But I yet hope, by her, to convince the world what
neither sex appear to believe--that women have souls!
Most affectionately yours,
A. BURR.
TO MRS. BURR.
Philadelphia, 15th February, 1793.
I received with joy and astonishment, on entering the Senate this
minute, your two elegant and affectionate letters. The mail closes in
a few minutes, and will scarce allow me to acknowledge your goodness.
The roads and ferries have been for some days almost impassable, so
that till now no post has arrived since Monday.
It was a knowledge of your mind which first inspired me with a respect
for that of your sex, and with some regret, I confess, that the ideas
which you have often heard me express in favour of female intellectual
powers are founded on what I have imagined, more than what I have
seen, except in you. I have endeavoured to trace the causes of this
_rare_ display of genius in women, and find them in the errors of
education, of prejudice, and of habit. I admit that men are equally,
nay more, much more to blame than women. Boys and girls are generally
educated much in the same way till they are eight or nine years of
age, and it is admitted that girls make at least equal progress with
the boys; generally, indeed, they make better. Why, then, has it never
been thought worth the attempt to discover, by fair experiment, the
particular age at which the male superiority becomes so evident? But
this is not in answer to your letter; neither is it possible now to
answer it.
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