Historical Question:
Did Revolutionary War era women play a greater role in the fight for
freedom than women during WWII?
Author: Mary Dunn
School: Bear Path School
District: Hamden
Overview:
Both periods were groundbreaking regarding women’s involvement in the quest for freedom and
independence. Twentieth century popular culture suggests that the women’s economic role “on the
home front” in WWII was critical; however, the role of the patriotic woman in 1760’s-1780’s was
equally, if not more formidable for that time period.
Document Summary:
Document 1 contains both a sketch and text. The sketch depicts a colonial woman working on the
spinning wheel. Her simple dress and appearance depicts the typical female role back then. The
accompanying text discusses the relevance for boycotting English linens and other goods for “the
cause of freedom”. Fifty- five women worked for 14 hours to spin an alternative thread to British
linens. Students should deduce that women were willing to spend countless hours as a community
and in singularity for the cause of freedom. Most women, regardless of economic status, believed in
the cause.
Document 2 shows Sarah Osborn’s request for compensation during the Revolutionary War. Her
countless daily duties assisting her husband and other soldiers during the war are noted in this article.
Students should understand that women were not confined to “boycotts”, but whose support of the
soldiers was critical during the ongoing battles of the war.
Document 3 shows Esther Reed’s contribution to the war effort. She organized and formed the
Ladies’ Association of Philadelphia solely to raise funds for the Continental Army. She asked for
women to “give up” worldly goods and donate monies in the name of liberty. Also noted are all of the
biblical references, a comparison to appeal to moral and religious right. Students should understand
that women of prominence (and money) also were willing to make sacrifices.
Document 4 is the song lyrics for Rosie the Riveter. With American men enlisting for WWII, the work
force quickly diminished. Who would "man" the assembly lines in the factories to produce the many
needed items for the current war? Women filled this shortage of manpower. Mothers, daughters,
secretaries, wives and even schoolgirls picked up the factory duties the men had left behind. The
lyrics talk about women’s patriotic duty in the workplace and also with financial support through
purchase of war bonds.
Document 5 is an advertisement. Its purpose is to “recruit” women into the workforce. By working,
they are in fact helping the economy and the troops abroad achieve victory. Continual appeals were
issued from government sources throughout the war, with articles and ads placed in magazines to get
women's attention. Students should realize just how many jobs were necessary to be filled by women,
while men were at war.
Document 6 is a news article that appeared in a Boston area newspaper. It discussed how a 44-year
old grandmother and beautician took a job as a chauffeur for military officials as a way to help in the
war effort. On the home front, women from all walks of life and ages contributed to the war effort.
Procedure (80 minutes):
1. Introduction of lesson, objectives, overview of SAC procedure (15 minutes)
2. SAC group assignments (30 minutes)
a. Assign groups of four and assign arguments to each team of two.
b. In each group, teams read and examine the Document Packet
c. Each student completes the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2), and works with
their partner to prepare their argument using supporting evidence.
d. Students should summarize your argument in #3.
3. Position Presentation (10 minutes)
a. Team 1 presents their position using supporting evidence recorded and summarized on
the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2 & #3) on the Preparation matrix. Team 2
records Team 1’s argument in #4.
b. Team 2 restates Team 1’s position to their satisfaction.
c. Team 2 asks clarifying questions and records Team 1’s answers.
d. Team 2 presents their position using supporting evidence recorded and summarized on
the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2 & #3) on the Preparation matrix. Team 1
records Team 2’s argument in #4.
e. Team 1 restates Team 2’s position to their satisfaction.
f. Team 1 asks clarifying questions and records Team 2’s answers.
4. Consensus Building (10 minutes)
a. Team 1 and 2 put their roles aside.
b. Teams discuss ideas that have been presented, and figure out where they can agree or
where they have differences about the historical question
5. Closing the lesson (15 minutes)
a. Whole-group Discussion
b. Make connection to unit
c. Assessment (suggested writing activity addressing the question)
DOCUMENT PACKET
Document 1
During the colonial period, colonists imported most of their manufactured goods. In 1767, the British
government passed laws that required American colonists to pay taxes on imported goods from
England. Many colonists responded by forming non-importation agreements, refusing to buy imported
goods and urging other colonists to do the same. For women, who could not vote or hold office, nonimportation campaigns were a way to participate in colonial politics. Many of them publicly gave up
drinking tea and began spinning their own yarn, to avoid buying cloth imported from Britain. Some
spelling changes and edits have been made to improve clarity.
On the 12 of July...true daughters of liberty & industry, stimulated by their fair
sisters, met at the house of Rev. Mr. Forbes, to the number of fifty-five, with thirty
four wheels; and from 5 o'clock in the morning, to 7 in the evening picked,
carded, and spun [a large amount] of cotton wool...and of flax...The next day,
and for several [next] days; others as well affected [by]...the cause of liberty and
industry, but [who] could not leave their families to join their sisters on the said
day, sent in their [yarn] spun out of their own materials.
