Women in Colonial and Revolutionary America

The two big questions

Part I

Constants

Workhousewives

Workhousewives

poultry, dairy, garden, slaughterhouse, textile manufacture…and “deputy husband”

Marriage

- Married women’s legal status-Subtle subversion

-the rise of companionate marriage-pregnant brides-“my dear child”

Kids

-5 to 10 pregnancies-childbirth

-kids’ names

-enslaved mothers-did parents love infants less?

Part IIWhat difference did the revolution make?

Women in politics

-boycotters-politicians

-community organizers -voters (only unmarried New Jerseyans)

-the backlash

Women at war

-rape victims-“deputy husbands”

Republican motherhood

Conclusion