In the spring of 1767, an anonymous author published a pamphlet outlining a radical democratic plan of government, one that uniquely addressed women. Within a month, the author revealed herself: English intellectual Catherine Macaulay. 

That pamphlet’s democratic vision—and the trailblazing historian behind it—was the focus of the Law School’s 2026 Maurice and Muriel Fulton Lecture, delivered by Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School. Bilder is a leading scholar of early American legal and constitutional history and the author of several books, including the award-winning Female Genius. She is currently working on a fourth about Macaulay. 

Dean Adam Chilton provided introductory remarks for this annual lecture that covers topics in legal history. Created in 1985, the Fulton Lecture is named in honor of Maurice Fulton, ’42, and his wife, Muriel, a UChicago graduate, whose joint gift established this tradition at the Law School.

The Significance of the Pamphlet

Macaulay’s pamphlet, titled, Loose Remarks, is the first known female-authored constitutional plan that explicitly references women, Bilder explained at the start of her talk. 

And yet, despite how forward-looking her plan was in anticipating modern demands for gender equality, it has largely been forgotten by scholars of history. In its time, however, Macaulay and her plan were widely known. Two years after her 1767 pamphlet was released, she printed a corrected version, citing her initial pamphlet as erroneous. Her “more perfect” 1769 edition emphasized independence and protection for women, especially widows and daughters. 

“Her error and correction offer us an unprecedented opportunity to understand Macaulay’s extraordinary recognition of the way republican government related to women and her deep desire for women to have the same independence as men in a democratic state,” said Bilder. She added that Loose Remarks raises important questions about how the American tradition of constitutional liberty is understood today.

What Did the Pamphlet Say?

Loose Remarks had two parts. It began with a bold critique of the political theories of 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who argued in favor of dominion in government. He asserted that equality leads to a state of war. 

Macaulay rejected this idea—stating that a monarchy leads to inevitable corruption—and argued instead for political equality and the rights of “the people.” 

The second part of Loose Remarks laid out Macaulay’s vision for a truly democratic government. This plan included a representative assembly elected by the people with decision-making power, a senate with only advisory authority, and a mandatory rotation of office; she insisted on three-year terms, followed by three years out before reelection. She also included an “agrarian” policy on property arrangement to prevent extreme concentration of power. 

Most notably, her plan banned women from the ability to inherit property. 

Bilder underscored the importance of understanding the political context of the 1760s to understand Macaulay’s reasoning for this exclusion. “Under 18th century law, women only inherited if there were no male heirs,” she explained. “And when heiresses married, they lost control of their property to their husbands.”

Macaulay’s proposal on women’s inheritance was thus meant to prevent them from being used as instruments of wealth accumulation by men—an issue Macaulay saw unfold many times over in her own family history.

‘The Perils of Sex’

Bilder said that Macaulay developed much of her insights from her family history and personal experiences. Much of her family’s wealth had come largely from the death of young female heiresses, a recurring pattern in which women—including Macaulay’s own mother—married young, bore children early, and succumbed to maternal deaths. At the time, maternal mortality rates ranged from eight to ten deaths per 1,000 women, with first births posing particular risks.

Macaulay and one of her sisters, aware of this pattern, both took steps to marry later in life, when they were 29 and 30 respectively. (Macaulay would eventually have a daughter, become widowed, and later remarry a man 26 years her junior—a decision that drew controversy, especially in combination with her fiery political views.) 

“The wife had no legal existence apart from her husband,” explained Bilder. “And because this property transmission depended on marriage, it depended on legally mandated sex. Thus, it was all founded on the perils of sex for women.”

 And so, when Macaulay turned to a plan for democratic liberty, she thought about women and imagined what liberty would look like for women. If women could not own property outright while married, then they should not be able to transmit it to men. 

The 1769 revision of Loose Remarks clarified Macaulay’s intentions for providing independence to widows and daughters. She emphasized that her proposed plan was meant to stop women from being pawns in the male path to power. It also discussed education for female children and included correspondence shared between her and American revolutionary Benjamin Rush.

Expanding the Tradition of Liberty

Loose Remarks was one of many political writings Macaulay published throughout her life, before she died at the age of 60 in 1791. Throughout the 1780s, she continued to write on topics of liberty, advocating for the education of women and opposing cruelty to animals. 

“She was famous beyond anything we can imagine in her day,” Bilder said. “She was greatly admired by the politically interested on both sides of the Atlantic. I’ve argued elsewhere that she influenced American revolutionaries and the Declaration of Independence.”

Macaulay’s incredible vision and ideas on female independence and autonomy, Bilder concluded, are a powerful reminder that to fully understand the tradition of liberty in legal history, it’s critical to include the perspectives of women and how they experienced—or didn’t experience—“liberty.”

“She recognized that governments proposed by men focused only on male liberty and were based on the denial of liberty to women,” Bilder said. “Her plan and its relationship to her family history reminds us that the traditions of liberty are not only found in books written by men in libraries owned by men. They are passed down also through the minds and bodies of women and a democratic government.”