In the Words of Women: The Revolutionary War and the Birth of the Nation, 1765 - 1799

by Louise V. North, Janet M. Wedge, Landa M. Freeman, Carol Berkin Carol Berkin (Foreword by)

Overview

In the Words of Women brings together the writings—letters, diaries, journals, pamphlets, poems, plays, depositions, and newspaper articles of women who lived between 1765 and 1799. The writings are organized chronologically around events, battles, and developments from before the Revolution, through its prosecution and aftermath. They reflect the thoughts, observations and experiences of women during those tumultuous times, women less well known to the reading public, including patriots and loyalists; the highborn and lowly; Native Americans and blacks, both free and enslaved; the involved and observers; the young and old; and those in between. Brief narrative passages provide historical context, and information about the women as they are introduced enable readers to appreciate their relevance and significance.

For more information on this topic, please visit the author's website at www.inthewordsofwomen.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739150191
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	04/13/2011
Pages:	422
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Louise V. North is an independent scholar and co-author of Selected Letters of John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay.Janet M. Wedge is a former high school teacher and adjunct professor at Manhattanville College, and co-author of Selected Letters of John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay.Landa M. Freeman is visiting lecturer at numerous historical societies and university groups and co-author of Selected Letters of John Jay and Sarah Livingston Jay.

Table of Contents

Foreword Carol Berkin ix

Acknowledgments xi

Editorial Guidelines xiii

Timeline xvii

Dramatis Personae xix

Setting the Scene xxxi

Part I Women During the American Revolution

1 advancing toward a state of Independancy 3

2 Things indeed look dark 51

3 every one of them could shoot very well 71

4 branded by the names of rebellion and treason 91

5 the heavy Cloud that hangs over us 135

Part II Women Living Their Lives

6 This week my Family are all sick 163

7 safely arrived at the Haven of Matrimony 181

8 in her own sphere 203

9 we set out our journey 245

Part III Women in the Emerging Nation

10 willing to re-sheathe the sword 289

11 a flattering and a Glorious Reward 319

12 a favored nation 331

Notes 341

Bibliography 371

Index 379

About the Authors 385

Editorial Reviews

So often, women of the Revolutionary Era are ghettoized, set apart from the central narrative. Not so with In the Words of Women. In this valuable documentary resource, female experiences and perspectives are contextualized and integrated into the flow of history. Women thus become real players, and as the title suggests, we meet them on their own terms.

Ray Raphael

The voices of the women of the revolutionary generation have sometimes been lost in the rush to provide analysis and narration of their roles. …The story is too often told about the women who protested, boycotted, fought, nursed, spied, and took over the task of running farm and shop, but the voices we hear do not come from the women themselves. The challenge is to bring those voices to the written page, to make us as familiar with the cadences of the housewife and the camp follower as we are with the tempo of Patrick Henry's oratory. …This is the challenge that the editors of In the Words of Women have met.

Carol Berkin

Through fascinating documents, deft notes, and unobtrusive editing, this collection provides a valuable addition to the literature of the American Revolution and American women’s history. In the Words of Women performs the impressive feat of embedding women’s experience in the political and military upheavals of the era without losing sight of the ways in which everyday life—household priorities, illness, travel, marriage, parenthood, and social amusement—did not cease for women or men living in the midst of larger events. Scholars and students will turn to this work to see the late eighteenth century with greater illumination.

David Gellman

The voices of the women of the revolutionary generation have sometimes been lost in the rush to provide analysis and narration of their roles. …The story is too often told about the women who protested, boycotted, fought, nursed, spied, and took over the task of running farm and shop, but the voices we hear do not come from the women themselves. The challenge is to bring those voices to the written page, to make us as familiar with the cadences of the housewife and the camp follower as we are with the tempo of Patrick Henry's oratory. …This is the challenge that the editors of In the Words of Women have met.

Carol Berkin Carol Berkin