Essay 1: Revolutionary Ideals, Republican Failures
By Colleen Bell

"We began a contest for liberty ill provided with the means for the war, relying on our patriotism to supply the deficiency. We expected to encounter many wants and distressed… we must bear the present evils and fortitude…" George Washington spoke these words in 1781 at the Battle of West Point. He told his troops, as well as those on the home front, that the patriotism of the war would provide for the shortcomings of the army. Despite many trials, Washington remained confident in the importance of patriotism as a means for victory. The need for the people to actively participate in the war effort created the vital link to a triumph over a despotic king. Washington called for support from all people, including women, who response vigorously. Women played a dramatic role in the revolution itself, serving as soldiers, nurses, spies, as well as serving as the main participants in major boycotts. Women were left to care for children, sustain industry within the household, conduct business in the absence of husbands, as well as attend to soldiers who may be staying in their town. Some women participated directly on the front lines aiding soldiers with food and medical care. Women played a massive role in the success of the Revolution itself, once the independence of the new land was gained, however, they were forgotten in the reforms of the founding fathers. Although the revolution sought to eliminate the hierarchy established by the king over his colonial subjects, the new republic left a hierarchy with men as sovereign over their wives. The importance of women in the revolution was quickly forgotten. Even the established ideals of "Republican Motherhood" while on the surface appear to be liberating are in fact very confining to women.

A great deal of the initial war effort focused on the boycott of English goods sent the colonies, good consumed primarily by women. Anna Rawle wrote to her sister in 1780, "Who, amongst us, will not renounce with the highest pleasure, those vain ornaments, when she shall consider that the valiant defenders of America will be able to draw some advantage from the money which she may have laid out for these" (Anna Rawle to her sister; Women’s America 108). Leaders of the campaign routinely visited or wrote women requesting support of the movement. Wars produce states of domestic strain as many resources become focused on the war effort itself. In the case of Revolutionary War it was not the lack of supplies but the demand upon citizens to consume that stood as one of the major causes of the war itself. The British, in an effort to continue imperialism, imported countless goods, among them tea and ribbons. As a negotiating tactic the colonists attacked the very supplies that made exportation from Britain so profitable. Following the Boston tea party colonists who opposed the king were asked to boycott tea, sugar, ribbons, and other heavily imported goods. The foremost patrons of most of these goods were predominantly women. Anna Rawle noted later in the same letter her desire to be involved in whatever way possible with the effort against the British, "The time is arrived to display the same sentiments which animated us at the beginning of the Revolution, when we renounced the use of teas, however agreeable to our taste, rather than receive them from our persecutors" (Letter to sister; Women’s America 108). These boycotts allowed women to play an active role in the movement against the British. By not drinking British tea, or using British ribbons, colonial women were voicing their discontent with the king and a need for a republic. Women were also encouraged to make their own clothing rather than buy British goods. Women became involved in the state of the colonies and played a pivotal role in doing so.

A role in boycotts was not the only way in which women played an active role against the British. Countless women went to the front lines in order to cook or clean for soldiers, nurse the wounded, a feed men in the line of fire. Sarah Osborn traveled with her husband to frontlines with Washington’s army. In a deposition given in 1837 Sarah described her tasks with the army, she is named as "deponent". She detailed what activities she engaged in while with the army, "Being out of bread, deponent was employed in baking bread…deponent busied herself washing, mending and cooking for the soldiers" (Deposition of Sarah Osborn; Women’s America 108). In a true display of bravery Sarah also tended to men on the front lines, bringing them food and water. Some women like Deborah Sampson even donned men’s clothing and joined the front lines to fight. Women routinely showed the willingness to compromise their lives in the interest of furthering the Republic in the face of tyranny.

Women unable to travel to the frontlines aided soldiers domestically through hospitality and donations. Some women aided soldiers by offering shelter within their households. While this usually created more work for the woman, a sense of patriotism came from the selfless action. Troops were often quartered near the fighting, leaving homes dangerous close to battles. Sally Wister, a young woman living outside Philadelphia recounting during a quartering of her house "However, my advice is, summon you all your resolution, call fortitude your aid, don’t suffer your spirits to sink, there’s nothing like courage; ‘tis what I stand in need of myself" (An Adolescent’s Wartime Diary; Root of Bitterness 77-78). Sally recognizes that the presence of troops in her house, while providing entertainment and flirtation, also places a family in harm in the line of fire. Through the act of providing hospitality for Continental soldiers, women were asked to play a primary role in the support of troops. An active involvement in support Revolutionary troops placed many families in eminent danger, considered an act of treason in the eyes of the British. The choice of many women to allow soldiers safety and rest within their walls required immense courage.

Women also fashioned shirts that clothed men of the army, a necessity for the soldiers. Along with donating materials such as cotton for shirts, or the shirts themselves, women loaned money to the Continental Army. Rachel Wells petitioned Congress in 1786 detailing the role her donations played in the war. "I have Don as much to Carrey on the Warr as maney that Sett now at ye healm of government…if She did not fight She threw in all her mite which bought ye Sogers food and Clothing and Let Them have Blankets and Since that She has bin obligd to Lay upon Straw and glad of that…" (Rachel Wells; Women’s America 111). While Rachel Wells could not be on the front lines, she believed, rightly so, that her donation to the government directly went to the military. She held that her contribution was as vital to the war effort as those who fought the war itself, and more importantly, she gladly sacrificed her money to clothe the army. Whether by donation, crafting, or hospitality women allowed their lives to be intimately affected by the war through the sacrifices made to gain freedom for the nation.

