The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the 1873 case in which Myra Bradwell challenged an Illinois statute excluding women from practicing law

A) was the first time the Court interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as establishing gender equality.
B) was a severe blow to the idea of "separate spheres" for men and women.
C) resulted the following year in congressional passage of the groundbreaking Legal Practice Act.
D) demonstrated that, while racial definitions of freedom were changing, gendered ones still existed.
E) was praised by Bradwell, who went on to become the first woman on the Illinois Supreme Court.

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Steven Anderson · Accepted Answer

Final Answer : D, Explanation :  The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bradwell v. Illinois (1873) upheld the state's decision to bar Myra Bradwell from practicing law because she was a woman, reflecting the era's prevailing gender norms and demonstrating that, despite changes in racial definitions of freedom post-Civil War, gendered definitions of freedom and equality remained very much intact.

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