revolutionary backlash: women in politics in the early american republic," published by the university of pennsylvania press. what's the word "backlash" mean in your title? >> guest: ah. well, as i studied this period what i found was that even though women couldn't vote for the most part or hold public office, that the revolutionary debate over equality and natural rights generated a large and wide spread discussion about whether women had rights and what rights women should have. and women had actually been important participants in the prerevolutionary era in the boycotts against great britain n attending protests, in if voicing their opposition to british rule. and women came to be acknowledged as political players, as political beings. so with the coming revolution, some women and some men started talking about whether women should be allowed to vote and hold public office as well, what kind of rights women should have. and, in fact, in one state, in new jersey women actually did have the right to vote from 1776 to 1807. and, yes, a little known fact. now, we have to understand that at this time with m