Revolutionary Mothers Summary

Queen Ahiwe
Book Review
United States History to 1877 HIST-1301 5038 8W1
Sasha Tarrant
Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence
Berkin, Carol. Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence. Vintage Books. New York, New York 2005.
Revolutionary Mothers was written by Carol Berkin, a professor of American history at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 2005; and published by First Vintage Books in New York. Berkin is also the author of A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution, First Generations, and Jonathan Sewall.
The purpose of this book is to show the different views of women who were affected by, and/or who affected the Revolutionary …show more content…
Throughout the book, Berkin makes it clear that she admires the women she writes about for their courage, mental stability, physical strength, resourcefulness and intelligence. She opines that during the Revolutionary War, women were not just ‘passive observers’, but “were partners with their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons in the public demonstrations” (pg. xv). They partnered with their husbands in organizing the first successful boycotts. “The first political act of American women was to say ‘NO’… to merchants who continued to offer British goods, and no to the consumption of those goods. Their ‘no’s had an immediate and powerful effect” (pg. 13-14). She also explains clearly the roles of women like Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Deborah Franklin, Martha Washington, Catherine Greene, and Lucy Knox. Whether or not they had to urge their men to fight, these women were totally in control of the economy of the households while the men were …show more content…
By the end of the war, more than fifty thousand had made Canada their new home. African American women’s focus was on freedom, and they struggled to decide what side would advance their cause the most. However, this strategy was not effective as both the Congress and the King neither treated them well, nor kept their promise of freedom for their support. Those of them who fled to Canada also met racism there. Only a few blacks had a ‘nice’ experience during, or after the ended.
Berkin also portrays the experience of women during the war through letter writing. In these letters, the women narrate how distressed they were by the difficult times, and begged their patriot husbands to return. ““I am without bread”, wrote one desperate soldier’s wife, “the committee will not supply me, my children will starve, or if they do not, they must freeze, we have no wood, neither can we get any- Pray Come Home”” (pg.

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