What did Women do in the American Revolution? EVERYTHING

1
What did Women do in the American Revolution?

• EVERYTHING!

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Standard 4The student will examine the lasting
impact of the American Revolution.

• Give examples that show how scarcity and choice
  govern economic decisions
• Recognize the contributions of key individuals

3
The Idea of Citizenship - Women

• Boycotts of British goods
• Participation in civil disturbances
• Collected money and petition signatures
• Home manufacture contributed supplies

• Camp followers provided services to Patriot army
• Served as spies, messengers, soldiers
• Assumed male tasks in supervising family and
  farms
• Wrote inspirational poems, plays, books
  supporting the Revolution

4
Boycotts
Stand firmly resolvd, and bid Grenville to
see, That rather than freedom we part with our
tea, As well as we love the dear draught when
a-dry, As American Patriots our taste we
deny Anonymous
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Manifesto of the Ladies of Edenton, North
Carolina
51 women signed to boycott the use of tea.
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Women spun yarn into homespun rather than
purchase British fabric. They grew garden
vegetables rather than buy from Loyalist markets.
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Camp followers hauled water, cooked, washed,
mended, and nursed soldiers in the Patriot army.
8
Spies, Messengers, and Soldiers
Molly Pitcher, Deborah Sampson, Lydia
Darragh, Sybil Ludington, Margaret Corbin
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Adjusted to Male Responsibilities
Lucy Knox
Martha Washington
Catherine Greene
Abigail Adams
10
Revolutionary Intellectuals
Mercy Otis Warren
Abigail Adams
Judith Sargent Murray
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Poem Sent to George Washington
Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales,For
in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails.Anon
Britannia droops the pensive head,While round
increase the rising hills of dead.Ah! cruel
blindness to Columbia's state!Lament thy thirst
of boundless power too late. Proceed, great
chief, with virtue on thy side,Thy ev'ry action
let the goddess guide.A crown, a mansion, and a
throne that shine,With gold unfading,
WASHINGTON! be thine. Phyllis Wheatley, 1776
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I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be
more generous and favourable to them than your
ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into
the hands of the Husbands. Remember all
Men would be tyrants if they could. If
perticular care and attention is not paid to the
Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebelion,
and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in
which we have no voice, or Representation. Abi
gail Adams to John Adams, 1776