Thousands of men made sacrifices by joining the Continental Army, leaving wives, children, and farms behind. In the absence of husbands women were left to tend for both her chores in addition to those left behind for survival. Abigail Adams, left by her husband as he attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia recounts her life without her husband in letters to him. She once asked her husband, "What can be done, and which way shall we help ourselves? Every article and necessary of life is rising daily" (Letter to her Husband; Root of Bitterness 72). Through the division of labor along gender lines women were unskilled in many tasks imperative for survival on a farm. Women in situations similar to Adams were left to sow crops as well as harvest them, a task generally preformed exclusively by men. The ability to retain property without the skills of a husband created a heavy burden for women left entirely responsible for property.

While men provided the tasks necessary for farming, they also provided a protective presence during the British occupation. Abigail Adams also relates to her husband the spring season without him, "We knew not then whether we could plant or sow with safety, whether when we had toiled we could reap the fruits of our own industry, whether we could rest in our own Cottages, or whether we should not be driven from the sea coasts to seek shelter in the wilderness…" (Letter to her Husband; Root of Bitterness 72). Without the protection of a husband women were to protect themselves against any aggression that may befall them. Adams, concerned by reports reaching her describes, "…I expressed some fears least the Enemy should invade us here. My apprehensions are in great measure abated by late accounts received from the General" (Letter to her Husband; Root of Bitterness 73). Women were entirely responsible for the industry expected to sustain a family as well as caring for the normal daily activities on a farm. This was certainly a trying act for those who were left with enormous responsibilities while a husband fought a dangerous war, with not sure promise of victory or return.

The tangible reality of the war affected women through constant appeals to patriotism in support of the new republic. The emerging ideals of the republic soon came to shape the conception of a woman’s role within the newly freed land. Republicanism promised a relief from the bonds of servitude to a hierarchy. Women too expected an opportunity to revel in independence. As Judith Sargent Murray wrote, "I expect to see our young women forming a new era in female history" (The Republican Mother; Women’s America 112). The personal interaction with political ideals and patriotism created a sense of at last being a citizen of a nation, intimately involved with the fate of a republic. While the "model republican woman was competent and confident…rational, independent, literate, benevolent, and self-reliant" (The Republican Mother; Women’s America 113), women were at the same time not afforded equal status within the emerging republic. Some women came to understand themselves in the context of the ideals of republicanism as naturally inferior to men. Eliza Southgate writes to her cousin describing the mind of a female saying, " I found the mind of a female, if such a thing existed, was thought not worth cultivating. I disliked the trouble of thinking for myself and therefore adopted the sentiments of others" (Reflection on the Sexes; Root of Bitterness 99-100). The theoretical ideals of the new republic clashed greatly with the ideals left in place after the war. The founding fathers, however, failed to create equality for women, leaving them oppressed under the femme covert laws that existed prior to victory over the British. Despite the cries for equality, women once again assumed the roles traditionally existing for them.

With the success of the Revolutionary War came an eradication of hierarchies where kings ruled over men. The demise of the British hierarchy left behind a hierarchy where men became kings over their wives. At the conclusion of the war and the introduction of an entirely new conception of government, women searched for an understanding of their place in the new republic. A woman’s role in the republic came to be understood as that of a mother, a caretaker of society, while not actually a direct participant. This concept of "Republican Motherhood" while allowing women access to education, further implemented the subservient role of women. As a father reminds his daughter after the conclusion of the war, " A woman should consider it one of the most essential objects of her Views and conduct to secure and keep alive the love and affection of her Husband" (A Father to his Daughter; Root of Bitterness 93). The education afforded to women in the interest of Republican Motherhood provided women with the abilities to "be better wives, rational household managers, and better mothers for the next generation of virtuous republican citizens-especially sons" (The Republican Mother; Women’s America 117). Essentially, education for women was only provided with the explicit interest of instructing men in the areas of liberty and politics. The traditional role of women as existing for the benefit of men once again became enforced. The education of women, while offering great advances in literacy, was only socially acceptable in the context of promoting the education of male citizens.

The War of Independence truly revolutionized the world by creating a new way of thinking of government and a citizen’s relationship to it. The New Republic made the promise of equality, which for the most part went unfulfilled for women. Women’s lives just as the lives of all citizens during a war were affected whether by the new roles they had to assume, by limited their lives through boycotts, or serving the army directly through cooking or caring for soldiers. The effects of the newly established Republic remained silent through the lack of reforms in the lives of women. Aside from Republican Motherhood, which only allowed education in the interest of helping men and sons, the lives of women socially remained essentially unchanged and untouched by the reforms of independence. Despite Abigail Adam’s request to her husband during the Continental Congress to "Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors" (Letter to her Husband; Root of Bitterness 72), women were in fact forgotten by those who represented them.