HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO OUR FOUNDING MOTHERS!!
just a handful of ladies who did some remarkable things during their time when our nation wasn’t a nation and the years following its establishment. sources : 1 / 2
Phillis Wheatley
“Kidnapped from her home in West Africa, Wheatley was brought to Massachusetts by a slave ship in 1761 at the young age of seven. She was taught how to read and write by the Wheatley family and grew up to be the first published African American poet She was a strong supporter of American Independence and wrote poems in honor of General Washington. In 1776, after sending the future president one of her poems, she was invited to meet Washington in Cambridge.”
Betsy Ross
“We don’t know for sure that she made the first American flag, but she represented the story of many American women during the Revolution anyway. Her first husband was killed on militia duty in 1776 and her second husband was a sailor who was captured by the British in 1781 and died in prison. So, like many women in wartime, she took care of her child and herself by earning a living – in her case, as a seamstress and flag maker.”
Judith Sargent Murray
“In addition to her long-forgotten essay “On the Equality of the Sexes,” written in 1779 and published in 1780, Judith Sargent Murray—then still Judith Sargent Stevens—wrote about the politics of the new nation of America. They were collected and published as a book in 1798, the first book in America self-published by a woman.”
Hannah Adams
“During the American Revolution, she supported the American side and even wrote a pamphlet about the role of women in wartime. Adams was the first American woman to make her living by writing; she never married and her books, on religion and on the history of New England, supported her.”
Abigail Adams
“Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, Adams is one of the most famous women of the Revolutionary Era. She was an advocate for education of both boys and girls in public schools, though she received no formal form of education herself. She was an advisor to her husband John Adams and their correspondence through letters are filled with debates on public issues and the formation of the new government.”
Deborah Sampson
“Sampson fought in the American Revolution under the alias Robert Shurtlieff. She spent her youth in indentured servitude and once of age became a teacher. In the spring of 1781 Sampson dressed herself as a young man and joined the army at West Point, New York. For over two years Sampson’s true identity went unnoticed as she fought bravely for the independence of her country. After she died at the age of 66 in 1827 her husband Benjamin was awarded military spousal pay.”
Dolley Madison
“Madison served as hostess in the White House for Widower Thomas Jefferson and later for her husband, James Madison. Her tenure as First Lady defined the role of the spouse of the President. She furnished the newly constructed White House and when it burnt down during the War of 1812 she saved the portrait of George Washington.”
Molly Pitcher
“Some women literally fought in the Revolution, even though almost all the soldiers were men. Mary Hays McCauly is known for taking her husband’s place loading a cannon at the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. Her story inspired others.”
Martha Washington
“The first FLOTUS, Washington was born in New Kent Country, Virginia. During the infamous bitter winter in Valley Forge during the war Washington worked tersely for the troops. She visited the starving, frozen soldiers and provided them with food and warm socks and nursed some of the sick and dying men.”
Esther Reed
“Born in London, Reed moved to Philadelphia where she hosted many political leaders in her home, including General Washington. Reed believed that the government should pay for soldiers’ food and supplies and organized The Ladies Association of Philadelphia to provide aid during the war.”
Sybil Ludington
“If the stories of her ride are true, she was the female Paul Revere, riding to warn of an imminent attack on Danbury, Connecticut, by British soldiers.”
Mercy Otis Warren
“Author and propagandist, Warren is one of the first American women to write for a public audience. She sympathized with the war and wrote political poems and dramas that satirized Massachusetts’s royal government. In 1805 Warren complied a three-volume history “A History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution”.”
Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton
“Hamilton’s husband confided in her during the war, writing letter after letter about his experience and political thinking. After the war, and the death of her husband, she helped found orphanages in both New York City and Washington DC. She also helped established the legacy of her husband by collecting his letters and writings from other founders.”
She also aided her husband in creating the financial system that our nation uses as well as helping him write The Federalist Papers which defended the U.S. Constitution.