Women during the Revolution

For the majority of women during the Revolutionary Era the home was considered the center focal point. The man was the head of the household and women had a supporting role. If a woman did not have a husband she was probably assisting a parent, relation or master. Women fed the family, made clothing and household essentials, cleaned house and clothing, cared for and supervised the children (her own and any others that might live with the family), and served as nurse and midwife. Few items were purchased and most were manufactured in the home. Kettles, knives, nails, salt and tea would come from shops but candles, soap, clothing and food were domestic produce that took countless hours of work. Life was labor-intensive.

 

Although common laws were not uniformly enforced, a wife had few legal rights. Under law she could hold no property and a husband was legally entitled to beat her for disobedience. Spinsters and widows, however, could own property and manage property - until they married. Divorce was difficult and rarely granted, although courts did sometimes allow couples to live apart. In a novel approach to the difficulty this presented, couples in Maryland and North and South Carolina drew up divorce agreements, published them in newspapers and considered themselves free to remarry. These were not, of course, legal divorces. Other women simply ran away from bad marriages. Husbands often advertised for runaway wives in the same way they advertised for runaway slaves. In the lower and middle classes, marriages were sometimes made and unmade solely upon mutual consent.

          

  Women in the American Revolution exerted their political power in a few different ways. It differed not only for white women but it differed for Native American women and African American women as well.  White women, Native American women, and African American women came together in a sense to begin what would be fighting for women political rights which wouldn’t be for a good few decades but this sense of freedom would give women a new found hope that would later empower them to future make a change for them. The Great Awakening also brought women new found freedom as well.

            White women exerted their political power in many different ways. It differed from domestic chores all the way to boycotting British goods. Women in the colonies would stop buying cloth from the British and they made their own cloth. African American women would participate in this boycotting but not necessarily by choice. In the South and especially on plantations it was the African American women that would spin the cloth even though some white women spun as well. Women later also boycotted British tea and coffee and tried to make substitutes for them. White women considered themselves “a daughter of liberty” like Anne Green Winslow who said that “As I Am a daughter of liberty”. White women also helped the soldiers during the American Revolution and sometimes even dressed like a man to participate in the war. White women who did not impersonate themselves as a man tended to the soldiers by giving the food and drink. They would also sometimes be at the camp grounds doing domestic chores and tending to the sick and injured. White women also showed their political power by how the choice sides in the war and it wasn’t always the same choice as their husbands.

            African American women had difficult time during the American Revolution especially enslaved African American women. Enslaved African American women had to follow the political stances of their mistresses. For instances, white American women who owned slaves and who chose to boycott British goods made their women slaves do so as well. African American women had a harder time keeping care of their families because of the scarcity of food. The British also tempted African Americans to join them and in return the African Americans would gain freedom. This decision was a difficult one. African Americans would have to travel across war lines and risk getting caught by white southerners. They would later find out however that even though they seemed free from the plantations they were not free from the labor that they experienced on the plantations.

            Native American women experiences during the American Revolution resulted in how the tribes took sides. For instances the tribes who sided with the British suffered terrible loses because the British lost the war. Native American women’s role in their communities changed because of the absence of large number of Native American men. Their role as diplomats increased along with their responsibilities to maintain their tribes.

            The Great Awakening also increased political power for women. It increased political power mostly white women but it affected but black and white women in the south. Jemima Wilkinson who was a former Quaker believed that she was the female reincarnate of Christ and had a bunch of followers. Some women became traveling preachers but not the same as male ministers. For years women tried to exert their power by starting different religious groups however they were suppressed by white males and women’s voices became silenced after the American Revolution.  African American women were affected because of the Great Awakening as well. Some churches condemned slavery therefore some slaveholders who were devoted to these churches let their slaves go and African American women. Churches and households who did not condemn slavery still had much influence on African American women. Slave women’s duties changed slightly and now they had the responsibility and they were to bring other slaves to Christian conversion. This gave African American women roles of leadership that African American women had not experienced before.

            In conclusion, women during the American Revolution and the Great Awakening exerted and gained some political power. While they did not gain it in the way that we imagine women political power as we see it now they did gain a little. White women by far gained the most political power due to stature of the New World which was deemed officially America after 1776.  They exerted and gained political power when they decided to boycott British goods and made their own. For African American women they exerted and gained their political power when they decided which side they were too choose in the war and whether or not they were to cross boundary lines and join the British and gain freedom. Native American women gained and exerted political power by maintaining the villages when the men went to fight in the wars. The Great Awakening was a time for African American women and white middle class women to gain stature in the community. Some African American women gained their freedom and others took on greater responsibility to convert other African Americans to Christianity which gave them the power of influence. 

work cited

http://www.youtube.com/
Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents: Ellen Carol DeBois