significant ways. of all the men who gathered in philadelphia in 1776 didn't fully understand what was happening, the revolution they initiated was already beginning to spin out of their control. the story of the american revolution for women then is a story of unintended consequences, a story of revolutions once begun that often take on shapes and directions that their leaders did not intend or anticipate. and sometimes greeted with less than full enthusiasm. in order to understand the experience of women in the american revolution, i'd like to focus on the lives of a few particular women and explore through their lives the meaning of the revolution for larger groups of women that they represent. unlike george washington and thomas jefferson, theirs are not

household names. nevertheless, their lives provide a window on the larger collective experience of women during the american revolution and will help show us how and in what ways women can be legitimately considered along with men as the founders of our nation. the first woman i'd like to talk about is a woman named ester deburt reed. reed was born in london in 1747, the daughter of a wealthy merchant who traded with -- who was the daughter of a wealthy merchant who had extensive trading relationships with the american colonies. in 1763 joseph reed of new jers jersey, also the child of a merchant, went to london to study the law at the ends of court, a very common thing for american gentry to do in the prerevolutionary period.

there through a common circle of social friends he met ester debert and ester and joseph were immediately enamored of one another. unfortunate unfortunately, family circumstances forced joseph reed to return to america in 1765, just as britain and the colonies were beginning their own pitched battle over the stamp act. ester and joseph correspondeded for five years. and like another more famous couple, john and abigail adams, their letters were filled with writings about political events going on at the time. both of them were obsessed with politics. both of them couldn't wait to learn more about what would happen. and of course they had both a personal and a political interest in what was going on since the fate of their relationship to some extent depended on the fate of the colonies.

finally, in 1770, joseph reed, having become a successful lawyer in philadelphia, returned to england, married his love, and took her back along with her widowed mother to set until what was still part of the american colonies. the couple subsequently had four children. now, the political situation into which reed entered as a young wife was one in which the controversy with britain was already in full swing. and in this controversy male political leaders had already discovered that they had a weapon, a secret weapon that could be mobilized in their battles with great britain. and that weapon was women. beginning with the stamp act in 1765, then with the townshend acts in 1768 and later in the coercive acts in 1774, the

continental congress had struggled to find a way to make their grievances known to britain. as i'm sure you know, they elected no representatives to parliament. that's why taxation was such a powerful issue. no representation in parliament and yet they were paying taxes. so they had no representatives to express their grievances directly. the colonial legislatures sent protests and resolutions to parliament. this informal body that we know as the continental congress met together with representatives from most of the colonies. and they too hammered out resolutions. they too sent protest. but the members of parliament did not have to listen. they had no reason to listen. they were not responding to the grievances of their own constituents to the people who

represented them. so what could the continental congress do to apply further pressure on britain to try and get hated acts of parliament repealed? well, they came up with an ingenious solution, a series of 23407b importation, non-exportation agreements in which colonists decided to not import goods from great britain or not export certain goods to great britain. in other words, they would use the weapon of an economic boycott. and hopefully by putting political pressure and economic pressure on great britain people in britain would then put pressure on parliament and get these hated acts repealed. now, one thing i think in our usual telling of the american revolution that gets overlooked is the status of the continental congress. we think, oh, a congress, of

course, people would do what they asked. but remember, the continental congress was an extralegal body. in fact, from england's point of viewer, it was an illegal body. they had no official authority to make laws or to pass boycotts that would be imposed on the colonists. their authority came dlikt from the people. and to the extent that they were successful was the extent to which people voluntarily cooperated with their dictates. and i think this is something that is worth remembering because this was kind of an alternative government, a kind of shadow government that emerged, and it really -- its success really depended on the support of the people in a very direct way. and even more pointedly, the success of these boycotts depended on the support of the

