Discover the contributions and experiences of women in the fight for American independence from Britain.
6 Founding Women of the American Revolution
1. Abigail Adams: The Shadow Diplomat
Abigail Adams wasn’t just the wife of John Adams. While her husband was off in Philadelphia or Europe, Abigail Adams was running a mini-empire. She managed the family farm, navigated complex wartime economics, and raised children, all while serving as John Adams’ most trusted political adviser. When she told him to “Remember the Ladies,” she wasn’t making a polite request — she was warning him that a government without the consent of the governed (including women) was inherently unstable.
Resources:
- Abigail Adams Reader | Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum – For Grades K-2
- Analyzing Letters Between John and Abigail Adams – For Grades 3-5
- Women’s Contributions to the American Revolution – For Grades 6-12
2. Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen as a Sword
I view Mercy Otis Warren as the “propagandist in chief.” In an era where a woman’s political opinion was seen as a social defect, she wrote scathing satirical plays that turned public opinion against the British. Because her gender would have caused men to stop reading, she often published under a pseudonym. She later wrote a massive, three-volume history of the American Revolution, only to have male historians dismiss it for decades.
Resources:
- Mercy Otis Warren | The Shot Heard ’Round the World – For Grades 9-12
- Women and the American Revolution | Interactive Lesson – For Grades 9-12
3. Phillis Wheatley: The Intellectual Revolutionary
Phillis Wheatley’s story is a master class in resilience. As an enslaved Black woman, she had to defend her own intelligence before a panel of distinguished men who didn’t believe she could possibly write such sophisticated poetry. She broke through the triple-barrier of race, gender, and status, using her work to point out the glaring hypocrisy of colonists crying for liberty while keeping people in chains.
Resource: The Poetry and Legacy of Phillis Wheatley – For Grades 9-12
4. Betsy Ambler: The History Keeper
Betsy Ambler stands as a testament to the countless women whose courage, compassion, and quiet leadership were just as essential to the American story as any battle won. Only 10 years old when the war started, Ambler documented her experiences through letters shared with her family and friends after the war that tell the tale of her coming of age during a pivotal moment in history. She went on to cofound the Female Humane Association of Richmond, one of the first women-led charitable organizations in Virginia.
Resource: The Experiences of a Young Girl During the American Revolution: Betsy Ambler – For Grades 3-8
5. Deborah Sampson: The Ultimate Disrupter
Deborah Sampson didn’t wait for permission to serve. She disguised herself as Robert Shurtliff and fought in the Continental Army for over a year. At one point, she was wounded and actually removed a musket ball from her own leg with a penknife to avoid a doctor discovering her secret. She eventually won a military pension, proving that a woman’s place was wherever the fight for freedom happened to be.
Resource: Women and the American Revolution | Interactive Lesson – For Grades 9-12
Watch a clip on PBS.org: Treasures of New Jersey Presents: Grit & Grace – Revolutionary Heroines
6. Sybil Ludington: The Teenage Hero
Everyone knows Paul Revere, but Sybil Ludington rode 40 miles, twice as far as Revere, through the rain and dark to alert the militia when she was just 16 years old. While Revere got a famous poem and a place in every textbook, Ludington’s ride was largely ignored for nearly 200 years.
Watch a clip on PBS.org: The Midnight Ride of Sybil Ludington
- The American Revolution Classroom Collection (3-12)
- Women’s Contributions to the American Revolution (6-12)
- The Experiences of a Young Girl During the American Revolution: Betsy Ambler (3-8)
- The Poetry and Legacy of Phillis Wheatley (9-12)
- Analyzing Letters Between John and Abigail Adams (3-5)
- Women and the American Revolution | Interactive Lesson (9-12)
- Mercy Otis Warren | The Shot Heard ‘Round the World (9-12)
from Women of the American Revolution and the Timeless Fight for Recognition by Chayanee Brooks
