What Role Did Women Play In The American Revolution Essay

From the social viewpoint the war changed the lives and rights of women all across the United States. Many of the husbands left to fight in the Revolutionary war leaving countless women in charge of farms and businesses, roles which they were not accustomed to. Although the war did little to change women’s rights, in some states it did become possible for women to divorce and in new jersey women even obtained the right to vote which was way out of the ordinary in that time. Before the war both men and women viewed the wife as an obedient and serving spouse that raised the children and took care of the house. But the revolution encouraged people of both genders to reconsider the contribution of women to the family and society.

The American Revolution caused a change in America that was far greater than just the forming of an independent nation. In the years after the revolution, a government had to be set in place. The new nation was greatly influenced by models of previous governments, including Great Britain and ancient Greece and Rome. Despite the great change in political structure, aspects of social culture were influenced by the revolution as well, especially in the areas of slavery and the status of women.

Although women suffered immensely during the Revolutionary War, they played significant roles in the founding of the nation. Women played substantial roles of organizing for boycotts of British commodities, managing family business while struggling to maintain a modicum of routine work as husbands (Berkin 56). They also raised funds for the fledging nation. Some of the women acted as surrogate spouses in the family while their men went to the battlefield to fight. Berkin also reveals that women played significant roles in the war by leading in the battlefield (67). In this case, both men and women lead and fought in the front lines. The narrative of Margaret Corbin, who became a cripple for her entire life after she took her husband’s place in the battlefield, is a good example of how women participated in the war.

The role of women played in any given war is quite often severely underestimated. This sentiment especially goes for the American Revolutionary War, where women actually played an absolutely essential role in our victory against the British. Not only where there different types of women who had helped, but there were many different ways each of them helped--particularly as nurses to help save lives and tend to injured soldiers. Without women helping in the war, we would have most certainly lost (National History Education Clearinghouse).

Sarah Benjamin went before the deposition on the twentieth day of November, 1837 in the Court of Common Pleas of Wayne County, Pennsylvania. This deposition intended to validate claims for receiving pension benefits owed to Mrs. Benjamin from a previous marriage; an Aaron Osborn, veteran of the Revolutionary War. Her case founded itself on the numerous acts of Congress over the previous decade--in particular the Comprehensive Pension Act of 1832 and subsequent acts of Congress from July 4, 1836 and March 3, 1837--allowing for the first time yearly grants to all who served in the Continental Army for a period of six months or more. These acts supplanted Sarah Benjamin's case because applicants no longer required disability or monetary

During the American Revolution, men were often thought to have been the only ones to fight and participate in the war. While men were the majority that fought in the actual war, women were left to tend to all of the duties left by men, as well as, their own duties. Women were the backbone of towns, farms, and other businesses during the war. The book, Revolutionary Mothers by Carol Berkin, shares the stories of what women went through during the Revolutionary War. Carol Berkin writes about what all the women, no matter what race or political beliefs, went through during the war, and how these women handled the war.

But that isn’t all the Women of the Army did. Many ladies armed themselves at home and protected their hometown streets, like Prudence C. Wright did in Pepperell when two suspected Tory spies went through her town. She recruited a group of armed women and captured them. Additionally there were women like Deborah Sampson of Plympton and Nancy/Ann Bailey of Boston. They both (along with many other young women like them) chopped their hair off, used bandages to bind their breasts and adopted male aliases so they could enlist in the army.

After the women were trained the women were sent to hospitals for their placement, usually under Dorothea Dix. These two groups led to the creation of more organizations and increased the standard of medicine. Not only did the creation of organizations help advance medicine in the Civil War, there were many important women that did the same. Working on the battlefield was an ongoing struggle for women being female but they contributed to the development of battlefield medicine throughout the civil war. There were many important women who became nurses or physicians such as Mary Edwards Walker, Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke, and Clara Barton. Mary Edwards Walker graduated from Syracuse Medical College and attempted to begin her own medical practice. This was extremely difficult for her because people were not ready to accept women as physicians. The stereotype that only men could be doctors and work on the battlefield still existed and this was one of the first times that this stereotype was challenged. She volunteered at military hospitals and took more medical courses to further her

One of the many camp followers was named Margaret Corbin who was following her husband during the war. While her husband was on the field, Corbin saw him getting shot and she took his armor and his gun and started fiering untill she got wounded herself. Corbin became the first woman to earn a pension for her service in the war. Women were not allowed to join the military but many women served as secret soldiers during the revolutionary war. These women disguised themselves as men by cutting their hair off, binding their breasts with bandages and using a male name.

The role of women in the Early Republic is a topic mostly overlooked by historians when dealing with this era of American history. The triumphs of the Revolution and the early events of the new nation were done solely by men. However, women had their own political societies and even participated in the Revolution. Women's roles began to take a major turn after the war with Great Britain. This was due in part to their involvement in the war and female patriotism. Others believed it was due to the easier access to formal education for young women. Whatever the reason, it inspired women to challenge the social structure of the Early Republic. The roles of women were changing in the Early Republic. However, progress was slow and little change

The women who tried to enlist were kicked out. Women would chop off their hair and trade their dresses in for guns so that they could fight for what they believed was best for our country. People were very judgmental about the women were willing to enlist before they disguised themselves. The men and other women thought that those girls were mentally unbalanced or prostitutes. Some would say that those women had unadulterated patriotism (Dillard).

‘In 1812 many women accompanied their husbands to camp. Women who wanted to play an even bigger part in the war dressed as men and enlisted (Zenor–Lafond, Holly, "Women and Combat: Why They Serve") and ‘Estimates of female soldiers in the Civil War puts the number somewhere between 400 and 750’ (“Female Soldiers in the Civil War.” Civil War Trust). Females weren’t allowed to be members of war, but if they could cook, and nurse or spy (which is how most wives accompanied their husbands to camp) they were allowed as an exception. Later as the war went on the physicals became more lax, so women could be seen as teenage boys.

They opened up their homes to the wounded, raised money for and provided food and clothing to the Army. There are even several recorded instances of women serving as spies or soldiers in disguise. Most of the active participants however, were in the form of what was called "camp followers". While some of these were women were prostitutes, many others were wives, daughters and mothers of soldiers who followed the Army because they were unable to support themselves after their men left for war. They served the Continental Army as nurses, cooks, laundresses, and water bearers. These women became the earliest American examples of women who supported the military to "free a man to fight" as they performed jobs usually done by male soldiers.

During the American Revolutionary Era, women played essential roles in the defiance against Great Britain by boycotting British products and joining the non-consumption organization. During the American Revolution, women served as nurses, cooks, maids, seamstresses, some even secretly enlisted in the Continental Army. From 1825 to 1850, women were fighting for equal opportunities as men and women’s right to vote, the Reform Period. Women’s roles were similar during the American Revolutionary Era and the Reform Movement because during both periods, women contributed to the movements, by joining political protest. Their roles differed during the periods because women during the reform movements, created conventions geared towards women, exacting

The American Revolution (1775-1783) was a time of great change in America. American men were fighting for their right to be free from an oppressive ruler 3000 miles away. They wanted to have their say about what went on in their own country. America won the Revolution and its freedom, but while this was going on something else was happening. Internally changes were coming about too during all this fighting. The Revolution was the catalyst for women to make progress towards freedom. Women were making economic and political gains to further women's rights.