people. if the people violated the boycotts, if they continued to glibly import goods from great britain because it made their lives more comfortable or more fashionable, then the continental congress really had little recourse as an official body. and as they thought about it, the leaders of the continental congress realized that if they were really interested in making these boycotts effective they needed the support of the primary consumers in the colonies, the women. and so throughout the colonies in the wake of the passing of these boycotts, calls for boycotts, lards in each of the colonies began to reach out to women to try and mobilize their support to try and get women to understand why it was so important to stop importing their favorite cloth, their favorite ribbons or hats or

buttons or china or tea from britain. they had to stop doing that if the colonial protests were to have teeth. if the colonists were to be successful in protesting against these grievances that they had with britain. and what's fascinating here is that these male political leaders were reaching out to women who were politically disenfranchised. they did not have the vote. they could not hold public office. and yet women held enormous power of a certain kind. this economic power and also the social power that they had over their husbands and families. and men knew that. and so what you see in the 1760s 1770s before the coming of independence are a plethora of

articles in newspapers explaining to women why they need to boycott british goods, begging women, pleading with women, cajoling women, and asking them to support these political actions. you see poems and essays, some written by women, reaching out to women, and asking them to support this cause of resistance. what this tells you, i think-s that men understood that women had this power and they understood that in this unconventional kind of conflict, this unconventional kind of battle they were waging with great britain, they needed to reach out to different constituencies. this was true for men as well. the continental congress knew that they needed the support of lower-class white men if the boycotts were going to be successful. so what these boycotts did was broaden the base of the resistance movement and

encourage other groups to come in and join in this political movement that increasing ly was expressing antagonism toward great britain because britain was not responding to the complaints, protests, and objections of the colonists to british rule. now, what we know, too, is that women responded to these calls. some women began to make homespun cloth rather than buy imported fabric from britain. they formed themselves into groups that they called daughters of liberty as female counterparts to the sons of liberty that were emerging in many cities and towns throughout the colonies. they held patriotic spinning bees where women would join with one another in making this cloth. they would wear garments made of homespun cloth. and this homespun cloth would be

much more rough textured, would be much less fine than the kinds of goods that they could import from great britain. but by wearing this homespun cloth women were visibly and vividly and physically displaying their political sentiments. to the public. they were showing other women and other people that they supported the american cause of resistance. some women took other kinds of political actions. they identified merchants who were violating the boycott, and they would gather together and march en masse to protest these merchants' policies. there's even a case in boston where the women gathered around the merchant and seized the merchant's keys for his shop from him and marched away. in boston in 1767 and in

edington, north carolina in 1764, women wrote and signed their own non-importation agreements. it wasn't sufficient for them to just obey the dictates of the continental congress. they wanted to conceptualize their own views, put their own views down on paper, and let people know that they were really key participants in this movement. so when elizabeth -- ester de berdt reed emigrated to america in 1770, she saw that male political leaders had already begun to reach out and enlist women in the patriot movement. and this of course would be something that she would immediately have been thrilled to see and wanting herself to participate in. with the coming of the war, with the war for independence that began in 1775 and then was formalized in 1776 with the declaration of independence,

reed observed that women were called upon to make new and different kinds of sacrifices for the revolutionary cause. for ordinary women the coming of war meant new kinds of sacrifices in terms of what they might expect in their day-to-day lives. they faced food shortages and shortages of other goods. in many places there was rampant inflation. sometimes there were smallpox epidemics because of the movement of troops and people. there was upheaval, dislocation, and the constant threat of violence. what this taught ester de berdt reed and other women is that in a conflict like the american revolution there was no separating the personal and the political. whatever side you're on, whatever you wished to happen in

the conflict with great britain, you could be drawn into the conflict whether you wanted to or not. but what the presence and immediacy of this conflict meant was that women were often forced to make political choices in their own lives. and by the way they acted in their lives, they could be shown support for the american cause or resistance, that is, support the loyalist cause. now, of course, they would often follow their husbands in these sentiments but not always. and whether they liked it or not, women were subject to the depredations of war and the conflict. many women also faced other kinds of sacrifices and privations as a result of the coming of war. in order for this war, in order for this new united states

