Women's Role In The Revolutionary War Essay

As we study the Revolutionary War we tend to think of the men that revolted, fought, and petitioned, but have we ever thought about what the women did during the war? In Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence, we get a chance to see the women’s side of the war and what they did during this troubling time. Carol Berkin shows us what each race and class of women went through and their contributions during the war with well researched information and her own techniques.

During the American Revolution, not only did men have to face the struggles of war time atmosphere, but women had to as well. The country during the war was divided into three different groups of people; the loyalists, the patriots and the remaining people who did not care. Catherine Van Cortlandt, a loyalist had to endure different struggles then the patriot women Eliza Pinckney and Abigail Adams. However, parts of their stories are similar when it came to their family struggles.

Overall, women were an integral and vital part of the Revolutionary War. While few fought on the front lines, others helped in more subtle ways that showed rebellion and helped edge the USA towards long-awaited victory. Men thought women were incapable of understanding the intricacies of war and were proven incorrect time and time again. Whether through spying, healing, or fighting, without women, Britain most certainly would’ve overpowered America in the Revolutionary War.

Document A, shows a woman holding a musket and powder horn wearing a tricorn hat. This document bolsters that women’s roles were expanded during the American Revolution since they participated in the American Revolution and hints at the potential for revolutionary change in women’s roles. The Daughters of Liberty proved that they could do anything a man could do. When their husbands, brothers, and or sons went to fight in the war women had to continue making a living at home by assuming the tasks that the males had. The Daughters of Liberty were working relentlessly to prove their commitment to “the cause of liberty and industry.” Home manufacturing originated from when women made clothing for the people of their respective towns to boycott the British and when they had to produce products such as artillery as well as clothing for the American forces to utilize. Document J, a valedictory address by Molly Wallace from the Young Ladies’ Academy of Pennsylvania notifies us that friendly encouragement allowed herself to overcome apprehension due to sex, youth, and inexperience which will be an example that women can do anything they set their mind to and that if women are not denied the right to read, moreover they should not be denied the right to speak. Her speech increased discussion of educational opportunities for women and the Revolution had not yet greatly altered society’s perception of the role of women.

Some women chose to follow their husbands to war and participated in cooking, laundry, and nursing for wounded soldiers [1]. Female suffragists in the 1900’s began encouraging the spread of feminist ideas, all over the country which lead to campaigns by suffragists [3]. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were suffragists who changed women’s role during the twentieth century by holding suffrage campaigns and forming organizations [5].

Although women suffered immensely during the Revolutionary War, they played significant roles in the founding of the nation. Women played substantial roles of organizing for boycotts of British commodities, managing family business while struggling to maintain a modicum of routine work as husbands (Berkin 56). They also raised funds for the fledging nation. Some of the women acted as surrogate spouses in the family while their men went to the battlefield to fight. Berkin also reveals that women played significant roles in the war by leading in the battlefield (67). In this case, both men and women lead and fought in the front lines. The narrative of Margaret Corbin, who became a cripple for her entire life after she took her husband’s place in the battlefield, is a good example of how women participated in the war.

Socially, the colonists were struggling with loyalists (American colonists who support the British) not believing that they could win the war. Women were impacting the war behind the scenes. Women were apart of groups called the daughter of liberty and

Some of the people and revolutionary heroes in the war were women, George Washington, Paul Revere, and slaves. When men left to fight, women had new roles and jobs to do. When the women worked as carpenters, farmers, and shipbuilders, they must have been very successful because since most of the men were gone, they could do as much as they needed. They took over the jobs that men used to do. For example, women farmed, carpenters, and built ships. Some of the wives followed their husbands in the war and did new jobs in it. In the war, the jobs that they

The Revolutionary War had an affect on women due to the fact that men assumed that it was their war alone, and women were not to be consulted on the political affairs that were involved to develop judgment on gaining freedom from the British. However, women were often used as spies during the war, because men never would think that women were involved with providing help during the war. “Women were challenged to commit themselves as politically and then to justify their allegiance. The war raised once again the old question of whether a woman could be a patriot – that is, an essentially political person – and it also raised the question of what form female patriotism might take,” (Kerber: pg. 9). Kerber essentially argues that women often had to prove themselves that they also were fighting for their rights during the war and providing the help that was necessary. Women were patriots as well as willing to fight for their country’s freedom to belong in the new America.

As the movement for American independence began. Women’s roles continued to change. Though they were still primarily responsible for caring for their families and tending to their homes, they also began to take an active role in the Revolution. Women on both sides of the political spectrum, whether patriot or loyalist, faced significant challenges that would undoubtedly change the course of their lives

They did not just help the soldiers, but they also helped blacksmiths and express riders. Women often did these jobs to get extra money since rations were so small. They were allowed to charge soldiers for their cooking and for doing their laundry, but some women did them for free (Danyluk). Women such as Sarah Osborne, who followed her husband during war, were very effective in helping the army. Sarah washed laundry for the soldiers coupled with patch work and baking. Sarah never received payment for her duties, but she still continued to extremes. She was reported to have carried beef and bread to soldiers in trenches during battle. She stated “It would not do for the men to fight and starve too” (Danyluk). With Sarah Osborne’s support, our soldiers were able be energized while fighting a very important battle. The courageous and brave actions that Sarah Osborne and other similar women took were a big part in the victory of the Revolutionary War. In essence, women made a big impact on how the American Revolution played

During the American Revolution the traditional position of the Eighteenth Century women was to essentially be in the background, almost hidden. Women were not to participate publicly in the revolution or any other political issues. Nonetheless, in their own sphere of influence, woman engaged fully in the revolution in any way they could, without actually being considered publicly opinionated. Woman were forced to be opinionated due to being directly affected by the war, and other things that came along with it such as, inflated prices, and running households and farms alone. The only way to fully comprehend the history of women from 1764-1789, is to read the diaries and letters left behind from the ladies who lived through it. In her mission

When the men went out to war, the women stepped up and filled the gaps left by the men. Many women contributed to the war effort by working in munitions, making ammunitions, and other necessities to be sent over to the war. Many women worked in munitions, but the women that did not work in munitions wove scarves and socks for the soldiers to wear to keep them warm. A big advancement was made in 1918 called the Women’s Suffrage and/or the conscription crisis, meaning that if a woman was a mother, daughter, or sister of someone in the war, they could vote. This was a big advancement because before the war women could not vote at all, and now certain women can.

As some may have already known, women did not always have rights. Women were not always treated equally, they were perceived as weak individuals that could not lead people, especially men. Even though some may argue that women were not treated as badly and demining as historical analysis indicate, according to Cradoreference.com the late 1800’s was a time when “women were considered ‘inferior beings’”. But what most Americans did not know was that women were already starting to do things they did, without their knowledge. An estimate of four hundred women disguised themselves as soldiers and fought during the Civil War. Some of them played the role of spies, scouts, and smugglers. Other women filled the places of men that had to leave to fight

If you ask anyone if woman were an important during the discovery of the thirteen colonies or during the american revolution, most would tell you no. During the colonization era woman did not have any rights, for example if a married woman had any type of property it all became her husband's property.Women were not able to vote, or to be part of any group or to have any political position. The Daughters of Liberty were like the Sons of Liberty but better, by being a orientation made of only powerful and intelligent group of women's. Being of the The Daughters of Liberty were a great example of what women were capable of by showing their