Daughters of Liberty and Loyalist Women

The story of the American founding is typically told with a spotlight on the men who spoke in legislatures or fought in battles. "They were all men, all the time," says Professor Berkin before she asks, "Where were the women?" In reality, the Revolutionary War was a home-front war that disrupted most of the lives of the American colonists, including women. Women were major participants in the political struggle for liberty. These politically engaged women called themselves "Daughters of Liberty," beginning with the Stamp Act. But, war eventually created desperate circumstances as trade embargoes generated scarcity and men left to fight in the army. Women shouldered greater responsibility as they maintained their farms alone and tried to prevent confiscation of their property. To escape rape and starvation, some women joined their husbands in the Continental Army. These women and others provided critical support for the army's maintenance. Other women married to Loyalist men experienced extreme hardships, persecuted as surrogates for their absent husbands. The achievement of American independence is the greatest story in America's history, but that story is often a tragic one.