government to be successful, many men had to be away from their families for long periods of time. they were called away to serve in the newly constituted state legislatures. they were called away to serve in the continental congress. they were called away to serve in the continental army or in the local militias. at this time what the husbands' absences meant is that the burden of taking care of the farms and the families and the businesses fell then on the women. women then had to take over in their husbands' absences and make sure that the family and the farm were tended to. sometimes they had to take care of and manage slaves or servants. a lot of women were not prepared for this. a lot of women suffered as a result of this. many people, especially the

leaders, lost fortunes in the revolution because their farms and businesses suffered during the revolution. now, probably a lot of us have heard about what abigail adams experienced during the american revolution, how much she missed john adams, her husband, how much she wished they could be together. but adams' experience was not singular. many other women, including ester deberdt reed, experienced these periods of aloneness. ester de berdt reed's husband served in the pennsylvania assembly, became a military aide to george washington, and then was governor of pennsylvania. so she had to stay at home and take care of her four children without his help and support for many years. so what this meant is that women

had to basically learn how to take care of business at home and yet support their husbands in their political activities while they were away. and as i say, this was a great sacrifice for many women. and men recognized that this as a sacrifice on the part of women. they began to publish essays, and they began to produce orations in which they noted that women were as patriotic as men, in which they celebrated women's contributions to the revolutionary cause, in which they honored women for stepping up to the plate, for doing what was necessary, and for making the men's participation possible. as one male orator put, it female patriotism, although it was different from men's, was of

a kind entirely suited to their sex. so in their own way women were making a contribution to this military cause. and men understood without women's support, without women's cooperation, their own efforts might not occur. but elizabeth debert reed was different from a lot of other women in that she wanted women to make an even more direct contribution to the revolution. because of her husband's position as an aide to george washington, she was acutely aware of the condition of the american troops. she knew how poorly provisioned they were, how they often lacked basic supplies. they often lacked shoes. they often lacked guns and were poorly compensated. and they lived in dire conditions in which their lives were constantly in danger.

all for the sake of their country. so as i say, reed wanted to do more, and she wanted to have other women support her in making a gesture that would show the troops how much women cared. so in 1780 ester de berdt reed published an essay, first as a broadside and then in various philadelphia newspapers, called "the sentiments of the american woman." and it was a rousing call to other american women to support the troops. and in this essay she recalled the deeds of women of the past who had also sacrificed, women of biblical times, famous que s queens, famous military leaders of the past, like the amazons. and she called on american women to do the same for their troops.

and she said, like men, women were born for liberty and disdeigned to bear the irons of a tyrranic government. women were as invested in politics as men. so in 1780 she took her campaign almost literally to the streets. she enlisted a number of her friends and they actually spearheaded a are drive to raise money for the support of the continental army. they called on their neighbors and family members and friends to donate funds for the troops. at a certain point she and her friends actually went door to door to collect money. and this would be a shocking -- a shocking episode at this time, to see women going around, respectable middle-class white

women, asking for money. but such was the intensity of their feelings. such was their fervor for the revolutionary cause, that they believed that they should do this. ester de berdt reed and her supporters collected over $7,000 for the support of the american troops. and when it came time to disburse the money, reed actually wanted to give gold coins to the troops in washington's army. but when she consulted with general washington, he was not keen on this idea. he was afraid that once the men got the money they might use it for unsavory purposes like buying rum or other liquor and getting drunk, which he didn't see as productive. so over washington's objections then reed had to change course.

