Summary Of Women And The American Revolution By Wendy Martin

When first reading the article “Women and the American Revolution” by Wendy Martin the primary thesis of the article appeared to be hardships faced by American women during the American Revolution and how they prevailed. Hardships like illness, death of family members, and trying to keep the home fires burning while their husbands were off fighting the war. The article however, seemed to take a turn. While hardships of women in the time of the American Revolution were still discussed, they were not only physical and emotional but also the struggle was for equality. The author argues that men laughed at the notion that women had the mental capacity to think they could participate in public life at the time. Martin states that there are very

few existing writings from that time period and to gain insight into the lives of women during the late 1700’s the writing are mostly from personal diaries and letters. By reviewing these writings it is shown just how real their struggles were. Therefore, her overarching thesis is the many different hardships women faced during the American Revolution time period and how they triumphed in the fight for women’s rights.
Martin spends the majority of the article discussing Abigail Adams, wife to John Adams, and her struggle to be heard outside the home not only by her husband but other noted public figures of the day.

The author makes a valid point in which John Adams does not think his wife adequate to discuss politics nonetheless, she was the reason he was able too. Because she was business savvy, she was able to manage his household and farm so he could be away to conduct his political affairs. To further support her thesis Martin discusses several women who had written accounts for example, Anne Bleeker. Anne lost a daughter and wrote about it in letters to her friend describing her emotional struggle as she was forced to evacuate her home because enemy troops were approaching. Other women like Hannah Winthrop and Mary Slocomb showed incredible resolve when faced with hardships. These women rose to the challenge while displaying how truly desperate their situations were. When faced with the brutalities of the battlefield they prevailed. In another incident the author talks of women storming a general store because the merchant price for coffee was extremely inflated. While all the men looked on with mouths open, the women took the coffee and drove off. These women were very instrumental in helping keep the economy straight while men where off fighting. All of these examples strengthen the authors thesis of women overcoming the obstacles before

them.
The strengths of the article come from the strengths of the women the author highlighted in the article.

The fortitude these women displayed not only physically, but also mentally in their actions was nothing less than amazing. Martin highlights how even though many roadblocks were in place for these women they still found a way to prevail. Deborah Sampson and Madame de Riedesel both dressed as men to follow their husbands who were serving in the army. Mary Slocomb did what she could to help the wounded on the battlefield. And of course there is Abigail Adams always trying to bring women’s rights to the forefront no matter how many times her husband tired to put her back in her place. John Adams referring to Abigail as “too saucy” is amusing and hard to believe that our 2nd president would say that of his bride. As it was the belief of men during that time period that women were inferior, Martin highlights this in the John Adams quote where he refers to women as a “tribe”. This infers that he though them wild and powerless. Abigail proved over and over that she was not inferior and continued her quest to gain rights for women. Other women started organizations such as the Daughters of Liberty, and Sarah Bache (Ben Franklin’s daughter) led the women of Philadelphia in making over 2200 soldier shirts so they would not have to use British

wool.
Conversely the weakness of the article stems from those women who never questioned their role in life and just did what they knew was expected of them. The author discusses Rebecca Frank writing letters about dresses, balls and social engagements that often play into the stereotype that women of that day were silly, shallow and lacked intelligence. Some quotes she used from Abigail Adams displays feelings of hopelessness on the part of Adams as well. She feels as though she is powerless when John leaves her at home for extended periods and compares herself to a nun. While her feelings can be understandable, it shows women as the weaker sex. These comments show women exactly how the men wanted them to be seen and that is not good for the overall women’s rights movement, one step forward and two steps back. Overall though, Martin’s article portrayed women in a strong light, it described them as determined, intelligent and resourceful and considering the obstacles they had in front of them they really were remarkable. They ultimately paved the way for the rights of women today and were very instrumental in creation of America as a strong and powerful nation, whether our forefathers would agree or not.