American Women's Rights Movement:. Paul D. Buchanan

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with humor – ideas she thought important for the founding fathers to bear in mind.

      Be more generous and favorable to (the Ladies) than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember, all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation. (McConnell, p. 25)

      Unwittingly, Abigail Adams foretold the revolution which would reach full strength in 140 years.

      Abigail Smith was born on November 11, 1744, in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Her father, William Smith, was a minister who provided his daughter with the most complete educational opportunities available to women in the pre-Revolutionary period. She read not only the Bible, but Shakespeare, the English Classics and some French, and kept up to date with the newspapers of the day. She also learned to write quite proficiently, as evidenced by the volumes of letter published by her grandson Charles Francis in the 19^th century.

      She married John Adams on October 25, 1764, giving birth to four children: Abigail, John Quincy, Charles, and Thomas. She was with John during the Revolution, while he served as a Congressional diplomat to France, while he served as Vice-President (1789-1797), and finally as President.

      Although clearly Abigail Adams could not have expected women’s suffrage to arrive in 18^th century America, there seems no doubt that the thought she conveyed to her husband were seriously considered and heart felt. She was among the most influential of First Ladies and, as such, was a substantial voice for change. John Adam’s Secretary of State Thomas Pickering charged that the second president was “under the sovereignty of his wife” (Gottlieb, 160). Abigail understood the asymmetry of female subordination was wrong, and she was among the first in America to describe on paper the inequity of women’s status in the patriarchy. As the emerging nation struggled with its independence from Britain, and as its collective conscience wrestled with the injustice of the institution of slavery, considerations toward the rights of women naturally began to take root as well. Abigail Adam’s letters – to friends and relatives as well as her husband – spanned her liftime, through the Revolution, her career as First Lady, and her later life. Her letters have provided the fullest account of the tumultuous period between 1765 and 1815, left by any American woman.

      The wife of the second President of the United States, Abigail Adams died at the age of 74, on October 28, 1818, seven years before her son John Quincy Adams would become the seventh President of the United States.

      June 28, 1778

      

A woman steps onto the field of the Battle at Monmouth, at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the Revolutionary War. She carries pitchers of water for her husband William Hays, and his comrades in arms. For her efforts General George Washington would issue her a warrant as a noncommissioned officer. She is Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, later hailed by the colonial army as Sergeant Molly. To history and folklore, she would be known as “Molly Pitcher.”

      In addition to bringing water on that hot Virginia day, McCauley also tended to the wounded, reportedly carrying one crippled Continental soldier from the battlefield. In addition, when her artilleryman husband fell wounded, she reportedly picked up the rammer staff for the cannon, and joined in the combat.

      Mary Ludwig was born October 13, 1754. The daughter of New Jersey dairy farmer, she worked as a domestic servant at age 13. Ludwig married New Jersey barber William Hays at age 13 as well.

      During the Revolutionary War, William Hays enlisted as a gunner in the Pennsylvania Artillery. Molly joined her husband as a camp follower during Philadelphia Campaign (1777-1778) in New Jersey. They wintered together at Valley Forge.

      After the war, she and her husband settled in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. After Hays died, she married another war vet named John McCauley. The Pennsylvania Legislature finally awarded a pension in 1822.

      Molly Pitcher died on January 22, 1832. A mark on her grave noting her exemplary service would be placed in 1876 at Carlisle, Pennsylvania at the hundred year anniversary of the war. Subsequently, Molly Pitcher has become the nickname for the many women who tended to the beleaguered and embattled soldiers who fought in the Revolution.

      April 30, 1789

      Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

becomes the first First Lady with the inauguration of her husband, General George Washington. Martha Dandridge Custis had married Colonel George Washington on January 6, 1759. With the inauguration, Martha would be known as Lady Washington, as the term First Lady did not come into use until well into the 19^th century.

      Martha Dandridge was born on June 2, 1731, the eldest daughter of Virginia planted John Dandridge and F

rances Jones. She married Daniel Parke Custis in 1749, when she was 18. Custis died in 1757, leaving Martha rich with control of one third of the extensive Custis estate for her lifetime. She managed the remainder of the Custis estate for her two surviving children, John Parke Custis and Martha “Patsy” Parke Custis.

      The subject of slave ownership has been a historic controversy surrounding George and Martha Washington. Like that of numerous plantation owners, the Custis estate included slaves, which Martha had moved to Mount Vernon upon her marriage. One of the slaves, Ann Dandridge, was actually reputed to be Martha’s half-sister, and was close to Martha’s age. Dandridge, reportedly, had a son by John Parke Custis. Eventually, George Washington would come to see the repugnance of slavery, and eventually would free all of his slaves.

       Nevertheless, Martha Washington became the first in a tradition of First Ladies. She also was the first woman to be commemorated on a postage stamp, and the first to have a naval ship named after her.

PART TWO

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