and she and her female supporters made shirts and socks for the troops. but in each object that they made they put their name so that the troops would know this was a personal donation. as reed called it, an offering of the ladies in support of the troops. and she hoped this would not only give them physical comfort but also moral support to know that the women of the newly constituted united states were behind them. and reed's efforts inspired similar efforts in some of the other states. in other parts of pennsylvania women collected money. in maryland, virginia, and new jersey. so women were mobilized in support of this cause and they wanted to directly show the troops that even though they couldn't fight on the field of battle they were behind them, they wanted them to know that this was a collective cause for

all americans. so we see already some of the unintended consequences of the revolutionary movement. the boycott movement politicizes women, it makes them politically aware. it makes them understand that they have the potential to be politically involved and active. it makes male political leaders realize that women could make a contribution, even though women could not vote, even though women were still primarily wives and mothers. even in their traditional feminine roles women could be political actors. they could be as patriotic as men, and they could make a significant contribution to the revolutionary cause. so as a result of these efforts of the women in the prerevolutionary era and in the revolution itself people were no longer politically invisible.

now, the next woman i'd like to turn your attention to is a very different kind of person, a person you may have heard of. a woman named phyllis wheatley. wheatley was born in africa around 1750. she was captured and sold into slavery as a young child. but unlike most slaves, phyllis wheatley wound up in a very congenial environment for an enslaved person. she was purchased in 1761 by susanna wheatley, the wife of a wealthy boston merchant. she was to be a domestic slave rather than a field hand or work as a domestic worker on a large plantation, which was the fate of most female enslaved people at this time. and she was also very fortunate because the family into which she landed was very, very attentive to her. they quickly observed that she

was a very quick learner, extremely precocious, and with a keen intellect. and rather than suppress or repress phyllis's intellect, they nurtured, it they cultivated it, they encouraged it. they taught her to read and write. not only that. they taught her mathematics, geography, history. and even the classics. in fact, they taught her to read in latin. and even the most educated women at this time, one of the most educated being a woman named mercy otis warren of massachusetts, did not know how to read the classical languages. that was the true hallmark of a gentleman, of an educated person. but yet phillis wheatley learned to read latin. at some point as a teenager probably with the wheatleys' encouragement phillis took up

her pen and began to compose poetry. the wheatleys were stunned by phillis's gift and began to seek publication for her works in newspapers. one of her poems on george whitfield, the itinerant minister, was published, and it gains widespread attention, both in the british colonies and in england. so phillis wheatley, then, was actually gaining fame as a poet in the years just prior to the american revolution, or to the declaration of american independence. the wheatleys actually believed that phillis's work should be published as a book. and they tried to find an american publisher for her work without success. so in may of 1773 they sent phillis along with their son to england. there phillis wheatley made contacts with many notable

people who were supportive of her talents and impressed by they are abilities. she gained a patroness, the countess of huntington, who sponsored the publication of her book. and in late 1773 wheatley's book, "poems on various subjects religious and more, was issued, first in england and later in america. phillis's mistress susanna wheatley died in may of 1774, and at some point thereafter phillis was freed. she left the bonds of slavery. she was given her freedom. after her mistress's death phillis married a free black man, john peters. they had three children. in freedom, however, wheatley found unexpected challenges. she continued to write poetry, but she had a very difficult time supporting her family.

she had to work as a char woman. she could barely have the means to keep her family alive. always in frail health, in december 1774 just as the american war for independent was ending wheatley died, never having published her proposed second volume of poetry. despite all her talents and gifts, wheatley's life ended in impoverishment. american society lacked the opportunities for a gifted educated woll like wheatley to find employment. and of course her situation was all the more compounded because she was also a free black woman. tragic though it may be, but wheatley's life allows us to see in sharp perspective some of the issues that the american revolution raised for enslaved black women and for the white americans who began to ponder as a result of the revolution the

contradiction between slavery for black people and freedom for whites. first of all, the very existence of credible literary works produced by a person who is both female and black challenged stereotypes about those groups. people who cared to pay attention would see that black people and women were not necessarily inherently inferior in either intellect or ability. it suggested that -- her life suggested with the proper environment and education women and african-americans could be capable of the same attainments as white men. in fact, they could exceed. they could excel. second, although much of wheatley's poetry is religious in nature, she did publish a number of poems with patriotic themes. and what's