ABSTRACT
Fielde had been away for six years. When she had sailed for Bangkok in late 1865, the Civil War had just ended, the nation was still in shock over Lincoln’s assassination, and a hapless Andrew Johnson was President. The Reconstruction period was being set in place, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution were passed giving citizenship and the right to vote to all who were born in the U.S.A., or were naturalized; this included blacks, but women’s suffrage was set aside, an act that alienated many feminist leaders from male-dominated radical Republican and reformist organizations. Women’s suffrage would come about only through women’s efforts and leadership.1 The U.S.A. was bursting with energy, rife with corruption, and in turmoil over Reconstruction.
