Those who remained at home found little to distress them because both armies promised to leave civilians unmolested.

Women often welcomed the presence of troops near their homes because of the profits that could be made selling supplies to the armies.

They were often unable to run the farm or family business without their husbands and ended up homeless and starving, along with their children.

Women often found their homes commandeered by occupying armies and bore the brunt of the soldiers' demands for food and firewood.

churches, which represented the most important institutions for racial integration.

black institutions, illustrating that segregation was common in the North.

election campaigns that would put black voters firmly into northern politics.

the formation of early labor unions, which helped raise their wages and economic mobility.

Colonial men quickly realized their dependence on women's efforts to create homespun and went from ignoring their participation to praising it.

Colonial men initially praised women for their creation of homespun but later worried that women were too involved in politics and discouraged the activity.

Colonial men encouraged women to boycott British cloth but worried that the production of homespun cloth was hurting the New England textile factories' profits.

Colonial men felt the boycott was ineffective and disliked the feel of homespun, so they began a campaign to stop women from producing it.

The plantation mistresses got together in large groups to produce their homespun.

Southern women tended to produce homespun on their own rather than in groups.

Southern women refused to produce homespun because it violated their aristocratic lifestyle.

Wealthy southern women hired poor white women to produce homespun.

encouraging their tribes to support the British forces.

demanding that their tribes remain neutral.

mediating between the British and patriot forces.

serving as nurses for the patriot army.

Food shortages in the North placed a heavier emphasis on southern food production, and southern planters needed the cooperation of their slaves to increase their output

The need for more soldiers led many southern slaveowners to free their slaves and their families if the slaves agreed to enlist in the Continental Army.

Wartime labor shortages and the British promise of freedom to slaves who agreed to fight for them gave slaves more power to ask for privileges.

The emancipation of slaves in the northern states during the war put added pressure on southern slaveowners to convince their slaves not to run away.

Many male slaves left southern plantations to join the Continental Army, leaving female slaves to do most of the work.

More female slaves and their children were able to escape slavery because of the confusion of war and British policies.

Although the British welcomed male slaves who would fight, they returned runaway female slaves to their masters.

Because of the deprivations of war, female slaves and their mistresses bonded more closely, and many southern mistresses freed their slaves at the war's end.

single women who sought the excitement of the battlefield

often poor men's wives who could not function on their own financially.

professional nurses who were paid well by the American army for their services.

prostitutes who were paid by the American army to follow the troops.

pressuring women to express their patriotism through conventionally domestic activities.

insisting that participation by genteel women in fund-raising was unacceptable.

demanding that the money raised by women be given directly to the soldiers.

encouraging women to take on other male roles, such as serving in the new government.

colonial boycotts of British goods.

the loyalist cause during the war.

the pacifist effort to avert war.

boosting the colonial economy.

It created opportunities for many slaves, especially women and children, to escape slavery.

It provoked slaveowners to be vigilant, making it more difficult for slaves to escape.

Slaves who fought for the colonial side won freedom for themselves and their families.

It forced a large number of slaveowners to emancipate their slaves in light of the ideology of liberty.

Native Americans rejected whites' missionary ideas about the subservience of women.

A revival of traditional tribal ways led to the reestablishment of women's spiritual roles.

Heavy population losses led to pressure on Native women to bear more children.

Native men took up farming while Native women worked on spinning, weaving, and other domestic concerns.

to write home often from Philadelphia and not to neglect his domestic relationships.

to offer pensions to the widows of slain Revolutionary War soldiers.

to create a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equality to women.

to honor the ideology of liberty by giving women more legal rights.

Most states presumed women's political views were independent of their husbands and allowed loyalists' wives to remain in their homes.

Most states considered loyalists' wives to be a dangerous source of information and imprisoned them all until the end of the war.

Most states presumed that a woman's allegiance followed her husband's and often plundered their land and personal goods.

Most states considered women to be too naïve to understand political issues and thus did not hold them responsible for their husbands' actions.

Jemima Wilkinson and Mother Ann Lee

Abigail Adams and Anne Hutchinson

Mercy Otis Warren and Judith Sargent Murray

Lucy Knox and Elizabeth Fields

Slave women resisted conversion to Christianity because they had been spiritual leaders in African traditions.

Slave women may have been significant in promoting conversion to evangelical Christianity because of their intimate roles in southern households.

White slaveowners suppressed signs of religious fervor in slave women because they feared that the values of Christianity would lead to slave unrest.

Slave women followed the religious preferences of their husbands.

Dozens of women in many states ran as candidates for public office.

Women lobbied their legislatures to make peace and reach a compromise with Parliament.

Women helped raise funds to build American textile mills to replace the need for British cloth.

Women wrote newspaper articles and poems encouraging others to resist unfair British measures.

should have a greater voice in public affairs in order to protect their children.

should be educated for the sole purpose of learning domestic skills.

have vital roles in educating their children for their duties as citizens.

are the most valued members of the republic.

White women were given more latitude in religious expression and increased their participation in religious groups.

Women's dominant roles in organized religion were suppressed, as men returned to churches in large numbers

Women were briefly given the opportunity to preach and to exercise leadership in the churches.

The new religious ideas that spread as a result of these movements reinforced women's submission to men.

Most slaveowners were Catholic, so slaves were naturally more attracted to Protestantism.

The evangelical emphasis on spontaneous conversion was similar to West African religious beliefs.

The slaves liked the formal ritual and services of the evangelical Protestant churches.

Most southern planters opposed evangelical Protestantism, so slaves joined as a form of protest.

Most women could not read or write.

Women were assumed to be dependent.

Women were too weak-minded to understand politics.

Most women were not members of a political party.

Women questioned their own competence and relied more on their husband's advice.

White women's status in the home and politics became a subject of debate after the war.

Women demanded equal political rights as their husbands.

The economy suffered due to women's poor handling of their husbands' businesses.

The tobacco market declined, and the economy became more diversified.

Sales of slaves from the North to the South increased.

The importation of slaves from Africa decreased.

The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 allowed for the growth of more cotton.

stayed at home and cared for their families.

became indentured to their former masters.

found jobs doing domestic work or child care.

found work as agricultural laborers.

They were sent to England, where they started that island's small Anglo-African population.

They were transported to an uncertain fate in the West Indies, Nova Scotia, or Sierra Leone.

They returned to slavery when the British army sold them back to their American owners.

They were freed and settled in northern cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.

Most of the battles took place in Pennsylvania, where Quakers lived.

Quaker women supported the British government even while their husbands were patriots.

When the British invaded Pennsylvania, they began imprisoning American Quakers.

Quaker women suffered from their neutral stance, which arose from their pacifism.

They were generously compensated for their valuable service as laundresses, cooks, and nurses.

They were considered useful to the army as long as they stayed in their traditional roles.

As upper-class, genteel women, they were treated with respect and deference.

Since most were prostitutes, they were kept far from the troops.