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Women's role in American Revolution Essay
Role women and the american revolution
Popular but inaccurate perception of the role of American women during revolution
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While women enforced the act through their refusal to purchase British made goods, a substantial burden fell on them by having to make the boycotted goods themselves, so their families did not have to go without. Although it is difficult to ascertain the effectiveness of the boycott, the utilisation of a similar boycott in 1806 would suggest that it was at least somewhat effective. Although the boycott was one of the most visible acts of indirect political participation by women during the American Revolution, women engaged in other actions of unconventional political participation that demonstrated a degree of political influence. For example, a number of single women publicly promised that they would only be courted by Patriot soldiers, those supporting the American cause, while other women torched their crops in hopes that the British forces would starve. While these acts of defiance did not bring about any lasting change, and did not demonstrate an infiltration of women into conventional politics, they did provide women a foundation in which to build their political influence. Being that women seized these opportunities to make a …show more content…
Historian Linda Kerber describes women's political influence in the new republic as "accomplished within the confines of her family." She goes on to refer to these women as “Republican Mothers” and notes that: "[A] Republican Mother's life was dedicated to the service of civic virtue; she educated her sons for it; she condemned and corrected her husband's lapses from it. If, as Montesquieu had maintained and as it was commonly assumed, the stability of the nation rested on the persistence of virtue among its citizens, then the creation of virtuous citizens was dependent on the presence of wives and mothers who were well
When considering the American Revolution most histories fail to recognize both sides of the fight for liberty. Men were certainly the central figures; however could they have succeeded without the periphery support of women? In her book, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America, Linda K. Kerber explores the contribution of women to the war and demonstrates the rising of “Republican Motherhood” during and following the war. Through this ideology, women merged their traditional roles with their new sense of civic duty. In the beginning chapters, Kerber examines women’s engagement in the war effort, explores the emerging idea of female patriotism and states the proper loyalties of married women during the time. Kerber then looks at the consequences of the Revolution in relation to the female concerns of divorce, education and women’s reading. In these chapters, and her concluding chapter, “The Republican Mother,” she evaluates the representation of womanhood in the early republic. According to Kerber, the American Revolution had an enduring and significant change in the role of women in society and created a new political role for women, known as “Republican Motherhood”.
Lewis, Jan. "The Republican Wife: Virtue and Seduction in the Early Republic." The William and Mary Quarterly. 44 (1987), 689-722.
The time before the Revolutionary War, women’s main role was in the home. They were the manufacturers of the home, taking raw materials and turning them into household goods. The women were the consumers and before the Revolution they led the boycotts against British goods. During the Revolutionary War, they became the men at home on top of the roles they already had. They became spies, nurses, propagandists, and even took over the battlefield.
Education did not form part of the life of women before the Revolutionary War and therefore, considered irrelevant. Women’s education did not extend beyond that of what they learned from their mothers growing up. This was especially true for underprivileged women who had only acquired skills pertaining to domesticity unlike elite white women during that time that in addition to having acquired domestic skills they learned to read a result becoming literate. However, once the Revolutionary War ended women as well as men recognized the great need for women to obtain a greater education. Nonetheless, their views in regards to this subject differed greatly in that while some women including men believed the sole purpose of educating women was in order to better fulfil their roles and duties as wives and mothers others believed the purpose of education for women was for them “to move beyond the household field.” The essays of Benjamin Rush and Judith Sargent Murray provide two different points of view with respects to the necessity for women to be well educated in post-revolutionary America.
Women played a larger role than they were given credit for, in multiple capacities such as being “camp followers”, taking care of the home-front and raising funds for soldiers, as well as fighting in the Revolution. Some were more famous than others, like Martha Washington, Deborah Sampson, and Molly Pitcher, but all women involved played an important role and aided in tipping the scale in the American’s favor. As camp followers during the Revolution, women and their children were allowed to accompany the soldiers. Warren also corresponded with many leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock.
Women had a role in the forming of our country that many historians overlook. In the years leading to the revolution and after women were political activists. During the war, women took care of the home front. Some poor women followed the army and assisted to the troops. They acted as cooks, laundresses and nurses. There were even soldiers and spies that were women. After the revolution, women advocated for higher education. In the early 1800’s women aided in the increase of factories, and the changing of American society. Women in America were an important and active part of achieving independence and the framing of American life over the years.
When women first arrived to the new colonies, many did not have the money to pay in order to get off the boat. This forced them into 4-5 years of servitude. Women would then be free to search for a husband. In Colonial America, the social status of citizens was based on financial standings, ethnicity, and religious beliefs. Social class was a determining factor of opportunities available to women. They had considerably greater rights than their counterparts in England, however women faced the strict rules and discrimination of a predominantly Puritan society.
Linda Kreber's Women In The Republic: Intellect And Ideology In Revolutionary America was written to focus on the role of women after the revolution. Kreber analyzed the various roles of women in the revolution, and the impact these roles had on women in the republic following. ...
While the women’s suffrage movement was none violent and mainly carried out by organized meetings, lobbying congressman, and picketing protests, the women that participated in it could do nothing to stop the violence of their oppressors from coming to them. In January 1917, the National Women’s Party, led by suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, began to picket, six days a week, in front of the white house for their right to vote. At first largely ignored, they became under frequent attack with no help from the police. Then starting th...
As the years dragged on in the new nation the roles of men and women became more distinct and further apart for one another. Women were not allowed to go anywhere in public without an escort, they could not hold a position in office let allow vote, and they could only learn the basics of education (reading, writing, and arithmetic). In law the children belonged to the husband and so did the wife’s property and money. The only job women could think about having was being a ‘governess’ which would give other women education.
Baker, Paula. “The Domestication of Politics: Women and American Political Society, 1780-1920.” American Historical Review 89, no. 3 (1984): 620-647.
...also were not represented, and made women understand that this inferiority dilemma that was going on every day had to stop, and that they had to revolt and fight for their own rights. Her influence combined with other women fighting and the spirit of rebellion already set in men spiked women's interests in their rights and made them want to struggle for their privileges.
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.
Women began to speak out against the laws that were deliberately set against them. Throughout this time period, women were denied the right to vote in all federal and most state held elections. Women struggled to achieve equality; equality as citizens, equality in the work place, and equality at home. During this time, Americans worked to fight corruption in government, reduce the power of big business, and improve society as a whole.
Influenced by the anti-slavery debate Wollstonecraft repeatedly compared the control over women by men to that of the planters’ domination of slaves, which potentially influenced women to join the abolition movement as well as raising interest in first wave feminism. Women set up their own societies and expressed their abolitionist stance in a variety of activities including being involved massively in the organisation and carrying out of the sugar boycotts of the 1790s, the boycott was upheld by more than 300,000 people who bought sugar produced in the East Indies by free labour. Other activities the women’s groups did consisted of producing physical propaganda for example workbags and tapestries. There were also 206 female members of the Abolition society however they were not regarded as officers and weren’t invited to sign the petitions that the society