The Life of Women in Colonial America

     The war brought a unique set of problems for women whose husbands had gone
off to fight. With army pay inconsistent and meager, these women had to take care of the
families as well as themselves and their children when enemy soldiers were in the
vicinity.
     Farm women had to learn how to do the men's work of planting and harvesting
while still attending to their traditional household responsibilities. In addition to feeding
their families, they were in charge of growing enough food supply to give the army as
well. Non-farming women sometimes took over their husbands` business. Some were
quite successful; others eventually sold the business because they lacked the training to
run it.
     Though Colonial society deemed it shameful for a women to take a public
position, Esther Reed gathered the support of 36 prominent Philadelphia women and
formed an association to raise money for Washington's army. After raising nearly $
300,000, the women proceeded to manufacture 2,200 linen shirts for the fighting men.
Mercy Otis Warren published plays ridiculing Loyalists. Phyliss Wheatley, a slave of
Loyalists, wrote poems supporting the patriot cause. Publisher Mary Katherine Goddard
often countered rumor with fact in her Baltimore newspaper. Because of her professional
attitude, the Second Continental Congress chose her to publish the copies of the
Declaration of Independence distributed to the states. Other patriot women sewed
regimental banners, knitted socks for soldiers, and wove cloth for uniforms.
     As you can tell in those times women had no rights or anything , in other words
they had it tougher than we could even dram of . That was what a woman’s life was like
in Colonial America.

Erikka Smith and Lacey Hoffman