The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Imagine for a moment that you are an undergraduate training to become a K-12 Social studies/history teacher. Your methods professor has required you to develop a lesson plan(s) that examines the key events of the American Revolution with women at the nexus. Could it be done? Could the Stamp Act and other British imperial policies, as well as the war’s battles be told through the eyes of colonial women—Loyalist and patriot— and still enable students to understand this momentous event? Thankfully, the answer is yes. The events that culminated in the birth of the American Republic can easily be told through the efforts of a variety of colonial women. The advent of the Internet and other traditional resources enable classroom teachers to examine this turning point in American History with women serving as the examples for each of the major areas of study that define traditional units on the Revolution.

Unfortunately, integrating women in the telling of the nation’s birth is rare. The majority of textbooks continue to separate women out from the general narrative and isolate their efforts during the struggle for independence. In other instances, the presence of women is left to the historically inaccurate stereotypes of Molly Pitcher and Betsy Ross— composite and apocryphal tales, respectively. Despite these trends it is still quite easy to revisit instructional decisions so that women can be placed into the examination of the Revolution. Two visual documents, and numerous supplementary text sources, illuminate the ease in which the traditional signposts of the revolution can be examined with women as the example.

The first source is the image titled “A Society of Patriotic Ladies at Edenton North Carolina.” Found at any of the following sites, this satirical British take on the emerging colonial resistance is an intriguing way to draw students into the period between 1763 and 1776, when colonial and British relations were altered from the period of salutary neglect to one of imperial assertion.
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-revolution/4305

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/british/brit-2.html

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6803/

http://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/18thcentury/patrioticwomen/index.php

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/aw05e/d12.html

Asking students to analyze the image and draw attention to elements that might help them decode the artists’ intent. Following their initial examination, students can then examine a number of the petitions, poems, women’s societies minutes and constitutions, homespun circles, and boycotts that represent the roles women played in protesting and resisting British efforts to impose control over their North American colonies. Class discussion of these sources will enable students to place the “Patriotic Ladies of Edenton” image into its historical context and generate discussion about the multiple manners in which women were central to the march to American independence. With just a few easily found historical sources the traditional lesson on American resistance to colonial power is altered so that students can understand the important role women played in one of the first movements toward the creation of the United States.

Later in the fight for independence is another opportunity to incorporate women into an examination of the time period. Having students investigate the historical question regarding the existence of Molly Pitcher requires students to examine a number of historical sources. The investigation can begin with one of a number of sources purporting to show Molly Pitcher aiding in the fight against the British.

http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/jacob_wismer/leahy/revolution/molly_pitcher.htm

http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=654

http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/notable/pitcherm/

http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=730

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/patriots/molly-pitcher.htm

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20297/20297-h/20297-h.htm

http://www.archives.gov/research/american-revolution/pictures/

The diaries, petitions for pensions, and letters by or about Sarah Osborn, Margaret Corbin, Deborah Gannett, and Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, enables students to examine the fighting of the war through the eyes of three women who served in the colonial army and aids students’ in their investigation of the authenticity of the offreferenced historical figure of Molly Pitcher. By examining the roles played by women in the fight for independence, students will be able to develop an understanding of how and why the myth of a singular ‘Molly Pitcher’ was created and how it represents a composite tale of many stirring and interesting women that aided the colonial effort for freedom.

So breathe deeply—the challenge set out by your methods professor without doubt can be met. The American Revolution can easily be told with the significant roles played by colonial women at the forefront of the story. Go search, the sources are there and they are ripe with interesting questions for students to explore in the classroom.

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