Vocabulary
Picked, carded, and spun: the steps for turning sheep’s wool into yarn.
Flax: the name of the plant that is used to make linen
Source: Source:
New-York Journal, 24 August 1769. Image citation: Isaiah Thomas, "Spinner," woodcut,
from "Mother Goose's Melody, or Songs for the Cradle," 1794.
New-York Journal, "Colonial Women Spin for Liberty (with text supports)," in HERB by ASHP, Item #1655,
http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1655 (accessed April 17, 2012).
Document 2
This is a court document stating Sarah Osborn’s role when traveling with the Continental Army. Her
daily chores were critical to the troops’ survival while in encampment.
...after deponent had married said [Aaron] Osborn, he informed her that he was returned during the war, and
that he desired deponent to go with him. Deponent declined until she was informed by Captain Gregg that her
husband should be put on the commissary guard, and that she should have the means of conveyance either in a
wagon or on horseback. . . .
. . . They continued their march to Philadelphia, deponent on horseback through the streets, and arrived at a
place towards the Schuylkill where the British had burnt some houses, where they encamped for the afternoon
and night. Being out of bread, deponent was employed in baking the afternoon and evening. Deponent
recollects no females but Sergeant Lamberson’s and Lieutenant Forman’s wives and a colored woman by the
name of Letta. The Quaker ladies who came round urged deponent to stay, but her said husband said, "No, he
could not leave her behind."
[They] marched immediately for a place called Williamsburg . . . deponent alternately on horseback and on
foot. There arrived, they remained two days till the army all came in by land and then marched for Yorktown, or
Little York as it was then called. The [New] York troops were posted at the right, the Connecticut troops next,
and the French to the left. In about one day or less than a day, they reached the place of encampment about one
mile from Yorktown. Deponent was on foot and the other females above named and her said husband still on
the commissary’s guard. . . . Deponent took her stand just back of the American tents, say about a mile from the
town, and busied herself washing, mending, and cooking for the soldiers, in which she was assisted by the other
females; some men washed their own clothing. She heard the roar of the artillery for a number of days, and the
last night the Americans threw up entrenchments, it was a misty, foggy night, rather wet but not rainy. . .
deponent cooked and carried in beef, and bread, and coffee {in a gallon pot) to the soldiers in the entrenchment.
On one occasion when deponent was thus employed carrying in provisions, she met General Washington, who
asked her if she "was not afraid of the cannonballs"? She replied, "No, the bullets would not cheat the gallows,"
that "It would not do for the men to fight and starve too."
Vocabulary
Deponent-one who testifies under oath
Encampment-the place where a military camp is set up
Commissary’s guard-men who protected foods and supplies for the troops
Artillery-large weapons
Gallows-execution by hanging
Source: Sarah Osborn's application for Revolutionary War pension, Record Group 15, Records of the Veterans
Administration, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; in John C. Dann, ed., The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness
Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 242-50. ,
http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/862
Document 3
Esther Reed launched the creation of the Ladies' Association of Philadelphia with the publication of a
broadside "Sentiments of an American Woman." Keenly aware of the limited scope of earlier women's
efforts and referring to women as "brave Americans," Reed urged women to "render themselves more
really useful" to the Revolution. In an addendum to the letter, Reed and Sarah Franklin Bache offered
a specific plan for how women could achieve this goal by collecting money to be sent to the wives of
the Governor or General Washington.
On the commencement of actual war, the Women of America manifested a firm resolution to contribute
as much as could depend on them, to the deliverance of their country. Animated by the purest
patriotism, they are sensible of sorrow at this day, in not offering more than barren wishes for the
success of so glorious a Revolution. They aspire to render themselves more really useful; and this
sentiment is universal from the north to the south of the Thirteen United States. Our ambition is kindled
by the same of those heroines of antiquity, who have rendered their sex illustrious, and have proved to
the universe, that, if the weakness of our Constitution, if opinion and manners did not forbid us to
march to glory by the same paths as the Men, we should at least equal, and sometimes surpass them in
our love for the public good. I glory in all that which my sex has done great and commendable. I call to
mind with enthusiasm and with admiration, all those acts of courage, of constancy and patriotism,
which history has transmitted to us: The people favoured by Heaven, preserved from destruction by the
virtues, the zeal and the resolution of Deborah, of Judith, of Esther! The fortitude of the mother of the
Machabees, in giving up her sons to die before her eyes: Rome saved from the fury of a victorious
enemy by the efforts of Volumnia, and other Roman Ladies: So many famous sieges where the Women
have been seen forgeting the weakness of their sex, building new walls, digging trenches with their
feeble hands, furnishing arms to their defenders, they themselves darting the missile weapons on the
enemy, resigning the ornaments of their apparel, and their fortune, to fill the public treasury, and to
hasten the deliverance of their country . . .
