Women of the Revolution (Module 5)

Throughout the late 1700's and early 1800's women continued to be oppressed but were slowly finding their way towards the inevitable women's movement for equality.  The women of the revolution were still basically “invisible” per Zinn (2003, 103)and were taught that they were inferior. Zinn has an excerpt from a best-selling pocket book called Advice to a Daughter which was published in London in the 1700’s which basically says that men have the “larger share of reason bestow’d upon them” (Zinn, 2003,107) which means, in other words, that women are less intelligent leaving us to be more prepared to be compliant with the men’s wishes. Women still regularly rebelled however in various ways.

One woman, Anne Hutchinson, was a religious mother of thirteen. She challenged the church stating that women could interpret the bible as well as a man. She was a good speaker and held meetings at her home and soon had many followers, even a few men. She ended up being tried twice, once by the church for heresy and once by the government for challenging their authority, before being banished from the colony and killed by Indians (Zinn, 2003).

                                                                

Deborah Sampson was the daughter of a poor farmer in Massachusetts. In 1782, at 21 years old, she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Continental Army. She was very courageous and fought in several battles. She even took a bullet out of her own leg so the doctor would not discover she was a  woman. Her commanding officer apparently discovered her secret but did not tell anyone and she was given an honorable discharge. She was awarded a soldiers pension many years later (Foner, 2005).

Many women, such as Abigail Adams and Lucy Knox attempted to draw a line where their husbands were concerned as to the equality of the woman in the household yet coverture still remained the law meaning a man still held legal authority over his wife, her property and her choices in life. Women were not allowed to vote  or have any political participation. Men generally considered women to be “naturally submissive and irrational and therefore unfit for citizenship” (Foner, 2005, 239) so any discussion of women's roles centered around domestic family issues and obligations to their husbands. Women's lives and relationship with society was primarily based around her relationship with her husband and their rights were all derived from their roles as wives and mothers (Foner, 2005).

                                                                        

Women did have a few very important roles in society that were at the time taken for granted. They were raising the next generations of Americans. Education was done primarily in the home so it became up to the women to teach their young children. Women also had specific jobs such as soap and candle making, tanning leather and spinning cloth, sewing, , brewing, food preparing, pickling and preservation (Zinn, 2003).  In reality, America would not have survived without the women who were here struggling to keep it alive along with the men.

In 1851 Amelia Bloomer suggested that women adopt a new style of dress that was shorter skirts and pants so they could have more freedom of dress but her ideas were attacked and called socialist and radical.

                                                                       

Chastity and prudence were valued and women were encouraged instead to be timid and submissive; showing any displeasure at any act the husband made, did or said was looked down upon (Zinn, 2003).

In the late 1700s many young women began getting jobs in spinning mills. Some of the earliest industrial strikes took place in these factories as 80-90% of the employees were women who were payed very little, perhaps 25 cents a day, for a 16 hour day of work.

                                                                      

The conditions were terrible, with little time allowed to eat and the women would have to be standing up most of the day. Most times the strikes were unsuccessful and sometimes the women fought with sticks and stones and would break in and stop the looms from operating (Zinn, 2003).

                                                      

Women became the primary education teachers during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s and they began reading and writing more and communication began to open up. Women’s publications began to be popular. Women began working in healthcare and slowly started forming movements working to fight against double standards in employment, politics and education.  This Revolutionary era truly was the foundation of  the women’s movement that emerged in the 1840’s.

Foner, E. (2008). Give me liberty! An american history (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company, Inc.

Zinn, H. (2003). A people’s history of the united states. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.