly younger ones – believe that sexism has never been greater in the United States than it is now. But gender bias was even more rampant in past eras, and the saga of Myra Bradwell is a good example.
One of Illinois’ top legal minds of the 19th century, Bradwell was repeatedly denied admission to the bar in a string of heavy-handed court rulings. The resilient Bradwell persisted despite being hammered at nearly every turn.
Bright and energetic, Bradwell was born on Feb. 12, 1831, in Manchester, Vermont, the product of a staunchly abolitionist family. Her family relocated several times, first to western New York before settling in Schaumburg, Illinois, in 1843. Young Myra gained her education in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as well as the Elgin Female Seminary.
Despite her family’s objections, in 1852 she married James Bradwell, a Palatine resident who began studying law as he worked as a schoolteacher. The union produced four children.
The couple moved to Memphis in 1854, where James was the head of a private school. Myra joined him in the teaching profession and finished her education when she was 24.
The Bradwells returned to Chicago in 1855, where James earned admission to the bar. Myra worked for her husband in his office, which sparked her interest in the law. She assisted him with her strong writing and research skills and began to study law herself.
However, she did not plan to practice on her own; one source notes that Myra’s “stated goal at the time was to gain legal knowledge for the sake of working alongside her husband.”
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Like many leading women in past eras, Bradwell was highly civic-minded. One newspaper account wrote that “she always had such a number of poor women on her hands that it frequently interfered seriously with her business.” During the Civil War, Bradwell was described as “untiring in her labors for the sick and wounded soldiers” and was an active force in the Chicago Sanitary Fairs in both 1863 and 1865.
Bradwell continued developing her legal skills after the war but clashed with gender bias almost constantly. In 1868, she established the Chicago Legal News, a publication that was described in one source as “one of the first law-specific newspapers in Illinois” and by another as “the first legal newspaper in the West.”
In doing so, Bradwell became the first female editor of a legal publication with national circulation. One modern account called her paper “a prominent, trusted source of legal news” that was “invaluable to the state’s legal practitioners.” Another lauded the Legal News as “the leading legal affairs newspaper in the Midwest.”
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The Legal News provided coverage of court decisions and legal reforms, while clearly supporting women’s rights. One column, “Law Relating to Women,” strove to elevate the social and legal status of women.
Bradwell used her prolific writing and a humorous, yet fact-based, approach, to strengthen her arguments. Among her many opinions was her belief that men “had a duty to recognize the capabilities of women in society.” She eventually became the first woman to gain admission to the Illinois Press Association.
However, Bradwell was forced to secure a special charter from the state legislature to own and operate her business as a married woman. A history of the Illinois Supreme Court notes that “under the charter – and contrary to generally applicable law at the time – she was allowed to enter into contracts without involving her husband and could keep her earnings.”
It was just one of many oppressive episodes for Bradwell. In August 1869, she applied to practice law in Illinois and seemed to meet all the prerequisites. She obtained the required certificate of “good moral character” from the county court, and passed an examination by two other attorneys, as was common practice. The examination “certified that Bradwell had the requisite knowledge to be a lawyer.” In doing so, Bradwell became the first woman to pass the bar exam in Illinois history.
But Bradwell’s application was rejected by the Illinois Supreme Court. The response noted the “disabilities” of being a married woman because she could not enter into contracts or act on the legal behalf of others.
Bradwell petitioned the court to reconsider its decision, arguing that many of those restrictions had previously been stricken by the state legislature. The court not only denied Bradwell’s petition but as one source writes, “actually expanded its original decision.” Now, Bradwell was denied, as one legal analyst wrote, “not because she was a married woman, but simply because she was a woman.”
In his opinion, Justice Charles Lawrence wrote that “courts of justice were not intended” to promote “popular reforms” and if Bradwell became a lawyer, then “women should be made governors, judges, and sheriffs. This we are not prepared to hold.” Lawrence capsulized his opinion in one high-handed statement: “God designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action.”
Angered, Bradwell appealed to the United States Supreme Court with Bradwell v. Illinois, arguing her rights under the 14th Amendment’s clause on Privileges and Immunities. In Washington, Bradwell was represented by Sen. Matthew Hale Carpenter of Wisconsin. The state of Illinois did not send counsel.
The high court proceeded to deny Bradwell once again with an 8-1 decision on April 15, 1873. Justice Samuel Miller wrote the opinion, arguing that the practice of law was not among the privileges and immunities held by citizens.
But the most telling words came from the concurring opinion of Justice Joseph Bradley, who wrote “The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life.” Bradley continued that “the paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.”
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As legal historian John Lupton notes, “No one questioned [Bradwell’s] credentials.” Many of Bradwell’s setbacks may be ascribed to the sexism of the time.
Still, Bradwell never stopped working for women. In 1861, she argued for passage of the Illinois Married Women’s Property Act and, eight years later, helped write the Earnings Act of 1869. Both bills helped women retain control over their earnings and property.
She wrote the Earnings Act with Alta May Hulett, a teenage legal powerhouse who had passed the bar herself in 1871, only to be denied by the state supreme court based on her gender. In 1872, Bradwell assisted Hulett in writing the first bill in the United States to ban discrimination on the basis of sex.
Hulett subsequently became the first woman admitted to the Illinois bar in June 1873 at age 19. Bradwell was no doubt happy for Hulett’s success but continued to struggle with rampant bias. In 1872, she applied to Gov. John M. Palmer for a commission as a notary public, only to be turned down again.
Palmer used the same arguments of “the disabilities of married women” in his response. However, Palmer regretted the decision. The Chicago Tribune reported that Palmer later apologized, and helped Bradwell gain admission to the State Bar Association of Illinois.
In 1875, Bradwell and her husband, who was then a judge, worked strenuously on behalf of Mary Todd Lincoln, the president’s widow, who was institutionalized at Bellevue Place in Batavia. The Bradwells resorted to nearly any means in what historians Mark Neely and R. Gerald McMurtry called a “brilliant strategy to spring Mrs. Lincoln” from the institution and “conquered the press” to ensure favorable newspaper coverage.
Among other endeavors, Myra Bradwell founded a school for girls in South Evanston and sat on the Board of Lady Managers for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. A devoted suffragist, she was the corresponding secretary to the new Illinois Woman Suffrage Association. Both Myra and James Bradwell were also on the IWSA’s legislative committee.
The couple lost heavily in the epic Chicago Fire of October 1871, as their home, law library, and operations of the Chicago Legal News were all destroyed. Not surprisingly, Myra’s resilience came through, and the paper returned a few weeks later.
Bradwell never reapplied for her law license, declaring she had “once complied with all the rules and regulations of the court for the admission of attorneys.” James Bradwell successfully persuaded the Illinois Supreme Court to review his wife’s original motion and in 1890, Myra Bradwell was finally admitted to the state bar. Two years later, she was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the last three years of her life, Bradwell suffered from cancer, seeking treatment around the U.S. and as far away as London. She managed to visit the 1893 World’s Fair four times but was bedridden from Sept. 7 until her death at her home on Michigan Avenue on Feb. 14, 1894.
The Chicago Tribune wrote that “her public career never detracted an iota from her womanly tenderness and refinement.”
• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.