. . . Shall we hesitate to wear a cloathing more simple; hair dressed less elegant, while at the price of
this small privation, we shall deserve your benedictions. Who, amongst us, will not renounce with the
highest pleasure, those vain ornaments, when-she shall consider that the valiant defenders of America
will be able to draw some advantage from the money which she may have laid out in these; that they
will be better defended from the rigours of the seasons, that after their painful toils . . . This is the
offering of the Ladies. The time is arrived to display the same sentiments which animated us at the
beginning of the Revolution, when we renounced the use of teas, however agreeable to our taste, rather
than receive them from our persecutors . . . when our republican and laborious hands spun the flax,
prepared the linen intended for the use of our soldiers; when exiles and fugitives we supported with
courage all the evils which are the concomitants of war. . . .
Vocabulary
Heroines-women of distinguished courage
Antiquity-ancient times
Fortitude- mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty courageously
Sieges- the acts of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as
to isolate it from help and supplies
SOURCE | Sentiments of an American Woman, (Philadelphia: John Dunlap, 1780), Rare Book and Special
Collections Division, Library of Congress,
http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com/wasm/wasmrestricted/amrev/doc6.htm?
Document 4
“Rosie the Riveter” is the name of a fictional character who came to symbolize the millions of real
women who filled America’s factories and shipyards during World War II. This song became popular
on the radio before the posters with her image appeared in magazines and newspapers.
“Rosie the Riveter” Song Lyrics
Redd Evans, John Jacob Loeb, 1942
While other girls attend their fav’rite cocktail bar
Sipping Martinis, munching caviar
There’s a girl who’s really putting them to shame
Rosie is her name
All the day long whether rain or shine
She’s a part of the assembly line
She’s making history, working for victory
Rosie the Riveter
Keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage
Sitting up there on the fuselage
That little frail can do more than a male will do
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie’s got a boyfriend, Charlie
Charlie, he’s a Marine
Rosie is protecting Charlie
Working overtime on the riveting machine
When they gave her a production “E”
She was as proud as a girl could be
There’s something true about
Red, white, and blue about
Rosie the Riveter
Vocabulary
Caviar- fish eggs
Sabotage-deliberate
destruction by an enemy
Fuselage-main body of an
aircraft
Frail-weak
Everyone stops to admire the scene
Rosie at work on the B-Nineteen
She’s never twittery, nervous or jittery
Rosie the Riveter
What if she’s smeared full of oil and grease
Doing her bit for the old Lendlease
She keeps the gang around
They love to hang around
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie buys a lot of war bonds
That girl really has sense
Wishes she could purchase more bonds
Putting all her cash into national defense
Senator Jones who is “in the know”
Shouted these words on the radio
Berlin will hear about
Moscow will cheer about
Rosie the Riveter!
_____________________
Paramount Music Corporation, NY, 1942.
Source: http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=rosie-the-riveter-song
Document 5
The use of periodicals was instrumental in convincing women to enter the workforce. By 1942 women
were being urged to take advantage of any technical training to better prepare themselves to replace
the men now in uniform. They would perform not only a patriotic duty, but help themselves financially.
In some areas, women took the lead to accomplish certain tasks to support the nation’s war effort.
Source: Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1992001604/PP/
Document 6
Women of all ages contributed to the effort on the home front. Mrs. Grace, grandmother and
beautician, is now chauffeur to military officials. She wanted to contribute to the war effort, just as her
husband did. She took the job so a man could be relieved to “do important work” at the arsenal.
Source:
http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/exhibits/homefront/4.01-10scrapbook.pdf#page=11
CAPTURE SHEET
Did Revolutionary War era women play a greater
role in the fight for freedom than women during
WWII?
Preparation:
1. Highlight your assigned position.
Don’t forget the rules of a successful
academic controversy!
1. Practice active listening.
2. Challenge ideas, not each other
3. Try your best to understand the other
positions
4. Share the floor: each person in a pair
MUST have an opportunity to speak
5. No disagreeing until consensusbuilding as a group of four
Yes: Revolutionary War era women made a greater contribution to the war effort than
women of WWII.
No: World War II era women made a greater contribution to the war effort than R
evolutionary War era women.
2. Read through each document searching for support for your side’s argument. Use the
documents to fill in the chart (Hint: Not all documents support your side, find those that do):
Document
#
What is the main idea of this document?
What details support your position?
3. Work with your partner to summarize your arguments for your position using the supporting
documents you found above:
Position Presentation:
4. You and your partner will present your position to your opposing group members. When you
are done, you will then listen to your opponents’ position.
While you are listening to your opponents’ presentation, write down the main details that they
present here:
Clarifying questions I have for the opposing partners:
How they answered the questions:
Consensus Building:
5. Put your assigned roles aside. Where does your group stand on the question? Where does
your group agree? Where does your group disagree? Your consensus answer does not have
to be strictly yes, or no.
We agree:
We disagree:
Our final consensus: