This free curriculum unit from the New-York Historical Society explores the active and engaged role that 18th century women played in colonial and revolutionary America. Materials consider how women experienced and were integral to settler colonial society, as well as the ways they participated in political discourses surrounding the American Revolution.
Women During the American Revolution
This short video illustrates the degree to which women actively participated in the American Revolution. In response to the Stamp Act, American colonists agreed to stop importing British goods and the colonial women led the boycotts of tea, fine cloth, and other consumer goods. Women began to think of themselves as “Daughters of Liberty.” Professor Rosemarie Zagarri explains how male political leaders came to acknowledge the political capacity and potential of women during this era.
Women Before the American Revolution
This short video explores the limited rights of women prior to the American Revolution. According to the idea of femme covert, women were legally and politically subservient to their husbands. Married women could not own property and all women were considered irrelevant to the political sphere. Professor Rosemarie Zagarri notes that 80% of the freemen in the colonies could vote (as compared to 20% in Great Britain), but suffrage was still limited to men.
The American Revolution Changes the Status of Women
This short video illustrates how women in post-revolutionary America came to be seen as intellectual beings responsible for fostering civic ideals in their husbands and children. These “republican mothers” were protectors of the public good. Professor Rosemarie Zagarri concludes that the flowering of feminist sentiments originating in the 1770’s reached its fruition in the Seneca Falls Declaration of 1848.
Women Vote in New Jersey (1776-1807)
This short video focuses on late 18th century New Jersey—the only state which (temporarily) enfranchised (some) women. The 1776 New Jersey constitution granted voting rights to all property-owning inhabitants while the constitutions of 1790 and 1796 referred to voters as “he and she.” Professor Rosemarie Zagarri concludes that the political ideology of the American Revolution did have lasting implications for women, even though New Jersey rescinded their voting rights in 1807.
In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th-Century America
Alice Kessler-Harris of Columbia University discusses citizenship for men and women in the context of the Industrial Revolution and increasing economic tensions.
Iroquois Council: Choosing Sides
In this simulation, elementary or middle school students convene as an Iroquois council in upstate New York, 1777. British agents are trying to convince Iroquois nations to take their side in the Revolutionary War.