many other women including esther debert reed experienced these feelings, experienced these periods of aloneness. esther debert 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 was 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

so in what sense then can we consider women like elizabeth stevens, phyllis wheatley and esther debert reed founders and the women like them? how can they be considered founders of our nation? well, as i said at the beginning, without their participation, male revolutionaries would not have been able to be successful in their fight against britain. with all due respect to the brilliance and the creativity and imagination and bravery of the male political leaders, they needed followers. and without followers, their efforts would have failed. and women's efforts, particularly in the boycott, were very important. and then during the revolutionary war itself, they were necessary on the home front for the men to be able to conduct the direct business of war and governing. so what this meant was that the revolution enlisted women's support, made them politically conscious, encouraged men to think of women as political agents. it gave women political identities and forced men to acknowledge that women did, indeed, play a significant part in the political process. indirect though that role may be.