A to Z: B is For Beecher; Freewill vs Determinism by Catharine Beecher

In the first chapter of Common Sense Applied to Religion, Catharine Beecher asserted that the third intuitive truth the Divine implanted in the mind, is that “THE MIND OF MAN IS A FREE AGENT” and so capable of choosing and causing its own will or volition. In the twelfth chapter, “The Will,” Beecher began: “the power of choice raises man to the dignity of an intellectual and moral being.” She continued, “Without this principle, he would be a creature of mere impulses and instincts” and “would be led captive with each successive desire, or be the sport of chances whenever conflicting desires were awakened,” for, life presents a “constant succession” of decisions regarding “securing happiness” and “avoiding pain.”

You can read more here https://ecc.historyofwomenphilosophers.org/#hwps

A member of a prominent activist and religious family, Catharine Esther Beecher was a nineteenth century teacher and writer who promoted equal access to education for women and advocated for their roles as teachers and mothers. Embracing traits associated with femininity such as nurturance, Beecher argued that women were uniquely suited to the moral and intellectual development of children, either as mothers or as educators.

Born in East Hampton, New York on September 6, 1800, Catharine was the eldest of nine children of Roxana Foote and Lyman Beecher, a renowned Presbyterian minister and evangelist. When Beecher was nine years old, the family moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, where she attended the Litchfield Female Academy.

Beecher was 16 years old when her mother died and she began managing the household. A year later, her father married Harriet Porter and the couple had three sons and a daughter—Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the best-selling antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852). Catharine’s other famous siblings included Isabella Beecher Hooker, a suffrage leader and Henry Ward Beecher, a Brooklyn pastor, whose lectures against slavery or supporting temperance and women’s suffrage attracted thousands.

Sources: womenhistory.org

MLA- Michals, Debra.  “Catharine Esther Beecher.”  National Women’s History Museum.  National Women’s History Museum, 2015.  Date accessed.

Chicago- Michals, Debra.  “Catherine Esther Beecher.”  National Women’s History Museum.  2015.  www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/catharine-esther-beecher.

~Nikki

To understand my theme, start here: https://nikkisconfettilife.com/2026/03/31/my-a-to-z-challenge-2026-theme-reveal/

To read the first one: https://nikkisconfettilife.com/2026/04/01/a-to-z-a-is-for-ama-ata-aidoo-academics-royalty-feminism-poetry-plays/